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Lawrence Day vs Jan Timman
"Boxing Day" (game of the day Dec-26-2007)
Valletta Olympiad (1980), Valletta MLT, rd 8, Nov-28
Hungarian Opening: General (A00)  ·  1/2-1/2

ANALYSIS [x]

FEN COPIED

find similar games 3 more L Day/Timman games
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Kibitzer's Corner
< Earlier Kibitzing  · PAGE 2 OF 2 ·  Later Kibitzing>
Dec-26-07  deadlysin: if it promoted to a queen would it make a difference?
Dec-26-07
Premium Chessgames Member
  IMlday: The game turns into a Reversed Pirc after 4.Nf3 but 1.g3 is the original Indian Opening: Hyderabad Chess Club vs Madras Chess Club, 1828
Dec-26-07  anandr: <deadlysin: if it promoted to a queen would it make a difference?>

Yes. Rh1 by black and its all over :-)

Dec-26-07  TheaN: Some strange positions in this game, and the end is beautiful; some good lessons can be learned from this game. Gg mr. Day.
Dec-26-07  DarthStapler: I have several books by Mr. Day
Dec-26-07  kevin86: A good game for Boxing day for two reasons. First,the name makes it a good day for the puzzle. Second,in this case,it is necessary to promote to a lower piece,a knight,rather than a ruling piece,a queen.

I heard that Boxing Day is derived from having the ruling class boxing their own lunches instead of having the servants prepare them. It was extended to having the ruling class and serving class reverse duties for a day.

Of course,in America,it is reserved for returning unwanted or broken Christmas gifts. Now it is becoming a second "Black Friday" for those who are looking for bargains.

Dec-26-07  YouRang: <Sneaky><I know that there are some rare positions where a rook can beat a knight, and they all have to do with a king trapped on the edge or in the corner like in this game...>

Actually, I don't think it is quite so rare. The king doesn't really have to be pushed into a corner or edge -- it just has to be sufficiently separated from the knight such that the K+R can trap the undefended knight. For example,


click for larger view

This position is a tablebase win for Black whether it is white to move or black to move.

Here is a game where Kamsky beat Bacrot with K+R vs. K+N because Bacrot played the ending inaccurately (from MTel 2006). Kamsky vs Bacrot, 2006

Dec-26-07  xrt999: < Sneaky: Cool! Another gem for my Game Collection: Underpromotions. I checked this with "Tablebase" to see if either Day or Timman made any mistakes after 71.g8=N+! and I found that their play was perfect from that point on. >

This was not an easy draw. For example, Day's move 81.Nh6 is the only 1 of 6 knight moves which the tablebase lists as a draw, while the other 5 lose in anywhere from 7 to 14 moves. Some of these other 5 moves are apparent, some are not. 81.Nh6 involved a lot of calculations to maintain the draw. Furthermore, although 81.Nf2 is a tablebase loss for white, it loses only if black plays 81..Rg7; all other responses by black are draws.

Dec-26-07
Premium Chessgames Member
  IMlday: That's logical because a ♔ + ♖ can mate a bare b♘ much more easily than a ♔. I should mention that Duncan Suttles was in Malta on vacation, not playing but certainly helping prepare this opening. Jan knew this so the theory is interesting. The move that really surprised me was 20..Qc7 instead of 20..Nxb2.
Dec-26-07  Civhai: Nice draw. First, I thought, that 71. Kh8 would be easier to draw, because after Rxg7 it's stalemate and after Kf7 he gets a queen with check, and that this was only a little joke to show his elemental endgame skills.^^ Yeah, on the second look, I saw that I was wrong.^^

I think Rook vs Knight is rather difficult to draw for beginners like me. But when I once wanted to practice it against my computer, he just didn't even try to checkmate me and left his rook on attacked squares etc because he just knew that it was a draw and that it wasn't worth any efforts.^^

Dec-03-08  WhiteRook48: I like g8=N+! good game
Dec-07-08  WhiteRook48: Timman had a Knightmare
Dec-22-08  WhiteRook48: Wasn't there a William Strum vs John McManus game where h8=N was checkmate?
Dec-23-08  WhiteRook48: Oh yeah there was
Jan-01-09  WhiteRook48: Go for Day! Lawrence's great day. Should we go into the box? LOL
Jan-04-09  WhiteRook48: what's even more amazing is g8=N+ is actually forced all other moves lead to disaster
Jan-06-09  WhiteRook48: truly amazing underpromotion.
Jan-07-09  WhiteRook48: it's amazing that both Day and Timman's play was perfect after 71. g8=N+ many people would've been tired with this endgame. That shows what they're called masters for.
Jan-08-09  WhiteRook48: why didn't white play 94. Ne7?
Jan-11-09  WhiteRook48: amazing play by both players.
Jan-19-09  WhiteRook48: great draw.
Jan-20-09  WhiteRook48: another common theme is- the a pawn promotes- only to be immediately captured.
May-26-09
Premium Chessgames Member
  tamar: "Day's Long Journey Into Knight"
Nov-13-16
Premium Chessgames Member
  Richard Taylor: Good game against such a strong opponent!
Sep-21-17  Albion 1959: From move 55 Timman must have calculated that he would win the pawn race, but overlooked the under promotion at move 71? It is difficult to credit Day for his ingenuity, since the sequence of moves is practically forced anyway! And it is manifestly obvious even to a novice that the knight under promotion was the only way to avoid losing, thus allowed him to "Land on his feet". Therefore Day did not have much choice, since his hand was being forced all the way. Credit though for not falling into any traps where he would have to give up the knight to avoid checkmate. Something worth remembering, this type of position might only occur once in a players career!
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