Issue 24
Magazine
GM Mihail Marin
GM Valeriy Aveskulov
GM Aleksander Delchev
IM Yochanan Afek
GM Davorin Kuljasevic
CONTENTS
3
Master the Leningrad Structure (GM Mihail Marin)
3
6
9
11
15
17
21
23
25
Marin,Mihail (2525) - Domingo,Ruben (2318) / Benasque (10.19) 13.07.2019
Jacobsen,Bo - Karpov,Anatoly /URS-Scandinavia U20 1968
Bartel,Mateusz (2594) - Shen,Yang (2448) / Moscow Aeroflot op-A (9) 25.02.2009
Carlsen,Magnus (2862) - Petersen,Caleb / Norway sim chess.com INT rapid (1)
Marin,Mihail (2531) - Loew,Gerald (2163) / Porto Mannu op 11th (4) 03.06.2019
Marin,Mihail (2531) - Zimina,Olga (2367) / Porto Mannu op 11th (6) 05.06.2019
Marin,Mihail (2573) - Bindrich,Falko (2512) / Dresden Porzellan Cup rapid (8) 17.1.10
Marin,Mihail (2517) - Bindrich,Falko (2527) / Dresden Porzellan Cup rapid (2) 4.1.08
Maghsoodloo,Parham (2656) - Bindrich,Falko (2571) / Dresden Porzellan Cup rapid (8) 9.8.19
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36
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38
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98
104
Saving Lost Positions (GM Valeriy Aveskulov)
Solodovnichenko,Yuri (2436) - Filippov,Valerij (2605) / Bydgoszcz Bank Pocztowy op (4)1999
LuckyTiger - oosters / WL2019: Team Ukraine vs Team Holland
Anand,Viswanathan (2779) - Navara,David (2739) / Shamkir Chess (1) 2019
Aveskulov,Valeriy - Diulger,Alexey / Lugansk IM-tournament 2004
Kramnik,Vladimir (2777) - Svidler,Peter (2747) / Corus Wijk aan Zee (4) 2004
Giri,A. (2783)- Shankland,S. (2725) / 81st Tata Steel GpA (11.4) 25.01.2019
Kovchan,Alexander (2592)- Grinev,Valeriy (2409) / Ukrainian championship (3) 2017
Aveskulov,Valeriy (2535) - Belov,Vladimir (2571) / Russian Team Championship (6) 2008
Reutsky,Sergey (2325) - Aveskulov,Valeriy (2457) / Femida (9) 2005
LuckyTiger - VladDobrov / Live Chess Chess.com 2019
Wang Hao (2727) - Gelfand,Boris (2739) / Moscow Tal Memorial 5th (7) 2010
Aronian,Levon (2724) - Bacrot,Etienne (2725) / FIDE World Cup (6.2)2005
Typical Pawn Structures in Slav Defence (GM Aleksander Delchev)
Pawn Structure 1 - The Endgame
Model Game 1.1 : Skembris,S -Titov
Examples 1.1 -10
Pawn Structure 2 - Model Game 1 : Gurevich,M- Malich Germany 1992
Model Game 2 : Flear,G-Garcia Palermo / Aosta Germany 08.12.1990
Examples 1 -10
Practical Endgame Miniatures (IM Yochanan Afek)
A. Wilhelm Steinitz / Schachzeitung 1862
B. John Nunn / Due Alfieri 1983
C. Vladimir Akopyan / Schach 2004
Exercises 1 - 21
Endgame Series 24 (GM Davorin Kuljasevic)
Kotov,Alexander - Botvinnik,Mikhail / URS-ch22 Final (6) 19.02.1955
Grischuk,Alexander (2759) - Dominguez Perez,Leinier (2763) / FIDE World Cup (4.1) 20.09.2019
Nigmatov,Ortik (2494) - Rajdeep,Sarkar (2384) / Wch U20 58th (7) 21.10.2019
Caruana,Fabiano (2819) - Carlsen,Magnus (2875) / Croatia GCT Zagreb (3) 28.06.2019
Firouzja,Alireza (2723) - Carlsen,M (2872) / World Blitz 2019 (19.1) 30.12.2019
Aronian,Levon (2772) - Anand,Viswanathan (2757) / Tata Steel India blitz (2) 25.11.2019
Exercise 1 - 6
Modern Chess Magazine
Master the Leningrad
Structure
3
Marin,Mihail
Domingo,Ruben
Benasque (10.19)
2525
2318
13.07.2019
1.f4 d5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.g3 c5 4.Bg2 Nc6
5.0-0 g6 6.d3 Bg7 7.Qe1 0-0 8.e4
Rb8 9.Nc3 d4
a
The Leningrad Bird and Dutch openings,
to which I will from now on refer as
"Leningrad", in order to simplify the
discourse, are mainly positional
systems. We spend a tempo on move 1
to advance the f-pawn, short term
weakening our king without gaining any
immediate compensation. The
opportunity to start dynamic play will
come later, in the early middlegame.
The main aim of the Leningrad is to
achieve an improved version of the
King's Indian. Later in the opening, after
the centre is blocked with ...e7-e5 and
d4-d5, Black needs to spend some time
to achieve ...f7-f5 (usually with ... Nf6d7, ...f7-f5 and then ...Nd7-f6). If the
same structure arises via the Leningrad
move order, this implies having saved
two whole tempi. While this surely
sounds like the optimal scenario and it
usually leads to comfortable play, it does
not always lead to a clear advantage,
due to some strategic limitations of the
King's Indian itself. In fact, things can
remain interesting and far from onesided. Here is a typical example from a
recent Bird game of mine.
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10.Nd1 With the pawn on f4 already,
this is an entirely adequate retreat, as
the knight can later jump to f4.
[ I rejected 10.Ne2 , which would be
typical for the Mar del Plata King's
Indian, on account of Ng4
( Here we see a negative difference
compared to the King's Indian: The
e3 square is weak. During the game
I also thought that Black could first
insert 10...Nb4 , but instead of 11.
Qd1 White has 11.Nexd4! ) 11.h3
Ne3 12.Bxe3 dxe3 13.e5 f6
( Necessary, in order to activate the
bishop. 13...Nd4 14.Nfxd4 cxd4
15.Qb4 wins both pawns. ) 14.Qc3
with interesting play in which Black
seems to have sufficient resources. ]
10...Re8
[ Black does right delaying 10...e5
as in the game White will have to
spend a tempo on h2-h3. 11.f5
( 11.Nf2 may lead to a transposition
to the game. ) 11...gxf5 This does
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4
[ But here Black could have tried
not turn out well, but otherwise White
13...Nh5!? , as after 14.Ng4 he has
will gradually build his pawn attack.
exf4 15.gxf4 f5 with complications. ]
12.exf5 Bxf5 ( 12...e4 fails to achieve
counterplay: 13.dxe4 Re8 14.Bf4 Ra8 14.axb5 axb5 15.fxe5 I decided that
this was the simplest way to activate
15.Nh4 ) 13.Nxe5 with lots of
my knight on f2.
weaknesses in Black's position. ]
[ I was not sure whether 15.f5
11.Nf2
would still be working, as there would
[ As shown later, e4-e5 is a thematic
be no immediate pressure along the
move, but here I thought that it would
f-file, but things seem to work out
free Black's hands too early. 11.e5
well for White anyway. The main
Nd5 12.Qe2 b6 13.Nf2 f5
Even though the bishop on g7 will
plan is g3-g4-g5, Ng4 and so on.
be passive for some while, after
gxf5 ( Blocking the kingside with
blocking the kingside Black should
15...h6 16.g4 g5 is not entirely
be safe enough. ]
satisfactory either: 17.h4 Nh7
11...b5 12.h3
18.hxg5 hxg5 19.Nh1 f6 20.Ng3
[ A more restrictive and accurate
followed by Kf2, Rh1, Rh5, with a
move order is 12.a4 a6 13.axb5
typical Mar del Plata King's Indian
axb5 14.h3 , possibly transposing to
attack. With his knight on h7 Black
the game. ]
cannot create strong queenside
12...e5
counterplay. ) 16.exf5 Bxf5 17.Nh4
[ 12...Nh5 is ineffective due to
Bd7 ( Or if 17...Ne7 18.Nxf5 Nxf5
13.Ng4 , when the knight is
19.Ng4 Nxg4 20.Rxf5 , retrieving
misplaced on h5. ]
the pawn and keeping fantastic
13.a4
control over the light squares. )
18.Bg5 Ne7 ( 18...h6 just offers
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White a free tempo: 19.Bxf6 Bxf6
20.Ne4!
Due to his overall activity,
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(more or less forced due to the threat
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Nf5) 21.gxh4
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It is always useful to be active on both
wings. Before opening the f-file, I
wanted to have the a-file for the other
rook, too. 13...a6
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Modern Chess Magazine
with threats such as Nf6+, Nxc5, Nd6,
when Ra6 also is a permanent
theme. ) 19.Ne4 Nxe4 20.Qxe4
Despite the missing pawn, White is
dominating the whole board. ]
15...Nd7
[ During the game I was a bit more
worried about 15...Nxe5 16.Nxe5
Rxe5 17.Bf4 Nh5! 18.Bxe5 Bxe5
19.Nh1 At this height, Black has
reasonable compensation for the
exchange, but since pawns are
equal, White should still have the
better chances. ]
16.Bg5!
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21.Qf2 When putting an eye on the
pawn on d4, I wanted to give play a
global character, with pressure on both
wings.
[ But the simple 21.g4 Bd7 22.Qg3
Rbe8 23.Bf4 Qb6 24.g5
followed by h4-h5 looks very
promising, as White retains the
better structure. ]
21...f6
[ Black could have prevented my next
move with 21...b4 but after 22.b3
White would be absolved of any
queenside worries and ready to
return to the aforementioned plan. ]
22.b4!
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A typical intermediate move, starting
Black is hanging on the kingside and in
the fight for the square f6. 16...Qc7
the centre now. 22...Bd7
17.Ng4 Re6 This fails to keep the
[ 22...cxb4 23.Qxd4 offers White an
bishops' pair, but my opponent might
overwhelming pawn advantage in the
have thought that my bishop would be
centre. ]
more dangerous on f6 than on h6.
23.bxc5
[ Actually, White has just a stable
[ This is premature, but I intuitively felt
advantage in both cases: 17...Ncxe5
that my opponent was tempted to
18.Nfxe5 Nxe5 19.Nf6+ Bxf6
trap my bishop and I had anticipated
20.Bxf6 Be6 21.g4 Nd7 22.Bg5
that would be the wrong plan.
followed by Qf2, Bf4, g4-g5. ]
***Objectively it was better to keep
18.Nh6+ Bxh6
the tension: 23.Bf4 Rc8 24.h4 Qd6
[ Against 18...Kf8 there are many
( Planning ...Qe7. For the time being
winning moves, from which I had
Black cannot weaken the defence on
planned to play 19.Nxd4!+- ]
e5 as after 24...Qb6 25.Bxe5!
19.Bxh6 Ncxe5 20.Nxe5 Nxe5
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White wins a pawn. ) 25.c3!
The perfect scenario, with Black's
centre completely hanging. Qe7
( Relatively best. If 25...dxc3
26.bxc5 Qxc5 27.d4±; 25...Nxd3
does not work either: 26.Bxd6 Nxf2
27.e5! Clearing the long diagonal.
fxe5 28.bxc5+- followed by Bd5 and
Ra7. ) 26.Bxe5 fxe5 27.cxd4 cxd4
28.Ra7 Black faces threats from both
sides. Rec6 29.Bh3 R6c7 30.Bxd7
Rxd7 31.Rxd7 Qxd7 32.Qf6 Qe8
33.Qd6
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with a very dangerous intrusion by
White. ]
23...g5?
[ Justifying my last move. Better was
23...Qxc5 24.Bf4 , when Black can
consider ...b5-b4-b3, with chances to
hold. ]
24.Qxd4 Nf7 25.Rxf6 Nxh6 26.Qd5!
[ 26.Rxe6 Bxe6 27.Qf6 also wins,
but my move is more restrictive,
while also setting a trap. Besides
27...Nf7, which would transpose to
the game, Black could keep the
bishop with 27...Bf7 or else try
Qxc5+ 28.Kh2 Bxh3 I did not see
major problems here, for instance
29.Bxh3 g4 30.Qxh6 but one can
always overlook something, so the
more restrictive the better. ]
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26...Nf7
[ Much to my disappointment, my
opponent understood what was
cooking for him after 26...Qc6 :
27.Qxg5+ Kh8 28.Rxh6! Rxh6
29.Qe5+ Kg8 30.Qxb8+ ]
27.Rxe6 Bxe6 28.Qxe6 Qxc5+
29.Kh2 Qxc2 30.Rf1 Rf8 White is
obviously winning, but I managed to
create certain technical problems for
myself. 31.Qd5
[ The best way to defend d3 was
31.Rf5! , threatening Rxg5. Qd2
32.e5+- followed by Qd5 and e6. ]
1-0
Jacobsen,Bo
Karpov,Anatoly
URS-Scandinavia U20
1968
In the comments to the previous game
I mentioned the possibility of e4-e5
(with the d-file closed). The main
reason I rejected that was that Black
had the response ...Nd5. But if he does
not have this possibility, the pawn's
advance usually offers White an
advantage. Here is an example:
***Karpov was just 17 years old, but
one year later he won the under 20
World championship, so we can infer
that he was a reasonably strong player
already. And yet, he got completely
crushed by the aforementioned plan.
But what makes the game even more
instructive is the alternation of
inaccuracies on both sides, allowing us
to look at several typical structures and
aspects. 1.f4 d5 2.Nf3 g6 3.g3 Bg7
4.Bg2 Nf6 5.0-0 0-0 6.d3 b6 7.e4
Bb7?!
[ As mentioned in the theory
database, Black gets reasonable
play after 7...dxe4 8.dxe4 Nxe4 ]
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Modern Chess Magazine
8.e5!
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Ne8 9.g4?!
[ This is premature. Attacking with g4
is part of the general plan, but first
White should consolidate e5 with
9.d4 c5 ( If 9...f6 10.c4!? dxc4
11.Nc3 with excellent play for the
pawn. The position resembles an
improved version of the Catalan
Gambits, as Black's knights are
passive. ) 10.Be3 or 10.c3. ]
9...f6?! This premature weakening of
the e6-square allows White to take over
the initiative.
[ Better was 9...c5 and only after
10.d4 f6 True, White can
consolidate with 11.c3 Nc6 12.Be3
but after Qd7 13.h3 the moves g3g4 and h2-h3 can be considered a
waste of time, as White's attaking
chances are not clear yet. ]
10.Qe1
[ A reasonable move, but less strong
than 10.Nd4! Qd7 ( 10...Qc8
does not run into e5-e6 but the
queen is more passive on this
square. 11.f5! fxe5 12.Ne6 Rf7
13.c4 c6 14.Nc3 Qd7 15.Qf3
, with serious problems for Black. )
11.e6 Qa4 Otherwise f4-f5 crushes
Black. 12.Be3 f5 13.Nc3 Qb4
14.a3 Qd6 ( 14...Qxb2 15.Na4
wins the queen for insufficient
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compensation. ) 15.gxf5, with an
advantage in development and a
strong attack. ]
10...e6?! This leads to a specific
structure, with the square on f6 weak.
[ Karpov might have started fearing
dynamic ideas, after for instance
10...c5 11.f5!? , but things are not
one-sided here. ]
11.Nc3
[ With this structure the best plan is
to take over the control of the e5square with pieces with 11.exf6!
Here, Black has additional problems
as e6 is hanging. Qxf6 12.Ng5 Bc8
13.c4 c6 14.Nc3 with active play. ]
11...f5?
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An awful decision, equivalent to
strategic surrendering. The bishop on
g7 is hopelessly passive and will also
be vulnerable soon. One way or
another, Black should have accepted
playing with a weak e5 square. 12.gxf5
gxf5
[ 12...exf5 avoids the attack along
the g-file, but after 13.Nd4 Qd7
14.b4 Black's centre is under
pressure. For instance, c5?
more or less loses to 15.bxc5 bxc5
16.Nb3 Na6 17.Na5+- ]
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Modern Chess Magazine
13.Kh1 The whole regrouping initiated
by this move is simple yet very
effective. 13...d4 14.Ne2 c5 15.Rg1
Nc6 16.Bd2 a5 17.a3 a4
By temporarily threatening b2-b4, White
has managed to secure his queenside
against ...Nb4 and prepared the
development of the queen's rook. The
regrouping can continue now. 18.Ng3
Ne7 19.Nh5 Bxf3
[ A sad decision, but if 19...Ng6
20.Ng5 Black is in trouble. ]
20.Bxf3 Ra7 Hoping to provide
additional kingside defence after ...Ng6,
but White is faster. 21.Rxg7+!
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[ 27.Bc6! was decisive: Nxf6
28.Qxf6+ Kg8 29.Qxe6+ Qf7
30.Qd6 , threatening both h4-h5 and
Bd5. ]
27...Qe7!?
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Nxg7 22.Nf6+ Kf7 о / \
[ 22...Kh8 23.Qh4+- ]
23.Qg3 The series of quiet moves
continues after the exchange sacrifice.
The point is that Black's king is
paralyzed and so are some of his
defenders. 23...Rh8 24.Rg1 Qf8
[ If 24...Ng6 the simplest White can
do is 25.Nxh7 Rxh7 26.Qxg6+ Kg8
27.Qxe6+ with overwhelming
compensation for the exchange. ]
25.Qg5 Ng6 26.h4
[ 26.Nxh7 was also strong. ]
26...Ne8 27.h5?! This allows Black to
prolong his agony.
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28.Nxe8 Kxe8 29.hxg6 hxg6+
30.Kg2 Qxg5+ 31.fxg5 Rc7
Strictly speaking material is balanced,
but the bishops are much stronger than
a rook and a pawn here. 32.Rh1?
[ White should have kept the rooks on
the board as the counterattack along
the h-file is not effective. A possible
plan was 32.c4 dxc3 ( Or if
32...Rch7 33.Bf4 Ke7 34.Bd1 Ra8
35.Bg3 , defending all the important
squares along the h-file. Kf7 36.Bf3
Rc8 37.Rb1 Rhh8 38.b4 axb3
39.Rxb3 Rb8 40.a4+- ) 33.bxc3 Kd8
34.Rb1 Rch7 35.Bf4
White's task is to keep the h-file
defended and prepare d3-d4. Kc7
36.Bg3 Rd8 37.Rd1 Rhd7 38.Be2
Kb8 39.Bf2+-
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soon followed by d3-d4. ]
32...Rg8?
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Bartel,Mateusz
Shen,Yang
Moscow Aeroflot op-A (9)
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Black should hold after the rook
exchange, as the position will remain
blocked. 33.Rh4
[ White loses ambition. Once again,
he could have played 33.c4! ]
33...Kf7 34.Rh7+ Rg7 35.Rh8 Rg8
36.Rh7+ Rg7 37.Rh4 Rg8 38.Bd1
Kg7 39.Kf2 Rd8 40.Be2 Rcd7
1/2
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25.02.2009
Another typical situation occurs when
White plays e4-e5 after the exchange
on e4. This also counts as an
improved King's Indian, as the e5-pawn
is safely defended. If, as in the main
lines, the black bishop is on g7, there
is a risk for Black that the bishop will
stay passive for a long time. This is
even more likely if for any reason
Black has played ...e7-e6 on the way,
as in the following example. 1.f4 d5
2.Nf3 g6 3.g3 Bg7 4.Bg2 Nf6 5.0-0
0-0 6.d3 c6 7.e3 a5 8.Qe2 a4 9.a3
Nfd7 10.Nc3 b5 11.e4 e6
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12.Be3
[ In principle, 12.e5 offers White an
advantage as ...f7-f6 would weaken
e5. But Bartel does well in
maintaining the tension until the
mobilization of his pieces is complete,
as the pressure on d5 restricts
Black's counterplay. And as we will
see, after ...dxe4, dxe4 the advance
e4-e5 will be even stronger. ]
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12...Na6 13.Qf2 Rb8 14.h3 Bb7
15.g4
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Since ...f7-f6 leaves Black with even
more serious central weaknesses than
with the d-pawns on the board, she is
doomed to play a piece down for
practical reasons. 18...b4 This implies
making a new concession on the next
move. 19.axb4 Bxf3 The only way to
keep the pawn on a4. 20.Bxf3 Rxb4
21.g5!
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dxe4? Black loses his patience and
decides to start advancing his
queenside pawns.
[ The immediate 15...c5 allows
16.exd5 Bxd5!? ( 16...exd5 17.d4
takes control over the dark
squares. ) 17.f5! ( 17.Nxd5 runs into
Bxb2 , retrieving the knight soon. )
17...Bc6 18.Ng5 Bxg2 19.Qxg2
with a kingside initiative. ]
[ Black should have continued his
neutral policy with, say, 15...Qe7 ]
16.dxe4 c5 17.Rad1 Qe7 18.e5
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Due to Black's pressure on e5, the
plan based on f4-f5 was not very
realistic. After the text move White will
sooner or later install the knight on f6
with crushing pressure. 21...Rc8
22.Ra1 Rxb2 23.Nxa4 Rb4 24.Nc3
Nc7 25.Ra7
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h6 As we will see, opening the h-file
offers White additional ideas.
[ But even if Black plays the same as
in the game without the intermediate
pawn moves, her position is
hopeless: 25...c4 26.Rd1 Rb2
27.Bc6 Nb8 28.Bc5 traps the
queen. ]
[ For this reason it makes sense to
defend c5 with 25...Rc4 , but here,
too, White's domination is
overwhelming. 26.Ne4 Nb5 27.Rb7
Nd4 28.c3 Nxf3+ 29.Qxf3 Rb8
30.Rxb8+ Nxb8 31.Ra1+a
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31...Qxd7 32.Qh4 Nd4 33.Be4 Qd8
34.Kf2
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As if the passive bishop on g7 was
not enough, the black rook is also
trapped on c4. ]
26.h4 hxg5 27.hxg5 c4 28.Ne4
[ Simplest now. But 28.Rd1
also wins, of course. ]
28...Nb5 29.Nf6+ Bxf6 30.gxf6 Qd8
31.Rxd7!? Gaining time for the attack.
[ There was nothing wrong with
31.Rb7 , followed by the same plan
as in the game. ]
[ But even more remarkably, White
could have played 31.Qh4 at once:
Nxa7 32.Kf2+- followed by Rh1. ]
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1-0
Carlsen,Magnus
2862
Petersen,Caleb
Norway sim chess.com INT rapid (1)
In a similar structure but with the pawn
on e7 still, Black has chances to react
with ...f7-f6 in due time. But if he fails
to do that, playing a piece down (the
spectator on g7) should end into a
fiasco. Here is an illustrative game
between players of different class. 1.f4
d5 2.Nf3 c6 3.g3 Nf6 4.Bg2 g6
5.0-0 Bg7 6.d3 Na6 7.Nc3 0-0
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8.e4 For reasons explained below, this
is premature, at least of White intends
to prove an advantage.
[ Since Black was not threatening ...
e7-e5, the slower 8.e3 followed by
Qe2 and e3-e4, as in the previous
game, would have been preferable. ]
8...dxe4 9.dxe4 Nc7?!
[ The player with less space should
aim for piece exchange. This
classical rule applies here. 9...Qxd1!
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10.Rxd1 Nd7!? Anticipating e4-e5.
As we will see from the way the
game went, the passive ...c7-c6 has
turned more useful than ...c7-c5,
when the control over d5 and the
pressure along the long diagonal
would have been in White's favour.
11.Be3 ( 11.e5 runs into f6
, a move which would have been
riskier with queens on the board.
12.exf6 exf6 The position is about
equal, as after 13.f5 Nb6
White cannot maintain his
domination. ) 11...Nb6 12.e5 Nc4
12
13.Bf2!?
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Returning with the bishop to c1
would allow ...f7-f6. Nxb2 14.Rd4
Threatening to trap the knight. c5
15.Re4 Bf5 16.Rb1!? Bxe4
17.Nxe4 Na4 18.Rxb7 White has
good compensation for the exchange
but Black can hold his own with a
few accurate moves. Rfb8
( Black does not have the time to
defend the pawn with 18...Rfe8?
due to 19.Bf1 Nb4 20.Bb5+-)
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19.Rxe7 Bf8 Recycling the bishop.
20.Rd7 Nb6 ( 20...Rd8? allows
21.Rb7 , and if Rdb8? 22.Nf6+
Kg7 23.Ng5 Rxb7 24.Bxb7+- )
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21.Rd1 Rd8 22.Rc1 Be7 23.Bf1
with interesting play but somewhat
equal chances. ]
10.e5?!
[ White misses his chance to keep
the queens on the board: 10.Qe2!
, for instance b6 11.Rd1 Qe8 12.e5
Ba6 13.Qe1
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[ 11...f6 is by far less effective now,
not only because the presence of
queens implies some risk after
weakening the kingside, but also
because the black queen does not
have any good squares. 12.c4 Nb6
13.Qc2 Bf5 ( If 13...Nd7 14.exf6
exf6 15.Be3
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with a crushing space advantage. ]
10...Nfd5?!
[ Once again the queen exchange
would have offered chances to
equalize. 10...Qxd1 11.Rxd1 Nfd5
( More active than 11...Nd7 12.Ne4
f6 13.exf6 exf6 14.Nd6
with certain pressure. ) 12.Ne4 f6
13.c4 Nb6 14.b3 Nd7 Now that the
long diagonal has been weakened,
this knight retreat is more effective.
15.exf6 Nxf6 16.Nxf6+ exf6 17.Ba3
Rf7 White does not have resources
to maintain his initiative: 18.Rd8+
Bf8 19.Rad1 Bf5 20.Rxa8 Nxa8
21.Rd8 Kg7!= ]
11.Ne4 White can count on an
advantage already. 11...Bf5
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followed by Rad1 and Rfe1, when
the black queen would be very
passive. ) 14.Be3 fxe5 15.Nxe5
Ne6 ( Or if 15...Bxe5 16.fxe5 Ne6
17.Rae1 Qc7 18.Bh6 , more or less
paralyzing Black's kingside. )
16.Rad1 Qc7 17.Nf3!?
White retains his space advantage
and better structure. The pin can
be removed at any time with Nh4.
***With hindsight, this would have
been Black's best chance to stay in
the game, though, as his bishop on
g7 would have been alive. ]
12.Qe2 Ne6 13.c4 Black starts losing
ground in the centre. 13...Qb6+
14.Kh1 Bxe4 An obvious concession,
but there was no good continuation
available.
[ If 14...Nb4 15.a3 Na6 16.b4, with
overwhelming space advantage. ]
[ Or if 14...Ndc7 15.Nf2 Threatening
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to trap the bishop with g3-g4. Nd4
( 15...h5 16.Be3 Qa6 17.Nh4
is even worse. ) 16.Nxd4 Qxd4
17.Be3 Qd7 18.g4 Be6 19.Rad1,
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20...Qc8 21.f5!
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and once again the black queen will
be very passive. ]
15.Qxe4 Nc5 16.Qe2 Nb4 17.Be3
Nba6
[ After 17...a5 18.Ng5 Nba6 White
can start a similar attack as in the
game with 19.f5 Bxe5 20.Rae1
Bg7 21.fxg6 hxg6 22.Qg4+-]
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18.a3 Qc7 19.b4 Ne6 20.Bh3
Threatening Bxe6 followed by h2-h4,
when the bishop on g7 would remain a
spectator until the end of the game.
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With all Black's pieces passive (and
one of them pinned) this attack is
decisive. 21...gxf5 22.Bxf5 Qc7
23.Qc2 Bxe5 24.Rae1 Bf6 25.Qe4
Kh8 26.Bxh7 Ng7 27.Ng5 Bxg5
28.Bxg5 f6 29.Be3
[ White is winning at this stage, and
the clearest way was 29.Qh4!+- fxg5
30.Qh6
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mating soon. In the game Carlsen
started playing imprecisely but still
won a long ending. ]
1-0
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Modern Chess Magazine
2531
2163
03.06.2019
Marin,Mihail
Loew,Gerald
Porto Mannu op 11th (4)
Since e4-e5 is serious strategic threat,
Black's usual reaction to the central
expansion is ...dxe4, dxe4 ...e7-e5 with
two possible scenarios. We will first
investigate the most aggressive of them,
based on the positional pawn sacrifice f4f5. 1.f4 d5 2.Nf3 g6 3.g3 Bg7
4.Bg2 Nf6 5.0-0 0-0 6.d3 b6 7.Qe1
Bb7 8.h3 Nbd7 9.Nc3 Re8 10.e4
dxe4 11.dxe4 e5 12.f5!
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gxf5?!
[ This is at least risky in most cases,
but otherwise the kingside pressure
would be annoying. For instance:
12...Nc5 13.Bg5 h6 14.Rd1 Qe7
15.Bxf6 Bxf6 16.b4 Nd7 ( Or if
16...Na6 17.fxg6 fxg6 18.Nd5 Bxd5
19.exd5 Qxb4 20.d6 cxd6 21.Nd2
wins material. ) 17.Qd2 Qxb4
18.fxg6 fxg6 19.Qxh6 Bg7 20.Qg5
Nf8 21.Nd5 Bxd5 22.Rxd5
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followed by h3-h4. ]
13.Nh4!
[ The key move, heading for play on
light squares. 13.exf5? e4
would offer Black active play in the
centre. ]
13...fxe4
[ Or if 13...Nxe4 14.Nxf5 Nec5
15.Bxb7 Nxb7 16.Bh6 ]
14.Nf5 Despite Black's two extra pawns
White has an overwhelming advantage
due to the huge knight on f5. 14...Re6
15.Bg5 White is not in a hurry to
retrieve one pawn as this would
simplify the position a bit. 15...Qf8
16.Rd1 Bc6 Preparing the following
move. 17.g4
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Planning Qh4. 17...e3!? A desperate
attempt at freeing his position. 18.Bxc6
Rxc6 19.Qxe3
[ I calculated 19.Rxd7 Nxd7
20.Ne7+ Kh8 21.Nxc6 but
thought that after Qc5 the knight
would be trapped. I missed the
following sequence: 22.Nd8!!
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21.Qf3+- wins a rook. ]
20.Bh6
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The start of the decisive attack, based
on the seemingly paradoxical exchange
of the "bad" bishop. 20...Nxg4
[ 20...Bxh6 21.Nxh6+ Kh8 22.g5
wins. ]
21.hxg4 Bxh6 22.Nxh6+ Rxh6
23.Rxd7 Qg7 24.g5 Rh5 25.Ne4
Rh4 26.Rfxf7
e2+ 23.Rf2 f6 24.Nf7+ Kg8
25.Nh6+ Kh8 26.Bc1+- , keeping
the extra piece. ]
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19...Re8
[ 19...Qc5 runs into 20.Qxc5
Rxc5 21.Be3+- Black has to
sacrifice the exchange on c3
without real compensation, as if
Rc4 22.g5 wins a knight. ]
[ Or if 19...Kh8 20.Nxg7 Qxg7
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2531
2367
05.06.2019
Marin,Mihail
Zimina,Olga
Porto Mannu op 11th (6)
The pawn sacrifice f4-f5 does not always
work. Therefore, the second important
scenario involves a White Isolani on e4,
after the exchanges fxe5 or ..exf4, Bxf4.
This usually yields White active piece
play, as in the next example: 1.f4 d5
2.Nf3 g6 3.g3 Bg7 4.Bg2 Nh6 5.e3!?
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14.Bh3!? This was a hard move to find.
[ There are several reasons why
14.f5? does not work here. The rook
has left the f-file and cannot
contribute to the blockade, the knight
on h6 controls f5 and finally the
absence of queens eliminates the
possibility of an attack against the
king. For instance: gxf5 15.Nh4
Ne7 16.Bxh6 Bxh6 17.Nxf5 Nxf5
18.exf5 Rd2]
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This is a different system than examined
in the theory database. White prevents
the blocking ...d5-d4 at the cost of one
tempo. 5...c5 6.d3 Nc6 7.0-0 0-0
8.c3 b6 9.Na3 Bb7
[ Against the more active 9...Ba6
I considered 10.Rb1 Qc7
11.b4 but this is not likely to offer
more than just adequate play. ]
10.e4 dxe4 11.dxe4 Ba6 12.Qxd8
Raxd8 13.Re1 e5
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[ If 14.fxe5 the immediate re-capture
leaves the knight on h6 hanging, but
Black has Ng4 ]
[ I also considered 14.h3 , renewing
the threat of fxe5, but was not
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satisfied with the position arising after
exf4 15.Bxf4 ( Or if 15.gxf4 f6
followed by ...Nf7. White's pawns are
not easy to advance. ) 15...f6 followed
by ...Nf7 with safe control over e5. It
would have been so good to activate
the bishop after ...f7-f6... And this
automatically suggested the game
move as best! ]
14...exf4 Necessary in view of the
threat fxe5. 15.Bxf4
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[ With the bishop on h3, we both
considered 15...f6 risky. In fact,
while enjoying a pleasant position
White would not have effective
threats: 16.Bc7 Rde8 ( 16...Rd3
leads to favourable simplifications
for White: 17.Bf1 Rd7 18.Bxa6
Rxc7 19.Bb5 , planning Nc4 and
Rad1 and leaving Black weak on the
light squares. ) 17.Bd7 Re7 18.Bxc6
Rxc7 19.Bd5+ Kh8 20.Nc4
with certain domination but nothing
concrete yet. ]
16.Bxc8 Rxc8 17.Nc4 Rcd8 18.a4
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We have finally reached the typical
structure with an isolani on e4. Strictly
speaking, Black's structure looks better,
but this is not a one-sided affair. The
queenside pawns are latently
vulnerable, as the game continuation
will soon show. On the other hand,
White's minor pieces are more active,
except for the knight on a3, which is
dominated by the bishop on a6. Should
this knight jump to c4, followed by a2a4-a5, things will become critical for
Black. And finally, there is the
weakness on d5. White can hope to
install a piece there in the future.
15...Bc8?! This throws away Black's
only trump, the domination over the
knight on a3. She obviously wanted to
free her knight on h6.
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With all his pieces optimally placed,
White has at least more pleasant play
now. 18...Ng4 Fighting hard to activate
her knight.
[ 18...f6 may still have been a better
idea. ]
19.e5 Illustrating the Isolani's natural
tendency to advance, in this case
taking the f6-square away from the
knight. 19...Rd3
[ Preparing the supposedly freeing ...
f7-f6, as after 19...f6 20.exf6 Nxf6
21.Re6 Rc8 22.Kg2 White retains
excellent central activity. ]
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20.Kg2 f6 21.exf6 Nxf6
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The structure has turned almost
symmetrical, but the difference
between the enemy minor pieces
activity is clearer than ever. The c3
and b2-pawns restrict the bishop and
the queen's knight, while the knight on
f6 does not have any special
perspectives, either. ***And yet, the
best idea is paradoxically to exchange
Black's knight on c6, in order to invade
on e5 and attack the queenside pawns.
22.Nfe5!
[ 22.Re6 is now easily parried with
Nd8 . This square was not available
in the similar line above. ]
22...Nxe5 23.Nxe5 Rd5 24.Nc6 Rd7
25.Rad1!
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While the main plan is of a strategic
nature, it is clear that White is playing
for the initiative. The last move
completes development and exchanges
Black's only queenside defender.
25...Rxd1
[ 25...Rff7 only transposes after
26.Ne5 Rxd1 27.Rxd1 Rf8 28.Nc6 ]
26.Rxd1 Kf7
[ The pawn on a7 is not really
hanging, as Black can retrieve it
with ...Ra8. For this reason, it makes
no sense to play 26...Ra8?, when
White can cage the rook with
27.Bb8! a6 28.Rd8+ Kf7 29.c4
After White has prevented ... b6-b5,
Black cannot think of any form of
activity. ]
27.a5!
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Adding more pressure. The main threat
is not Nxa7, when ...bxa5 would keep
Black more or less alive, but a5-a6,
creating a permanent target on a7.
27...Re8 28.Kf3 bxa5 More or less
forced in view of the aforementioned
threat. 29.Nxa5 Re6 30.Nc4
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Modern Chess Magazine
[ I rejected 30.Nb7 due to Rb6
without noticing that 31.Nxc5 Rxb2
32.Ra1 wins a pawn. ***But my
move also maintains a stable
advantage due to the better structure
and, as before, superior piece
activity. ]
30...Bf8 31.g4
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Even though Black is in no immediate
danger, this is the kind of ending where
she can never free herself completely,
due to the permanent queenside
weaknesses. In practice, a technical
player should count on a win, and my
opponent cracked under the pressure
some 30 moves later. ***I have
included the rest of the game to
illustrate how such weaknesses can be
telling even after further simplifications.
31...Ke8 32.h3 Be7 33.Ra1 a6
34.Rd1
[ 34.Ne3 Kd7 35.h4 Kc8 36.g5
may have been a more constructive
plan. ]
34...Nd7 35.Bc7 Rc6 36.Bf4 Re6
37.Rd3
[ 37.g5 Nb6 38.Ne3 ]
37...Nb6 38.Nxb6 Rxb6 39.Rd2 Kf7
[ Black should have prevented my
king's activation with 39...Re6! ]
20
40.Ke4 Ke6 41.Re2 h5 42.Kd3+ Kd7
43.Kc4 hxg4 44.hxg4 Rc6
45.Kd5 Rb6
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Due to Black's inaccuracy, White's
advantage has taken concrete contours.
The squares earlier controlled by the
knight are under the king's reign now.
46.Rh2
[ The most technical way was:
46.Be5! , preventing the rook's
activation. Re6 47.Rf2 Rc6
48.Rh2 Rb6 49.Rh7 Ke8 50.Rh8+
( 50.c4 ) 50...Kd7 51.Rb8,
47.winning the pawn on c5 soon. ]
46...Rf6 47.Be5?
[ 47.Be3! maintains the possibility
of transposing above if the rook
defends the pawn on c5. ]
47...Rf1
[ I must confess that I had
hallucinated, thinking that the board
ends on the second rank. I did not
see the last move and considered
only 47...Rf3 48.Rh6+- ]
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48.Re2 Rd1+ 49.Kc4 Rg1 50.Re4
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The game should end in a draw now,
but psychologically the position
remains unpleasant for Black. 50...Rg2
51.b3 Rg1 52.Bg7 Rd1 53.Bh6 Bd6
54.Bg5 Rg1 55.Bh4 Rg2 56.Be1
Kc6 57.Bh4 Kd7 58.Bf6 Kc6 59.Bg5
Rg1 60.Be3 Re1 61.Kd3
The previous manoeuvres did not have
a clear purpose. I tried to imagine
some concrete threats, but also to
confuse my opponent and tire her down.
With the last move I finally reached an
optima regrouping, putting Black a bit
on the edge. With the bishop over
defended, the main threat is Re6.
61...Kd7? This way of parrying the
main threat allows White to display the
secondary one. Short on time already,
my opponent must have used the
method of elimination:
[ 61...Rb1? is ineffective due to
62.Re6 Kd5 63.Rxg6 Rxb3
64.Rg5+ Kc6 ( 64...Be5 65.Bf4
Rxc3+ 66.Kd2 wins the bishop. )
65.Kc4 winning the pawn on c5
soon. ]
[ 61...Kd5? runs into 62.c4+ Kc6
21
63.Re6 ]
[ The key element in White's
regrouping is his king's optimal
placement, by defending the bishop
and staying close to c4. Therefore,
61...Rd1+! was the only saving
move: 62.Kc2 Re1! 63.Kd2 Rb1!
64.Re6 Kd5 65.Rxg6 Rxb3
, and with the king on d2 White
cannot achieve anything. If 66.c4+
Ke5= and Black is safe. ]
62.Ra4!+- White wins the pawn on a6
and activates the king. The game is
over. 62...Rb1 63.Rxa6 Rxb3 64.Kc4
Rb1 65.Bxc5 Bxc5 66.Kxc5 g5
67.Rg6 Ra1 68.Kb4 Rb1+ 69.Kc4
1-0
Marin,Mihail
2573
Bindrich,Falko
2512
Dresden Porzellan Cup rapid (8) 17.1.10
The most natural way of fighting against
White's central expansion is ... d5-d4, in
a moment when the White pawn is on d3
already. Depending on White's reaction,
this can lead to two typical structures.
***We shall first deal with what I would
call "The Dutch Benoni", when White
plays c4. 1.f4 d5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.g3 g6
4.Bg2 Bg7 5.0-0 0-0 6.d3 c5 7.Qe1
d4 8.Na3 Nc6
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9.c3 In the Leningrad Dutch, this is the
setup popularized by Malanjuk starting
with the '80s.
[ As mentioned in the database we
can use our extra tempo in the Bird
opening to speed up our queenside
play with 9.c4 But I have picked up
this game for two important reasons.
First of all, I wanted to avoid quoting
a game used in the theory database
already. Secondly, it makes sense
to use a game of the biggest expert
of this structure ever. ]
9...Nd5 10.Bd2 e5
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Opening the centre is one of the main
plans. We will deal with the positions
where Black focuses on developing his
queenside in the next example. 11.fxe5
Nxe5 12.Nxe5 Bxe5 13.Nc2
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The first critical moment. White has
two main ideas: ... cxd4 followed by
Qf2 and c3-c4 followed by b2-b4.
Black needs a certain accuracy in order
to deal with them both. 13...Bg7?
This takes measures only against the
first threat, but completely neglects the
second.
[ Things are reversed with 13...Rb8?
14.cxd4! ( Black is safe after 14.c4
Nf6 15.b4 b6 , even though White
does not special reasons to complain
either. ) 14...cxd4 15.Qf2 Nf6
16.Bg5 ( 16.Bf4 is less accurate due
to Ng4 17.Qf3 Be6 , and there is
no clear way to win the pawn on d4
yet. ) 16...Kg7 ( 16...Ng4 runs into
17.Qxf7+ Rxf7 18.Bxd8 winning a
pawn. ) 17.Bf4 The pawn is doomed
as Ng4 allows 18.Bxe5+! ]
[ But the correct solution to both
problems is 13...a5! , preventing b2b4 after c3-c4 and preparing an
elegant defence to the second
threat: 14.cxd4 cxd4 15.Qf2 Nf6
16.Bg5 ( 16.Bf4 does not pin the
bishop and is conveniently answered
with Ng4 17.Qf3 Bg7 ) 16...Ra6!
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True, White could block the
queenside with 14.a4 followed by the
knight transfer to c4 or b5. This
would be more than OK with
reversed colours but with White one
usually hopes for more. ]
14.c4
[ The idea behind Black's last move is
that 14.cxd4 cxd4 15.Qf2
is parried with Ne7 , since Bh6 is not
available anymore. ]
14...Nf6 15.b4 cxb4 16.Nxb4
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23
A dream position for the Dutch/Bird
Benoni. All White's minor pieces are
hyperactive, with the long diagonal
and the d5-square available. It is worth
following the final (not very long)
sequence until Black's collapse.
16...Ng4 17.Nd5 Bd7 18.h3 Ne5
19.Qf2 Bc6
[ 19...Nc6 20.Rab1 b6 21.Nf6+
Bxf6 22.Qxf6 ]
20.Bb4 Re8 21.Bc5 b5 22.Bxd4
bxc4 23.dxc4 f5 24.Rad1 Qa5
25.Bc3 Qxa2?
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Running into a small trick. 26.Bxe5
Rxe5 27.Nb4 Qxc4 28.Nxc6 Rxe2
29.Bd5+ Qxd5 30.Rxd5
1-0
Marin,Mihail
Bindrich,Falko
Dresden Porzellan Cup rapid (2)
2517
2527
4.1.08
To illustrate the possible course of events
when Black refrains from an early
opening of the centre, I have chosen a
Dutch game, which passes through the
perfect mirroring of our repertoire
variation.
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Modern Chess Magazine
24
1.d4 f5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.g3 g6 4.Bg2 Bg7 14.Nd2
5.0-0 0-0 6.c4 d6 7.Nc3 Qe8 8.d5 Na6
[ With the g5-square defended 14.e4
9.Nd4 Bd7 10.Rb1 c6 11.b3 Nc7
is unconvincing: fxe4 15.Nd2 e3
12.Bb2 c5
16.fxe3 Ng4 17.Re1 g5 18.Nce4
Qg6 with a harmonious black
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position in Shapiro,D (2276)-Pixton,
A (2445) Kerhonkson 2003 (1/2-1/2,
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14...g5 15.e3 Qg6 16.Qc2 Rab8
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17.Rfe1 a6!?
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13.Nf3 We now have the perfectly
mirrored position of our Bird main line.
Black is one tempo down from the
beginning in the Dutch and has spent
another one on slowly advancing the cpawn. But White has also wasted two
tempi with his knight.
[ 13.Nc2 is more constructive in
order to be ready to meet ...b7-b5
with b3-b4. In our repertoire we do
not have this problem after 9.c4. ]
13...h6! In this setup, Black has two
main ideas, which he should combine
properly. While ...b7-b5 is obvious
(even though not immediately
profitable after White has safely
defended c4), he should also start
building a slow positional attack on the
kingside. As shown below, the last
move prepares both plans.
[ The premature 13...b5 justifies the
knight's presence on f3: 14.cxb5
Nxb5 15.Nxb5 Bxb5 16.Ng5 Bd7
17.Qd2 Rb8 18.Rfc1 Rb6 19.Rc4
Ljubojevic,L (2570)-Reinderman,D
(2525) Amsterdam 1999 (1/2-1/2,
50) ]
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Preparing ...b7-b5 without conceding
the c4-square to the knight on d2.
18.Rbc1 b5 Black has achieved the
optimal position for this structure.
19.Ba1 This and the next move clearly
show that White has problems coming
up with a constructive plan. But while
Black's position surely is pleasant, it is
not easy to fight for a concrete
advantage. 19...Rbe8
This is connected with the right plan.
Having achieved progress on both
wings, Black starts displaying ambitions
in the centre, too.
[ But since Black cannot achieve
anything concrete along the b-file,
now was the right moment to
highlight that the White knights lack
mobility: 19...b4 , for instance:
20.Nd1 Rbe8 21.Nb2 e5 22.dxe6
Rxe6 23.Rcd1 Ne4 24.Nxe4 fxe4
25.Rf1 Bc6 ]
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Modern Chess Magazine
20.Bb2
[ After the rook's departure from b8,
White could have tried 20.a3 ]
20...e5
[ Once again, it would have made
sense to block the queenside with
20...b4! before opening the centre. ]
21.dxe6
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Rxe6?!
[ 21...Bxe6 may be safer. ]
22.Ne2
[ After the last move White could
have started a dangerous
counterattack with 22.b4 cxb4
23.Ne2 , when Black's pieces are
hanging. ]
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Maghsoodloo,Parham
Bindrich,Falko
Dresden Porzellan Cup rapid (8)
2656
2571
9.8.19
Finally, we will examine the plan
after ...d5-d4 based on e2-e4, typically
answered with ...dxe3. We usually reach
this structure from the ...Nh6 systems with
plenty of concrete examples. Now I will try
to clarify the issue more abstractly, using
a game from another line. 1.f4 d5 2.Nf3
g6 3.g3 Bg7 4.Bg2 Nf6 5.0-0 0-0
6.d3 c5 7.c3 d4 8.e4 dxe3 9.Bxe3
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This is the aforementioned structure.
With the pawn on f2 this would be a
typical reversed King's Indian, but the
extra tempo f2-f4 by itself is not
enough to make the difference between
a comfortable and a better position.
We also need some sort of
commitment by Black. ***In the
systems from our repertoire, the
slightly unnatural ...Nh6 does the work.
If the knight stays there, White has h2h3 and g3-g4 to keep it out of play. If it
jumps to f5, White can gain time for his
kingside attack with g3-g4 and f4-f5.
***In this position Black's main problem
is his delayed queenside development.
In the similar position with reversed
colours White has the extra tempo Nc3,
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Modern Chess Magazine
allowing him to react with b2-b3 or Qd3.
But here Black has to make a
concession. 9...Qc7?! A curious
mistake by such an experienced
grandmaster. Moving with the queen in
a moment when the whole queenside is
undeveloped is a huge commitment.
Black was probably dreaming of . ..b7b6 followed by ...Bb7 and ...Nc6,
reaching the most active setup, but this
is impossible.
[ Safer was 9...Nbd7 10.Na3 b6
when White could think of starting a
positional attack with 11.Ng5 Rb8
12.f5]
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26
followed by d3-d4 soon. ***Black
must have thought that his last move
also takes measures against f4-f5,
but he was wrong. ]
11.Qe2 b6?!
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10.Na3 e6
[ The first concession provokes
another one. Black spends another
tempo on clearing the e7-square for
the queen. If 10...b6 he obviously
did not like 11.Nb5 Qd8 12.Ne5
After Nd5 the least White can do is
win an exchange with 13. Bxd5
Qxd5
14.Nc7, but he could also play for a
lead in development if he is not too
keen on weakening the long
diagonal: 13.Bf2 a6 14.Qb3 e6
15.Na3 Ra7 16.Rad1
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Consistent but bad. 12.f5!! The only
thing missing for a successful queen
hunt was the dark-squared bishop's
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participation. By clearing the f4-square,
White achieves that.
[ 12.Nb5 Qe7 13.d4 would also
have been good. ]
[ The "indifferent" 12.Rad1?!
allows Black to reach the desired
coordination: Bb7 13.Nc4 Nc6
14.Rfe1 Rad8 Both sides are doing
fine here but in principle this would
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Modern Chess Magazine
be a moral victory for Black. ]
12...exf5
[ Or if 12...gxf5 13.Bf4 Qe7
( Black has to keep the queen on the
seventh rank in order to allow ...
Bb7 after the discovered attack
along the long diagonal. But
13...Qd7 runs into 14.Ne5 ) 14.Nh4!
Bb7 15.Nxf5! Qd7 16.Bxb7 Qxb7
17.Nxg7 Kxg7 18.Be5 Nbd7
19.Rxf6 Nxf6 20.Qg4+ , mating
soon. ]
13.Bf4 Qd8
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16.cxd5 Bxd5 17.Nb5 Nc6 18.Nf3
Qd7 19.Qd2 Rad8 20.Nc3 Bxf3
21.Rxf3 Ne5 22.Bxe5 Bxe5 23.Kh1
Bg7 24.Rd1 a6 25.Rff1 h5 26.Qc2
Rfe8 27.Nd5 Re6 28.Nf4 Rd6
29.Rde1 Bh6 30.Qc4 a5 31.b3 Rd4
32.Qa6 Qd6 33.Qb7 h4 34.Ne2
Rxd3 35.gxh4 Bd2 36.Rd1 Kg7
37.Ng1 Qf6 38.Nf3 Bf4 39.Rxd3
Rxd3 40.Qa6 Re3 41.Qc4 Bc7
42.Qd5 Re4 43.h5 g5 44.Nxg5
Qxg5 45.Bxe4 Qh4 46.h6+ Qxh6
47.Rf2 Qc1+ 48.Kg2 Qg5+ 49.Kf1
Qc1+ 50.Ke2 Qb2+ 51.Kf3 fxe4+
52.Kg2 Qe5 53.Qxf7+
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Sadly, e7 is not available anymore.
14.Ne1 Nd5 15.c4 White won a piece
and later the game. 15...Bb7
[ 15...Nc7 16.Bxc7 ]
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Saving Lost Positions
28
ways of saving difficult positions:
Stalemate, perpetual check and fortress,
with two examples of each in the exercise
section. The seventh lacks any of these
themes, but I included it for its instructive
value. The idea of saving lost positions by
getting stalemated is already taught
beginners. The basic scheme is simple:
The player with the inferior position gives
up his pieces and mobile pawns while
placing his king in a stalemate box. Of
course, experienced players usually know
how to avoid the more simple stalemate
tricks, but if resignation is the only
alternative, they can still be worth trying.
There is a famous video on YouTube of
Garry Kasparov stalemating the king of Kiril
Georgiev in a blitz game, having queen and
bishop versus a lone king. The first
example is one of the most brilliant
stalemates I have ever seen. Two bishops
and the bad position of Yuri
Solodovnichenko's king guarantee Black a
solid advantage. The Ukrainian GM saves
the game by giving up 6 units and
stalemating his king. 31.Re1! Bxa2?
For people who never played in chess
tournaments and are distant from the
professional life of our game, it looks like
a regular board game, where sporting
qualities are not a factor. But any chess
professional can confirm that it's hardly
possible to be successful at chess without
having an exceptional fighting spirit.
Fighting spirit comes in many different
ways, associated with numerous abilities
Solodovnichenko,Yuri
(the following list is certainly not
Filippov,Valerij
complete): 1) to win important "must-win" Bydgoszcz Bank Pocztowy op (4)
games, 2) to save difficult and even
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seemingly hopeless positions, 3) to grind
out wins from slightly better positions by
8
persistently posing new problems for the
7
opponent, 4) to beat higher-rated players
instead of taking draws from good
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positions, 5) to keep playing ambitiously
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when leading in tournaments. In this
article, I will present situations in which
4
fighting spirit or lack thereof played a
3
crucial role. I will show you some
unbelievable saves and untimely
2
resignations. The common denominator is
1
that they teach us to fight to the last. This
article deals with the three most common
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2436
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1999
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[ Filippov missed his opponent's idea.
He had to first push White's queen
from h5 and take the a2-pawn on the
next move. 31...Bf7! ]
32.b3! White cuts off Black's bishop, and
Black decides to accept this present.
32...Bxb3 33.c4! White insists on
disconnecting Black's bishop from the
kingside. The threat is Bd5+ and Re8+.
33...Bxc4?
[ Black should have played 33...Rf8!
34.cxb5 a5! , and his position should
still be winning with precise play. ]
34.Bd5+! White sacrifices the bishop to
pin his knight and open the e-file.
34...Bxd5 35.Re8+ Rxe8 36.Qxe8+
Qf8 37.Qxf8+ Kxf8 Mission completed!
In 2007, this game was deservingly
awarded the prize "Immortal game" by a
Ukrainian chess-website.
1/2
LuckyTiger
oosters
WL2019: Team Ukraine vs Team Holland
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The internet makes it possible to play
chess even when we are unable to go to
tournaments or visit the local chess club.
The following game has been played on
29
chess.com with a time control of 3 days
per move. I was completely outplayed by
my opponent and my last hope was to
reach a stalemate. Even having almost
unlimited time, my opponent didn't feel
the danger. 37.Rf8+ Ka7 38.h4!
Just like in the previous case, White
starts to give up unblocked pawns.
38...Nxf3 39.Rd1 Nxh4 40.f3!
So far all Black's captures were correct,
but now my opponent had to exercise
caution. 40...Nxf3?? Black fell for the
trap. Now it is the turn for the rooks to
be sacrificed.
[ The other capture was also wrong.
40...Rxf3?? 41.Rdd8 and all Black
can do is to give a perpetual check
because b7-b6 (b5) is never good due
to Rd7 (Rf7) checkmate. Rf1+ 42.Kh2
Rf2+ 43.Kh1 ( 43.Kg3?? Rg2# )
43...Rf1+= ]
[ Black had to disable the checkmate
idea by winning the a5-pawn.
40...Ra3! , with an easy win. ]
41.Ra8+! Kxa8 42.Rd8+ Ka7
43.Ra8+! Kxa8 Stalemate.
1/2
2779
2739
2019
Anand,Viswanathan
Navara,David
Shamkir Chess (1)
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Modern Chess Magazine
Another typical way to save bad positions
is the perpetual check. Sometimes even
great players miss this motif. Playing
White, Anand has three extra pawns, but
still needs to demonstrate precision,
because his king is in danger. Right now
Black threatens to win the queen by
means of Qc1+ and Bg6. The Indian
player decided to move his queen and pin
the bishop. 41.Qe7? There were many
good moves, such as 41.f4, 41. Qc4 or
41.Qb4. All of them would have
saved the winning advantage. But what's
wrong with 41.Qe7? The check on c1 is
not dangerous anymore - White plays
Kd3 and there are no more checks. But
now David Navara will shock his
opponent with a nice triangulation.
41...Rd1+! , and a draw was agreed
because after 42.Nxd1 Qd4+,
Black's queen uses the a4-d4-g1 squares
for a perpetual check.
1/2
Aveskulov,Valeriy
Diulger,Alexey
Lugansk IM-tournament
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Back in 2004 I already was an IM and
considered myself quite a decent chess
player, who should easily win the
following position. Unfortunately, I was
proven wrong. White has a queen and
five (!) pawns for two rooks. Can it be
any simpler? 31.c4 Nothing wrong so
far. 31...Rgf7 32.c5 This move is also
fine. 32...Rf1+ 33.Kh2 R8f5!
Black creates a first threat - a perpetual
check on g5 and h5. Here it upset me
that I missed my opponent's resource,
and I was unable to find the solution to
the new and unexpected problem. Can
you find it? 34.g4?? After this, the
position is already a draw.
[ White had to push Black's king away
from the squares g5 and h5 in order
to disable the perpetual mechanism.
34.Qc6+ Kg7 35.Kg3+- ]
34...R5f3! The threat of checks on f1
and f2 is difficult to parry. 35.Qe6+ Kg5
2004
36.Qe5+ Kxg4 37.Qd4+ Kg5 38.e4
White managed to handle the Rf1-f2+
idea, but the position of White's king is
so miserable that Black easily finds more
resources to force a draw.
38...Rd1 39.Kg2 Rdxd3 40.Qg7+
Kh4 41.Qe7+ Kg4 42.Qe6+ And the
game is drawn because White cannot
escape the checks (Rd1-d2 or Re3-f3g3-h3). 1/2
Modern Chess Magazine
31
2777 most of the spectators thought that the
2747 endgame at least offered good drawing
2004 chances. Having read no explanation
from Svidler about his reasons, we can
only speculate about his miscalculations.
The drawing plan was connected with
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corresponding squares. Black's king
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must use the squares c7, d6 and e5
squares to prevent White's king from
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coming to b7, c6, d5 and e4. Let's see
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how this works. 49...Be3
[ Another instructive fortress has been
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found by my South African student
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Francois Oberholzer, who decided to
control the a5-d8 diagonal to restrict
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the white king. It is a bit unusual but
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also saves the game. 49...Ba7
50.Kxa5 Kc5 51.Bd5 Bb6+ 52.Ka6
1
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Bd8 Now Black needs to keep away
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White's king from d7. This can be
achieved by placing the bishop on a5
and the king on d6. 53.Kb7
While the two previous saving ideas
( Advancing the pawn with 53.a5
(stalemate and perpetual check) require
would bind White's king to the a6nothing more than basic calculation of
square. ) 53...Ba5 54.Kc8 Kd6
the concrete lines, fortresses require a
55.Bf3 Bb6 56.c5+ White's only
more difficult approach, and for this
chance. Kxc5 57.Kd7 Now the plan
reason sometimes even elite players fail
is simple: The king goes to a5 and
to find them. I know of three cases of
the bishop to h4, to defend g5. Kb4
2700+ players resigning in drawn
58.Bc6 Bf2 59.Ke6 Ka5 60.Kf6 Bg3
positions, but there are possibly more.
61.Kg6 Bf2 62.Kxh6 Bh4 , with a
Here I will show you two of them. The
simple draw. ]
third one is presented in the exercise
50.Kxa5 Bf2 51.Kb5 Be3 52.Bd5 Bf2
part of the article. It is widely known that
53.a5 Be3 54.Ka6 Kc7! Black follows
opposite-coloured bishop endgames can
his plan to prevent Kb7. 55.Kb5 Kd6
be tricky, and even having 2-3 extra
56.Kb4 Since there are no possible
pawns may not guarantee a win. But
plans on the queenside, White's king has
knowing that they can be drawn is one
to try the central route. 56...Bc5+
thing, while finding out how to do it is
57.Kc3 Ba7 58.Kd3 Ke5! No Ke4.
quite another. 49.Bb7 4.10 Tired after a
59.a6 Bg1= All ways are locked down.
long defence of an objectively drawn but
1-0
practically unpleasant endgame, Peter
Svidler made the worst possible move,
he resigned. Even during the game,
Kramnik,Vladimir
Svidler,Peter
Corus Wijk aan Zee (4)
www.modern-chess.com
Modern Chess Magazine
Kovchan,Alexander
2783
Grinev,Valeriy
2725
25.01.2019 Ukrainian championship (3)
Giri,A.
Shankland,S.
81st Tata Steel GpA (11.4)
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15 years later, at the same place, in Wijk
aan Zee, another 2700+ player also
decided to resign in a drawn position.
As Anish Giri said in his interview, he
had realized that the position was drawn,
but he decided to play the last move
decisively just to see what happens. It's
funny that in the moment of Sam's
handshake, Anish asked his opponent if
he was really resigning. In fact the
resignation was the only way to lose
here. 45.b6 The point is that for a
drawing setup, Black's king does not
need to enter the corner (as the
American GM thought) - it is sufficient to
reach the c8-square, for example:
45...Kd6 46.Kg4 Kd7 47.Kxh3 Kc8
48.Bf4 Kd7 49.Kg4 Kc8 50.Kf5 Kd7
51.Kf6 Kc8 , and White's king can't
come closer without stalemating.
1-0
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White's last move was Qb4-d4. Black
decided that there was no defence
against the Qh8 (or Rh8) idea and
resigned. Please find the save.
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Kovchan,Alexander
Grinev,Valeriy
Ukrainian championship (3)
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36...Re1+ 37.Kh2
[ 37.Kg2 Definitely Grinev saw that
this king's move is not dangerous.
Qe4+ , with an equal rook ending. ]
37...Re5!= That's the idea!
No checkmate, no advantage.
Aveskulov,Valeriy
Belov,Vladimir
Russian Team Championship (6)
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Aveskulov,Valeriy
Belov,Vladimir
Russian Team Championship (6)
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It is so easy to make a mistake at the
end of a long complicated game. In the
diagram position, both me and my
opponent had the same hallucination we calculated the move 59.Nxe5+?and
decided that it wins. So I played it and
my opponent resigned immediately. Only
during dinner I was told by my
teammates that Black resigned too early.
What was wrong with our calculation?
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59.Nxe5+?
[ 59.b7! would easily win the game: e4
60.b8Q Bxb8 61.Nxb8 e3 62.Nc6 ]
Black has to accept the sacrifice
59...Bxe5 , and after 60.c5 to prevent
c5-c6-c7 with 60...Bd4! I recommend to
memorize this trick, which allows the lone
bishop to stop two connected pawns.
Now both players need to show extreme
precision to hold the balance.
61.h4 Ke4
[ The bishop can't stop both pawns
without the king's assistance.
61...Bxc5?? 62.b7 Bd6 63.h5+- ]
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Modern Chess Magazine
62.h5 Kd5
[ Surprisingly White is winning after
62...Kf5? 63.b4 Kg5 64.Kg2 Kxh5
65.Kf3 Kg5 66.Ke4! f3 67.b7 f2
68.b8Q f1Q 69.Kxd4+- ]
63.h6 Kc6 64.h7 f3 65.b4 Kb7
66.Ke1= , and neither player can make
any progress.
Reutsky,Sergey
Aveskulov,Valeriy
Femida (9)
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What's wrong with my combination?
0-1
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Aveskulov,Valeriy
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Another example of my "great"
combinative play. Being excited by the
progress I made, I decided that it was
time to end the game and played
22...Rxb2?
[ 22...Qb4! was enough for a boring
win. ]
23.Kxb2 Rb8+ 24.Ka1 Qa3 25.Bd4,
and here, trusting my initial calculation, I
quickly played 25...Nc3? Just as in the
game Aveskulov-Belov, my opponent
trusted me and instantly resigned.
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White had to give a couple of checks. The
first is obvious. 26.Qh7+
Of course I saw this one. My
consideration was that after 26...Ke6,
White has no checks left and no
satisfactory way to stop both Qb2 and
Qxa2 mates. 27.Qd7+! Oops! After this
unexpected check, Black loses a rook for
just a few pawns. 27...Kxd7 28.Bc5+
Ke6 29.Bxa3+- The position is not dead
lost for Black thanks to his powerful
central pawns, but he will certainly not win
this.
0-1
www.modern-chess.com
Modern Chess Magazine
LuckyTiger
VladDobrov
Live Chess Chess.com
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38...Kxd5?
[ 38...b5+! was correct. Only after
2019
39.Kxa5 , White takes the bishop and
queens his connected pawns. Kxd5 ]
39.Rd7+ For 20 more moves, Black tried
to hide his king from the checks before
he finally had to admit that it was
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impossible. 39...Ke4 40.Rd4+ Ke5
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41.Rd5+ Ke4 42.Rd4+ Ke3 43.Rd3+
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Ke4 44.Rd4+ Ke5 45.Re4+ Kd5
46.Re5+ Kc6 47.Rxe6+ Kb7 48.Re7+
5
Kc8
4
[ 48...Ka6 49.Ra7+ Kxa7 ]
49.Re8+ Kd7 50.Re7+ Kd6 51.Re6+
3
Kd5 52.Re5+ Kd4 53.Re4+ Kd3
2
54.Re3+ Kc2 55.Re2+ Kc1 56.Re1+
Kc2 57.Re2+ Kb1 58.Re1+ Ka2
1
59.Ra1+ Kxa1
1/2
Black to move.
1/2
Wang Hao
Gelfand,Boris
Moscow Tal Memorial 5th (7)
LuckyTiger
VladDobrov
Live Chess Chess.com
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Modern Chess Magazine
After the move 75.Kg5 , Boris Gelfand
resigned. What did he miss?
1-0
Wang Hao
Gelfand,Boris
Moscow Tal Memorial 5th (7)
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76...Ke5 77.Re8+
[ Taking the pawn at this moment,
77.Rxg7 , does not change the
evaluation. Rg1+ 78.Kh6
( 78.Kh5??Kf4-+ It is never too late to
even to lose with two extra pawns. )
78...Rh1+ 79.Kg5 Rg1+ 80.Kh4
Kxf5= ]
77...Kd6 78.Re6+ Kd7 79.Re4 Rg1+
80.Rg4 Rf1= White still has an extra
pawn, but it is impossible to convert this
into a full point without his opponent's
assistance.
1-0
Aronian,Levon
Bacrot,Etienne
FIDE World Cup (6.2)
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Black could have saved the game with
75...Ke6!
[ 75...Rg1+? loses after 76.Kf5+- ]
76.f5+
[ If White takes the pawn, 76.Rxg7 ,
Black gives checks on the first rank to
win the g6-pawn. Rg1+ 77.Kh5 Rh1
+ 78.Kg4 Rg1+ 79.Kf3 Kf6 80.Rg8
Rxg6= ]
[ or 76.Re8+ Kd7= ]
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Modern Chess Magazine
According to the text of the game, Black
played 50...Ba7 and resigned. Why was
this resignation premature?
1-0
Aronian,Levon
Bacrot,Etienne
FIDE World Cup (6.2)
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54.f6+ Ke8 55.Be6
The f6-pawn is defended, but now it is
time for the h-pawn to run. 55...h4
56.Kc6
[ If White tries to take the h-pawn
with the king, Black's bishop is
2724
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ready to defend it: 56.Ke4 Kf8
2005
57.Kf3 Ke8 58.Kg4 Bf2= ]
56...h3 57.Kb7 h2 58.Bd5 Bd4 59.a7
Bxa7 60.Kxa7 h1Q 61.Bxh1 Kf7
Taking the last pawn, with a draw.
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White's only chance in this position is to
bring the king to b7. 51.Kf4 h5 52.Ke4
Ke7 53.Kd5 Kd7! The key move, which
Bacrot seemingly missed in his
calculation. Black's king moves into a
discovered check, but White can not take
any dividends from this. In fact, Black
forces White to push the f5-pawn forward,
after which White's bishop is already
unable to stop the h-pawn and defend the
f-pawn simultaneously (the principle of
one diagonal stops working for him!).
www.modern-chess.com
Modern Chess Magazine
Typical Pawn Structures in
Slav Defence
Pawn Structure 1
The Endgame
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This pawn structure is typical for many
lines of the Queen's Gambit Declined,
the Gruenfeld and the Slav Defense. In
our repertoire, we reach this structure in
the line 4.Qc2 g6 when Black is attracted
by winning a tempo with 5...Bf5 6. Qb3
Qb6 7.c5 Qxb3 8.axb3. What is it all
about? White's pawns are doubled but
as a compensation he obtains a huge
space advantage on the queenside.
38
A simple and very effective plan is to
undouble the pawns by means of b4-b5.
Black usually has enough time to avoid
that by playing a7-a6 and moving the
rook out of the pin. But even then is it too
early to relax. By moving one of his
knights to a5, White can put pressure on
the biggest defect in Black's position -the
b7-pawn. Black's only hope lays in the
counterattack with a quick e7-e5 blocking
the f4 bishop and trying to redirect
White's attention. Then Black could start
breathing as the long-ranging f4-bishop
would be out of play and his pieces could
come to life. The most important White
piece is the Bf4, therefore the
prophylactic h2-h3 is an obligatory
measure. Most of the test positions are
about White's tactical hits on the
queenside. I think Black should better
avoid this endgame, but if it is not
possible then to focus on eliminating
White's dark-squared bishop rather than
on passive defense.
Model Game 1.1
Skembris,S -Titov
1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.Qc2 g6
5.Bf4 Bf5 6.Qb3 Qb6 7.e3!
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It is better to postpone c4-c5 until the
safety of the Bf4 is guaranteed by means
of h2-h3. 7...Na6!? An interesting yet
insufficient attempt for counterplay. By the
quick activation of the knight, Black hopes
to disturb White's normal development.
[ 7...Bxb1 8.Rxb1 e6 9.h3!? ]
[ 7...Nbd7 8.Nc3 e6 9.h3!?  c5 ]
8.Nc3 Nb4!
[ 8...Qxb3 9.axb3 Nb4 10.Ra4! ]
[ 8...Bg7?! is not possible anymore
9.cxd5! Nb4 ( 9...cxd5 10.Qxb6 )
10.dxc6!! bxc6 ( 10...Nc2+ 11.Kd1
Qxb3 12.axb3 Nxa1 13.cxb7+- )
11.Rc1 0-0 ( 11...Nc2+ 12.Kd2 )
12.Bc4 Bd3 13.Ne5+- and White won
easily in Dlugy,M -Ninov,D
Blagoevgrad 2013 ]
9.c5! Nd3+
[ 9...Nc2+?? 10.Qxc2+- ]
[ 9...Bc2?? 10.Qa3!+- ]
[ 9...Qa5?! 10.Rc1  a3+- Bc8
( 10...b6 11.Ne5 Rc8 12.a3 Na6
13.Nxc6! Rxc6 14.Qb5+- ) 11.Be2 ]
10.Bxd3 Qxb3 11.axb3 Bxd3 12.Ne5
Black's domination on the light squares
is only temporary. 12...Bf5
[ 12...Ba6?? 13.Nxc6+- ]
[ 12...Bb5 13.Nxb5 cxb5 14.Ra5 a6
15.Ke2  Rha1, c6+- ]
13.b4! Black lost precious time in
obtaining the bishop pair and now White
is successfully undoubling the pawns.
13...Nd7!
[ 13...Ne4 14.b5! Nxc3 15.bxc6!
bxc6 16.bxc3 Bd7 17.Ra6+- ]
[ 13...Nh5 14.b5 Nxf4 15.exf4 f6
16.bxc6 bxc6 ( 16...fxe5 17.cxb7
Rb8 18.c6+- ) 17.Nxc6+- ]
14.b5 Nxe5
[ 14...Nb8 15.Na4+- b6 ]
[ 14...f6 15.bxc6 fxe5 16.cxb7! Rb8
17.c6+- ]
39
[ 14...g5 15.bxc6 ( 15.Bxg5; 15.Bg3 )
15...bxc6 16.Nxc6 gxf4 17.Nxd5 ]
14.Bxe5 f6 16.Bg3! e5! This is always
Black's only hope.
[ 16...Bd7 17.b4 ]
[ 16...Bg7 17.b4 ]
17.dxe5?! In my opinion, there was no
need to break the pawn chain and to
unleash Black's bishops.
[ 17.b4?! exd4 18.exd4 Bh6 ]
[ 17.bxc6! bxc6 18.Ra6 Kd7 19.b4
Bd3 20.b5 cxb5 ( 20...Bxb5 21.Nxb5
cxb5 22.Kd2 ) 21.Nxd5 ]
17...Bxc5 18.0-0!
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Kf7
[ 18...fxe5 ]
19.Rfc1 Rhc8
[ 19...Be7 20.bxc6 bxc6 21.Ra6
a7, c6 Rhc8 22.Rca1 fxe5 23.Bxe5
Bd3 24.Rxa7 Rxa7 25.Rxa7 Ke6
26.Bg3 h5 ]
[ 19...fxe5!? 20.Bxe5 Rhc8 ]
20.exf6!?
[ 20.bxc6 ]
20...Kxf6?!
[ 20...Bb4 ]
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Modern Chess Magazine
21.bxc6 bxc6 22.Ra6
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After his small inaccuracy, White is
coming back on top. 22...Ke7?
The position was full of tricks, and Black
eventually cracks.
[ 22...Ke6 23.Nxd5! Kxd5 24.Ra5+- ]
[ 22...Bd3 23.Nxd5+ Kf7 24.Ra5
cxd5 25.Raxc5+- ]
[ 22...Kf7 23.Na4 Bb4 24.Raxc6
Bd7! 25.Rc7 Ke8 ]
23.Nxd5+! Black should not have
missed this.
[ 23.Nxd5+ cxd5 24.Rxc5 Rxc5
25.Bd6+ a7 ]
[ 23.Na4? Bb4 24.Raxc6 Rxc6
25.Rxc6 Bd7 26.Rc7 Rc8!=  ]
1-0
Model Game 1.2
Kovacevic,B- Antipov
Pardubice Czech op 22nd
28.07.2011
1.c4 c6 2.Nf3 d5 3.d4 Nf6 4.Qc2 g6
5.Bf4 Bf5 6.Qb3 Qb6 7.e3 Nbd7
8.Nc3 Qxb3 9.axb3 e6
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10.h3!
[ 10.c5 Nh5! with counterplay. ]
10...h6
[ It was worth trying 10...Bb4
but it is doubtful that it is any better:
11.Nd2 h5 12.f3 h4 13.Be2
( 13.Na2 Be7 ) 13...Ke7 14.Kf2 ]
11.c5! The start of the typical plan. Black
is going to get badly squeezed. 11...g5
12.Bh2 a6 13.b4 Rc8 The first wave
has been stopped. 14.Nd2!
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Be7 15.Nb3 Bd8 16.Na5! Bxa5
17.bxa5!
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Now the second wave is coming - Ra4b4 is a nasty threat. 17...Kd8
[ 17...e5 blocking the bishop does not
help, either. 18.Ra4! 0-0 19.Rb4
Rfe8 20.Kd2 Rb8 21.dxe5 Nxe5
22.Bxe5 Rxe5 23.Bxa6 Nd7
24.Rxb7 Ra8 25.b4!! Rxa6 26.g4
Be6 27.f4+- trapping the rook in the
middle of the board. ]
18.Ra4 Ra8 19.Rb4 Kc8
Black survived somehow, but only to
realize that there is no hope left. 20.Be2
Ne8 21.Kd2 Nc7 22.Na4 Bg6 23.h4!
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The opening of the second front is
decisive. 23...f6 24.Bg3
[ 24.Bd6 Rh7 25.hxg5 hxg5 26.Rxh7
Bxh7 27.Bh5 ]
24...Rh7 25.f3
[ 25.hxg5 hxg5 26.Rxh7 Bxh7
27.Bh5 was winning by
complete domination. ]
25...Nb5 26.Bd3?! The first slight
inaccuracy.
[ The simplest was 26.Nb6+ Nxb6
27.axb6 Kd7 28.Ra4 The knight on
b5 is out of play and White's clearcut
idea is to open the path to the b7
pawn. Rg8 29.Raa1 Rhh8
30.hxg5 hxg5 31.Rxh8 Rxh8 32.f4
26...Bxd3
27.Kxd3 gxh4
+- ]
[ 27...Kd8 28.hxg5 fxg5 29.Nb6
Nxb6 30.axb6 Ke7 31.Rh5 Rg8
32.Ra4 Kf7 33.Ra1 Kg6 34.Rah1
a5 35.f4+- ]
28.Rxh4
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Kd8 29.Nb6 Nxb6 30.axb6 Ke7
31.Bf4 h5 32.Ra4 Rg8 33.g4 Rgh8
34.g5 Rg8 35.gxf6+ Kxf6 36.Be5+
Kf7 37.Ra1 Rg2 38.Rah1 Rxb2
39.Rxh5 Rxh5 40.Rxh5 Kg6
41.Rh8 Rb3+ 42.Kd2 Rb2+ 43.Ke1
a5
44.Ra8? After this move the fight starts
all over again.
[ The most clever finish would have
been 44.Rb8! a4 45.Rxb7 a3
46.Ra7 Nxa7 47.bxa7 a2 48.a8Q
Rb1+ 49.Kf2 a1Q 50.Qg8+ Kh5
51.Qf7+ Kh4 52.Bf6+ with mate ]
44...Na3 45.Rxa5 Nc2+ White won
after some help of the opponent on
move 75.
1-0
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and White won easily.
Example 1.2
Kaunzinger - Reilein
1987 Landesliga S Bayern 9697
Example 1.1
Drasko,M - Bareev
Vrnjacka Banja
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Even Bareev could not stop White's
crushing initiative on the queenside:
21.Nxd5!! cxd5 22.c6+- and it is all
over. 22...exd4 23.Bd6
[ 23.cxb7!+- ]
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12.Nbd2! It is the ideal scenario for
White when his queen's knight goes to
a5 and the other one holds the center.
12...0-0 13.Nb3 Ne4 14.Na5 Ra7
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Modern Chess Magazine
15.Be2 Re8 16.0-0
[ 16.Ne5! is even stronger. ]
16...e5 17.Rfe1 Black did achieve e5
but with such a rook on a7 there is not
much hope. 17...Re7? missing the
decisive hit.
[ 17...Bg6 18.dxe5 Nxe5 19.Nd4
Nd2 20.Red1 Ndc4 21.Nxc4 Nxc4
22.b3 Ne5 23.b5+- ]
18.b5!!
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Example 1.3
Goganov A,Benidze
Yerevan Margaryan Memorial 13.01.2013
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Ndxc5
[ 18...axb5 19.Nxc6! ]
19.bxc6!!+a
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White breaks through on the queenside
by using the similar motif as in the first
two positions: 19.Na5 Ra7 20.b5! cxb5
21.c6 bxc6 22.Nxc6 Raa8 23.Nxe7+
Kf7 24.Nexd5+a
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Black is helpless.
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Example 1.4
Palatnik,S Delaune
World op 22nd
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[ It was possible to suffer a bit more by
24...Raa8 25.Nxb7 e5 26.Nd6 Reb8
27.Ba5 exd4 28.Na4 dxe3
1994
29.Rxe3 ]
25.cxb6 Raa8 26.Nxb7 Nd7 27.Na4
e5 28.Nbc5+8
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18.g4! Before sending the knight to a5,
White prevents e5. 18...hxg4 19.hxg4
Be6
[ 19...Be4?! 20.Ng5 e5 21.Ngxe4
dxe4 22.Nxe4 exd4 23.Nd6 ]
20.Nd2 Ra8 21.Nb3 f6 22.Na5 Ra7
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White is winning.
Example 1.5
Mannion,S Dearing
GBR-ch Scarborough
12.08.2004
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After Be6-f7 followed by e7-e5 Black
would be okay. 23.Bc7! Bf7 24.Bb6
Nxb6
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10.h3! An important prophylactic move
as Black was treatening Nh5. 10...e6
11.Ra1 Threatening b5. 11...Rc8
12.Bd3 Be7 13.Nf3 Starting the journey
to the ideal square. 13...Bd8 14.0-0
[ 14.Ke2! ]
14...Nb8
[ 14...Bc7?! 15.Bxc7 Rxc7 16.b5 ]
15.Nd2 Bc7!
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An important defensive manouevre,
safely blocking White's first wave.
16.Nb3 Bxf4 17.exf4 g6 18.Na5 Rc7
Even if Black manages to hold he is
doomed to passivity. The last hope is to
create a fortress. 19.Rae1 Kd8 20.g4
Re8 21.Re3 Nbd7 22.Rfe1 Nf8
23.Kg2 Rce7?
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Missing the standard sacrifice. It is not a
big joy to defend for 100 more moves but
in my opinion this should nearly be a
fortress for Black. 24.Bxa6!! bxa6
25.Nxc6+ Kd7 26.Nxe7 Rb8 27.Rb3
Kxe7 28.Ra1+a
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46
The tactical justification. 15.Ra3 Ne6
Test 1.6
Hoang T. Sultana,S.
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When Black is ahead in development he
can try to counterstrike on the
queenside: 12...a5!
[ 12...Nxc3 13.bxc3 a5 14.Rxa5
Rxa5 15.bxa5 Ra8 16.Bc7 Rc8= ]
13.bxa5?!
[ It was better to accept the draw
13.Rxa5 Nxc3 14.bxc3 Rxa5
15.bxa5 Ra8 16.Bc7 Rc8 ]
13...Nxc3 14.bxc3 Nxc5!
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Black is much better.
Example 1.7
Cifuentes- Comp Mephisto 6802
The Hague AEGON
04.1992
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19.Nxb7! The computer Mephisto
obviously underestimated this exchange,
otherwise it would have avoided placing
its rook on c8. 19...Rxb7 20.Bxa6
Rcb8
[ 20...Rbb8 21.Bxc8 Rxc8 22.Ra7+- ]
21.Bxb7 Rxb7 22.Ra8 Ndf6 23.Be5
Kf8 24.Rfa1+-
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Modern Chess Magazine
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1-0
Example 1.8
Milanovic,D- Matsenko
Paleochora op 1st
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going to be too strong. 26...bxa6
27.Rxa6 Bxd4 It is too late.
[ 27...Rc8 28.b7+- ]
[ 27...Nf6 28.b5 Ne4+ 29.Kc2+- ]=
[ 27...Bf8 28.Rc1!+- ]
28.exd4 Re2+ 29.Kd1 Playing it safe.
[ But 29.Kc1 Rxf2 30.b5 Rxf4=
31.bxc6+- would have been more=
aesthetic ]
29...Rxf2 30.Re1! Rxe1+ 31.Kxe1Rxf4
32.Ra7
[ 32.b5 Rxd4 33.bxc6 Nxc5 34.Ra8+=
Kf7 35.c7+- ]
32...Re4+ 33.Kf1 Nb8 34.b5 Re8
35.Ra8!
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26.Bxa6! Another way to break the
defense as White's passed pawns are
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There is no way to stop the pawns.
35...Kf8 36.Rxb8 Rxb8 37.bxc6
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48
Example 1.9
24.Bxa6 Ra8!!
Pozo Vera,S- Quesada Perez
[ White had expected 24...Nd8
CUB-ch sf Santa Clara
15.11.2010
25.b5+- ]
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25.Ra1!
[ Of course not 25.Bxb7? Ra7
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trapping the bishop 26.b5 Rxb7
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27.b6 Bf6 28.Ra1 Ng7 29.Ra7
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Kc8 ]
25...Nf6
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[ 25...Nd8 26.b5 ]
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26. b5 Ne4+
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[ 26...Nd8 27.f3 Ne8 28.b6± ]
27. Kc2 Nd8 28.f3 Ng5 29.b6[ 29.b4 e5
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30.b6 Nge6 31.Ra5!]
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29...Nge6 30.Ra3 Nxd4+
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Finally succumbing under the pressure
20.Nxb7!! Black's submarine has
but Black's defense in this game was
suddenly been sunk by a torpedo.
very difficult anyway.
20...Nxb7 21.Bxa6 Nd8 22.Bd3
[ 30...f5 31.f4 g5 32.g3 Bxd4
Playing cat and mouse.
33.exd4 Nxd4+ 34.Kb1 gxf4
[ Instead 22.b5 cxb5 23.Bxb5+ Nc6
35.Bg1 ]
24.b4 Nf6 25.f3 Rhc8 26.Ba4 Ne8
31.exd4 Bxd4 32.b7+27.b5 Na5 28.b6+ would have been
[ 32.b4 ]
a torpedo. ]
22...Nb7 23.Ra6 missing a clever
defense.
[ Better was 23.b5 Na5 24.Kc3 cxb5
25.Bxb5+ Nc6 26.b4+- ]
23...Rxa6
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Modern Chess Magazine
Example 1.10
Skembris,S- Himaras
Athens Acropolis op
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[ Instead, 16.g5!!
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15.g4! This example shows some other
important aspect of this pawn structure.
Black's queenside is safe now, and
therefore White is logically looking to
open a second front. But the idea behind
15 g4 is very surprising. 15...0-0!
[ 15...e6 16.Rg1 ( 16.g5 h6! )
16...Kf7 17.Ke2 Rhe8 ( 17...Rce8
18.b5! ) 18.Ne5+ Nxe5 19.dxe5 h6
20.Bh2 Ng5 21.h4 Nh7 22.h5+- ]
16.gxf5?! All of a sudden it appears that
this move is not the best as Black can
recapture with the rook and obtain great
counterplay.
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would have come like a bolt from the
blue - Black's knight on e4 is trapped!
Rfe8 17.Rg1 e5 ( 17...Nf8 18.h4
Ne6 19.Bh2 Rf8 20.Bf1! and Black's
only chance f4 is not working
because of 21.Bh3!+- ) 18.dxe5 Nxe5
19.Bxe5 Bxe5 20.Nxe5 Rxe5 21.f3
( 21.Rd1 might be stronger )
21...Nxg5 22.Rxg5 Rxe3+ 23.Kd2
Rxf3 24.Rf1+- ]
16...gxf5? after this Black is lost.
[ 16...Rxf5! is not a trivial defense.
17.Rd1 ( 17.Nd2?! Rxf4! 18.exf4
Nxd2 19.Kxd2 Bxd4 ) 17...Re8
( 17...Rcf8!? ) 18.Nd2 e5 19.Bxe4
dxe4 20.dxe5 Nxe5 21.Bxe5 Rfxe5
22.Nc4 Rd5 23.Ke2 White preserves
some advantage. ]
17.Ke2 Kh8 18.Rhg1 e6 19.Rg2 h6
20.Rag1 Rg8 21.Rg6 Nf8 22.R6g2
Nd7 23.Nh4 Rce8 24.f3 Nef6 25.Bd6
White's pieces are dominating. 25...Nf8
26.Be5 Nh5 27.Ng6+
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Modern Chess Magazine
[ 27.e4!+- ]
27...Nxg6
[ 27...Kh7! the last chance but White
can just go back and repeat the
moves. 28.Nh4! ]
28.Rxg6 Kh7 29.Rxe6!+- Bxe5
30.Bxf5+ Kh8 31.Rxh6#
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A very instructive piece by GM Skembris.
Pawn Structure 2
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The symmetrical pawn structure #2 is
more typical for the Exchange Slav with
3.cxd5 cxd5. Black's g7 bishop is biting
on the e3, d4 wall and the weakening of
the dark squares on the queenside (c5,
c7, d6) automaticaly makes the situation
far more pleasant for White The control
over the only open file is of primary
importance. It is usually White who
manage this while Black urgently needs
to redirect the dark-squared bishop back
to the f8-a3 diagonal. The endgames are
in White's favor as well because there is
nothing Black can do against the
increasing queenside pressure.
Model Game 1
Gurevich,M- Malich
Germany
1992
In this pawn structure the endgames are
usually in White's favor. Black's decision
to voluntarily offer the queen exchange
whilst getting doubled pawns was
suicidal. Enjoy the endgame technique
of the legendary Mikhail Gurevich! 1.d4
d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.Nf3 g6
5.cxd5 cxd5 6.Qb3 Bg7 7.Bg5 e6
8.e3 0-0 9.Bd3 Nc6 10.h3
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Modern Chess Magazine
Qb6?! This move is really depressing.
Against such an endgame expert Black
can only hope to prolong the suffering.
[ 10...b6 11.0-0 Bb7 12.Ne5! ]
11.Qxb6 axb6 12.Ke2 Nb4
[ 12...h6 13.Bf4 ]
13.Bb5
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Nc6
[ 13...Bd7? is not working 14.Bxd7
Nxd7 15.Be7 ]
14.Bf4
[ 14.Na4 Ra5 15.Bxf6 Bxf6 16.Bxc6
bxc6 17.Nxb6 c5 18.Rhc1 Rb5
19.Na4 c4 ]
14...Bd7 15.Bc7 Gurevich wants to
cash in immediately.
[ It was also possible to continue
squeezing: 15.Rhc1 Rfc8 16.g4 Bf8
17.g5 Ne8 18.h4]
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15...Na7
[ The best practical chance was to
sacrifice a pawn for the activity.
15...Rfc8 16.Bxb6 Be8 ]
16.Bd3 b5
[ 16...Nc8 17.a4 Ne8 18.Bf4 Ned6
19.b3 ]
17.a3 Rfc8 18.Bb6 Bf8 19.Rhc1
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The pawn is doomed. 19...b4
[ 19...Be8 20.Bxa7 Rxa7
21.Nxd5!+- ]
[ 19...Bc6 20.Ne5 Nd7 21.Bxa7
Rxa7 22.Nxb5 ]
20.axb4 Nc6 21.b5 Nb4 It looks as if
Black managed to activate his forces,
but a pawn is a pawn. 22.Ne5!
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Nxd3 23.Kxd3 Be8 24.Rxa8 Rxa8
25.Bc5! The rest is just a matter of time.
25...Bg7 26.f3 g5 27.Kc2 h5 28.Kb3
Nh7 29.Kb4 Nf8 30.Na4 f6 31.Nd3
Bg6 32.Nf2 Nd7 33.Bd6 e5 34.Rc7
Nf8 35.Rxb7 exd4 36.exd4 Ne6
37.b6 Nd8 38.Rc7 Be8 39.Nc5 f5
40.Kc3 Bf6 41.b7 Nxb7 42.Rxb7 Ra1
43.Nfd3 g4 44.Be5
1-0
52
Model Game 2
Flear,G-Garcia Palermo
Aosta Germany
08.12.1990
This game is a model for what White
should aim for. The plan of taking
control over the c-file is easy and
straighforward, while Black is short of
any positive defensive ideas. 1.d4 d5
2.c4 c6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.Qb3 g6 5.Nc3
Bg7 6.cxd5 cxd5 7.Bg5 e6 8.e3 0-0
9.h3
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b6
[ 9...Nc6 10.Bd3 Na5 TkachievBerend Nancy 2005 ]
10.Bd3 Bb7 11.0-0 Nc6 12.Rfc1
[ The immediate 12.Ne5 is good as
well h6 Ree-Malich Budapest 1978
13.Nxc6! ( 13.Bh4 g5 14.Bg3 Nxe5
15.Bxe5 Ne4 16.Bxg7 Kxg7
17.Rfc1! ) 13...Bxc6 14.Bf4 ]
12...Qe7
[ 12...Qd7 13.Ne5 Nxe5 14.dxe5=
Ne4 15.Bb5+-]
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a
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16.Bf4 Rcc8
[ 16...Ne4 17.Nxe4 Rxc2 18.Qxc2=
dxe4 19.Bxe4 Rc8 20.Qd3 Bxe4
21.Qxe4 ]
17.Rac1 Ne8 18.Nb5!
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[ 12...Na5 13.Qd1 ]
13.Ne5! The battle for the c-file begins.
13...Rfc8 14.Nxc6!
[ 14.Ng4 h5 15.Ne5 Qf8 ]
[ 14.f4 h6 15.Bh4 Qf8 ]
14...Rxc6
[ 14...Bxc6 15.Rc2 Qb7 16.Rac1
is the same ]
15.Rc2 h6
[ Unfortunately, 15...Rac8?
is just impossible 16.Bb5 R6c7=
17.Bf4]
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Black needs good advice as he is losing
control over the c-file and the g7-bishop
is just a mere spectator. 18...Rxc2
[ From this moment onward 18...a6
was never possible because of
19.Nc7+- ]
19.Rxc2 Bf8 20.Rc3! h5 21.a3 Qd8
22.Qc2 Ba6
[ 22...Nd6 23.Nxd6 Bxd6 24.Bxd6
Qxd6 25.Rc7 Rb8 26.Rxb7 Rxb7
27.Qc8+ ]
h
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[ 22...Kh7 23.Bxg6+ fxg6 24.Nc7 ]
23.Qa4!
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getting the bishop pair. 23...Bxb5
[ 23...Bb7 24.Nc7+- ]
24.Bxb5 Nd6 25.Bc6
[ 25.Ba6 b5 26.Bxb5+- ]
25...Rc8 26.Qxa7 Winning a pawn.
Black's counterplay is insufficient.
26...Ne4 27.Rc2 g5 28.Be5 f6
[ 28...Bd6 29.Bxd6 Nxd6 30.Ba4+- ]
29.Bh2 g4 30.hxg4 hxg4 31.Bf4 Bd6
32.Bxd6 Qxd6 33.Ba4 Rxc2 34.Bxc2
Ng5 35.Qb7 f5 36.Ba4 g3 37.f4 Ne4
38.Qc8+ Kg7 39.Bd7 Qe7 40.Bxe6
Nf6 41.b4 b5 42.Kh1 Ng4 43.Qd7
Qxd7 44.Bxd7 Nxe3 45.Bxb5 Kf6
46.a4 Ke7 47.a5 Kd8 48.Ba4 Kc7
49.Kg1 Kc8 50.Bc6 Kb8 51.b5 Kc7
52.Be8 Nc4 53.Bf7 Ne3 54.Be6 Kd6
55.b6 Kc6 56.Bc8 Nc2 57.b7 Kc7
58.a6 Kb8 59.Bxf5 Nb4 60.Be6
54
Example 1
Bablula,V - Konopka
CZE-chT 0102
a
b
c
d
15.12.2001
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f
g
h
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White forgot to insert h3 and now Black
could have exchanged the important
bishop on f4. 11...Nh5? The idea to
avoid the weakening move g5 is refuted.
[ 11...g5 12.Bg3 Nh5= ]
12.Be5 f6?! It was better to admit the
mistake and to go back.
[ 12...Nf6 13.Rac1 Nxe5 14.Nxe5
Ne8 15.Rc2 ]
13.Bc7! Obviously, Black had missed
this intermediate move.
[ 13.Bxg6?! fxe5 ]
13...Qxc7 14.Bxg6 Nf4 15.exf4 Qxf4
16.Rad1 f5
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18.Ne2 Bd7 19.g3! Qd6 20.Nf4 Rac8
21.Rfe1 Na5 22.Qd3 Nc4 23.Re2
Qb6 24.Rde1 Nd6 25.Rxe6!
[ 16...Qg4 17.Bb1
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The two bishops are not sufficient to
compensate for the defects in the
pawn structure. ]
17.Bh5!
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Black has great problems with the
backward pawn on e6 and the light
squares. 17...Qc7
[ The pawn is untouchable. 17...Nxd4?
18.Nxd4 Bxd4 19.Nxd5+- ]
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Babula showed great technique to
convert his advantage and the finish is
great. 25...Bxe6 26.Rxe6 Rfd8
27.Nxd5 Rc1+ 28.Kg2 Qxb2 29.Ne7+
Kh8 30.Qe3 Rc3 31.Rxh6+
1-0
Example 2
Timoscenko,G -Pilz
Seefeld op 08th
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1997
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This example proves that it is wiser to
chase White's bishop by means of h6,
g5, Nh5 only when White has already
castled short. 12.Be5! This strong move
practically refutes Black's idea.
12...Nxe5
[ 12...Nf6 13.0-0-0! with a huge=
initiative. a6 14.g4! b5 15.h4 ]
13.dxe5! Bf8
[ 13...g4? 14.Qa4++- ]=
14.h4!
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White is crushing on the kingside.
14...gxh4
[ 14...g4 15.Qa4+ ]
15.Rxh4 Ng7 16.0-0-0 Be7 17.Rh3
[ 17.Bb5+ Kf8 18.Rf4+- ]
17...Qc7 18.Bb5+ Kf8 19.Rdh1 h5
20.Kb1 a6 21.Bd3 b5 22.Ne2 Bd7
23.Nf4 Rc8 24.Qd1 a5 25.Nxh5+-
Example 3
Spragget,K - Abdullah
Manila Ol
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b
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e
12.06.1992
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15.h4! With such piece domination
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Modern Chess Magazine
White can play on both wings equally
successfully. 15...Nd6?!
[ It was wiser to return 15...Nf6 16.Ne5
Be8 17.g4!? ]
16.h5+a
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Be8 17.hxg6 hxg6 18.Nh2
[ Stronger would have been the
immediate 18.Ng5 Ne7 19.Qg4+- ]
18...Qd8 19.Qg4 Bd7 20.Qg3
[ 20.Bxg6 fxg6 21.Qxg6+ Kh8
22.Nf3+- ]
20...Ne8 21.Ng4 Bg7 22.Nh6+ Kf8
23.e4 Ne7 24.exd5 Nxd5 25.Nxd5
exd5 26.Re1 Qb6 27.Rxe8+!
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Nice and easy. 27...Kxe8 28.Re1+ Be6
29.Nxf7 Kxf7 30.Qxg6+ Kf8 31.Rxe6
Qxd4
32.Bd6+
Kg8
33.Qh7+
1-0
Example 4
Georgiev,K-Campora
Brocco op San Bernardino
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1988
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The following example clearly shows
White's potential on the open c-file.
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14.Qb6! f6 15.Rb3 Ra7 16.Rc1 Rc8
17.Ne1 g5 18.Bh2 Bf5 19.Nd3 Bxd3
20.Bxd3 e6 21.Rbc3 Bf8 22.Bc2! a5
23.Ba4+a
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58
15.Rc5!
This is a classical example of
the domination along the open c-file.
15...Rfc8 16.Rac1 a5 17.Qa4!+-
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Example 5
Tartakower-Frydman
Lodz
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h
07.09.1935
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Black cannot keep up his defense.
17...Na7
[ 17...Bd7 18.Bb5 Nxd4 19.Rxc8+
Rxc8 20.Rxc8+ Bxc8 21.exd4 ]
18.Rxc8+ Bxc8 19.Qe8+ Bf8 20.Ng5
Qf6 21.Nxh7 Qg7 22.Qxf8+ Qxf8
23.Nxf8 Kxf8 24.Rc5
1-0
h
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Modern Chess Magazine
Example 6
Eljanov,P- Arkell
Douglas IoM op (1)
a
b
c
d
59
Example 7
Roiz,M-Appel
23.09.2017 Bundesliga 1011
e
f
g
05.02.2011
h
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a
17.Nc5 Following the classics. 17...Nxc5
18.Rxc5 e6 19.Qc2 Rfc8 20.Rc1 Ne7
21.Bc7! In Karpovian style. 21...Ra7
22.Nd2 Qb7 23.Nb3 Ra6 24.Nxa5+a
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16.e4! Opening the center is the most
unpleasant continuation for Black. The
aim is to attack the weakness on e6.
16...a6
[ 16...Na5 17.Qc2 ]
17.Nc3 Na5 18.Qc2 Nd6 19.Qe2
[ 19.exd5 exd5 20.Rfe1 ]
19...Nf7 20.Rfe1 e5 An unsucessful
attempt to complicate matters.
[ 20...Re8 21.exd5 exd5 22.Qxe8+
Qxe8 23.Rxe8+ Rxe8 24.Na4 ]
21.dxe5 fxe5 22.Bd2 d4 23.Nd5 Nc6
24.Rc2 Ra7 25.Rec1+-
h
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Modern Chess Magazine
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Example 8
Delchev,A Muetsch
35th ECC Open 2019 (7.13)
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16.11.2019
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60
Gruenfeld Defence and Black's last
move Na6 appeared to be the decisive
mistake. White can get the endgame
from the model game by force. 10.Qxb6
1 axb6 11.Na4! Nd7 12.cxd5! cxd5
13.Bf4 A hopeless position - the rest was
too easy. 13...e6 14.Rdc1 Nb4 15.Nc3
Nf6 16.Bc7 Re8 17.Bxb6+a
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Example 9
Heimann,A- Heidenfeld
Bad Kissingen Schachzauber 1st (2)
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This is my recent game from the
European Club Cup. The opening was a
a
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Modern Chess Magazine
16.g4! This is the most unpleasant idea
to open a second front at the moment
when Black's pieces are blocked on the
other wing. 16...Kf7 17.g5! Ke7
18.h4+a
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8
61
Example 10
Ikonnikov,V-Van Muenster
Vlissingen HZ op 07th
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03.08.2003
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h
Strangely enough the game ended here ..
although the engine shows +3 but to
resign immediately looks a bit premature.
The next move would be h4-h5 crushing
Black on both the g- and h-files.
1-0
15.Nxd7! Exchanging Black's bad bishop
is White's most direct way of realizing
the advantage. 15...Rxd7 16.Na4 Rd6
17.Bf4 Rc6 18.Rxc6 bxc6 19.Nxb6+a
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Modern Chess Magazine
Practical Endgame
Miniatures
Practical endgame miniatures by top
grandmasters Top chess trainers
recommend solving endgame studies
daily as an important part of the
learning program at all levels. This
enjoyable method is aimed at
improving one's creativity and out-ofthe-box thinking. It is highly efficient in
polishing your calculating and tactical
skills, enriching your arsenal of tactical
weaponry not to mention the obvious:
deepening your endgame
understanding and keeping you sharp
for your upcoming challenges. All these
virtues are essential in shaping a
complete and original player; no less so
than the knowledge of opening theory
and middlegame strategy. Quite a few
top grandmasters were also captivated
by the charm of composing endgame
studies themselves. For this article, I
have selected miniature studies
created by leading players. Miniatures
use not more than 7 pieces to express
mainly tactical chess ideas
62
in an artistic, purest form with a unique
solution and move order. This economy
of material and play clarity, with only
relevant pieces present on the board,
proves instrumental in practicing how to
estimate accurately the power and
qualities of each piece alone and in
harmony with other pieces. You are
about to cope with 21 miniatures
composed by well-known players. For
warming up, let us examine first the
solutions of 3 light examples. We start
with a miniature by the first official
world champion. How should White
secure the promotion of one of his
advanced passed pawns? 1.h7+ Kg7
A. Wilhelm Steinitz
Schachzeitung
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[ Narurally not 1...Kh8 2.Bf6# ]
2.h8Q+! Kxh8 3.Kf7! Rf1+ 4.Bf6+
Rxf6+ Exchanging to a won pawn
endgame 5.Kxf6 Kg8 6.g7 Kh7
7.Kf7
1-0
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Modern Chess Magazine
C. Vladimir Akopyan
1983 Schach
B. John Nunn
Due Alfieri
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White could draw comfortably if not the
pawn b5. 1.Kd4! Opposite to the
natural tendency:
[ 1.Kf6? is refuted by: b3 2.Kg7 b2
3.Kxh8 b1Q 4.Kg7 Qg1+ 5.Kf7
Qd4 6.Kg8 Qg4+ 7.Kf7 Qf5+
8.Kg7 Qg5+ 9.Kf7 Qh6 10.Kg8
Qg6+ 11.Kh8 Kc5! Avoiding
stalemate! 12.b6 Qf7 13.b7 Qf8#
Just in time! ]
1...Kxb5
[ 1...Ka5 2.Kc4 Nf7 3.b6! draw. ]
2.Ke5! White has invested two tempi
just to get rid of his superfluous pawn!
2...b3 3.Kf6 b2 4.Kg7 b1Q 5.Kxh8
With a theoretical draw.
1/2
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In C by the top Armenian player White
should hinder the black king from
helping his troops. 1.Ke3!
[ While the alternatives fail: 1.Rf5?
Kg2! 2.Rg5+ ( 2.Ke3 Nf1+ 3.Kf4 f2
4.Rg5+ Kh2 ) 2...Kh2 3.Rd5 f2
4.Rxd2 Kg1 5.Rd1+ Kg2 wins ]
[ 1.Kg4? allows a deadly fork
following Ne4! 2.Rf5 Kg2 3.Rxf3
h2 4.Rh3 Nf2+ wins. ]
1...f2! 2.Rf5!
[ 2.Kxf2? is met by another lethal
fork. Ne4+ ]
2...f1Q 3.Rxf1+ Nxf1+ 4.Kf2 Ne3
[ Similarly 4...Nd2 5.Kg3 h2 6.Kf2
draws. ]
5.Kg3 h2 6.Kf2 Despite his
considerable material advantage Black
cannot "pass" his move and thus is
unable to make any further progress.
It's a fortress.
1/2
www.modern-chess.com
Modern Chess Magazine
Exercise 1
a
b
64
Exercise 3
c
d
e
f
g
h
a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
8
8
8
8
7
7
7
7
6
6
6
6
5
5
5
5
4
4
4
4
3
3
3
3
2
2
2
2
1
1
1
1
a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
a
It's your turn now. 21 miniatures of
various levels of difficulty are for you to
crack. They present a wide range of
tactical themes and motifs. Good luck!
The pawn pair, escorted by a bishop,
look quite promising, and yet since the
black king is a lot closer to the scene,
a vigorous action is called for. White to
move and win
a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
8
8
7
7
6
6
5
5
4
4
3
3
2
2
1
1
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
Who will win the royal race for the h6
pawn? White to move and win
d
e
f
g
h
Exercise 4
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
8
8
7
7
6
6
5
5
4
4
3
3
2
2
1
1
a
a
c
How can white capture the dangerous
enemy pawn without losing his knight?
White to move and win
a
Exercise 2
b
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
If Black, an average club player,
manages to block and win the advanced
pawn pair, he is supposed to mate a lone
enemy king by his minor pieces. Could
White still save his skin? White to move
and make draw
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Modern Chess Magazine
Exercise 5
a
b
65
Exercise 7
c
d
e
f
g
a
h
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
8
8
8
8
7
7
7
7
6
6
6
6
5
5
5
5
4
4
4
4
3
3
3
3
2
2
2
2
1
1
1
1
a
b
c
d
e
f
g
a
h
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
3 top grandmasters collaborate for a
joint entertaining miniature. Can White
win the black pawn? White to move and
make draw
How should White meet the dangerous
passed pawn? White to move and
make a draw
Exercise 6
Exercise 8
a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
8
8
8
8
7
7
7
7
6
6
6
6
5
5
5
5
4
4
4
4
3
3
3
3
2
2
2
2
1
1
1
1
a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
Black is a pawn behind but threatens
to pick up both White pawn on the
queenside. How should White meet this
plan? White to move and make draw
a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
White is a whole rook ahead however
he is about to lose at least one of his
pawns while his King is far away on the
kingside. An exceptionally creative idea
is called for: White to move and win
www.modern-chess.com
Modern Chess Magazine
Exercise 11
Exercise 9
a
b
66
c
d
e
f
g
h
a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
8
8
8
8
7
7
7
7
6
6
6
6
5
5
5
5
4
4
4
4
3
3
3
3
2
2
2
2
1
1
1
1
a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
In this materially equal position with no
passed pawns, White can only pin his
hope in his more active king and still
high precision is required. White to
move and win
White pins his hopes in promoting one
of his kingside pawns White to move
and win
Exercise 10
Exercise 12
a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
8
8
8
8
7
7
7
7
6
6
6
6
5
5
5
5
4
4
4
4
3
3
3
3
2
2
2
2
1
1
1
1
a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
a
White should rush his remote officers
to the promotion zone White to move
and win
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
White should rush his king to back up
his kingside pawn pair White to move
and make draw
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Modern Chess Magazine
Exercise 13
a
b
67
Exercise 15
c
d
e
f
g
a
h
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
8
8
8
8
7
7
7
7
6
6
6
6
5
5
5
5
4
4
4
4
3
3
3
3
2
2
2
2
1
1
1
1
a
b
c
d
e
f
g
a
h
White can stop the black promotion but
can he do that without losing his rook?
White to move and make draw
Exercise 14
a
b
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
A Bishop and a Knight supported by
their King is a winning team provided
that here they can first restrain the
connected passed trio. White to move
and win
Exercise 16
c
d
e
f
g
h
8
8
7
7
8
8
6
6
7
7
5
5
6
6
4
4
5
5
3
3
4
4
2
2
3
3
1
1
2
2
1
1
a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
a
a
If the pawn b6 is removed we witness
the more familiar Lucena position. Here
this very pawn prevents building the
decisive bridge. How should White play
for a win then? White to move and win
b
b
c
c
d
d
e
e
f
f
g
g
h
h
Both white pieces are under attack.
Some acrobatics is called for to save
the day. White to move and make draw
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Modern Chess Magazine
Exercise 17
Exercise 19
a
a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
8
8
7
7
6
6
5
5
4
4
3
3
2
2
1
1
a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
White faces 2 pairs of connected
passed pawns already on his third rank.
How should he stop them? White to
move and draw
Exercise 18
a
b
c
d
e
f
g
8
7
7
6
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5
5
4
4
3
3
2
2
1
1
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c
d
e
f
g
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
8
8
7
7
6
6
5
5
4
4
3
3
2
2
1
1
a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
Systematic movements are not strange
to the practical player. even if they are
pretty rare. This term refers to the
repetition of coordinated movements
by two or more pieces with the same
pattern of play and goal. The following
ending, by the second world champion,
displays systematic movements that
have been seen in practice more than
once, even at the grandmaster level.
White to move and win
Exercise 20
h
8
a
68
h
Avoiding the black promotion seems
like a piece of cake however it is the
direct way to ...just a draw! White to
move and win
a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
8
8
7
7
6
6
5
5
4
4
3
3
2
2
1
1
a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
Black is ready to give his Rook for the
dangerous enemy pawn to save the
game. Can White avoid this scenario?
White to move and win
www.modern-chess.com
Modern Chess Magazine
Exercise 21
a
b
69
[ 1.Be7? is simply defeated by
c
d
e
f
g
h
Rxe7!2.fxe7 Kd7 draws ]
1...Rf7
[ More challenging than either 1...Kd8
8
8
7
7
6
6
5
5
4
4
3
3
[ No time for 2.Bg7? Kd6 3.g6 Rc7+
2
2
4.Kd2 Ke6 5.Bh8 Rc8 6.Bg7 Rc7
1
1
a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
What is the key factor to decide the
battle here? White to move and win
1. John Nunn
Schaakbulletin
a
b
c
e
f
g
7
7
6
6
5
5
4
4
3
3
2
2
1
1
c
d
e
f
g
draws. ]
2...Rxe7!?
[ Or 2...Kd7 3.g6 Rxe7 4.g7! ]
4...Re8 5.f7
a
8
b
4.f7+- ]
2.Be7!
h
8
a
[ or 1...Rd5 2.g6 Rg5 3.g7 Kd7
3.g6! Kd7 4.g7
[ While 4.f7? naturally fails to Rxf7 ]
1983
d
2.g6 Ke8 3.Bg7 Ra7 4.Kd2+- ]
h
It's your turn now. 21 miniatures of
various levels of difficulty are for you to
crack. They present a wide range of
tactical themes and motifs. Good luck!
The pawn pair, escorted by a bishop,
look quite promising, and yet since the
black king is a lot closer to the scene,
a vigorous action is called for. White to
move 1.g5
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
8
8
7
7
6
6
5
5
4
4
3
3
2
2
1
1
a
b
c
d
e
Queening and winning.
1-0
www.modern-chess.com
f
g
h
Modern Chess Magazine
2. Siegbert Tarrasch
Kagan's Neueste Schachnachrichten
a
b
c
d
e
f
g
a
8
7
7
6
6
5
5
4
4
3
3
2
2
1
1
a
b
c
d
e
f
g
b
c
d
e
f
g
8
8
7
7
6
6
5
5
4
4
3
3
2
2
1
1
a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
It's the same Zugzwang but this time
Black is to play...and lose.
1-0
c
d
e
f
g
h
8
7
7
6
6
5
5
4
4
3
3
2
2
1
1
a
h
b
1930
8
h
Who will win the royal race for the h6
pawn? 1.Kc3 Kf2 2.Kd4 Kf3 3.Ke5
Kg4 4.Kf6 Kh5 As predicted White
has lost the race but still wins the
battle thanks to a tactical device.
5.g8Q! Bxg8 6.Kg7 Kg5 Black still
seems to maintain the balance however
after 7.h3!
[ 7.h4+?? Kh5 is a mutual
Zugzwang with white to play and just
draw. ]
7...Kh5 8.h4
a
3. Nicolas Rossolimo
1st HM Isvestia
h
8
70
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
How can white capture the dangerous
enemy pawn without losing his knight?
1.Rg8+ Kb7
[ 1...Kd7 loses right away to 2.Nb8+ ]
2.Nc5+ Kb6!
[ 2...Kc6 enables the deadly in
between check 3.Rc8+ Kd5 4.Kxh2
wins. ]
3.Na4+
[ But not 3.Nd7+? Kc7 where white
is at a dead end. ]
3...Kb5 4.Nc3+ Kb4 5.Na2+ Kb3
6.Nc1+ Kb2 7.Kxh2! Kxc1 8.Rg1
a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
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8
7
7
6
6
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3
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2
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a
www.modern-chess.com
b
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h
Modern Chess Magazine
3...Bxc8 4.Kb6!
[ Not 4.Kc6? Na5+ ]
4...Nd6 5.Kc7
Pinning and winning! The end of an
instructive systematic maneuver.
Rossolimo is not just a popular
variation in the Sicilian.
1-0
4. Jonathan Speelman
EG
a
b
c
d
e
g
h
8
8
7
7
6
6
5
5
4
4
3
3
2
2
1
1
a
b
c
d
e
a
1978
f
f
g
71
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
8
8
7
7
6
6
5
5
4
4
3
3
2
2
1
1
a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
White is the last one to fork and draw!
1/2
h
If Black, an average club player,
manages to block and win the
advanced pawn pair, he is supposed to
mate a lone enemy king by his minor
pieces. Could White still save his skin?
1.b7!
[ Allowing a fork! The natural option
1.Kb5? is defeated by Bd7+ 2.Kc4
( 2.Ka6 loses to Bc8+ 3.Ka7 Nd6
4.Kb8 Kf4 5.b7 Bxb7 6.c8Q Bxc8
7.Kc7 Ke5 game over! ) 2...Bc8
( 2...Nd6+? fails to 3.Kd5 Nb7
4.c8Q Bxc8 5.Kc6 Na5+ 6.Kb5
Nb3 7.Kc6 Nd4+ 8.Kc7 draws. )
3.Kd5 Nd2! ( 3...Bb7+? 4.Ke6!
draws! ) 4.Kc6 Nc4 5.b7 allows the
winning fork Na5+ ]
1...Nc5+ 2.Kb5 Nxb7 Threatening to
Block the remaining pawn next. Any
resource left? 3.c8N!! Actively
sacrificing the last pawn!
[ 3.c8Q? is met by another fork
Nd6+ ]
5. Ulf Andersson,Jan Timman
Schaknyt
a
b
c
d
e
f
g
1977
h
8
8
7
7
6
6
5
5
4
4
3
3
2
2
1
1
a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
3 top grandmasters collaborate for a
joint entertaining miniature. Can White
win the black pawn. Let's try: 1.h4! Kf7
2.h5 Ke6 3.h6 Ne8 4.h7 Nd6 5.h8N!
www.modern-chess.com
Modern Chess Magazine
Excelsior: A pawn journey from its
initial square to a promotion,
occasionally as here, even an
underpromotion! 5...Ne4+ 6.Kf4 Kf6
7.Nf7!
a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
72
Black is a pawn behind but threatens
to pick up both White pawn on the
queenside. How should White meet this
plan? 1.b6! axb6 2.c5! bxc5 3.Kb2
Kb4 4.h6!
[ Attention! 4.Kc2? is defeated by
h6! ]
4...Kc4 5.Kc2 Maintaining the
opposition equalizes and heralds a
peaceful conclusion. 5...Kd4 6.Kd2 c4
7.Kc2 c3 8.Kc1! Kd3 9.Kd1
8
8
7
7
6
6
5
5
8
8
4
4
7
7
3
3
6
6
2
2
5
5
1
1
4
4
3
3
2
2
1
1
a
b
c
d
e
f
g
a
h
draw.
1/2
a
6. Vasily Smyslov
64 Shakhmatnoye Obozrenye
2010
b
b
c
c
d
d
e
e
f
f
g
g
h
h
Draw.
1/2
7. Paul Keres
Shakhmaty v. SSSR
a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
8
8
7
7
6
6
5
5
4
4
3
3
2
2
1
1
a
b
c
d
e
f
g
1951
h
a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
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3
3
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2
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b
c
d
e
f
g
h
Modern Chess Magazine
73
8. Pal Benko
How should White meet the dangerous
After M. Grunfeld
passed pawn? 1.Kg4!
Vergio
1999
[ The King should run to the battlefield
first! Apparently, the standard plan of
controlling the pawn from behind
a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
would fail here. After: 1.Re8? Rf4
8
8
2.Kg5 Kg3 3.Re7 Kf3
Black wins easily. ]
7
7
1...e3 2.Ra3! Before the black king
6
6
joins his units 2...e2 3.Ra1! Kg2
5
5
[ 3...Rf1 is met by 4.Ra2 Rf2
4
4
5.Ra1 as later in the mainline. ]
4.Re1! It's a reciprocal Zugzwang with
3
3
black to play! 4...Kh2 5.Ra1
2
2
[ Naturally not 5.Kh4? in view of Rf4
1
1
+ 6.Kg5 Re4 7.Kf5 Re8 8.Kf4 Kg2
a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
And Black wins. ]
5...Rf1 6.Ra2 Rf2 7.Ra1 Kg2 8.Re1!
White is a whole rook ahead however
Kh2 9.Ra1
he is about to lose at least one of his
pawns while his King is far away on
a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
the kingside. An exceptionally creative
8
8
idea is called for: 1.a4!
[ Following 1.b3? Kb2 2.Rh1 Kxa2
7
7
3.Rh3 ( 3.Rh5 b4! ) 3...Kb2! 4.Kg7
6
6
a4 Black draws comfortably. ]
1...Kxb2
5
5
[ 1...b4 loses to 2.Rh1 Kxb2 3.Rh5
4
4
Ka3 4.Rxa5 b3 5.Kg7 b2 6.Rb5
winning. ]
3
3
What now? 2.Ra3!!
2
2
[ A stunning twist! 2.axb5? Kxa1
3.b6 a4 4.b7 a3 5.b8Q a2
1
1
A basic theoretical draw has been
a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
reached. ]
2...Kxa3
[ Or 2...b4 3.Rh3 b3 4.Rh5 Ka3
Positional draw!
5.Rxa5 b2 6.Rb5 And wins. ]
1/2
3.axb5 a4 4.b6 Kb2 5.b7 a3
6.b8Q+
www.modern-chess.com
Modern Chess Magazine
a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
8
8
7
7
6
6
5
5
4
4
3
3
2
2
1
1
a
b
c
d
e
f
g
v SSSR/7 1.Kd5 Kf8
[ Better than 1...Kh6 2.Ke5 Kg7
3.Kd6 Kf8 4.Kd7 Kg7 5.Ke8! Kg8
6.Ke7 Kg7 7.f5! g5 8.Ke8 Kg8
( Or 8...Kf6 9.Kf8 ) 9.f6 winning. ]
2.Kd6 Ke8 3.f5 g5 4.Kc7!
[ The seemingly natural 4.f6? fails to
Kd8 5.Ke5 Kd7 6.Kf5 Kd6 7.Kxg5
Ke6 Where white, in Zugzwang,
loses his extra pawn. ]
4...Ke7 5.Kc8! Kd6
[ Since 5...Ke8 is met by 6.f6 ] 6.Kd8
Ke5 7.Ke7 f6 8.Kf7 Kf4 9.Kxf6
h
a
White has won a tempo and
consequently the game.
1-0
9. Mikhail Botvinnik
Shakhmaty v SSSR
a
b
c
d
e
1952
f
g
74
h
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
8
8
7
7
6
6
5
5
4
4
3
3
2
2
1
1
8
8
7
7
6
6
5
5
4
4
3
3
2
2
8
8
1
1
7
7
6
6
5
5
4
4
3
3
2
2
1
1
a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
In this materially equal position with no
passed pawns, White can only pin his
hope in his more active king, and still
high precision is required. Shakhmaty
a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
And White is first to promote.
1-0
10. Paul Keres
Shakhmaty v SSSR
a
a
www.modern-chess.com
b
b
c
c
d
d
1946
e
e
f
f
g
g
h
h
Modern Chess Magazine
75
White should rush his remote officers
11. Jonathan Speelman
to the promotion zone: 1.Nd5+
EG
1978
[ 1.Bc3? is too early owing to Kd3!
2.Bh8 Bg5 3.Kd7 Bxe7 4.Kxe7
a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
Kc2 5.Nc6 Kb1 draws. ]
1...Kd3
8
8
[ 1...Ke2 loses in a more prosaic
7
7
fashion following 2.Bc3 Kd1 3.Ne6
Kc1 4.Be5 Kb1 5.Nc3+ Kb2
6
6
6.Nb5+ Kb1 7.Na3+ ]
5
5
2.Nb4+ Kc3! 3.Nxa2+ Kb3 4.Nb4
Ka4! 5.Nb7!
4
4
[ The intuitive 5.Kb6? is met by Be3+
3
3
6.Ka6 Bd2 7.Ndc6 Be1 8.Kb6
Bf2+ 9.Kc7 Be1 10.Kd6 Kb5!
2
2
ends up in a positional draw. ]
1
1
5...Bd2 6.Nc2!!
a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
[ Bishop exchanges would obviously
result in just a draw. 6.Kc5? Be1
7.Kc4 Bxb4 8.Bxb4 is stalemate! ]
6...Bxa5 7.Nc5#!
White pins his hopes in promoting one
of his kingside pawns: 1.h5 Nb3+
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[ 1...Nd3 loses to 2.h6 Ne5 3.hxg7
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Nc6+ 4.Ka6 ( 4.Kb6? Ne7= )
4...Ne7 5.Kb6 Ng8 6.Kc6 Nf6
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7.Kc5 Kxb7 8.Kd4 Kc6 9.Ke5 Ng8
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10.Ke6 Kc7 11.Kf7 ]
2.Kb6 Nd4 3.h6 Ne6 Playing for
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stalemate. 4.h7 Nf8! 5.h8B!
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[ 5.h8Q? is stalemate! ]
5...Ne6
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[ 5...Nxg6 6.Bxg7 mates next ]
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[ 5...Nd7+ is no better after 6.Ka6
Nc5+ 7.Kb5 Nxb7 8.Kc6 Kc8
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9.Bxg7 Na5+ 10.Kb5 Nb7 11.Bf8
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wins. ]
6.Kc6 Nd4+
An ideal mate! All pieces are
[ The alternatives 6...Nd8+ 7.Kd7 ]
instrumental in creating the mate
[ or 6...Ka7 7.Bxg7 are hardly
picture and each square next to the
better. ]
king is attacked just once.
1-0
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Modern Chess Magazine
7.Kc5 Nf5 8.Kb6 Ne7 9.Bxg7 Nd5+
10.Kc5 Ne7 11.Bf6
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and wins.
1-0
EG
2014
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[ Accepting the sacrifice allows the
desired tempo after either 1...Bxe6
2.Ke5 Bb3 3.g6 Kd7 4.Kf6 Ke8
5.h6 draws ]
[ or 1...Nxe6+ 2.Ke5 Nxg5 3.Kf6
Ne4+ 4.Kg7= ]
2.Ke5!
[ 2.g6? fails to Kd6! wins. ]
2...Bxh5 3.g6!
[ After 3.Kf6? Ng6 Black blocks the
white king's access to g5. ]
3...Nxg6+ 4.Kf6 Nf8 5.Ke7!
[ Not 5.e7? Nd7+ 6.Kg5 Be8
wins. ]
5...Ng6+ 6.Kf6 Nf8 7.Ke7 Nh7
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12. John Nunn
After L.Kubbel
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Ideal stalemate!
1/2
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White should rush his king to back up
his kingside pawn pair. 1.e6! Be8!
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13. Siegbert Tarrasch
Deutsche Schachzeitung
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White can stop the black promotion but
can he do that without losing his rook?
1.Ra7+ Kb2 2.Rb7+ Kc3 3.Rc7+
Kd4 4.Rd7+ Ke4 5.Re7+ Kf5 6.Rf7+
Ke5! 7.Rf1!
[ Obviously not 7.Re7+? Kd6 ]
7...Kd4 8.Kg2 Ke3
[ Or 8...Kc3 9.Kf3 Kc2 10.Ke3
Draw. ]
9.Rf3+ Ke2 10.Rf2+ Ke1
[ After 10...Kd1 both 11.Rf7 or Rf8
draw but not 11.Rf6? Kc2 12.Rc6+
Kb3 13.Rb6+ Kc3 14.Rb1 Kc2
wins. ]
11.Rf1+
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If the pawn b6 is removed we witness
the more familiar Lucena position. Here
this very pawn prevents building the
decisive bridge. How should white play
for a win then? 1.Rd2+! Ke7
2.Rd6!! Building a bridge to threaten 3.
Kc7 Rc2+ 4. Rc6 2...Rc3
[ Since following 2...Kxd6 3.Kc8
Rc3+ 4.Kd8 Rh3 5.b8Q+
is a check! ]
3.Rc6!! Rxc6
[ Or 3...Rd3 4.Rc5 winning. ]
4.Ka7
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4.Ng1 h2 5.Ne2+ Kh3 6.Bc8#
Followed by queening and winning.
1-0
15. Richard Reti
Casopis Ceskoslovensky Sach
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It's a model mate following 2 active self
blocks with each square next to the
black king is attacked just once.
1-0
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16. Jan Timman
A Bishop and a Knight supported by
their King is a winning team provided
that here they can first restrain the
connected passed trio: 1.Ke1!
[ 1.Nd2? fails to Kg1 2.Ne4 h2
3.Nf2 h1Q! 4.Nxh1 g3 5.Bc6 Kh2
6.Kf1 h3 draws. ]
1...g3
[ 1...Kg1 clarifies the key move after
2.Nc3! g3 3.Ne2+ Kh2 4.Bc8 g2
( Or 4...Kg2 5.Nf4+ ) 5.Kf2 wins. ]
2.Nd2 g2
[ The alternative is 2...Kg1 3.Nf3+
Kg2 4.Bc6 Kh1 5.Kf1 g2+ 6.Kf2
h2 7.Ne1 h3 8.Nxg2 hxg2
9.Bxg2# ]
3.Nf3+ Kg3!
[ 3...Kh1 is met again by 4.Kf2 h2
5.Ne1 h3 6.Nxg2 hxg2 7.Bxg2# ]
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Both white pieces are under attack.
Some acrobatics is called for to save
the day. 1.Bc5 d6 2.Ne5! Self forking!
2...Bd5+ 3.Kg1 dxc5 Is the game
over? Not as yet! 4.Nd7! It's the
knight's forking time! 5.Nb6+ is the
other threat. 4...Be6! 5.Nxf8 Bf5
Dominating the knight. A king's race is
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79
about to start. 6.Kf2 Kb7 7.Ke3
17. Vasily Smyslov
Moi Etyudi
2005
Ka7!This strange choice is a tricky
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waiting move.
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[ 7...Kb6 8.Kf4 Bc8 9.Ng6 Kb5
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10.Ne5 draws. ]
8.Kf3!
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[ The only correct move as the natural
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choice 8.Kf4? now loses! c4 It's a
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reciprocal Zugzwang with White to
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play and ...lose! 9.Ke3 Kb6
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10.Kd4 Kb5 11.Ke5 c3-+ ]
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8...c4 9.Kf4 This is a reciprocal
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Zugzwang with black to play!
White faces 2 pairs of connected passed
9...c3 10.Ke3
pawns already on his third rank. How
should he stop them? Indirectly by
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attacking their monarch! 1.Kc4 Ka5
2.Kc5 Annoying Black by repeating mate
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threats is the only tactics. 2...Ka6 3.Rh6
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+ Kb7 4.Rh7+! Kc8 5.Kc6 A whole
board chase is on, along rank and file!
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5...Kd8 6.Kd6 Ke8 7.Ke6 Kf8 8.Kf6
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Kg8 9.Rg7+! Kh8 10.Rb7!
[ 10.Ra7? fails to b2! ]
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10...g2 11.Rb8+ Kh7 12.Rb7+ Kh6
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13.Rb8 Kh5 14.Kf5 Kh4 15.Kf4 Kh5
[ Attention! 15...Kh3 16.Rh8# ]
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16.Kf5
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It's a draw now as Ne6 is White's next
move.
1/2
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Draw by repetition!
1/2
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18. Richard Reti
Kolnische Volkszeitung
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Avoiding the black promotion seems
like a piece of cake however it is the
direct way to ...just a draw! 1.Bf5+!
[ While 1.Bc6+? Kd6! 2.Rd4+ Ke5
3.Re4+ Kd6 4.Rxe3 e1Q 5.Rxe1
ends up in a stalemate! ]
1...Kd6
[ 1...Ke7 2.Re4+ ]
2.Rd4+ Ke7
[ 2...Ke5 is met by 3.Re4+ Kxf5
4.Rxe3 wins. ]
3.Re4+ Kd8! 4.Bd7!!
[ Again, 4.Rxe3 e1Q 5.Rxe1
is still stalemate. ]
4...e1Q 5.Bb5
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Systematic movements are not strange
to the practical player, even if they are
pretty rare. This term refers to the
repetition of coordinated movements by
two or more pieces with the same
pattern of play and goal. The following
ending, by the second world champion,
displays systematic movements that
have been seen in practice more than
once, even at grandmaster level. 1.Kb8
[ Wrong is: 1.Kd8 Rd2+ 2.Kc8 Ka7
And there is no way for White to
make any progress. ]
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Avoiding being immediately mated
costs Black his queen.
1-0
a
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1...Rb2+ 2.Ka8 Rc2 3.Rf6+ Ka5 The
King must stay on the edge file to allow
check by his rook. 4.Kb7
The first step: Black's king has been
pushed one stair downstairs. 4...Rb2+
5.Ka7 Rc2 6.Rf5+ Ka4 7.Kb7 Rb2+
8.Ka6 Rc2 9.Rf4+ Ka3 10.Kb6
Threatening 11.R:f2. 10...Rb2+
11.Ka5 Rc2 12.Rf3+ Ka2 13.Rxf2!
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Pinning and winning!
1-0
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Black is ready to give his Rook for the
dangerous enemy pawn to save the
game. Can White avoid this scenario?
1.Rg8 Rc1!
[ 1...Rc6+ 2.Kh5 Rc5+ 3.Kh4 Rc1
4.Rg4+ Kc5 5.Kh5 ]
2.Rg4+! Ka3! 3.Kh5!
[ Not 3.Kg5? Rc8 And 4. Rg8 is
illegal... ]
3...Rc8
[ As following 3...Rc5+ 4.Kh4 Rc8
5.Rg8 Rc4+ 6.Kg3 Rc3+ 7.Kf2
Rc2+ 8.Ke3 Rh2 9.h8Q Rxh8
10.Rxh8 Black's pawns are too
slow ]
4.Rg8 Rc1
[ 4...Rc5+ 5.Kg4 Rc4+ 6.Kg3 Rc3+
7.Kf2 Rc2+ 8.Ke3 ]
5.Rg3+! Ka2
[ 5...Ka4 loses to 6.Rg4+ b4 7.h8Q
Rh1+ 8.Rh4+- ]
6.Kh4! One more stair downstairs.
6...Rc8 7.Rg8 Rc1 8.Rg2+! Kb1
9.Kh3 Rc8 10.Rg8 Rc1 11.Kh2
Rc2+ 12.Kh1 Rc1+ 13.Rg1
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20. Istvan Bilek
1st Pr. Magyar Sakkelet
1971
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End of a fine systematic movement and
White finally wins.
1-0
h
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Modern Chess Magazine
21. Mikhail Botvinnik
4th Pr. Shakhmaty v SSSR
1939
8.Kb8 Kb6 9.Ka8!
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What is the key factor to decide the
battle here? Here too the white the
king controls a greater deal of the
board which enables him to play for a
win by employing a common element in
pawn endings: the opposition: 1.Kf5!
[ The alternatives allow Black to
maintain a distant opposition first:
1.Kf6? Kb6! ]
[ 1.Kg6? Kc6! ]
1...Kb6
[ Neither 1...Kc6 2.Ke6 ]
[ nor 1...Kc7 2.Ke5 Kc6 3.Ke6 ]
2.Kf6! Kb7 3.Kf7! Kb8
[ 3...Kb6 4.Ke8 Kc6 5.Kd8 Kd6
6.Kc8 leads the game to the
mainline. ]
4.Ke6 Kc7
[ 4...Kc8 is met by 5.Kd6 ]
5.Ke7! Opposition! 5...Kc6 6.Kd8 Kd6
Black too maintains the opposition alas
a bit too late. 7.Kc8 The white
monarch penetrates behind the enemy
lines. 7...Kc6
[ Or 7...Ke6 8.Kb7 Kf5 9.Kc6 Ke4
10.Kc5 Winning. ]
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The point! Black's enemy is, in fact, his
extra pawn that prevents him from
seizing the opposition. Paradoxically
White wins by reaching the upper left
corner!
1-0
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Modern Chess Magazine
Endgame Series 24 Opposite-colored
bishops
Hello Dear Chess Friends!
In Endgame series issues #18 and
#19, we covered in depth oppositecolored bishops endgames. We looked
at many instructive practical examples
and formulated a number of important
conclusions with theoretical value. I
listed these conclusions right below
this introductory passage. We will
loosely refer to them as ‘principles’
(e.g. ‘’White followed principle 3’’, or
‘’Black forgot about principle 5’’…) for
easier reference, as we explore new
examples with opposite-colored
bishops endgames in this issue of
Endgame series. Most of these
examples have been taken from very
recent top-GM practice.
‘Principles’ of opposite-colored bishops
endgames:
1.Weaker side often has drawing
chances being one, two, or sometimes
even three pawns down.
83
2.Drawing chances usually arise due
to the blockade.
3.Drawing chances sometimes arise
due to the wrong-colored bishop
(rook's pawn) and, more rarely,
stalemate.
4.With two passed pawns which are
three or more files apart (i.e. f- and b-;
g-and c-) the stronger side usually
wins; with two passed pawns two or
less files apart (i.e. e- and b-; g- and
d-) it is usually a draw (there are some
exceptions).
5.Winning chances increase as two
passed pawns are further (more files)
apart.
6.In case of pawn races, it is critical
that the attacker's bishop can
simultaneously protect its own passed
pawn and block opponent's passed
pawn; otherwise defender's drawing
chances increase significantly.
7. Winning ideas for the stronger side:
Penetrating with the king, Pawn
breakthrough, Overloading defender's
bishop, Improving the position of the
bishop, Zugzwang, etc.
8. King's penetration is a crucial
strategy for the stronger side and for
that purpose he has to be ready to
sacrifice pawns or even the bishop.
9. It is often difficult to win based on
one weakness only (such as an outside
passed pawn), so it may be necessary
to create the second weakness, usually
on the opposite flank.
10. Defender's chances increase if his
bishop can block two passed pawns on
a single diagonal.
11. Defender's chances increase if his
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Modern Chess Magazine
king can block penetration of opponent's
king by moving diagonally, rather than
vertically or horizontally.
12."Two-on-one" pawn breakthrough
sacrifice is a standard maneuver to
create a passed pawn and improve
winning chances.
13.I n principle, the defender should
avoid putting his pawns on the color of
opponent's bishop (there are exceptions,
sometimes).
14.Mutual weaknesses and
asymmetrical pawn structure usually
favor the stronger side.
15.When the stronger side has a passed
pawn on rook's file and a wrong-colored
bishop, the defender should look for a
way to get his king in the square of that
pawn and try to liquidate into a B + 2p vs
B endgame, which is drawn because the
bishop can always be sacrificed for the
second pawn.
My initial intention to make an update on
opposite-colored bishops endgames
actually came from a much older game in
which the ex-World champion Botvinnik
beautifully demonstrated principle 6 by
making a double pawn sacrifice. I
stumbled upon that game by chance and
realized that I had not seen this excellent
classical example before; otherwise it
would have definitely been included in
one of the previous issues on oppositecolored bishops. Let us take a look!
Kotov,Alexander
Botvinnik,Mikhail
URS-ch22 Final (6)
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Facing a cheerless task of defending this
Q+B endgame, with the following move
White made a logical transition into an
opposite colored bishops endgame,
hoping to increase his drawing chances
(principle 1): 44.Bxf6!? Qxg2+
45.Qxg2 Bxg2 46.Bd4 Be4 47.Kg3
Kf7 48.h4
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Kotov follows principle 13, putting all his
pawns on the dark squares. Now, since
19.02.1955 the b-pawn is blocked, the only way for
Black to win is to penetrate with his king.
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Two routes are possible: Kf7-g6-f5e4(g4) or Kf7-e6-d7-c6-b5, etc.
The first route is quicker and more
promising since black king can also
attack white pawns in the process.
Botvinnik realizes this, but his next
superfluous move spoils his winning
chances: 48...g6? Before moving his
king forward, Botvinnik makes sure to
keep the g-pawn defended. However,
principle 8 states that one should be
ready to sacrifice pawns (or even
bishop!) in order to speed up king's
penetration. We will see how this move
wastes a crucial tempo for Black.
[ Instead, the winning variation was:
48...b3 and now White has two
options:
A) and 2) 49.Bb2 g6 50.Bd4
( 50.f5!? is a clever attempt to play
for a blockade, despite being down
two pawns, by denying black king
the access to f5 square after Bxf5
51.Kf4
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However, Black can utilize the
second route: Ke6 52.Bd4 Kd6!
53.Kf3 Kc6 54.Ke2 Kb5 55.Kd2
Kb4 56.Bb2 and at this point, follow
85
principle 12: '''two on one
breakthrough": g5! 57.hxg5 h4+ ) 50...Ke6 51.Bb2 Kf5 52.Bc3
White's idea is to keep g4 square
sealed off. However, black king has
another penetration point: the e4square... Bb1 53.Bd4 Ke4 54.Kf2
Kd3 55.Ke1 Kc2-+;
B) 1) 49.Kf2 Kg6 50.Ke1
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Just like in the game, White is
getting ready to meet king's
penetration via e4 with Kd2, but this
defense fails by one tempo in the
view of: Kf5! The g-pawn does not
matter (principle 8). 51.Bxg7 Kg4
52.Bf6 it seems like White has
everything under control, but here
comes the point: d4! 53.Bxd4
Kxh4-+ and having created the
second passed pawn, Black wins
easily, according to principle 5. ]
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Modern Chess Magazine
49.Kf2 Ke6 50.Ke2 Kf5 51.Kd2 Kg4
52.Bf6
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59...g5!! Marvelous! Such a sacrifice can
be easily missed. Botvinnik wants to get
Because of the lost tempo with 48...g6?, to the white h-pawn even at the cost of
White is just in time with Kd2 (if 52...b3,
two pawns. This way he would create
then 53.Kc3) and Bf6, and now the
the second weakness on the other side
position should be drawn.
of the board (principle 9) and White's
Botvinnik tries to poke some holes in
White's defense over the next 5-6
defenses would be stretched. 60.fxg5
moves: 52...Kg3 53.Be7 Kh3 54.Bf6
[ 60.hxg5 loses immediately due to
Kg4 55.Be7 Bf5 56.Bf6 Kf3 57.Be7?!
h4 61.g6 h3 62.f5 h2-+ ]
A strange decision.
60...d4+! An integral part of Black's
[ Black could have kept the bishop on
combination. The b-passer has to
the same diagonal with 57.Bd4=
and Black could not make progress. ]
remain alive before we capture the h57...b3 58.Kc3 Be6! Defending the bpawn. 61.exd4 Kg3! The final
passer indirectly.
finesse.
[ In case of 58...Kxe3 59.Kxb3 d4
[ 61...Kg4? would be the wrong way
( 59...Kxf4 60.Kc3= ) White's only, but
sufficient defense would be 60.Bc5!= ]
to attack the pawn because White
59.Bc5? Kotov lost the sense of danger.
would have: 62.d5! Bxd5 63.Bf2
This move will be refuted brilliantly.
But with the king on g3, this defense
[ Instead, White could still draw with
is not possible. ]
59.Kd2 b2 ( 59...Bf5 60.Kc3= )
60.Kc2 Kxe3 61.Kxb2 d4 and once
again he is saved by 62.Bc5!=
not allowing the d-pawn to advance
any further. ]
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62.Ba3 Kxh4
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Grischuk,Alexander
2759
Dominguez Perez,Leinier
2763
FIDE World Cup (4.1)
20.09.2019
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Even if White pushes the g-pawn now,
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the principle 6 kicks in: black bishop
simultaneously holds both White passed
pawns and defends his own pawn on b3,
In the last World Cup, one of the most
interesting matchups of the fourth round
so White's pawns are, in fact,
was the one between super-GMs
meaningless. Black simply wins by
Grischuk and Dominguez. In the first
pushing his h-pawn down the board and
game of the match, after putting
penetrating with his king to help the pawn prolonged pressure on his opponent in
the rook and bishops endgame,
that is not blocked by opponent's king.
Grischuk decided to swap the rooks and
63.Kd3 Kxg5 64.Ke4 h4 65.Kf3 Bd5+
enter an opposite-colored bishops
White resigned.
endgame with an extra pawn. In this
0-1
endgame, Dominguez missed a very
In
the last World Cup, one of the most
instructive way to draw the game, as we
interesting matchups of the fourth round
shall see.
was the one between super-GMs
Grischuk and Dominguez. In the first
When entering this endgame, Grischuk
game of the match, after putting
counted on the strength of his pawn
prolonged pressure on his opponent in
majority and king's penetration on the
the rook and bishops endgame,
light squares. Meanwhile, his bishop
Grischuk decided to swap the rooks and
blocks the c-pawn. Black needs to
enter an opposite-colored bishops
defend passively and, therefore, the
endgame with an extra pawn. In this
next dozen or so moves were logical
endgame, Dominguez missed a very
instructive way to draw the game, as we
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shall see
Modern Chess Magazine
from both sides: 62.Kf3 Bc5 63.Bh7
c3 64.Kg4 Bf2 65.Bg8+ Kc6 66.Bb3
Kd7 67.Kf3 Be1 68.g4 Bd2 69.Ke4
Ke7 70.Kf5 Be3
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Now, the only way for White to move
forward is 71.g5 hxg5 72.Kxg5
We will see shortly why this is a better
recapture.
[ 72.fxg5 leads nowhere after: Bd2
73.h6 gxh6 74.g6 Kf8 75.e6 Bg5= ]
72...Bd2 73.Kg4 Be3 74.Kf3 Bd2
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75.h6! This is why Grischuk has taken
on g5 with the king and kept his central
pawns connected! The same sacrifice
motif appeared in the game SmyslovStein, which was given as an exercise in
one of the previous articles about the
opposite-colored bishops.
[ White could not achieve progress
with 75.f5 instead. Bg5 76.Ke4 Bh6
77.Kd4 Bd2= ]
75...gxh6 76.f5
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Now White has a pair of connected
passed pawns, which are much more
difficult to block than black pawns.
Black's main drawing idea is to sacrifice
the bishop for two pawns, but we will
see that there is another (actually, the
key!) drawing idea available to him in
this endgame. 76...c2? Dominguez was
low on time at this point and probably
did not see a clear way to hold this
drawn, but tricky endgame. He decided
to give up the c-pawn in order to
transfer his bishop to d8, but this will
prove to be an insufficient defense.
[ The right way to hold a draw was:
76...Bg5 77.Kg4 Kf8 78.f6 Be3!
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Modern Chess Magazine
transferring the bishop to a3-f8
diagonal. 79.e6 Bc5 80.Kf5 Bb4
Now, it seems that White wins simply
by capturing the h-pawn and then
sending his king over to d7. 81.Kg6
( White should not underestimate the
h-pawn: 81.Ke4 h5 82.Kd5 h4 and
now 83.Kc6?? even loses to: Be7!+ ) and now comes the key defensive
idea: 81...Be7!!
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Blockade can be achieved even at the
cost of a piece. This defensive idea
should be well-remembered. The point
is that after 82.fxe7+ ( 82.Bc2 h5= )
82...Kxe7 the principle 6 is not in effect
for White since his bishop does not
control the c-pawn on the same
diagonal as it defends the e-pawn.
Thus, after 83.Kxh6 Black liquidates
the last White pawn with c2 84.Bxc2
Kxe6= ]
89
77.f6+ Kf8 78.Bxc2 Bc3 79.Kf4 h5
80.Bd1 h4 81.Bg4
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Now the h-pawn is blocked and White has
no trouble capitalizing on his connected
pawns, as Grischuk demonstrates in the
remainder of the game. 81...Ba5 82.Kf5
Bc7 83.e6 Bd8 84.Bh5! A nice move.
White allows black pawn to get to h2. The
point is that the bishop is needed on h1a8 diagonal to put Black in zugzwang.
84...h3 85.Bg4 h2 86.Bf3 Kg8
87.Kg6 Kf8 88.Bc6! And Black is in
zugzwang as he can not stop the e-pawn
any more.
1-0
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Nigmatov,Ortik
Rajdeep,Sarkar
Wch U20 58th (7)
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In the next example, we will see another
drawing motif for the weaker side: a
stalemate. I may not have covered it wellenough in the previous issues on
opposite-colored bishops, so I provide an
update here: a recent game from the
World Junior U20 championship with a
nice tactical twist.
White has two extra pawns, but since
they are blocked, his winning chances
seem to be minimal (principle 2). The only
problematic thing for Black is the passive
position of his bishop, which could give
White an opportunity to trap it by putting
Black in zugzwang. 75.h3 Kg8 76.Kg5
Bg6! Here we can see that Black can
solve this problem by setting up a
stalemate (principle 3). 77.h4 Bh7
78.Be5 Bg6 79.Bd4 Bh7 80.Bc3 Bg6
81.Ba1 Bh7 82.Bc3 Bg6 83.h5
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White has made progress with his hpawn and now we have reached the
critical position. How should Black
proceed? 83...Bh7? Black trusts in his
stalemate defense, but this move will be
nicely refuted.
[ Instead, he should have moved his
bishop to a more active diagonal
83...Be8 since after 84.h6 ( or
84.Kxf5 Bxh5= ) he can still defend
with 84...Bg6!= ]
84.Bb4! Excellent! The theme of
'unstalemating' your opponent should be
familiar to anyone who has been solving
endgame studies. Now the Bh7-g6
defense does not work any more. White
transposes into an endgame where he is
only up a pawn, but due to the passive
black bishop and outside passed pawn,
he can win with a nice combination.
84...Kf7 Black tries to keep the same
defensive scheme,
[ 84...Kxg7 85.Bc3+ Kf7 86.Kh6 Bg8
would lead to the same position as in
the game. ]
but after the key move 85.g8Q+!
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he is forced to abandon it. 85...Bxg8
[ 85...Kxg8 allows White to trap the
bishop by force after 86.Kh6 Kh8
87.Bc3+ Kg8 88.Bb2+- ( just not
88.Bg7? Bg6!= )]
86.Kh6 By sacrificing the g-pawn,
Nigmatov has unblocked g7 and now it is
all about that square. If white king gets
there, there would be no way to stop the
h-pawn. White does not mind sacrificing
the bishop to that end (principle 8).
86...Kf6 87.Bc3+! This is more precise
[ than the clever-looking 87.Be7+ ,
which can be ignored by Kf7
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91
In fact, this is the right winning idea
for White, but he needs to achieve
this position with Black to move. Thus,
this is a position of mutual zugzwang
(this concept was covered in
Endgame series #10)! ]
87...Kf7 88.Bb2! Usually, when you are
trying to get the opponent into the same
position with him to move, you need to
waste a tempo. This, or any other
similar tempo-wasting move with the
bishop does the trick.
[ It would be wrong to force the king
away from f7 with 88.Bg7?
because after Ke7 89.Kg6 Bf7+
saves Black. If 90.Kg5 Bb3 91.Kxf5
Kf7 92.h6 Bc2+= Black holds the
blockade comfortably. ]
88...Kf8 89.Ba3+ Kf7 90.Be7!
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And that's it! Black is in zugzwang - he
has to capture the bishop - which leaves
g7-square wide open for white king.
90...Kxe7 91.Kg7+- The rest is easy.
91...Bh7 92.Kxh7 Kf7 93.h6 Ke6
1-0
h
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92
Caruana,Fabiano
Carlsen,Magnus
Croatia GCT Zagreb (3)
2819 due to the wrong-colored bishop (a
2875 variation of the principle 15). 42.Rxe4
28.06.2019
[ Caruana could leave the rooks on the
board, but then Re4 would achieve its
purpose as black king is not cut off the
Another important drawing idea for the
e-file any more. After: 42.Rf2+ Ke6
weaker side is the wrong-colored bishop
43.Rf6+ Kd7 44.Bf8 c4 45.Rf7+ Ke8
(principle 3). In one of the most recent
46.Rc7 Kxf8 47.Rxc6 Ke8=
battles between the current top two
we would reach a drawn rook
players in the world, Carlsen used this
endgame. ]
idea to liquidate from a worse rook and
42...Kxe4 43.Bf6
bishop endgame into a drawn oppositecolored bishops
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Despite being down a pawn, Black's
drawing chances are pretty good due to
active pieces. There is probably more
than one way that Black can hold this
endgame, but Carlsen's choice is the
most straightforward: 41...Re4!
This exchange is based on some
foresight. To make sure that this is the
right decision, Carlsen had to envision
the countours of the position that will
arise in the game on move 58, when
White can not win with the extra piece
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Black loses the h-pawn, but will win white
d-pawn in a few moves. This would be a
bad trade for him (white gets two
passed pawns on the kingside) in any
other circumstances, but the presence of
a-pawn makes it impossible for White to
win the ensuing endgame, as we will
see shortly. 43...c4 44.Bxh4 c3 45.Bf6
[ Not much would be changed if White
pushed his pawns immediately: 45.g4
c2 46.Bg5 Ke5! 47.Kg3 Kxd6 48.h4
Ke6 49.Be3 Kf7 50.h5 Kg7 51.Kh4
Be8 with a similar position as in the
game. ]
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45...c2 46.Bb2 Kd5 47.g4 Kxd6
48.Kg3
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Now, Black's plan is to contain white
pawns with his king and bishop: either
block the pawns if they are on the dark
squares or sacrifice the bishop if they
are on the light squares.
Carlsen decides to achieve this with
active defense 48...Bb5!? preparing to
attack the pawns from behind with 49...
Be2.
[ However, it is useful to note that even
the passive defense would work here:
48...Ke7 49.h4 Kf8 50.h5 Be8!
The key move that gives Black just
enough time to transfer his king to h7.
51.Kh4 Kg8 52.g5 Kh7
and now Black is ready to sacrifice the
bishop in case of 53.g6. It is also crucial
that after 53.Kg4 Black has an extra
square for his bishop Bf7=
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and he can just go back and forth (Be8Bf7). You may remember that in a
similar situation in the game GrischukDominguez, Black did not have this
extra square for the bishop,
so he was put in zugzwang. ]
49.Kf3 Caruana stops Be2.
[ In case of 49.h4 Be2 50.h5 Ke6
51.Kh4 Black draws lie this: Bd3
52.g5 ( or 52.Kg5 Be2!= not allowing
the king to reach h6. ) 52...Kf5
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Modern Chess Magazine
94
Black is down a piece, but due to the
wrong-colored bishop, he can draw the
game if he reaches the a8-corner. Since
White has to pick up two pawns in the
meantime, there is no way that he can
49...Ke7 Carlsen decides that passive
defense is good enough, after all. 50.h4 Kf8 shoulder black king away from the corner.
61.Ke5 Kf7 62.Kd6 Ke8
51.h5 Be8! 52.Kg3 Kg8 53.Kh4 Kh7
63.Bc1 Kd8 64.Kc6 Kc8 65.Bf4 c1Q+
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66.Bxc1 Kb8 67.Kb6 Ka8 68.Bf4
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If you can't checkmate them, stalemate
them!
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1/2
and with this active setup, Black also
denies White any progress. For example:
53.g6 Be2 54.g7 Bc4 55.h6 Kg6= and
the pawns have been safely blocked. ]
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and this is a drawn setup that we have seen
in variation 48...Ke7. 54.Kg5 Bd7 55.Kf4
a5 It makes sense to push this pawn as far
away as possible in the view of the upcoming
bishop and pawn endgame. 56.Kg5 a4
57.Kf4 Be6 58.g5 Bf7 59.g6+ White
had to play this move sooner or later.
59...Bxg6 60.hxg6+ Kxg6
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2723
2872
30.12.2019
Firouzja,Alireza
Carlsen,M
World Blitz 2019 (19.1)
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We remain with the World champion as we
look at the next, very controversial, game
in which he won an opposite-colored
bishops endgame being three pawns
down! It is, of course, his blitz game
against an upcoming star Alireza Firouzja
from the World blitz championship in
Moscow. The video of this game went viral
due to the incident that happened right
after the end of the game.
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Modern Chess Magazine
For this article, the interesting part was
what happened in the final stage of the
game, where both players were blitzing
their moves in what seemed to be like a
winning opposite-colored bishops
endgame for White. Yet, with such little
time Firouzja’s conversion task was not
trivial and
in search for the best continuation, he let
himself get down to only a few seconds,
then clumsily knocked down a piece
while attempting to move it, and finally
flagged as he was setting it back up!
I think that it makes sense to start
looking at this opposite-bishops
endgame from the start. There were
some instructive moments throughout.
Of course, being so low on time and
under pressure, both players made
mistakes, but these were mostly
calculation errors due to lack of thinking
time, which is understandable in such
circumstances.
A little bit about the endgame itself:
being one and a half pawn up (we can
hardly count doubled e-pawns as full two
pawns at this point), White has two
winning attempts: king's penetration and
creating a passed pawn on the
queenside. 41.Ke2 For the start,
Firouzja tries to penetrate the kingside
95
with his king and target e5 and g5 pawns.
The f5-square would be perfect outpost
for that. 41...Bf8 42.Kf3 Ke7 43.Bc4
a5 44.Ke2 He hesitates with his original
plan
[ since 44.Kg4 is met by Kf6
and the access to f5 is denied. ]
44...Kd6 45.Bd5 Be7? Firouzja's
''hesitation move'' has worked. When
you have just a few seconds on the clock,
it is easy to miss small details, such as
the one that the bishop on e7 blocks its
own king.
[ Black could achieve a fairly easy
draw with 45...Ke7 46.Kd3 ( 46.Kf3
is now met by Kf6= ) 46...Kd7 47.Kc4
Bb4 48.Kb5 Bd2 49.a3 Kd6 50.b4
axb4 51.axb4 Bxe3= etc. ]
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46.Kf3! Firouzja returns to the main
route, but this time Carlsen's king can
not oppose its break into f5-square.
46...Bd8 47.Kg4 Be7 48.Kf5 Bd8
49.g4 Be7
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The first part of White's plan has been
completed with a help of his opponent.
The king is on f5, tying black pieces to
defense of weak e5 and g5 pawns. Now
it is time to proceed with the second
step: engage the queenside pawns.
50.a3 Bd8 51.b4 axb4 52.axb4 Be7
53.b5 Bd8 54.Kg6 Not spoiling
anything,
[ but he could have put Black in a
zugzwang with 54.Ba8
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Black has three weaknesses (e5, g5,
and White's passed pawn) and he can
not hold all of them. Something has
got to give, as we can see in the
following variations: Be7 ( 54...Kc5
loses the e-pawn 55.Kxe5 Kxb5
56.Kd6+-; 54...Bb6 the g-pawn
55.Kxg5 Bxe3+ 56.Kf6+- ) 55.b6 Bd8
56.b7 Kc7 57.Kxe5+- and in any
case White creates at least another
passed pawn, with a winning
position. ]
54...Kc5 55.Kf5 Kxb5 Carlsen makes
an exchange of e- for b-pawn, which
does not change the evaluation of the
position as winning for White, however.
[ He could have also repeated the
position with 55...Kd6 but then
Firouzja would have probably found
the right continuation, such as 54.
Ba8. ]
56.Kxe5 Kc5 57.Ke6 Ba5 58.e5 Bd2
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59.e4? A completely understandable
move in blitz mode: the pawn is attacked,
you move it. However, White should have
just focused on his more advanced epawn and it would be all over veryVRRQ
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[ The most direct way to win involved a
bishop sacrifice (principle 8): 59.Kf7!
Kxd5 60.e6 Bb4 61.e7 Bxe7
62.Kxe7+- ]
[ but White would also win with a
simpler move like 59.Ba8!?
when after Bc3 ( Black can not win
the pawn with 59...Bxe3 due to
60.Kf7+- and the e-pawn can not be
contained. ) 60.Kf5 Bb2 61.Kxg5
Bxe5 62.Kg6! Kd6 63.Kf7+a
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Black can not prevent the march of the
g-pawn: g4-g5-g6-g7. Compared to
the game, the pawn on e3 prevents
Black from going Bf4 here and this is
the subtle reason why 59.e4 is a
mistake! ]
59...Bc3 60.Kf5 Kb6? Carlsen is trying
to get his king in front of the pawns with
this move, but this route is too long.
[ Instead, with a cool 60...Bb2!
Black saves the game by one tempo:
61.e6 ( In case of 61.Kxg5 Bxe5
62.Kg6 Kd6 63.Kf7 the difference
compared to a similar position in the
variation 59.Ba8!? is that Black now
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has: Bf4! 64.Kf6 Be5+= ) 61...Kd6
62.Kxg5 Ke7= with a drawn position
analyzed in the variation 65...Bc3
below. ]
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61.e6? A very instructive moment. It is
tempting to win another pawn, but it was
even more important to keep black king
away.
[ Therefore, the right continuation was:
61.Kxg5 Bxe5 62.Kf5 Bc3 63.g5
Kc7 64.e5! Kd7 65.g6+- and Black
can resign as he is not in time to catch
the g-pawn. ]
61...Kc7 62.Kg6!? A clever trick.
[ 62.Kxg5 Kd6= ]
62...Kd8! Carlsen is alert to his
opponent's threat.
[ 62...Kd6? would lose to 63.Kf7+- ]
63.Kxg5
[ Now 63.Kf7 is met by Bb4= ]
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63...Ke7 64.Kh5 Bd2
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and despite the three extra pawns, White
is not winning because they can be
blocked (principle 1). However, this is
not the end of excitement in this game.
Firouzja continued 65.g5 and once
more a mutual blunder happened:
65...Bf4? A typical mistake, although
both players were literally playing off of
2-second increment at this point and
should not be criticized for these errors.
[ In previous issues with oppositecolored bishops, we determined that
in such situations with the b-(g-) pawn,
Black has a clever way to block the
pawn: 65...Bc3!
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66.Kg6 or 66.Kh6 ( in order to meet
66.g6 with Bg7! ) 66...Bd2!
The key. By keeping the pawn under
attack, we prevent 67.Kh7. 67.Kh6
Be3 68.Kh5 and once the king moves
away, threatening to push g5-g6, the
bishop has to switch the diagonal:
Bd4! 69.g6 Bg7!= and the pawn has
been succesfully blocked. ]
66.Kg4?
[ White could simply force promotion of
his last pawn with 66.g6 Be5 67.Kh6
Kf8 68.e7+ Kxe7 69.g7 Bxg7+
70.Kxg7+- etc., but Firouzja missed
it. ]
66...Bd2 and at this point I believe that
Firouzja wanted to play 67.Kh5, but he
lost on time. The rules were ruthless Black wins even if he remains with only
a king and a bishop because a mating
setup exists (for example W:Ka1, Bb1;
B:Kb3, Bc3#).
A sad end to an exciting game, but
that's chess - you have to stay focused
until the very end of the game.
0-1
Aronian,Levon
Anand,Viswanathan
Tata Steel India blitz (2)
2772
2757
25.11.2019
For the end, I saved the most complex
opposite-colored bishops endgame that I
have encountered recently. It was also a
blitz game but played to a much higher
standard than the previous one especially by Vishy Anand, who had a
better end of this duel. Coincidentally, the
weaker side (Aronian) had chances to
obtain a draw being down two pawns, just
like Carlsen in the previous game. Let us
explore this interesting example.
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White is down three pawns in this
endgame, but we know well that there are
positions where even this material
advantage does not guarantee a win for
the stronger side (principle 1). 33.Bb8
c5? This is the worst of three options that
Black had at his disposal.
[ If he wanted to give up this pawn to
activate his king, then a better way to
do it was 33...Kf8 34.Bxc7 Ke7
35.Ke5 g5 36.Bd6+ Ke8 37.Kf5 Bf1
38.Kg4 when we would reach more or
less the position from the game after
the move 40. ]
[ However, the right and, as far as I
can tell, the only winning move in this
position was the 'greedy' 33...c6!
It is understandable why Black would
refrain from playing this move, as it
seem that after 34.Bd6
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white bishop single-handedly blocks
black king and a mass of black pawns
on the queenside. Yet, Black has an
instructive way to win this endgame:
Bf1! 35.h4 ( White could also play
35.Kg3 preventing black bishop to get
to h3-c8 diagonal, but then the king is
too passive on g3 and Black can move
his queenside pawns undisturbedly: a5
36.Bc5 a4 37.Kg4 b6! 38.Ba3 c5-+
with ...Kf8 coming next, Black is
winning. ) 35...Bh3!
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The bishop is placed perfectly on this
diagonal. Once again, White has a
choice whether to defend the pawn
with his king or push it forward.
36.Ke5 ( In case of 36.e7 Black can
finally centralize his king. Kf7 37.Ke5
a5 38.Kd4 b5 39.Ke5 h5!threatening
to create another passed
pawn with 40...g5!, as in the main line.
40.Kf4 Bd7! The bishop takes over
the defensive role from the king,
meaning that it is finally free to invade
White's position. 41.Bc5 Ke6-+ etc. )
36...h5!
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The key move that prepares
breakthrough on the kingside,
according to principle 12. 37.Bc7 g5!
38.hxg5 h4 39.e7 Bd7!-+
Bishop takes the e-pawn while
defending the h-passer and the king
takes the g-pawn under control. With
passed pawns on both flanks, Black's
win is now a matter of technique. For
example: 40.Kd4 b5 41.Ke3 h3
42.Kf2 Kf7 43.Bd6 a5 44.Kg3 Kg6
45.e8Q+ Bxe8 46.Kxh3 Kf5! 47.Kg3
Ke4 48.Kf2 Kd3-+ ]
100
34.Ba7 Kf8 35.Bxc5+ Ke8 This is a
slightly inferior version of the position
that would arise in case of 33...Kf8.
White has a fairly comfortable way to
draw now, but Aronian falters. 36.Bb6?!
This allows Black to win a crucial tempo
by activating his king, so we get the
position similar to variation 33...Kf8,
after all.
[ White had to keep the king boxed in
with 36.Bb4 b6 37.h4 a5 38.Bd6 b5
39.Ke5 h6 Black has to proceed with
this plan, otherwise it seems
impossible to make progress: his king
is cut off and his queenside majority
is blocked. 40.Bc5 g5 41.hxg5 hxg5
42.Kf5 g4 43.Kf4
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Black has created a passed pawn on
the kingside. However, the difference
compared to the game is that his
bishop is placed on a wrong diagonal.
As rule 6 teaches us, the bishop
should ideally be placed on a diagonal
where it controls opponent's passed
pawn (e-pawn in this case) and
defends his own pawn. As this is not
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the case here, White can just sit on his
position and Black cannot make any
significant progress. For example: Bf3
44.Bd6 b4 45.cxb4 a4 46.b5 c3
47.b6 c2 48.Ba3 c1Q+ 49.Bxc1 Ke7
50.b7 Bxb7 51.Kxg4= ]
36...Ke7 37.Ke5 g5!
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This move makes a difference in Black's
plan to create an outside passed pawn
on the kingside. 38.Bc5+ Ke8 39.Kf5
Bf1! With this move, Anand ties down
Aronian's king to the defense of h-pawn.
40.Kg4
[ The point is that reduction of material
40.Kxg5 is not in White's favor due to
Bxh3
A) 41.Kh6 Bxe6 42.Kxh7 Kd7
and Black should win because of
the better king. For instance:
43.Kg6 Kc6 44.Be7 Kd5 45.Kf6
Ke4! ( also wins. 45...Bd7-+ )
46.Kxe6 Kd3 47.Bb4 b6 48.Kd5
a5-+;
B) 41.Kf6 Bg4 42.Bb4 b6 43.Bd6
a5 44.Ba3 b5 45.Bd6
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and here we can see one more
instructive idea for this type of
endgame: a piece sacrifice! Bxe6!
46.Kxe6 h5 47.Kf5 Kd7
Now Black king is as free as a bird.
48.Ba3 h4 49.Kg4 Ke6 50.Kxh4
Kd5 51.Kg3 Ke4-+ White loses the
c-pawn by force, and the endgame
with bishop against 3 pawns is lost
for him, of course. ]
40...a5 41.Bb6 a4 42.Bc5 b6 43.Bb4
Bg2 44.Bd6 h6
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Black has improved his pawn structure.
This was the critical moment because
White had to realize that if Black also
improves his bishop (ideally brings it to
g6 square), he will get a winning position
because his king will roam freely via c8b7-c6-d5-e4, etc.
However, since this was a blitz game, it
is not unexpected for one to miss a
critical moment when the seconds on the
clock are ticking away. Aronian just kept
the status quo with 45.Bb4?
but this proves to be a decisive mistake
because it allows Black to get his bishop
to e8-h5 diagonal.
[ The only way toward a draw was:
45.h4! gxh4 46.Kxh4 Bf3!
Now the threat of ...Bf3-h5 keeps
white king locked to the h4square.
47.Bb4 Bd1!? This move is not
necessary, but I made it for instructive
purposes. We will see that White
manages to draw regardless of
whether the bishop is on f3, e2, or d1!
48.Ba3 ( As I mentioned, as soon as
the king leaves h4, for example:
48.Kg3 Kd8 49.Kf4 Black brings his
bishop back: Bh5! 50.Kf5 Be8-+ with
a winning position. ) 48...Kd8 Now
Black king moves toward c6.
49.Bb4 ( 49.Bd6 Kc8! is a sort of a
zugzwang as it forces White to yield
the c7-square anyway. ) 49...Kc7
50.Ba3 Kc6
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It seems like Black should be winning
once he has resurrected his king from
the eight rank, but in fact White has a
remarkable drawing resource:
A) If White keeps maneuvering
instead 51.Bb4 then Black brings
the bishop back Bf3! 52.e7 ( or
52.Ba3 Bd5! 53.e7 Bf7-+ )
52...Kd7 53.Ba3
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and here comes a beautiful
'switching' maneuver: Bc6!! 54.Kh5
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Ke6 55.Kxh6 Kf5 56.Kg7 Ke4
57.Kf8 Kd3 58.Bb4 Kc2 59.e8Q
Bxe8 60.Kxe8 Kb3-+;
B) 51.e7! Kd7 52.Bc1! This attack
on the h6-pawn is very important.
Otherwise, Black would win as in
variation 51.Bb4. Kxe7 ( If 52...h5
then White returns 53.Ba3=
and with the pawn on h5, Black
cannot improve the position of his
bishop. ) 53.Bxh6 a3 54.Bc1 a2
55.Bb2 Ke6 56.Kg3
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And now White secures a draw by
moving his king diagonally
(principle 11) and winning a key
tempo to block opponent's king
penetration via e4 and d3.
Here we can see why I played 47...
Bd1. In a similar position with the
bishop on f3 or e2, White would
secure a draw by attacking black
bishop even faster. Ke5 57.Kf2
Ke4 58.Ke1! The key tempo. Black
cannot even sacrifice the bishop, so
after Bh5 59.Kd2= his king has
been denied access. A beautiful
draw! ]
103
45...Bf1!
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Anand shows excellent understanding.
He plans to transfer the bishop to g6,
while still keeping an eye on the h3pawn. 46.Ba3
[ Now it's too late for 46.h4 due to
Be2+ 47.Kg3 Bh5! and the bishop
gets to the ideal diagonal. 48.hxg5
hxg5 49.Bd6 Kd8 50.Bb4 Kc7-+ ]
46...Be2+ 47.Kf5 Bd3+! The key check
that forces the king away from the g6square. 48.Kg4
[ 48.Kf6 Bf1-+ ]
48...Bg6!
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The bishop has assumed an ideal post on
the e8-h5 diagonal, in accordance with
principle 6. Now black king can freely
penetrate into White's position. Anand
closed the game confidently.
49.h4 gxh4 50.Kxh4 Kd8 51.Bd6 Kc8
52.Kg4 Kb7 53.Kf4 Kc6 54.Ba3 Kd5
55.e7 h5 56.Bb4 Be8 57.Kf5 b5
58.Kf4 h4 White king is deflected from
e4-square, which signals the end for him.
59.Kg4 Ke4 60.Kxh4 Kd3 61.Kg5 Kc2
0-1
Exercise 2
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Exercise 3
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White to move and win.
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Exercise 1
104
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Finally, I would encourage you to test
your understanding of opposite-colored
bishops endgames in the test section
below.
White to move and win.
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Would you play 1...b4 or 1...c4 as Black?
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Exercise 4
Exercise 6
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White to move and win.
Exercise 1 solution
Buhmann - Kvetny
AUT-chT 1819 (1.4)
White to move and draw.
15.11.2018
Exercise 5
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White to move and draw.
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44.b4! cxb4 45.cxb4 axb4 46.Ke4 Ke6
47.Bb3+ Kf6 48.a5 Bf2 49.a6 Bg1
50.f5 Bf2 51.Bc2 Bg1 52.Kd5 b3
53.Bb1
1-0
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Exercise 2 solution
Jankovic - Bachofner
AUT-chT2O 1617 (10.1)
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33.g4! fxg4 34.f5 Kf7 35.Be5 h5
36.Bg3! Bf3 37.Kf4 Bd1 38.Bf2 Bc2
39.Bxc5 Bb1 40.a3 Ba2 41.Bd4 Bxb3
42.c5 Ba4 43.Kg5 Bd7 44.f6
1-0
Exercise 3 solution
Vachier Lagrave - Anand
Norway Masters blitz 7th (5) 03.06.2019
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44...b4?
[ 44...c4 45.Bd4 Be2= ]
45.c4 Be2 46.Bf8!
[ 46.h6 was played in the game. ]
46...Bxc4 47.Bxc5 b3 48.Kh6 Be2
49.Kg7 Bxg4 50.h6 Bf5 51.h7 Bxh7
52.Kxh7+1/2
Exercise 4 solution
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55.Bxb6 c3 56.Bd4!!
[ 56.Be3 Bxb5 57.Kxh5 Kd5 58.Kg5
Bf1 59.Kf4 Kc4 60.Bc1 Kd3 61.Ke5
Bh3-+ ]
56...c2 57.Be3
[ 57.Bb2 Kc5-+ ]
57...Bxb5 58.Kxh5 Kd5 59.Kg4 Ke4
60.Bc1 Kd3
[ 60...Be2+ 61.Kg3 Kd3 62.f4 Bh5
63.Kf2= ]
[ 60...Bf1 61.f4= ]
61.Kf4! Ke2 62.Ke5 Kd1 63.Bb2 Bc4
64.f4 c1Q 65.Bxc1 Kxc1 66.f5=
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Exercise 5 solution
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50.Kg5!!
[ 50.Kf6? Kb5 51.Ke5 Kc4 52.Bd4
Bf5! ( 52...Kxb4? 53.Ke4 a3 54.Be5
Kb3 55.Kd3 a2 56.Bf6 Bf5+
57.Kd2= ) 53.b5 Kxb5 54.Kf4 Kc4
55.Bg7 Kb3 56.Ke3 Ka2 57.Kd2
Kb1 58.Bf8 e5 59.Bd6 e4 60.Bc5
Kb2 61.Bd4+ Kb3-+ ]
50...Kb5 51.Kf4 Kc4 52.Be5 a3
53.Ke3 Kxb4 54.Kd2 a2 55.Kc2 Bf5+
56.Kd2!
[ 56.Kb2 Bb1 57.Bf6 Kc4-+ ]
56...Kc4 57.Ke3! Kd5 58.Kf4 Kc4
59.Ke3 Kb3 60.Kd2=
Exercise 6 solution
Robson - Kuljasevic
Lubbock SPICE Cup-B (5)
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8
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Bb6!= ]
51...Kxd5 52.Kb5+1/2
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8
a
51.Bd5!!
[ The game saw: 51.Bg2? d5!
52.Bxd5 Be5!= 53.b7 Bb8 54.Be6
Kc6 55.a6 Kb6 56.Bc4 Kc5 57.Bd3
Ba7 58.Kb3 Bb8 59.Kc2 Kb6
60.Kd2 Kc7 61.Ke3 Ba7+ 62.Ke4
Bb8 63.Kd5 Ba7 64.Be2 Bb8 65.Bf1
Ba7 66.Bd3 Bb8 67.Kc5 Ba7+
68.Kb5 Bb8 69.Be4 Ba7 70.c4 Bb8
71.a7 Bxa7 72.c5 Kb8 73.Kc4
23.09.2009
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107
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www.modern-chess.com
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