Last month I won a game with an endgame that featured two b-pawns and two c-pawns advancing on a lone b-pawn. Later, when I was trying to get to sleep, I puzzled over the third extra pawn. I could remember winning two of those pawns earlier in the game, but I couldn’t remember how I picked up the third.
The mystery was solved in startling fashion when I tried to enter the game score into ChessBase the next day. I got to this position:
I was White and had just played b2-b4. Black’s next move is recorded on my score sheet as axb3 e.p.
So … how in the world did I end up with two b-pawns and two c-pawns??
Here’s my theory. I expected Black to play axb3 e.p., so when he moved his a-pawn to the b3 square I immediately looked down to write the move on my score sheet. When I looked back at the board I must have seen this:
In other words, I think he must have moved his a-pawn to b3 and forgot to remove my b4-pawn! And neither he nor I noticed. Naturally, I played axb3 immediately, resulting in this position:
That’s really bizarre!
5 Comments
You obviously used a Jedi mind trick to fool your opponent. That’s against the rules, you know.
If only I could get the Jedi mind trick to work in situations where I’m not already winning.
It’s not your fault that your opponent didn’t remove that b-pawn off the board. Although i am not certain if axb3 is a legal move without removing the pawn since that move would only be complete when the b4 pawn is actually removed from the board and only then your opponent may press his clock.
With other words, you did nothing wrong but i expect your opponent made an illegal move by pressing his clock before completing his move (not taking off the board of the b4 pawn).
chesstiger—I agree with your interpretation. My opponent made an illegal move. Either of us had the right to correct the illegal move if we discovered it within a certain number of moves (10, I think).
Bummer for your opponent. However after looking through the USCF rule book I can find nothing stating that using the Jedi mind trick is against the rules, so good for you!