I FINALLY won this Correspondence Chess game that seemed to drag on forever. Black simply would not give up even when he had no chance of winning. He was probably hoping to force a stalemate if I failed to manage my pawns and Rook properly. But... that was not to be.
My checkmate was finally delivered with my 53rd move this afternoon.. Position of pieces at game's end is posted above, and our full move record below:
... I'm finally all caught up on my chess work, and I have two College Bowl Games to watch today.
My schedule was thrown off enough during Christmas week that my chess work was cut back quite a bit. Oh sure, I moved in some games almost every day, but today was the first day in almost a week that I've been able to work on every single game for which I have moves pending.
Now I've got plenty of time-cushion built up in all my games, so I'm not under time-pressure anywhere. And of my twenty or so ongoing games there are only about ten that require serious study and analysis. Still, it's good to be back to where I can give all my games the attention they deserve.
And today's chess work is out of the way giving me plenty of time to enjoy Oklahoma State in the Cheez-It Bowl later this afternoon and Texas in the Alamo Bowl tonight.
Today I learned that I won another Correspondence Chess with Black. Yesterday my opponent playing the White pieces resigned after my 28... Qd4d3 fork put his King in check while attacking his undefended Bishop at the same time.
After his next move to protect his King I'd take his Bishop, of course, and my material advantage then would be even stronger. Checkmating the White King would happen quickly once I activated my other major pieces. He was right to resign the game when he did.
The position of pieces at game's end is posted above, and our complete move record is below.
Last night I won another Correspondence Chess game with a White army when my opponent playing Black resigned after my 32. exd7+. No, that revealed check from my e1 Rook wasn't checkmate, but looking at our board at game's end (the graphic which leads this post) we can see that mate was inevitable and only a few moves away. So he was right to resign when he did.
Black's sad decision to sacrifice his Queen for my Rook at 22... Bf5 was his downfall. From that point onward in our game my White Army began a relentless slaughter of his remaining Black pieces.
It's interesting to note that I seem to be getting more comfortable playing the Queen's Gambit Opening that I've been trying to learn over the past several months. I like that.
..it seems I won another Correspondence Chess game by the silent resignation of an opponent.
This game began back in mid-October when I pushed my White Queen's pawn to the d4 square. And it proceeded at a pretty good pace, considering we were playing with a 7-day per move time control. At a pretty good pace until my opponent chose to slink quietly away, without even a word, leaving me today with another won game.
In his defense it was clear the we were engaged in what was going to be a very long, frustrating endgame. Both our Kings had pawn clusters in which to hide, and we were nearly equal in terms of major pieces, though my lone Bishop did give me an advantage there.
If this game was played in the old days when our moves were sent back and forth via post cards, this particular endgame could easily stretch out through many long months, maybe a year or more. But now we play server=based games over the Internet for crying out loud. We could have knocked this game out inside a couple of months easy, even with our very relaxed time control.
Oh well, whatever...
The position of pieces at game's end is posted above, and our full move record is below:
This Correspondence Chess game started in mid-October when I pushed my White Queen's pawn to the d4 square and ended today with my win as Black resigned.
Position of pieces at game's end can be seen in the graphic that leads this blog post, and our full move record is below.
Making this Wednesday the best day of the week (so far) I've decided to spend this afternoon working on my Correspondence Chess games with relaxing Boomer music playing in the background.
And with the exception of a gameshow break mid-afternoon (she and I have gotten into the habit of watching Lets Make a Deal together), this THIS is how I intend to spend the next several hours!
The adventure continues.
Published on 18 November 2020, ~12:50 Central Time.
Logging onto the site of one of my server-based Correspondence Chess Clubs this afternoon I found that I'd won another game with the White pieces. Though my 34. Nd4e6+ had placed the Black King in check, it was an attack from which he could easily escape in two ways. But however he did it, my next move would have been to capture his last remaining Rook, giving me an overwhelming material advantage. Faced with this inevitability, Black rightly resigned.
Position of pieces at game's end is shown at the top of this post, and our full move record is below:
When I checked my messages this morning I learned that I'd won another Correspondence Chess game. My opponent playing Black resigned from our game with his 56th move, giving me the win by default.
Some say that only wins by checkmate are pretty, and the earlier and more unexpectedly they come, the prettier they are. I don't say that, not at all. A win by late game resignation when a checkmate is inevitable, such as this one, is enjoyed very much.
The position of pieces at game's end is shown in the graphic above, and our full move record is below:
... we can mutually agree to call a contest a draw. We can shake hands and step away from a game we decide to call even. No winner, no loser, just a match in which we've both given our best and realize that neither of us will possibly checkmate the other. Not this time.
One such Correspondence Chess game ended today when, after 63 moves, I offered my opponent a draw with my 62nd White move and he accepted.
The position of pieces at game's end is posted above, and our full move record is below:
