As before, Robert takes on the world (or at least the world of logged-in MuseBloggers). The twist is that he will keep all of his pieces on “his” side of the board, the first four rows, unless forced across because it’s the only move available. White will be hunkered down for trench warfare; Black will have to go in and dig him out. Ready? Let’s go!
[Event "Muse Academy Chess Eterna-ment"]
[Site "MuseBlog, NET"]
[Date "2012.07.06"]
[Round ""]
[White "Robert"]
[Black "Everybody Else"]
[CBBWhiteId "admin"]
[CBBBlackId "*"]
[Result "1/2 – 1/2"]
1.e3 d5 2.Ne2 e5 3.d3 Bg4 4.Nd2 Nf6 5.g3 Nfd7 6.Bg2 Bc5 7.b3 a5 8.Bb2 h5 9.h3 Be6 10.O-O e4 11.d4 f5 12.a3 h4 13.f4 Ra6 14.Qe1 Rb6 15.Kh2 Nf6 16.Rh1 Ng4+ 17.hxg4 fxg4 18.Kg1 Be7 19.gxh4 Bxh4 20.Rxh4 Rxh4 21.Qg3 c6 22.Rb1 Qd6 23.Qxh4 Qc5 24.c3 g5 25.Qf2 Nd7 26.Nc1 Qb5 27.Bf1 c5 28.Be2 Rc6 29.Bd1 Nb6 30.Ba1 c4 31.b4 Nc8 32.Bb2 Rb6 33.Nf1 gxf4 34.Qxf4 Qc5 35.Kf2 Na7 36.Ke1 Nc6 37.Ba1 Bf7 38.Qf2 axb4 39.axb4 Ra6 40.Qc2 Na7 41.Bb2 Be6 42.Ra1 Nc6 43.Ra2 Qa7 44.Ba1 g3 45.Nxg3 Bh3 46.Qh2 Bf5 47.Qb2 b5 48.Be2 Ne5 49.Nf1 Bh3 50.Nh2 Bg4 51.Nxg4 Qg7 52.Bd1 Nxg4 53.Bxg4 Qxg4 54.Qh2 Qf3 55.Qe2 Rh6 56.Qxf3 exf3 57.Rf2 Rf6 58.Rf1 Rh6 59.Rxf3 Ra6 60.Bb2 1/2 – 1/2
Hunkering down. Come get me if you can.
HOW DO WE MOVE THE PIECES!
prussia: To play chess, you need to (1) get an account and (2) log in.
Then, how do you get an account?
You ask the GAPAs to make you one. You probably don’t need to do that now, though.
Wait, that’s not true, sorry. You click Log In, then click register, then wait for the GAPAs to approve your account (after telling them that you want to play chess, which you’ve basically done).
is that the ony reason for logging in is to play chess?
It depends on how long you’ve been here. If you’ve been on MuseBlog for 6 or more months, it also gives you access to another set of threads, but only one of them is ever used, as far as I can tell, and that not very often.
i have been here since april so i guess not yet
Yes! This sounds awesome.
Hmmm, I wish there was a way for the rest of the blog to discuss strategy without Robert seeing, but that doesn’t seem likely… It adds an interesting twist to the game, not being able to have a long term strategy, and just moving on a single turn basis.
If your strategy were good enough, it wouldn’t matter if I knew what it was. Chances are, I’ll figure it out anyway. In the first game, I told you exactly what my strategy was, and it made no difference at all.
In that case, center control is going to be easy, so I would concentrate on taking control of the center and limiting his option, and establishing control of his front line before invading the trenches, as it were.
Sure, copper. Waltz on in. It’s your funeral.
I thought we’d need a knight as well as the bishop to attack any of Robert’s pieces, so I could either move the almost-trapped one or the not-yet-used one. I figured that if the almost-trapped one wasn’t moved soon, it might get completely trapped, so I’m trying to move it towards the bishop of ours that can’t get any farther without help. Is that a good idea?
It’s interesting to play with this half-board restriction. I really can’t do anything aggressive at all. Black can leave pieces unprotected (for example, the pawn at d5) with perfect impunity. I can’t make plans, can’t drive the game forward; I can only react to what Black decides to do. It’s very instructive.
I want to castle; how do I do that?
To castle, you hit the “0-0” button for kingside and the “0-0-0” button for queenside (which you can’t do in this position).
Wait! Before we castle- consider-
Robert has to stay behind his lines- whatever defenses we mount, it will be mostly useless- we have to check him, not stop him from checking us.
It’s true: there’s no need to protect the black king from an attack by White, because White can’t attack anything (unless it comes within very close range). But castling is still an effective way to deploy a rook.
Still, far be it from me to discourage Black from attacking. It’s the only way I’ll ever get to capture any black pieces.
It was either castle, do something pointless, or lose a piece but gain one that’s of equal value. I went with the latter because we really need to break his defenses however we can if we’re ever going to get the chance to make any progress at all. I think we can afford to lose pawns more than he can.
Winning a pawn was tempting, but I decided I’d rather lock up the center with 10. d4. Notice that the bishop is safe, because my d pawn can’t cross to the other half of the board to capture it. Weird.
I’m currently trying to reduce the chance of that opportunity appearing the next time we do that with a pawn.
In my self-imposed straitjacket of a position, most of my possible moves seem to undo things I’ve just done. So I’ll put the pawn on a3 to keep the bishop off my territory, and bide my time. I suspect I’m in for a lot of biding in this game.
12. … h4. Excellent! That’s the way to break through pawns: use pawns as battering rams.
Clearly, I don’t want to take the h pawn. Just as clearly, I don’t want to advance my g pawn. So, what else is there? Some kind of reinforcement? This will require some thought.
13. f4. It’s getting stuffy in here. So much for peace and quiet.
14. Qe1. Those pieces on the left side of the board aren’t doing much good. I’d better move them over where the action is. It’s hard, though, because my position is so cramped that there’s no place to put them. See the advantage of having lots of room?
15. Kh2. I’m not sure what Black’s rook is doing over on the queenside, but I think my kingside pawns need more attention right now. To squeeze some pieces around them, I need to move the king.
Ugh, so claustrophobic in here. I envy the wide open spaces over on the black side of the board.
If someone is trying to use the rook to take the pawn at b3, it’s not a good idea. There’s another pawn that will take the rook, and although I said we can afford to lose pieces more than they can, a rook is worth much more than a pawn.
Yes, I’ll happily take that rook off your hands if you’re tired of it.
16. Rh1
A knight — wasn’t expecting that!
I’m at work and don’t have time to ponder my next move, so I’ll just slide the rook behind my king as I had been planning to do and see what happens. An entertaining disaster, most likely.
…Cake what did I just do I thought I knew better than that.
I think I was overconfident. Oh, well.
No, I think it (16. … Ng4+) is a brilliant move. I’d have done it.
Now things get really wild. What fun!
18. Kg1. Taking the pawn looks too dangerous with the king on an open file. Withdrawing may be slightly safer. White is still in for a rough ride, though.
19. gxh4.
And now the bishop piles on. Hi, ho. I guess exchanging pawns is as good as anything at this point.
Sorry about the delay. It’s been a busy weekend here.
21. Qg3
It was annoying to have to exchange my rook for the black bishop, but the bishop was just too powerful there, and there was no other way to dislodge it from that diagonal. I’m not sure this is the best place for the queen, but the passed pawn on the g file is an obvious target, and I need to keep a guard close to my exposed king. So I’m summoning Her Majesty into the fray.
Now I have a bishop and a knight for a rook and a pawn — not a bad balance under normal circumstances, but this “shooting fish in a barrel” game is different in ways I haven’t figured out yet. (One interesting difference is that, with so little range, my bishops don’t seem to be much more powerful than pawns.)
You MBers are showing an admirable bloodymindedness. Usually many of you are reluctant to attack, but not in this game! I hope that’s not a comment on my approval rating…
Nah, probably just my prolonged absence. But, I must say, virtually not needing to defend our pieces is a strange relief.
i moved next… i don’t know if i was soppused to though. i think i got everybody messed up though
because i am very very bad at chess
There is no “supposed to.” Anyone can move if they want to. I don’t know whether or not your move was good because I don’t know what it was, but regardless, you can move whenever you want.
23. Qxh4. Let the fate of the rook serve as a warning to all malefactors who dare cross the board into White’s domain!
(I’m not sure what moving the queen to d6 was supposed to accomplish, but it removed her protection from the rook, so…)
Let’s take stock of the position after White’s 23rd move.
To review, White is not allowed to move ens own pieces or capture any black pieces on rows 5 through 8. That means that, in principle, Black could move all of ens pieces to the fifth row and probe for weaknesses deep inside the white “fortress.”
White can’t attack, either, but must sit passively and react to whatever Black chooses to do. That means Black can take as much time as necessary to move ens pieces to wherever they will do the most good.
Where might that be? Well, for the knight on the back rank, the most effective place is certainly NOT b8. The rook on b6 is pretty useless, too. The pawn on c6 keeps it from moving over to the kingside of the board, and meanwhile the rook blocks the b pawn and keeps it out of action. (As some of you have shown by previous moves, the most effective way to blast open an opponent’s position is by bombarding it with pawns supported by stronger pieces from behind).
tl;dr
Robert’s recipe for a successful black attack: take time to move pieces into position — pawns to the fore, pieces in support, and everybody on the fifth rank or as close to it as possible.
Robert’s recipe for a successful white defense: none. Technically, White is doomed. (Of course, I’ll go down fighting.)
25. Qf2.
It was odd to see the black queen fling herself on White’s pawns on move 23, but she’s perfectly safe, and it was the right thing to do. 24. …g5 was another strong move; unable to capture the pawn, my queen has to retreat.
Things are getting very scrunched up in here. I need to find a way to move some defensive firepower over on the queenside (left side) of the board without leaving the kingside undefended. It’s tricky and ultimately impossible, but it’s the task at hand.
26. Nc1. Trying to cover more squares now that Black’s knight is on the move. Also, the pawn on b3 needed to be reinforced in case I need to move the other knight in order to liquidate those center pawns.
28. Be2.
It’s now clear that the action is on the queenside. My pieces are pretty well positioned; at least, I don’t see any obvious ways to strengthen my position in one place without weakening it someplace else. So I guess my best strategy is to move my pieces as little as possible while I wait for Black’s sudden but inevitable
betrayalonslaught.(Black has just moved the queen out of the way and advanced the c pawn. Does en now intend to capture my d pawn, advance the c pawn even farther, or leave the pawn there and bring another piece into play? The next move will tell.)
30. Ba1.
At least I don’t have to worry that Black will pile more pieces onto the queenside. All of them are already there! Now I think I’ll just move this bishop back and forth between a1 and b2 until something
awfulhappens.(I thought about moving my pawn to a4 but figured it would just become another target.)
Five of my seven major pieces are now on the back rank. The other two are on the second rank. If this were wrestling, I’d be almost pinned.
so far just Robert has been posting… MUST BREAK COMBO OTHERWISE HE WILL GET ALL THE LUCK!
luck of the irish is bad luck to others
Everyone is welcome to add comments here. I guess nobody else wants to talk about chess right now.
I just haven’t had much to say, although I’ve been making most of Black’s moves. (I hope that’s alright). I should’ve known you were going to do that with your pawn, though. Ah, well–I’ll change plans.
I make an unexpected move, so you run away? What kind of attack is that?
Well, if Black is changing plans, maybe I should, too. Except that another Black is likely to turn up and carry on with the old plan. Oh, well, I’ll figure it out.
Does it look like I ran away? It occurred to me that it might, but you usually can tell what we mean to do. Either I’m doing something so clever that even you didn’t think of it, then, or something so foolish that you’re assuming we know better. I suppose we’ll find out which eventually–if another black does show up, I’ll tell you when the game is over, and you can tell me your opinion of it.
I was teasing. I’m sure you have something crafty in mind.
33. Nf1. I’m not sure exactly what Black is up to. I don’t think stacking the queen and rook will help en break through on the b file.
Anyway, as I have to shuffle pieces around while waiting for something to happen, the knight looks like one that can afford to stray from the queenside for a little while. By moving it, I’ll also open a path for my queen to get over there quickly if needed. Mainly, though, I’m marking time.
36. Ke1.
I’ve been pondering whether to capture the pawn on g4. On the one hand, it could be a nuisance later on. On the other hand, right now it’s more like a shield, given the strange rules by which I’m playing.
Anyway, my king looked a bit exposed over there, so it seems like a good idea to move him under cover of the interlocking central pawns. He can also help prop them up from behind.
I’m not sure exactly how Black plans to break through on the queenside, but it looks as if something is in the works. All I can do is keep my pieces ready and hope they cover the right squares when the time comes.
37. Ba1
Sorry about the delay — I had Mars rovers to cover and such.
White had several possible moves at this point. I haven’t examined them in depth, but 37. Ba1 looks likely to lead to sheer craziness, so that’s what I played. I don’t think it’s possible to keep Black out of my position much longer, but if I can exchange off some pieces while avoiding checkmate, the next stage of the game may be manageable.
40. Qc2
With the a file now open and things happening on the queenside, it seems logical to move my queen where the action is.
Ra1.
At this point, I’m just trying to keep Black out of my meager territory. I’m perfectly happy to exchange pieces, although I can’t force Black to do anything. The black pieces are perfectly safe as long a they stay on ranks 5 through 8.
I’mWe’re happy to exchange pieces, too, but I thinkIwe had better do it onmyour own terms.(I think I’ve been moving too much. Oh, well).
43. Ra2.
Hm. That knight keeps moving forward and backward. I wonder where it’s going now.
Once! We only reversed its path once!And we kind of didn’t realize we were doing it. I now see it’s futile for now.
I figured you were trying to hypnotize me.
No, I’m afraid it just didn’t occur to me that your rook would do that. Now I see that if I were to keep adjusting in the same way every time it moved, it would keep moving. Actually, now that I think of it, you might eventually get bored with it and do something different even if it wasn’t the best move just to end the sheer repetitiveness, but I’d rather get on with it, myself, although that might be amusing.
49. Nf1
With 47. … b5, Black locked up all the remaining pawns. Now Black is bringing ens knight into play. That’s a good plan, because the knight can hop behind my pawns or menace them in ways that other pieces can’t.
Meanwhile, I can’t attack the black pawns on the fifth rank, and the ones on the fourth rank are safe unless I feel like sacrificing my bishop or knight for them — usually not a good trade. So I’m reinforcing my pawns and trying to figure out the best way to build a fortress with the space and pieces I have. At this point, I’m pretty much confined to the first two ranks; Black’s pawns will nab me if I venture past that narrow strip of territory.
50. Nh2.
Fiftieth move! I guess this proves that MuseBlog chess games are not doomed to fizzle out before move 20.
I’m not sure why Black was targeting my knight with ens bishop. But if en feels like exchanging pieces, then I’m pretty sure that’s what I don’t want to do.
Um, why not? Sorry to suddenly jump in on this game, but since you have an advantage as far as pieces are concerned, why wouldn’t you want to exchange? I mean, you have a knight and a bishop more than black and black has to attack, so the less pieces they have the better.
Strategy for us MBers: I’ve only clicked through this game once quickly, but what say you we get that Queen & Rook combo out off of the a-line where they’re never going to be able to mount a decent attack and head over to the cleared side of the board (shame about that bishop) and see if we can mount our attack before Robert can turn around his defense?
That white bishop is going to be in the way of his Queen and Rook, and if he moves it, we might be able to at least put him in check once with our knight.
Of course, we probably won’t win anyway, but let’s at least go out with a bang! This is the time to be really aggressive! If we play with tempo, we have a fighting chance.
((It’s really, really weird to see that knight just hanging there. And that whole doomed Queen/Rook construction.))
I didn’t want to make that exchange, because I needed the knight to defend the pawn in case Black played Ng4. But my knight move prevented that.
I’ve been wondering why Black was putting so much effort into a breakthrough on the a file when the f, g, and h files were lying wide open. Even with the extra pieces, White probably can’t last long against a coordinated kingside attack. But I thought I’d let the black players figure that out for themselves.
51. Nxg4.
Well, all right, if you insist.
51. … Qg7
Making that move with the knight just hanging there made me cringe. </going against instincts
(How do you think my instincts feel about not taking the knight?)
(Pie or squid? The eternal dilemma.)
I’m glad you joined–Black needs someone other than me controlling its pieces.
Eh, you’re doing an excellent job anyway.
Sorry to be taking so long on my 52nd move — it’s a busy day at work today. Now that the action is shifting to the kingside, I strongly suspect White has to
join with Saurongive up the knight to keep the king out of trouble, but I want to be sure.52. Bd1.
I don’t think White can hold on to the knight. And, counter-intuitively, the king seems to wind up worse off if he makes a dash for the queenside. So I retract the bishop to clear the way for reinforcements.
54. Qh2.
Now that I see that move on the board, I realize that it would be much more effective if I weren’t restricted to the first four ranks. As it is, a more cautious move probably would have been better. Oh, well, you play ’em and you live with ’em.
55. Qe2.
The urgent job was to protect the pawn on e3 without fatally weakening anything else. Either Qe2 or Qf2 looked like the best way to do that. I didn’t have time to work out in detail which was better, so I decided on general principle that it was probably better to keep my queen off the open f file, where a rook might later gain a move by attacking her. We’ll see whether I guessed right.
58. Rf1.
Now that the queens are off the board, I have to figure out what, if anything, to do about this annoying advanced pawn. Any suggestions?
Who would give suggestions to ens opponent? That’s hardly a good strategy.
You could give misleading ones. Here in the United States, the two main political parties are always giving each other bad advice.
I was referring to the kind of advice you were asking for, which presumably wouldn’t be misleading.
59. Rxf3.
Black’s rook was protecting the pawn; the rook moved away, so I took the pawn. That seems straightforward enough. Problem solved.
60. Bb2.
White offers a draw.[No? Okay!]Black is out of attacking options. White’s bishop and knight guard a1, a2, and a3, the only squares by which the black rook might enter the queenside; meanwhile, White’s rook and king guard the kingside.
Black would have done better not to trade off the queens on move 56. … Qh4 would have kept the pressure on White. Once the queens were gone, however, White’s job became much easier.
If you don’t want to take the draw, just ignore the offer and keep playing, and I will, too. There’s not much I can do on my half of the board, but I’ll be happy to demonstrate that I can move the white pieces around in ways that keep Black out of mischief.(If you do want to accept the draw, just click on the “half-and-half” button.)
Black’s best hope for a breakthrough is to bring ens king and rook into White’s “fortress” via the kingside: the f, g, and h files, the square at e4, and the weak pawn on e3. The rook can serve as a shield, taking advantage of White’s inability to strike on the “far” half of the board.
I’m not sure how Black could get behind White’s lines, though. All White has to do is swap one piece for the rook, and then the game is a draw. (White can’t win, of course, because of ens/his/my inability to move past the fourth rank.)
So…Black wins?
I don’t think so. En is welcome to try.
A-a-a-nd the game is a draw!
I’m not sure whether to be impressed or ashamed… probably both…
Why ashamed? The only way to remain undefeated in chess is not to play (as Kurt Tucholsky would say). Besides, we drew.
I don’t understand why we did. We could have moved the rook, couldn’t we have?
Somebody proposed a draw (after I had withdrawn my draw offer) by hitting the “1/2-1/2” button, and I agreed by hitting the button again. Hence, a draw. I assumed all the black players had lost interest, as no one had moved in three or four days.
In any case, I don’t think you could move the rook anywhere useful. My bishop and knight guard the queenside, and my rook can counter anything the black rook tries to do on the kingside. I can try to undo the draw if you want to keep playing, but I’m pretty sure nothing exciting will happen.
Sorry, that was me. I would have taken the draw before, but for some reason I can’t log in properly on my I-pod touch.
Yes, we could’ve moved the rook, but we’d have needed to attack with our King as well to achieve a checkmate. That would mean bringing him into the first four rows, where Robert can attack unhindered and outmatches us by a Bishop and a Knight. Usually, I’m all for fighting to the end, but with our luck and communication, we’d just get checkmated for our pains. Not to mention that it takes us at least four moves just to get the King into the general vicinity of everything else.
Basically, resistance is muse-less. Sorry for overriding the decision not to take the draw, but really, what were we going to do, bleed on him?