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Endgame Corner Karsten Müller
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The Last Exchange Exchanging into a pawn ending is almost always a tricky business. One should be absolutely sure about the final result, because the drawing margin is usually much narrower than in other endings. 104.01 Lodes,H (2151) - Koepke,C
(2374)
47.Rxa6? The pawn ending is lost despite Black's doubled rook's pawns. White had to defend the rook ending; e.g., 47.Rd3 Rb6 48.Rg3+ Kf7 49.Re3 with good drawing chances. 47...bxa6 48.b4 After 48.a5, Black uses the typical technique of just pushing the f-pawn down the board: 48...f5 49.Kf3 Kg5 50.Kg3 f4+ 51.Kf3 Kf5 52.Kf2 Ke4 53.Ke2 f3+ 54.Kf2 Kf4 55.Kf1 Ke3 56.Ke1 f2+ 57.Kf1 Kf3 58.b4 Ke3 and finally White has to throw himself onto the sword with 59.b5 axb5 60.a6 b4–+. 48...Kf7 49.b5 49.Kf5 does not help: 49...Ke7 50.Kf4 Ke6 51.Ke4 f5+ 52.Kf4
52...Kf6 (but not 52...Kd5? as White's king is in time: 53.Kxf5 Kc4 54.Ke4 Kxb4 55.Kd3 Kxa4 56.Kc2=) 53.Kf3 Ke5 54.Ke3 Kd5 55.Kd3 f4 56.a5 Ke5 57.Ke2 Ke4–+. 49...axb5 50.axb5 Ke6 51.Ke4 Kd6 52.Kf5 Kc5 53.Kxf6 Kxb5 54.Ke5 Kc4 55.Ke4 a5 56.Ke3 Kc3 0–1 In the following example, the exchange was correct, but Black missed the win later. 104.02 Bergez,L (2371) - Almeida
Quintana,O (2524)
56...Rxe4+! 57.Kxe4 Nc5+ 58.Kd4 Nxd3 59.Kxd3 Ke5 60.Kc4 Ke4 61.h5
61...Ke5? The wrong way around. Black had to play 61...Kf4! first: 62.Kb5 (62.Kd4 Kxg4 63.Ke4 Kg5–+ body check!) 62...Kxg4 63.Kc6 Kf5 64.Kd7 Kf6 65.Kc7 Ke5 66.Kd7 Kxd5 67.Kxe7 Ke5 68.Kf7 Kf5 69.Kg7 Kg5–+. 62.Kb5 Kf4 62...Kxd5 is met by 63.g5 Ke5 64.g6 Kf6 65.Kc4 e5 66.Kd5 Ke7 67.Ke4 Ke6 68.Ke3 d5 69.Kd3= and Black cannot make further progress, as his king must stay inside the square of the g6-pawn. 63.Kc6 Kxg4 64.Kd7 Kf5 65.Kxe7 Ke5 66.Kf7 Kf5 66...Kxd5 67.Kg6 Ke6 68.Kxh6 Kf6 69.Kh7 d5 70.h6 Kf7 71.Kh8 d4 72.h7 d3 is stalemate. 67.Ke7 Ke5 68.Kf7 ½–½ The last example is much more difficult. White made the right decision by exchanging rooks, but probably underestimated the difficulty of the resulting pawn ending. 104.03 Trent,L (2471) - Parpinel,Marc
(2165)
37.Rxf7 Kxf7 38.Kg2 Kf6 39.Kf3 Kf5
40.h3? White misses the moment for 40.b3! when he will always breakthrough on the queenside: 40...g4+ (40...a6 41.h3 a5 42.a4 b4 43.Ke3 g4 44.hxg4+ Kxg4 45.c3 bxc3 46.b4 axb4 47.Kd3+-) 41.Ke3 Kg5 42.Kd2 Kh4 43.c4+-. 40...a5 41.Kg3 Now it is too late for 41.b3, as Black stops the dangerous breakthroughs with 41...a4! and White cannot win; e.g., 42.b4 Ke6 43.Kg4 Kf6 44.c3 Kf7 45.Kxg5 Kg7 46.h4 Kf7 47.h5 gxh5 48.Kxh5 Kf6 49.Kh6 Kf5 50.Kg7 Ke4 51.Kf6 Kd3 52.Ke5 Kc4 53.Kd6 Kb3 54.Kxd5 Kxa3 55.Kc5 Kb3 56.d5 a3 57.d6 a2 58.d7 a1Q 59.d8Q Qxc3+ 60.Kxb5 Qxb4+=. 41...g4 This is possible, but the more direct 41...Ke4 might be more logical: 42.Kg4 Kxd4 43.Kxg5 b4 44.Kxg6 b3 45.cxb3 Ke4 46.h4 d4 47.h5 d3 48.h6 d2 49.h7 d1Q 50.h8Q Qg1+=. 42.h4 Black is also quick enough after 42.hxg4+ Ke4 43.Kh4 Kxd4 44.Kg5 b4 45.Kxg6 b3 46.cxb3 Ke5 47.g5 d4 48.Kh7 d3 49.g6 d2 50.g7 d1Q 51.g8Q Qh5+ 52.Kg7 Qg4+ with perpetual check. 42...b4 43.a4 Ke4 44.Kxg4 Kxd4
45.Kf4? Objectively White should enter the race: 45.Kg5 b3 46.cxb3 Ke3 47.b4, which leads to a drawn queen ending after 47...d4 48.bxa5 d3 49.a6 d2 50.a7 d1Q 51.a8Q Qh5+. 45...Kc4 46.Ke5 d4 47.Ke4
The critical moment has come. Is Black in fatal zugzwang or does he have a way out? 47...b3? Now White's active king will decide the issue. Black had to activate his own king with 47...d3 48.cxd3+ Kb3 49.d4 Kxb2 50.d5 b3 51.d6 Ka3 52.d7 b2 53.d8Q b1Q+ when only Black can play for a win in the resulting queen ending. 48.cxb3+ Kxb3 48...Kc5 49.Kd3 Kd5 50.b4 axb4 51.b3 Kc5 52.Ke4+-. 49.Kxd4 Kb4 50.Kd5 Kb3 50...Kxa4 is met by 51.Kc4 g5 52.b3++-. 51.Kc5 g5 52.hxg5 Kxa4 53.g6 Kb3 54.g7 Ka4!? A last desperate trick. 55.b3+ 1-0 It was all over, so Black resigned. Exercises (Solutions next month) E104.01 Bologan,V (2688) - Predojevic,B
(2654)
How did Bologan save himself? E104.02 Milov,L (2562) - Khanukov,B
(2379)
Please answer two questions: 1) What is Black's unique drawing move? 2) Why does 86...Qg5+ lose? E104.03 Ponkratov,P (2564) - Smirnov,Alexey
(2415)
Finally one pure pawn ending to finish this column. How to evaluate this position with White to move? Solutions to last month exercises In the exercises the attacker has already achieved a winning position and you are asked to convert it. E103.01 Forster,W (1955) - Smokina,K
(2251)
58...b4? Black must give a body check with 58...Kd3! when the pawn will queen, as White's king cannot get around: 59.Bg7 b4 60.Bf6 b3 61.Bb2 Bd4 62.Ba3 Kc2 63.Ke2 Bc5–+. 59.Ke2 Bd4 60.Kd1 Kb3 61.Bf8 Be3 62.Bxb4 Kxb4 ½–½ E103.02 Nehls,Benedikt (1836) - Lebeda,Lukas
(1710)
White brought about zugzwang with 51.Bf3! Ke6 51...Bc4?! 52.Kxg6+-; 51...Be4?! 52.Bxe4 dxe4 53.Kf4+-. 52.Bg2! And Black had to give way. 52...Kd6 52...Bc2 53.Bf1 Ke7 54.Bxb5 Kf7 55.Be2 Ke6 56.c4 dxc4 57.Bxc4+ Ke7 58.d5 Kd6 59.Bb5 Kxd5 60.Be8+-. 53.Kf6 Be4 54.Bh3 Bd3 55.Be6 Be4 56.Bf7 1–0 E103.03 Jakovenko,D (2737) - Alekseev,Evgeny
(2715)
In this typical endgame from the Berlin Wall Defense of the Ruy Lopez, Jakovenko showed excellent technique. 53.Bf6! Bxf6 53...a4 54.Bxg7 axb3 55.axb3 Kxg7 56.Kh4 Kh6 57.g5+ Kg6 58.Kg4 Kg7 59.Kh5 Kh7 60.g6+ Kg8 61.Kh6 c6 62.Kh5 Kh8 63.Kh4 Kg8 64.Kg4 Kf8 65.Kh5 Kg8 66.Kh6 b5 67.g7 b4 68.Kh5 Kxg7 69.Kg5+-; Avoiding the exchange does not help as the pawns on the queenside are fixed on dark squares: 53...Bh6 54.Bd8 a4 55.bxa4 Bd2 56.Bxc7 Ba5 57.Kg3 Kf7 58.Kf4 Kg6 59.g5 Kh5 60.Bd8 Bd2+ 61.Ke4 Ba5 62.Kf3 Kg6 63.Kg4 and Black is in fatal zugzwang 63...Kg7 64.Kh5 Kh7 65.g6+ Kg8 66.Kh6 Bd2+ 67.Bg5 Bc3 68.g7 Bxe5 69.Bd8+-. 54.exf6 Kxf6 55.a4! Necessary precision. After the direct 55.Kg3?, Black can undermine the queenside with 55...a4 56.bxa4 Kg5 57.Kf3 e5 58.Ke4 Kxg4 59.Kxe5 Kf3 60.Kd5 Ke3 61.Kc6 Kd4 62.Kxc7 Kxc4 63.Kxb6 Kd4=. 55...Kg6 55...Ke5 56.Kg3 Ke4 57.Kh4 e5 58.g5 Kf5 59.Kh5 Ke6 60.Kh6+-; 55...c6 56.Kh4 e5 57.Kg3 b5 58.Kf3 bxa4 59.bxa4 Kg5 60.Ke4 Kxg4 61.Kxe5 Kf3 62.Kd6 Ke4 63.Kxc6 Kd4 64.Kb5+-. 56.Kg3 Kg5 57.Kf3 e5 57...c6 58.Ke4 Kxg4 59.Ke5 Kf3 60.Kxe6+-. 58.Ke4 Kxg4 58...Kf6 59.Kd5! (The immediate 59.g5+? runs into 59...Ke6 60.g6 Kf6 61.g7 Kxg7 62.Kxe5 Kf7 63.Kd5 Ke7 64.Kc6 Kd8 65.Kb7 Kd7=) 59...c6+ 60.Ke4 Ke6 61.g5 Kd6 62.g6 Ke6 63.g7 Kf7 64.Kxe5 Kxg7 65.Kd6+-. 59.Kxe5 Kf3 60.Kd5 Ke3 61.Kc6 Kd2 62.Kxc7 Kc3 63.Kxb6 Kb4 63...Kxb3 64.Kb5+-. 64.Kc6 Kxb3 65.Kb5 1–0 Comment on this month's column via our Contact Page! Pertinent responses will be posted below daily. |
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