Monday, 6 October 2025

Game against Sophia-BOT on chess.com leads to confinement!!

So, my latest mission is to beat Sophia-BOT on chess.com. This is so far proving to be a real challenge and I haven't managed it yet!! (Although I've managed to get two draws). In the latest 'drawn' game, I spent time at the end Reviewing the game using the analysis on chess.com, and it appears that if I'd played the ending correctly, I'd actually of won ... but instead my King was subjected to 'confinement' ..! If you are relatively new to chess, then the chances are that you won't have experienced this yet ...

Confinement

Confinement is a technique used by an enemy King to 'confine' your King to either the 'a' file or the 'h' file, normally when you are trying to promote a Rook's pawn. The problem is that, if you make an attempt to leave the 'a' file for the 'b' file, or the 'h' file for the 'g' file, leaving way for the pawn to promote, then the enemy King will make a beeline for the the "corner, promotion square" where they are guaranteed a draw. So, in summary, with accurate play there is no win for the side with a Rook's pawn if the enemy King is well placed enough to dive into the corner square where the pawn wants to be.

Game against Sophia-BOT (2300)



Mistake in the Endgame ...

Here is the mistake I made in the endgame. Instead of taking on h5, I should have actually played h4! This would have guaranteed a win.


Here is the continuation when playing for a win ...

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