Bishop and knight checkmate

[Capablanca-Fan]

In a somewhat amusing twist of fate, the same two players had the same endgame again shortly after. This time they were playing against each other and not collaborating. The conversion once again wasn't a problem.

https://chess24.com/en/watch/live-to...knockout/5/2/3

That's a remarkable turnup. I am surprised it lasted so long, until Aronian proved that he knew the trickiest part of the Philidor method, letting the K out to c6. Not that there was any doubt that he could handle this, especially after their consultation game.

[Desmond]

That's a remarkable turnup. I am surprised it lasted so long, until Aronian proved that he knew the trickiest part of the Philidor method, letting the K out to c6. Not that there was any doubt that he could handle this, especially after their consultation game.

Yes Maxime just blitzed out the last 30 moves. Maybe hoping for a miracle but maybe just coming to grips with being eliminated (he needed to draw the game for the match to continue).

[grandmastermac.]

^^ Umm, that link seems to go to a two bishops forcing mate explanation, which is a much more simple task.

Do you have a link with the Bishop and Knight checkmate?

https://grandmastermac.com/the-knight-bishop-mate/

[MichaelBaron]

A couple of days ago at a chess tournament in Serbia, a 2400+ GM failed to mate iwth K+B.

[ER]

If I remember correctly our Anton can do that with one minute on the clock! my program (Fritz 15) can't do it to save its life!
Well, maybe it can do it if I start it with the defending King in the right corner and with 4-5 moves to go before the checkmate!

[Desmond]

A couple of days ago at a chess tournament in Serbia, a 2400+ GM failed to mate iwth K+B.

I think the GM can be forgiven for not mating with a K+B.

[Patrick Byrom]

If I remember correctly our Anton can do that with one minute on the clock! my program (Fritz 15) can't do it to save its life!
Well, maybe it can do it if I start it with the defending King in the right corner and with 4-5 moves to go before the checkmate!

I don't know about Fritz, but Tarrasch uses Stockfish, and it corners me in 20 moves, even from a bad starting position.

[MichaelBaron]

I twice had to defend with the lonely king vs B & N and I got mated both times...the opponents for not GMs: an IM and a WIM...but both mated me comprehensively.

[Kevin Bonham]

With Fritz it would possibly depend on the level it was on. I put Fritz 16 on Club Player level and I forked the pieces and drew after 8 moves, then I put it on Strong Club Player level and it mated me the first time in 24 moves and the second time in 25.

[edit: on a second attempt Club Player level also managed to mate in 25.]

[Patrick Byrom]

With Fritz it would possibly depend on the level it was on. I put Fritz 16 on Club Player level and I forked the pieces and drew after 8 moves, then I put it on Strong Club Player level and it mated me the first time in 24 moves and the second time in 25. [edit: on a second attempt Club Player level also managed to mate in 25.]

Wouldn't Fritz do it perfectly using the endgame tablebase? That's what they were designed for:

Humans can learn technique and remember it from game to game. Chess engines can't. That's why a lot of chess programs (particularly older ones) can sometimes fail to give mate in "won" positions (the Knight + Bishop vs. lone King mate is a notorious example). So how do programmers solve this problem? ... Back in the early 1990's, a partial solution was reached by the legendary Ken Thompson of Bell Labs. He created a set of endgame databases which chess engines could use to provide them with "technique" in simple endgames.

[Kevin Bonham]

Wouldn't Fritz do it perfectly using the endgame tablebase?

It seems it doesn't use it consistently when playing on casual game levels. I just had another three goes on Beginner level - it won one in 17 moves (looked like tablebases) but then let me get draws by forking the pieces and repetition in the next two. Not sure why it sometimes seems to be using tablebases and sometimes not.

[Capablanca-Fan]

I don't know about Fritz, but Tarrasch uses Stockfish, and it corners me in 20 moves, even from a bad starting position.

Tarrasch defaults to Stockfish 8 but can use others. I now use Stockfish 12 on Tarrasch.

[Vlad]

If I remember correctly our Anton can do that with one minute on the clock!...

Anton could do this with one minute when he was 6 years old. At my prime I could do this in 30 seconds. I bet Anton can do this in less than 20 seconds now.

P.S. I think a much harder task that he can do now is to solve Rubik's-cube blindfolded. When I was younger I was not even aware that something like that is possible.