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24. Rd1 Ne5 25. Kg2 f6
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This was a bad move by black. I wanted freedom for my king to get off of the bank rank and make himself useful. I wanted to move towards the center, so the f-pawn made sense to me, but 25. ... f5 makes my pawn at e6 backward. However, as played, my knight on h5 is now trapped and falls after 26. f4 and 27. g4. |
 
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26. f4 Nc6
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OK, if I must lose the knight, maybe I can win a couple pawns for it. I anticipate white's next move, but it wins me one pawn after 27. Rd6 Nxa5, 28. Rxe6 Nxb3 and now black has adjacent passed pawns on the a and b files and has extended his material advantage. |
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27. Rd6 Nxa5 28. b4 Nc4
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Aha! White fell into my trap, but he missed the other outcome, namely, that his doomed pawn at b3 was required to remain home and suffer the consequences because it prevented this fork. It's not the deadliest fork, since white can avoid losing material with 29. Rd3 Nxa3, 30. Rxa3, but black has just won a pawn, extending his lead, and now exchanges knight for bishop, liquidating more material. |
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29. Rxe6 Nxa3
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I guess white missed the saving move, so I'll grab my bonus material. Compensation for my doomed knight on h5. |
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30. g4 Nc2
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I could have played 30. ... Nxf4 to capture at least one pawn in exchange for the doomed knight. But I think adjacent passed pawns on the queenside is a better way to gain a pawn. I truly expected white to defend with 31. Re4 which allows my knight to escape his doom with 31. ... f5, 32. Pxf5 Nf6 and now white must save his rook, but all the squares on the 4th rank are covered, so he cannot continue to protect his pawn at b4. End result, an even exchange of pawns and black's knight escapes with that deadly pair of passed pawns on the queenside. |
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31. gxh5 Nxb4
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Maybe white figured out the combination I just described and decided on the move that wins him material. Either way, black has now accomplished his overwhelming advantage on the queenside, and white is doomed. |
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32. f5 Kf7 33. Kg3 a5
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The kingside is locked. Time to promote a pawn (or two). |
1 comment
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34. Kg4 a4 35. h6 g6
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Not 35. ... Pxh6? 36. Kh5 Kg7, 37. Re7 and now black must lose both H-pawns and white gains a pawn majority and a strong attack on the kingside. The move as played retains the lock, blocking white's king's advance. Of course, white cannot capture at g6 because he loses his rook, and even with another capture at h7, he cannot promote his passed pawns due to black's rook on a1. |
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36. Rb6 Nd5
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The only move to defend the b5 pawn was 36. ... Ra5, tying my rook to dfense and allowing white a probable draw with perpetual check Rb7 and Rb8 (if black moves away from g6, white threatens to promote a pawn with Pxb6). Black might be able to stave off destruction after 36. ... Ra5, 37. Rb7 Ne2, but 38. Pxg6 thratens to promote a white pawn. I think black can hold out with 38. ... Kxg6 and now white has no more attacks to dislodge the black king. However, I am worried that I might have overlooked something and it just seems imprudent to allow white to play for that combination when it can be prevented. As played, I can now save my pawn with 37. ... b4. White must move his rook, it is en prise. And no matter what he does, black can play 37. ... Nxe3 . |
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37. Rxb5 Nxe3+
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White exchanged pawns, as expected. But now black's knight has a second fork against king and pawn. |
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38. Kf4 Nxf5
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And now black's kingside is perfectly secure, white has no perpetual check while black can safely hide on his own back rank, or safely block with his knight. And black's pawn at a4 is clear to advance. |
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39. Rb7+ Kg8
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White stalled, and now he's out of steam. White probably wants to get his king into the center, to block the black knight's best squares and to try to support his rook in stopping the advancing black pawn, but he is blocked from approaching the center (without going all the way down through f3 to e2, unless he moves his rook to a safer square first. |
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40. Ke4 Nd6+
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And now white commits his ultimate sin, and black is unwilling to offer mercy. White wanted the center, just like I had expected he would, but he failed to observe the consequences of not going the long way around. |
1 comment
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41. Kd5 Nxb7 42. Ke6 a3
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No need to save a pawn that isn't doing anything when another pawn is busily winning the game. |
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43. Kxf6 a2 44. Ke7 Ra6
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White is making it easy on black, approaching an edge of the board. Time for black to limit the white king's range. At this point I announced mate in 5. |
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45. Kd7 a1=Q
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My opponent didn't return to this game right away, allowing me some free time to explore the Conditional Moves feature. By the time I was done, I had entered 23 combinations that covered every possible avenue of white moves from now through checkmate. A couple days later when I was offline, I received a message that I had won this game by checkmate, and I wasn't even there. |
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46. Kc8 Nc5
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Saves the knight and defends the rook from a square the white king cannot reach. |
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47. Kc7 Qb2 48. Kc8 Qb7+ 49. Kd8 Ra8#
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Final position. 49. ... Qd7 would have also worked, but 22 of my 23 Conditional Move combinations ended with black making the exact same moves from 46 through 49. The only different combination was if white played 46. Ke8 Qf6, 47. Kd7 Qd8 because it was 2 moves faster (hence prettier). On a side note, I wish the Conditional Moves feature allowed some kind of wildcard for my opponent's move, so that I could have essentially said "whatever white plays, I play this one move in response. A feature like that would have allowed me to enter just a single Contitional Move sequence to arrive at this position (white's king might end on e8) instead of entering 23 combinations. In any case, it was a fun exercise to work out all the combinations. |
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