I am proud to say that I did manage to mate with B+N in the one game (out of thousands) where I’ve ever had to. But I had plenty of time. The nice thing was, my opponent was an A player who was an endgame specialist. He once bet a master that he could do B+N in 1 minute (on a BHB clock, no delay). He did it so fast that the master was rolling in the aisle with laughter even as he was being mated.
Bill Smythe
I directed a game in which Black sacrificed his last piece for White’s (an A player) last pawn, leaving White with a knight, bishop, and one second on his clock with only a five second delay. The game was drawn about twenty moves later.
The late Ken Ballou said that it was actually a very simple pattern and something he had memorized. Of course no one has a memory like he had. I’ve never bothered to learn it.
The thing is, it’s not important to use it in a game, but not to fear simplifying into those positions. If your opponent has a lost endgame but you have to prevent him from transposing into this ending it makes the win much more difficult, if not impossible. It’s the same with all theoretical endgames: you may never see them, but if you know them you can steer the game towards those positions without fear.
Alex Relyea
Anything is very simple if you have it memorized. B+N comes up once in a blue moon, so it might not be worth a great deal of effort to learn how it works, except that if you do get it and can’t do the mate you’ll feel silly. GM Julio Becerra showed this to his class of 1500 level players one year at the Castle Chess Camp, and by the end of the class they could all do it.
But how many of them could have done it a month later?
Exactly. This may not be the case for everyone, but memory is not a permanent thing for me, nor has it ever been. To give just one example, I used to play numerous card games with my brothers and their wives on a regular basis, including cribbage, hearts, “dirty eights” (a variation on crazy eights), a version of rummy, etc. I could have played any of these games in my sleep back then, but I couldn’t play any of them now without having to relearn them. I would have no idea how to count a cribbage hand, for example. I still remember that the highest-scoring hand is worth 29, but I have no clue what that hand consists of, or how to count it if I had it. But all of that was as easy as walking and talking 30 years ago. If I don’t do something regularly, I forget how to do it, no matter how well I had it “memorized”.
To give another example, a friend of mine is a big Stephen King fan. She has read every one of his books, most of them more than once. In particular, she has read The Stand 7 or 8 times – and can’t remember the names of most of the characters. I’ve read it twice, and I can’t remember half of the names either. Don’t even get me started on Russian novels. I read Dostoyevsky’s The Idiot back in college (that would have been 1973/1974), and of the dozens of characters in that book, the only name I remember is Prince Myshkin, the main character – and even in his case, I don’t remember his first name (I’m pretty sure it wasn’t “Prince”). I don’t remember much of what happened in the book, either. If I read it again now, it would be like reading it for the first time.
sometimes it ain’t about the technical aspect but learning how the pieces cooperate together. even though, like you mentioned, i’ve never had the ending. though i did learn it at one time from Siegbert Tarrasch’s book.
…scot…
Not being able to remember Russian names from a book you read that long ago is understandable. I read Crime and Punishment fifty years ago, and except for the main character, Raskolnikov, I cannot remember the names in that book, either. But the mate with B+N is not rocket science. I think you are convincing yourself that you cannot do it. Try setting up this position: White - Kf6, Bd3, Nf7; Black - Kg8. This position, or one analogous to it can always be reached. Now drive the Black King across to a8. 1.Bf5 Kf8 2.Bh7 Ke8 3.Ne5 Kd8 4.Ke6 Kc7 5.Nd7…you take it from there. Remember this zigzag pattern with the Knight; it’s key to getting this right. I’m betting you’ll be able to finish this off pretty quickly, and that you’ll remember enough to perform it should this ever come up in a game for you.
I can’t remember the name of a movie I watched two nights ago! But they say memory is the second thing to go.
J+5+5+5+5. 12 for the four of a kind (breaks down to 6 different pairs), 15 4 times for the J+5’s, and 15 4 times for the four possible sets of 3 5’s. (Any 10 card gives 28, you can get 29 if the J gives you “nobs”). Unless you’re pretty good at combinatorics, it’s not easy to derive from general principles. (There are 4C2=6 pairs of 5’s, 4C3=4 triples of 5’s).
My brothers and I used to play Canasta with my grandparents a lot, but that was in the 60’s and I only remember a few vague details of the game.
My longest game went 156 moves in an endgame of Q+P vs R+N where the lone pawn was a center pawn. I was defending with the rook and knight. That endgame was a theoretical draw to my titled opponent. Alas, I was praying my fortress would hold. It did - at 3 AM!
Why the bizarre finish time? This game was also the only adjournment of my life. We began at 10 AM and, per tournament rules, played for six hours. Shortly after 4 PM and having reached move 80, my opponent sealed his move and we went our merry ways. The evening round began at 6 PM and I played another six hours and 70 moves. The adjournment resumed at 12:30 AM and I ate a second dinner while my clock ran. I returned shortly before 1 AM and we played for another two hours. After 14 hours of chess in one day, I earned two draws against titled masters. Unfortunately, the next round was in six hours. My opponent in the adjournment wisely withdrew. After just four hours of sleep, this zombie lost both games on the final day.
I should add this game convinced one of the dinosaurs of American chess to finally scrap infinite time controls and go for sudden death.
Michael Aigner
What year was that, and who was the dinosaur? (Feel free to answer the second question in a PM, or not at all, if you prefer.)
Bill Smythe
My longest game in number of moves was at the 1997 World Open almost to the day that I played a Rook and Bishop Vs Queen as this was 150 moves, where the last 90 moves or so I had to sacrifice my queen to avoid being mated, and it was a battle. Once I eliminated my opponent’s last pawn, I was under 5 minutes in the SD control and asked the TD for a draw based upon insufficient losing chances, and the position repeated itself a third time, and got the draw that way. As far as my longest games in time, I had a 9 hour game, an 8.5 hour game and an 8 hour game that all occurred at the now, defunct, Adam’s Mark Hotel in Philadelphia at different tournaments. As far as King, Bishop, and Knight Vs King, that has only occurred one time as I was on the short end of that, and since the venue we were playing in had a curfew, the game had to be adjourned, and elected to resign that game, since my opponent would have had ample time to go over the adjournment, rather than have him prove he could execute the mate within 50 moves. I think at the time of the adjournment, we were 10 moves into this, and I probably did the right thing.
Respectfully Submitted, David A. Cole, USCF Life Member, Franklin, NJ
Sorry for the late reply. The year was 2001 and the dinosaur was Jerry Weikel.
Michael Aigner
Reno, Western States Open, no?
Longest game directed: At least 2 I remember that ran to 1am and ended in an agreed-to draw. (Move count is irrelevant!)
Longest game played: Several that I was losing come to mind. (Move count, ditto.)