Actually it is not that easy to win. As in the game the rook came to h8 to stop the king and after Bd7 there are e5 ideas like after white takes on g4. Also if one of the rooks goes a little offside Rc8 or Ra8 hits the pawn and maybe threatens a perpetual in some variations.

You can try the position against crafty (which probably given its settings is ~2000 strength or so, though maybe higher for endgames):

http://www.chessvideos.tv/endgame-tr...ush+vs+Akobian

Hmm... interesting, but the computer lets me move my King to g7. But if Black prevents this with Rh8, as happened in the game, then the win becomes problematic.

Also, if I'm not mistaken, with that position on move 40 in the game, it is black to move and he went 40...Rc4, although I could be wrong and am unsure of whether that changes much.

I don't think the Krush game was all that shocking. It's pretty common for a player to press too hard for the win, only to slowly lose the thread and have the tables turned as fatigue and frustration sets in. Also I heard she was in time trouble towards the end. Of course she could have drawn but she was tryng to win. Akobian is the stronger, higher rated player and he defended like a champ, that's how it goes sometimes.

I actually thought she made a horrible mess of the rook ending, too, and could have had an easy draw with Rb6 instead of Rf5. But I found it really tough to defend against Rybka, which thinks she went wrong much later, if at all.

Ouch. I just sorta assumed Robson could draw that R v R+B endgame but according to the tablebases Krush could win the position right after the pawns came off and then the game went from +- to = to +- to = to +- to =. Another half point down the drain for Krush.

Just blitzing it was a pretty trivial checkmate in 47. I played the very simple plan of g4/etc and penetrate with my free rook on the kingside. White's f6 pawn + king position are so strong he can even sac the exchange back and still have an easily winning ending, although that is not how I played it.

I haven't seen the game yet, and crafty did seem to defend pretty weakly but I just don't see how any decently strong human could do anything but win this position. Managing to lose it would be an impressive feat indeed.

That's a really fun little application though. Would be cool if you posted more of them for this tourney!

If it was someone else I would probably feel sorry for her, but since the only things I know about Krush are

1. she was amazingly unsporting after losing a US Women's title on tiebreak
2. she gets invited to events like this because she is a woman

I am more inclined to laugh at her.

1. Is this the reason you say this? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fNQjXHjRkNQ
I am not gonna analyse that vid to see who did what wrong. But it really is annoying when you are not allowed to push your clock. Especially if the stakes are high.
2. So standard.

it was from what happened in the days after the game, she wrote an open letter (you can find it on the web) accusing the arbiters and her opponent of acting incorrectly, and demanding that she should share the title. Then of course it turns out everything was totally above board and Krush was the one doing exactly what she complained about her opponent doing. Danailovesque.

Btw Akobian said that the win was never so easy for white from a practical standpoint, despite what everyone is saying. I tend to believe him. Of course losing wasn't necessary though.

What the posters in this thread don't understand about that position is that in order to play for a win White has to give the opponent some counterplay, so if you think about it it's not too surprising that White could lose it. Obviously, if White was playing for a draw she could make it without difficulty :-)

And yeah, the ending is not an easy win for White by any means against Black's most stubborn defense. I think Krush actually played very well up to about when she played a4?, giving away the c3 pawn.

Final round of the prelims going on now.

#1 was bad to watch. I can share my only experience with her and it was extremely positive, though she was young. During the Kasparov vs. the World match, she was awesome in communication of moves and variations. She took some of my analysis and shared it with her chess group. One move I suggested was used after GM Henley, I think, studied the variations in depth. I should point out that there were a few holes in my analysis, though the move was indeed strong and used. I thought it was nice to a part of that without questions about ratings, just hard work.

I'm not suggesting her move was because of my work, I'm sure it would have been or was found independently. I was very impressed with the way she conducted herself during that whole match. It was a fantastic game. Maybe I'm a dork, but that was a time when I devoted weeks to nothing but chess. I miss those times.

FYP

Neat tactical position in Finegold-Hess today. Unfortunately here Finegold transposed moves and got nothing (game is still going)

Kasparov is live on the phone right now!

Missed it. Do you know if it's recorded/where?

Nakamura got crushed by shulman

Onischuk with a huge blunder in the endgame and Kamsky pulls out the win. Tomorrow shulman-kamsky for the win! if they draw, there will be a rapid tie break on tuesday.

I can't say I know the nuances of that opening and will wait for the commentary tomorrow rather than try and see where the deviated from theory now, but White never looked better to me...

And a nice tactic at the end.

need a gif of nakamuras expression on the webcam

+1

Nakamura looks like he imploded.

That's typical of Naka. See Mandhiza-Nakamura Foxwoods 2006 (1-0 in 23 moves) for a perfect example:

http://www.thechessdrum.net/palview3...a-nakamura.htm

I don't agree with playing White like he did vs. Shulman in such an important game.. (I'm not aware of exact theory, but I agree that White never looked better)

Maybe he wasn't taking the game seriously, and if that's the case then it's a real shame.

Shulman-Onischuk in round 7 was obviously a prearranged draw.