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(1) Lopez,J - Lee,A
Part 1 - Analysis, 2004
[Andy Lee]








Adjourned positions are the exception rather than the rule nowadays, since computers tend to remove the need for any human analysis. The above position, however, from my 2004 game against former Berkeley Chess Club director Jacob Lopez, proved to be more complex, a position actually worthy of in-depth, human analysis (with of course, some silicon assistance). The game had been up-and-down going into the adjournament: Lopez, playing White, got a good opening position and won a pawn, but was unable to hold onto it and the initiative gradually turned to Black. I had rejected a draw a few moves before, and somewhat flustered, Lopez missed a few opportunities to liquidate my last useful pawn with the advance f6, the idea being that his bishop can always be sacrificed for the b-pawn, and my remaining h-pawn will be incompatible with the dark-squared bishop. After a long time Lopez sealed a move and I went home to analyze the position.My initial guess was that he had finally noticed the gradual improvements to the black position and was really to simplify into a drawn position with 1.f6 Black's only method of playing for a win after this is [OK, so that much of the analysis (after 1.f6), although somewhat deep, seems accurate enough. But is there a way for white to improve on his play? The only other reasonable sealed moves for white are 1.Kf4 , which I rejected after 1...Kd4 2.Bb1 Bc7! since 3.f6 loses 2 pawns to 3...Bxe5+ and fails to do anything productive.; But 1.Ke4 is a tougher nut to crack, since Black is without a truly dangerous reply. Thus, after 1...h4 2.f6 A) I noticed a strange oversight: what if I continued pushing the h-pawn? White's king is now on the square he wants for his bishop, so he now must go into a position with queens and bishops, so that the opposite colored bishops, rather than creating drawing possibilities, will allow the stronger side to attack! So, black should now play 2...h3! 3.fxg7 (Not 3.f7? Be7) 3...h2 4.g8Q h1Q+ and try his luck. Amazingly, the attack almost succeeds, since sloppy play results in catastrophy for white: 5.Ke3? (Of course, white can always put up a fight by playing 5.Kf4 and refusing to let the bishop in on the attack. Black keeps some pressure, but I invite the reader to investigate white's defensive resources in the position. Regardless, I felt that if offered the best practical chances over the board.) 5...Bg5+! 6.Kf2 Qh2+ 7.Kf3 Qf4+ 8.Kg2 Qg4+ 9.Kh1 Qh3+ 10.Kg1 Be3# , for example.; B) 2...g5 3.Kf5 Kd4 4.e6 Bxf6 5.Kxf6 Kxd3 6.e7 b1Q 7.e8Q the position resembles the position from the main line with 1.f6, but the differences are crucial. Rather than having the useful g-pawn ahead of its companion, the h-pawn has been forced to lead the way, and the win is extremely difficult. A few sessions with my silicon monster convinced me that 7...Qf1+ (Desparing of finding any win, I tried the following line against the computer: 7...Qc1 8.Qd7+ Ke2 9.Qg4+ Kf2 10.Qd4+ Qe3 11.Qxe3+ Kxe3 12.c5 h3 13.c6 h2 14.c7 h1Q 15.c8Q Qh6+ 16.Ke5 Qh2+ 17.Kd5 Qd2+ 18.Ke5 Qd4+ 19.Kf5 Qf4+ 20.Kg6








The most interesting feature of this type of position is that it's evaluation was changed by the advent of chess computers and the cold accuracy of the tablebase: Reuben Fine believed it drawn, computers have found a way to win, but I held out little hope that I could win this position over the board. When analyzing an adjournament, as when doing any analysis, the realistic importance of a position decreases as the depth of the line increases, since the likelihood of the position occuring over the board falls so significantly. Similarly, how likely was it that Lopez had seen the hint of this ending across the board when he sealed, or that there are no improvements to be found for either side. With these ideas in mind I retraced my steps, attempting to forget my previous assumptions and instead looking for ways to complicate and extend the life of the position, stubbornly refusing to let my work go to waste.) 8.Kxg5 h3 9.Qg6+! Ke3 10.Kh4! with the idea of 11.Qg3+ is insufficient for Black.] 1...g5 he must keep his g-pawn alive! Then, after 2.Ke4 g4 3.Kf5 Kd4! It seems that White must lose: [Not 3...g3? 4.Ke6! g2 5.f7 and White Queens with check.] The next morning, however, I noticed that the ending was not as simple as it appeared. Instead of playing the insipid 4 Bc2? white can improve by 4.e6! [4.Bc2 g3 5.e6 g2 6.e7 Bxe7 7.fxe7 g1Q 8.e8Q Qf2+ picks up White'sBishop and Black should eventually escape the checks and queen his b-pawn. This looked like a satisfactory winning method, and after a night's analysis, I felt confident of victory.] 4...Kxd3 5.e7 Bxe7 6.fxe7 b1Q 7.e8Q Rather than queening his g-pawn, Black has cashed in his trump card, the dangerous b-pawn, and now must navigate a more difficult Queen and pawn ending to victory. Still, success should follow as long as Black plays attention to the too critical rules of Queen and pawn endings: 1) passed pawns rule the day and 2) Kings must be kept safe. Thus, the idea 7...Qf1+!? 8.Kg5 g3 seems to fit the bill, since the Black King will use the White pawn as shelter and the Queen on f1 is ready to guide the g-pawn to the queening square. *

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