On Thu, 02 Sep 2004 23:33:19 +0200, Antonio Torrecillas
wrote:


And the second question is ...
what was the saving resource Kotov missed in his winning line?

Maybe 1.Ng4 Qxd4 2.Nxh6 Kf8! and black need to see some "only moves" in
a row like:
As I said, Fritz evaluates the position resulting from 1...Qxd4 as
slightly superior for Black, but I did not go very far in the analysis
with Fritz. since this is a very tactical situation, it is rather
unlikely that Fritz is wrong. If it were not time to go to bed, I
could do a deeper analysis of this position with Fritz. Maybe
tomorrow...

Henri

Unbelievable!

Here is the full score of the game for those who do not have it:
(2) Riumin,N - Belavenets,S [B10]

URS-ch09 Leningrad, 1934

1.e4 c6 2.Nc3 d5 3.Nf3 dxe4 4.Nxe4 Nd7 5.Bc4 Ngf6 6.Ng3 e6 7.Qe2 Be7 8.0–0
0–0 9.d4 Re8 10.Bb3 Bd6 11.Ne5 c5 12.c3 cxd4 13.cxd4 b6 14.Bg5 h6 15.Bf4 Qe7
16.Qf3 Ba6 17.Rfe1 Nf8 18.Nh5 Nxh5 19.Qxh5 Bb7 20.Qg4 Qf6 21.Re3 Rac8
22.Rae1 Red8 23.Rg3 Bb8 24.Bd2 a6 25.Qh5 Ng6 26.Bc3 Nf4 27.Qg4 h5 28.Qd1
Bxe5 29.Rxe5 Qxe5 30.dxe5 Rxd1+ 31.Bxd1 g6 32.Kf1 Bd5 33.Bb3 Bxb3 34.axb3
Nd5 35.Ke1 ½–½




"Henri H. Arsenault" wrote in message
...
Kotov's "Think like a grandmaster!" is a great book with a lot of good
advice, so it is amusing that I found the very first diagram
explanation to be cooked not once, but twice: not only did Kotov miss
the winning move, but the move he gives as correct leaves White with
an inferior position!

The position is
1brr1k1
1b3pp1
pp2pqnp
3P2Q
3P4
1B4R1
PP1B1PPP
4R1K1

Here Kotov is explaining how a grandmaster goes about analyzing a
position to find the right move.

I'm no grandmaster, but when I tried to guess the right move without
looking, I convinced myself that Nxf7!! wins. But Kotov says that the
only winning move is N-g4. I couldn't find a refutation of my move by
Black, so I fired up Fritz8, and in about 3 seconds, Fritz came up
with the evaluation that the only winning move for white is indeed
Nxf7! Here is some of the analysis.

1.Ne5xf7 Qf6xf7
(...Kg8xf7 2.Re1xe6 and if Black does not take the Rook with the
Queen, the discovered check will be fatal)
(...Bb8xg3 2. Nf7xh6+ Kg8-f8 3. h2xg3 +- and White is a piece ahead
with a strong attack)
(Ng6-f4 2. Bb2xf4 Qf6xf4 3. Qh5-g6 and Black will have to give up the
Queen to avoid checkmate)
2. Bb3xe6 wins the queen

Kotov's analysis of 1. N-g4? is overlooks a saving move by Black.

Kotov considers 1. N-g4 Q-h5 2. NxP+ K-f8 and after exchanging Queens,
White wins. But he overlooked the response by Black 1...Qxd4!! 2.
Ng4xh6+ Kg8-f8 =/+ that leaves Black with a slight advantage.

It is rather extraordinary that the very first position in a classic
book by a grandmaster supposedly explaining how to analyze a position
gives a losing combination as winning, and fails to spot the winning
combination, and even more extraordinary that the error was discovered
by a quasi-patzer like me!

Kotov does not say which grandmaster was analyzing the position in a
tournament. When the book was first published, Kotov did not have a
computer to analyze the position, but then I found the winning move
without the help of a computer.True, I have been training my tactical
acumen with CTArt 3.0, but I doubt that it has sharpenened my tactical
abilities to grandmaster level in one week!...

Henri

Henri

Doesn't Soltis mention this position and cook in "The Inner Game of Chess?"

~herb


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On 4 Sep 2004 07:53:35 -0500, Herb Wolfe wrote:


Doesn't Soltis mention this position and cook in "The Inner Game of Chess?"

I don't know, I haven't seen that particular book, but I would not be
surprised to find that someone else has seen the mistakes, since they
have been in this popular book for over 30 years...

So that is a good question, does anyone know of a specific reference
where this cook has already been pointed out? Another interesting
quetion is, if not, why have none of the hundreds (if not thousands)
of readers of the book seen the move Nxf7? I would not be too
surprised that no one has seen the ...Ng4 refutation ...Qxd4 because
it is a very improbable-looking move, but 1. Nxf7 seems to me the
first move that comes to mind when examining the position, because of
the dangerous discovered check threat supported by the rook and
bishop.

Henri