5381 Spoiler alert

This is from a game of Marion Tinsley. Amazingly he was in a losing position. All white had to do was go 10-14 and Black has to give up a piece within a move or two. However it takes a long time to actually get the win:

[FEN “W:WK10,20,28,30,31:B12,21,22,23,K29”]

  1. 10-14 21-25 2. 30x21 23-26 3. 31-27 29-25 4. 27-24 26-31 5. 20-16 12x19 6. 24x15 31-27
  2. 15-10 27-23 8. 10-7 22-26 9. 21-17 25-22 10. 17-13 23-19 11. 7-3 19-23 12. 3-7 23-19
  3. 7-11 22-25 14. 14-18 26-31 15. 11-7 31-27 16. 13-9 25-30 17. 9-6 30-26 18. 7-10 19-16
  4. 10-15 27-31 20. 6-2 31-27 21. 2-6 27-32 22. 6-10 16-20 23. 10-14 32-27 24. 15-19 20-24
  5. 19-16 24-20 26. 16-12 26-23 27. 28-24 23-26 28. 24-19 20-16 29. 19-15 16-19 30. 15-10
    26-30 31. 10-7 27-31 32. 7-3 30-25 33. 3-7 31-27 34. 14-17 25-30 35. 18-22 27-32 36. 7-11
    32-27 37. 17-14 27-31 38. 14-18 31-27 39. 11-16 19-23 40. 18-14 27-24 41. 14-10 23-27 42.
    10-15 27-31 43. 16-19 24-27 44. 12-16 27-32 45. 19-23 32-28 46. 15-19 31-26 47. 22x31
    30-25 48. 23-26 25-30 49. 16-12 30x16 50. 12x19 28-32 51. 19-15 32-28 52. 31-27 28-32 53.
    27-24 32-28 54. 15-19 28-32 55. 24-28 32-27 56. 19-15 27-31 57. 28-24 31-26 58. 15-18
    26-30 59. 18-22 30-26 60. 22x31 *

So Tinsley might have gotten a draw even then.

However his opponent went 10-15. The drawing move was 29-25. If White goes 15-10, 11 or 19 then: 23-26, 30-23, 22-26, 31-22, 25-27 and a draw.

if white moves 10-18: (there are a number of similar variations)

  1. 10-15 29-25 2. 15-18 23-26 3. 30x23 25-29 4. 18x25 21x30 5. 23-19 29-25 6. 20-16 30-26
  2. 31x22 25x18 8. 16-11 18-23 9. 19-15 23-19 10. 15-10 19-15 11. 11-7 15x6 12. 7-2 6-10 *

Oh that’s fun. I knew there would be some problems from Tinsley’s games but had never bumped into any.

I spent a little time playing with the database and found a couple other problems where Tinsley’s opponents missed wins or failed to convert afterwards. He didn’t lose very often!

Problem 5396 from game: 10552
Problem 7021 from game: 9730

And as you found.
Problem 5381 from game: 11681