Monday, June 6, 2011

An Extinction Chess Game - 2

[Site "BrainKing.com"]
[Date "2011.06.04"]
[White "Koksal"]
[Black "Rubikon51"]

1. e4 c6 2. Nf3 d5 3. e5

Open up the position only if it suits you.

3... Bf5 4. d3 e6 5. Be2 Qb6 6. O-O c5 7. Nh4



Smell of opportunity. If black's developed bishop is captured, other bishop might come under attack either by f4-f5 pawn push, or via a3-f8 diagonal by white's c1 bishop.

7... Bg6 8. f4 Ne7 9. g4 h6 10. Nxg6 Nxg6 11. b3 Nc6 12. f5

So far, going as planned: putting pressure on black's only bishop.

12... Ngxe5 13. fxe6 f6 14. Rf5



Use your rook when you can. A rook is an effective tool to trade for knights and bishops, since most times the other rook doesn't see any play for a long time anyway.

14... O-O-O 15. Qf1 Be7 16. Rxe5 Nxe5 17. d4



This seems to be the winning move here. Opens up the necessary e2-a6 diagonal, and blocks black's d4 push. The rest of the game is a chain of obligatory moves by black, where white will win by threatening the black knight and bishop to black's eventual demise.

17... Nc6 18. Bb5 Nb8 19. Bd7 Rxd7 20. exd7 Kd8 21. Qf5 cxd4

Here the threat is 22. Qg6. 21... c4 move, threatening check from d4, loses too: 21... c4 22. Bf4 Na6 23. Qxd5 Rf8 24. Qe4 Bb4 25. c3 Ba5 26. b4 etc.

22. Bf4 Na6 23. Qd3 Nb4 24. Qd2 Nc6 25. Qe2 Bf8 26. Qe6 1-0

Wednesday, June 1, 2011

An Extinction Chess Game

[Site "BrainKing.com"]
[Date "2011.05.31"]
[White "monty bridge"]
[Black "Koksal"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. a3 b6 4. Nc3 Bb7 5. Bg5 Be7

To my knowledge opening theory is not well established in Extinction Chess. Generally players use their bishops and knights from one side freely, while they keep the other side either closed, or underdeveloped. You want ample room for maneuvering, and threatening for favorable piece exchanges, but not too much room so you don't get invaded. In this game I do not like black's position so far, seems too passive to me.

6. f3 h6 7. Bh4 g5 8. Bg3 d6 9. e4 Nh5 10. Bf2 f5



Again, it's all about Lebensraum. You have to have some maneuvering space, even if it weakens your king's side. Here, strong White center has to be attacked somehow, and there are not many ways to do that.

11. exf5 exf5 12. Bd3 O-O 13. Qc2 Ng7 14. c5 dxc5

As said earlier, white left his king's side undeveloped and black is trying to keep his queen's side closed. Hence white is attacking on the queen's side to break black's defenses.

15. dxc5 Nc6

The knight at g7 seems safe, so the other knight can see some action.

16. Rd1 Qe8 17. Qe2 Qg6 18. cxb6 axb6 19. Bb5 Bc5



White's b5 bishop is too exposed. Attacking white's other bishop is the way to go.

20. Qc4 Kh8 21. Bxc5 bxc5 22. Qa2 Rfe8 23. Kf2 f4 24. Ne4 Rxe4 25. Qb1 Qe6 26. fxe4 c4



The b5 bishop probably cannot be saved anymore. Hence white loses.

27. Rd5 Na5 28. b3 c6 29. Ba4 Nxb3 30. Rd8 Rxa4 0-1

Saturday, May 28, 2011

A Clarification on Ice Age Chess Rules



This came up in at least one game on Brainking. In this position (first diagram) Black is to make his/her 20th move. Black can move 20... Qf3+ which would have been checkmate except that right after Black's move, the Ice Age event happens and ice cubes are placed on the board. This prevents the mate from taking place, the game continues, white to play (see diagram 2).



The argument here was that once checkmate happens the game should end right at that point. However, the way I see it, the Ice Age event is an essential part of the game and should the Ice Age happen next turn, White can consider that as a part of his/her defensive plan.

This (being able to use a coming Ice Age as a defense) probably gives White a slight advantage, however this should be balanced with the fact that black makes the last move before the Ice Age, hence has a slight advantage as well.

Note: The position here is not from an actual game.

Monday, May 23, 2011

Extinction Chess Variants

Extinction chess (go to itsyourturn.com to learn about or play it) is a fine variant as it is, however I couldn't help but try a few variations on it.


Variant 1: Extinction chess with the following starting position, where each major piece is reduced to one in number:





Variant 2: Usual chess starting position. First player who captures a non-pawn piece wins the game. King is just an ordinary piece.


Variant 3: This is a cross between three checks chess and extinction chess: first player who captures 3 nonpawn pieces wins the game. King is just an ordinary piece.

Thursday, July 22, 2010

K. Karakus - S. Tuglaci, Gencler Birinciligi, Kastamonu 1993



Play online chess

Sunday, July 11, 2010

K. Karakus - A. Ipek, 1. Lig Playoff, 1998




S. Kose - K. Karakus, 3. Lig 1995, Mersin