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Endgame Corner Karsten Müller
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The Difficulty is the Difficulty Chess is an amazingly deep and difficult game and this makes it hard to master. Even seemingly simple rook endgames often contain hidden traps. At the Dresden Olympiad Alexander Morozevich pressed hard for a long time against Gustafsson, because the match between Russia and Germany was equal at 1½-1½, but he missed a golden opportunity. 101.01 Gustafsson,J (2634) - Morozevich,A (2787)
70...Ke4? This allows the activation of White’s rook. Black’s king had to invade via f4. But not directly with 70...Kf4? because of 71.Rf1+ Kg4 72.Rf6=. First 70...Rg3! 71.Rf1 (71.Kf2 Kf4–+; 71.Ra1 Rg4 72.Rh1 transposes) 71...Rg4 72.Rh1 Kf4 73.Kf2
The nest step is to bring the king to g4: 73...Rg3 74.Kf1 (74.Ra1 Kg4 75.Rh1 Rh3 76.Rg1+ Kf5 77.Rg5+ Kf6–+) 74...Rf3+ 75.Ke2 (75.Ke1 Kg4 76.Ke2 Rf6 77.Ke3 Kg3 78.Ke4 Rf4+ 79.Ke5 Rxh4 80.Rg1+ Kf3 81.Rxg6 Re4+ 82.Kf5 h4–+) 75...Kg4 76.Rg1+ Rg3 77.Rh1
However, even with this aim achieved it is not easy. Black’s king will invade while a counterattack of White’s king is too slow; e.g., 77...Rg2+ 78.Ke3 Kg3 79.Kd3 Kf2 80.Ke4 Rg4+ 81.Ke5 Kg3 82.Kf6 Rxh4 83.Rg1+ Kf3 84.Rxg6 Rg4–+. 71.Rb1! Now it is a technical draw. Morozevich presses on, but gets no second chance. 71...Rg3 71...Ra2+ 72.Kf1 Kf3 73.Rb3+ Kg4 74.Rb6 Kf5 75.Rb5+ Kf6 76.Rb6+ Kg7 77.Rb7+ Kh6 78.Rb4=. 72.Kf2 Rg4 73.Rh1 Kf4 74.Rh3! 74.Rh2? Rg3 75.Rh1 Rf3+ 76.Ke2 Re3+ 77.Kf2 Rg3 78.Kf1 Kf3 79.Rh2 Kg4 80.Ke2 Kf4 81.Rf2+ Ke4 82.Rf6 Rg2+ 83.Kf1 Rg4 84.Ke2 Ke5 85.Ra6 Kf5 86.Ra5+ Kf4 87.Ra6 Kg3–+. 74...Kf5 75.Rf3+ Ke5 75...Rf4 76.Kg3 Rxf3+ 77.Kxf3 Ke5 78.Ke3=. 76.Re3+ Kf6 77.Rf3+ Kg7 78.Rh3 Rb4 79.Rh1 Kf6 80.Kg3 Rb3+ 81.Kf4 Ra3 82.Rh2 Ra4+ 83.Kg3 Rg4+ 84.Kh3 Kf5 85.Ra2 Re4 86.Ra5+ Re5 87.Ra3 Kf4 88.Ra6 Re3+ 89.Kh2 Kf5 90.Ra5+ Re5 91.Ra4 Re4 92.Ra5+ Kg4 93.Rg5+ Kxh4 94.Rxg6 Re2+ 95.Rg2 Rxg2+ 96.Kxg2 Kg4 97.Kh2 h4 98.Kg2 h3+ 99.Kh2 Kh4 100.Kg1 Kg3 101.Kh1 h2 ½–½ Ivanchuk found the following ending so instructive that he showed it to many of his colleagues. 101.02 Ivanchuk,V (2779) - Anand,V (2791)
At first it seems that Black is dead lost, but this is deceptive. 48...g6? Only now White can win by a hair’s breadth. After 48...Rc1, he can reach a watertight fortress: 49.Rc6 Rg1 50.Kc5 (50.a7 Ra1 51.Rc7
Black can begin to construct the fortress based on stalemate with 51...Kh6 52.Kc6 g6 53.Kd7 Rd1+ 54.Kc8 Ra1 55.Kb8 Rxa7 56.Kxa7 stalemate) 50...Rxg4 51.a7 (51.Kb5 Rf4 52.a7 Rf8 53.Ra6 Ra8 54.Kb6 g4 55.Kb7 Rf8=; 51.Kb6 Rf4 52.a7 Rf8 53.Kb7 g4 54.a8Q Rxa8 55.Kxa8 g3 56.Rc3 g5 57.Rxg3 Kg6 58.Kb7 Kf5 59.Kc6 Kf4=) 51...Ra4 52.Kb6 g4 53.Rc4 Rxc4 54.a8Q Rf4 55.Qd5 Rf6+=
The queen may be able to win the g4-pawn, but not the game. 49.Kd6? White misses the study like 49.Rc6 Rg3 50.Kc5 Rxg4 51.Kb5 Rf4 52.a7 Rf8 53.Ra6 Ra8 54.Kc6 g4 55.Kb7 Rf8 56.a8Q Rxa8 57.Rxa8 Kh6
Now Black’s king must be cut off with 58.Ra5! (58.Kc6? runs into 58...Kg5 59.Kd5 g3 60.Ke4 g2 61.Ra1 Kg4=) 58...g5 59.Kc6 Kh5 60.Kd5 g3 61.Ra2 Kg4 62.Ke4 Kh3
63.Ra8 and Black can promote, but the knight will not survive long: 63...g2 64.Kf3 g1N+ 65.Kf2 Kh2 66.Rh8+ Nh3+ 67.Kf3+- (Ivanchuk). 49...Kh6 50.Rb8 Ra3 51.Ra8 Kg7 52.Kc5 Ra1 53.Kb6 Rb1+ 54.Ka7 Rb4 55.Rb8 55.Rc8 Kh6 (55...Rxg4? 56.Kb6 Rb4+ 57.Ka5 Rb1 58.a7 Ra1+ 59.Kb6 Rb1+ 60.Kc6 Rc1+ 61.Kd7+-) 56.Rc5 Rxg4 57.Kb6 Rf4 58.a7 Rf8=. 55...Rxg4 56.Rb5 56.Rb7+ Kh6=. 56...Ra4 57.Rxg5 57.Kb6 g4 58.a7 g3=. 57...Rb4 58.Rc5 Kh6 59.Rc6 Kh5 60.Rb6 Rf4 61.Rb5+ g5 62.Kb6 Rf6+ 63.Ka5 Rf7 64.Kb6 Rf6+ 65.Ka5 ½–½ Exercises (Solutions next month) E101.01 Kurnosov,I (2658) - Lalic,B (2508)
Alexander Baburin playing for the winning Wood Green team spotted the way to draw for Black during the match. Can you do the same? E101.02 Kamsky,G (2725) - Kramnik,V (2759)
Kamsky missed the win. Can you do better? Addendum 100.01 Tigran V Petrosian
- Bobby Fischer
IM Lawrence Day pointed out that in the line 57.Rh7 (57.Rh1 was the game continuation.) 57...c6 58.Rd7+ Kc5 59.Rd1 c3 60.f5 Rd8? 61.Rc1 Kd4 62.Kf4 Kd3 63.f6 Kd2 64.Ra1 the originally given 64...Ra8? loses directly to 65.Rxa8+-. Charles Sulllivan then inserted the moves 64...c2 65.g5 to deal with this problem and continued analogously to the line given in Endgame Corner 100 with 65...Ra8
66.Rh1? Re8! 67.f7 Re1!=. But now I asked Charles about 66.Rg1 with the idea 66...Re8 67.f7 Re1 68.Rg2+ Re2 69.Kf3 Rxg2 70.Kxg2 c1Q 71.f8Q
White wins according to the tablebase. Sullivan confirmed the line and concluded that 60...Rd8? does lose - only 60...Kb4!! works. Furthermore, IM Day wrote on chessgames.com: “In his 2007 notes Fischer takes the ? away from 57.Rh1 claiming 57.Rh7 c5! 58.Rd7+ Ke6 59.Rd1 Rb8 60.f5+! Kf6! (improving on 60..Ke5 in M60MG) 61.Kf4 c3 62.g5+ Kg7 63.Rc1 Rb4+! 64.Ke5 Rb3 65.Rc2 Ra3 66.Kd5 Rb3!! is a draw because 67.Kxc5? Rb2! 68.Rxc3 Rg2 collecting the pawns or 67.Ke4 Ra3 68.Kd3! c4+! 69.Kxc4 Ra5! 70.f6+ Kf7 71.Rg2 c2! drawing. Having found the elusive draw he then improves with 57..Ra8!! since 58.Rxc7?? [sic] Ra3+ cuts off the K drawing easily while 58.g5! c5 59.Rd7+ Ke6 60.Rd1 c3 61.Re1+ Kf7 will draw (after two paragraphs of analysis) or 58.Rd7+ Kc6! more easily.” To which Charles Sullivan comments: “So yes, it certainly seems appropriate to say that "My 61 Memorable Games" (which cannot be bought in a store and which might not be by Fischer) contains one drawing line from Endgame Corner #100 and also the new 57.Rh7 Ra8! drawing idea.” |
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