Saturday, February 24, 2007

Black to play - how should the game go?


11 comments:

Tom Chivers said...

I suspect we all now know the answer to that one!

Anonymous said...

I always like to resign late as I am terrified that I might have resigned in a position where I still have some chances.
(Andrew)

ejh said...

I can't remember who it was used to have a column where the positions were always captioned "how should the game go?". Was it Leonard Barden and if so, in which paper?

I can't remember if I've resigned a drawn position (althgh I assume I must have). I've certainly agreed a few draws in won positions though.

Tom Chivers said...

Barden sets usually very good puzzles in The Standard each evening. His preamble is usually good at scene-setting - you get a sense of what had gone on in the game, what the players were probably thinking about. I'm not sure he has a regular catch-phrase though, but 'how should the game go' sounds plausible enough for the kind of questions he asks.

Anonymous said...

it's from Carlsen-Topalov , i saw that game on playchess.com. Qd5+ is a draw move , i read that Magnus showed Veselin that move after his resignation. they just played few days ago!

Anonymous said...

I seem to remember your position was pretty good when you agreed a draw against me at Ilford Justin!
(Andrew)

Anonymous said...

Perhaps Topalov wanted to get the game over with asap because he was busting to get to the toilet?

ejh said...

Some way short of winning though. But yeah, I often do that against stronger players (I once offered a draw when playing Harriet Hunt and she replied "yes, but aren't you doing rather well here?). Nerves, lack of confidence, what you will. It is true that I often fold up very quickly against stronger players close to the time control, so it's not entirely irrational....

Tom Chivers said...

That's interesting Justin. I think I'm sort of the opposite. Against the five strongest players that I've played over the last few years - the weakest a 180, the strongest Basman - I scored +2, =1, -2 - a performance way above my grading, in other words.

ejh said...

Back to the game - if Topalov had played one more move, the check on d5, he would surely have had a far better chance of seeing the saving move that follows.

Tom Chivers said...

Quite. Always play a spite-check!