I took my boys to the chess club tonight, my youngest is the stronger of the two in chess, and the older son is showing interest in the game. There wasn't many people there tonight but it was still a fun night of chess. The picture here is a position I was in as black, which I won. I am posting the position to see what you guys might have played as white. In the image, it is white to move.
The match was won via promoting the A7 pawn after exchanging rooks. After moving rook to E1, and my opponent moving his knight, I took my rook down to D1, forcing the exchange, creating a knight vs. bishop end-game.
6 comments:
I think the game is a draw if both players play well. If I were white I would move by the rook to e1 taking the open file. At this point white is probably a little better because he has a rook on an open file and a knight centrally placed with no way to force it out (only the rook can attack it). But, black has the advantage of a more active king after the rook moves. I think it would be bad to trade the rooks because white would have a "good" knight against a "bad" bishop (because white's pawns are all on the opposite color except for one).
Congrats on winning it!
Excellent recommendation there Slatts! I definitely agree that a draw would have been very possible.
One of the reasons I was able to get the win was a more active king. After the rook exchange my opponent kept the king on its castle side trying to support his three pawns forward. I got mine out to the other side of the board and managed to take his pawns down there and get one past to promote.
I think white could have had a slight edge if he hadn't commited his king solely to the pawn push on his castle side.
Yeah! An active (and centrally placed) king is perhaps the most decisive aspect to an endgame like this, and if white keeps his rook on the e-file, black's king is really prohibted (virtually forcing a trade of rooks).
Well if it is white to move then Ra1 wins the a7 pawn because it relieves the attack on the rook at the same time attaking the pawn and keeping the threat on the bishop.
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