Good Knight, Bad Bishop Redux By Karsten Mueller In a pure endgame the knight is usually better than the bishop if it has full control. Then the knight has time for its slow maneuvers. A) Shirov's strong knight 165.01 Shirov,Alexei (2675) - Van Foreest,Jorden (2467) German Bundesliga (8.3), 31.01.2015 [FEN "2k5/1pp2b2/p4Ppp/2p5/6P1/1PN4P/P1P5/3K4 w - - 0 30"] Shirov stops Black dynamic options with 30.g5!? 30.h4?! allows 30...Kd7 31.g5 hxg5 32.hxg5 Ke6= and Black is too active and draws easily. 30.Ne4 gives Black the additional option 30...g5 31.Nxc5 b6!? 32.Nxa6 (32.Ne4 Kd7=) 32...c5 33.Kd2 (33.b4 Kb7 34.b5 Bxa2=) 33...Kb7 34.Nxc5+ bxc5 35.Ke3 Bg6 36.c3 Kc6 37.b4 Bf7 … [Read more...]
Zwischenschach
Zwischenschach by Karsten Müller Zwischenschach is German for in-between-check, which is an important technique in the rook endgame. 164.01 Fabian,Jaroslav (2275) - Pinter,Erik (2196) SVK-chT3B 0001 Slovakia (9), 2001 [FEN "8/8/8/5K2/8/6P1/r7/1k6 b - - 0 52"] Black must play the zwischenschach 52...Rf2+! But not the other check 52...Ra5+? 53.Kf6 Kc2 54.g4 Kd3 55.g5 Ke4 56.g6 Ra6+ 57.Kf7 Kf5 58.g7 Ra7+ [FEN "8/r4KP1/8/5k2/8/8/8/8 w - - 0 59"] And now the stalemate defense 59.Kg8!? Kg6 60.Kh8 Rxg7 stalemate is the best technique. 53.Ke5 Rg2! 54.Kf4 And only now Black's king can come: 54...Kc2 55.g4 Kd3 56.Kf5 Kd4 57.g5 Kd5 58.Kf6 Kd6 59.g6 Rf2+ 60.Kg7 Ke7 … [Read more...]
Stalemate
Stalemate By Karsten Müller At first it seems to be paradox that a player, who can not move anymore is rewarded with half a point. Indeed there are many other games, where this leads to a loss like Nin Men's Morris or Checkers. But in chess it makes sense as it adds another valuable element to the game. Many defensive techniques are based on this motif and the attacker must be careful to the end: 163.01 Bodnaruk,A (2411) - Girya,O (2457) ch-RUS Superfinal w 2014 Kazan RUS (9.2), 07.12.2014 White is winning, but it is not easy. 59.Kd6 Of course neither 59.Kc6? c3 60.Bxc3 stalemate; nor 59.Kxc4?? stalemate. 59...Kb5 60.Kc7 Ka4 After 60...c3 61.Bxc3 Ka4 62.Kb7 Kb5, White … [Read more...]
Fortresses and Shadows
Fortresses and Shadows by Karsten Müller Theoretical rook endings are often difficult to defend. 162.01 Heinemann,Thies (2467) - Zelbel,Patrick (2419) BL 1415 Hamburger SK - Hansa Dortmund (6.8), 07.12.2014 The position is drawn, but Black must act actively. 39...g6?! 39...h5! 40.Kg2 Kh7 41.Kf3 f6 42.Ke3 g5= is much easier. 40.g4! White marks the f- and h-pawn as weaknesses in typical style. 40...Kg7 41.Kg2 Ra1 42.a4 Ra3 43.g5 h5 44.Ra7 Kg8 45.a5 Ra4 46.Kg3 Rg4+ 47.Kh3 Ra4 48.a6 Kg7 49.f4 Ra3+ 50.Kg2 Now only a miracle can save Black. 50...Ra2+? Black will end up on the wrong side of the reciprocal zugzwang due to this check. [After 50...Ra4 51.Kf3 Kf8 I … [Read more...]
Tarrasch’s Tempo
Endgame Corner #161 by Karsten Müller Tarrasch's Tempo Ronald Wieck wrote in to say, "I believe you will be interested in a discovery by IM Bernard Zuckerman." Of course I was very interested, as an old and famous rook ending was concerned. He had talked to Bernard Zuckerman on the phone: "Bernard and I were talking about rook endings and right before we hung up, he asked me if I was familiar with Rubinstein's draw with Tarrasch at San Sebastian, 1911. Proudly, I announced that I was. He pressed on with, "but did you ever wonder what happens if Tarrasch gains a tempo?" And indeed Zuckerman, who did not use a computer, seems to be right. Tarrasch could have won: 161.01 … [Read more...]
More Deep Duels
Endgame Corner #160 by Karsten Müller More Deep Duels It is a coincidence that not only FM Dr Heinrich Rolletschek has sent me a deep analysis of a same-colored bishop ending, which was published in Endgame Corner #159, but also GM Efstratios Grivas and Harald Fietz. I want to thank them that they have given permission to publish it in my column. I want to start with another example: 160.01 Onischuk,Alexander (2668) - Naroditsky,Daniel (2543) ch-USA 2014 Saint Louis USA (10.4), 18.05.2014 White's extra pawn can be converted, but care is required as White's king can not invade easily: 51.Bf5!? The direct 51.f5? violates the endgame principle do not rush because of51...Bc8 … [Read more...]
Deep Domination Duel
by Karsten Müller Heinrich Rolletschek has made an amazing discovery regarding the famous bishop ending Pinter-Alterman, Beersheba 1991, and he has kindly allowed me to publish his findings. I also want to thank Harald Grafenhofer for his help. Now to hand over the microphone to Heinrich Rolletschek. 159.01 Diagram 1 Diagram 1 shows a position from the game Pinter-Alterman, Beersheba 1991, which had previously been analyzed by the winner, Pinter, in Encyclopedia of Chess Endings, in Nunn’s Chess Endings, and in Fundamental Chess Endings by Müller and Lamprecht. All these authors conclude that Black could have drawn with correct defense. The goal of this article is to show that … [Read more...]
Race of the Passed Pawns
by Karsten Müller Races and pawn breakthroughs should always be calculated carefully and sometimes a retreat is the real point. 158.01 Hou Yifan (2629) - Ding Liren (2717) ch-CHN 2014 Xinghua (5), 15.03.2014 55.Bxg6! However, not 55.bxc4? d3! and Black survives: 56.Kxd3 (56.cxd3? b3-+) 56...Kxf5 57.c5 Nxf4+=; 55.Kxd4? cxb3 56.cxb3 Kxf5 57.Kc4 Nxf4 58.Kxb4=. 55...d3 55...Kxg6 56.Kxd4 c3 57.Kc4 Kf5 58.Kxb4 Kxf4 59.Kxc3+-. 56.Ke3!! This retreat breaks the wave of pawns. 56.cxd3? cxb3-+. 56...Kxg6 56...dxc2 57.Bxc2+-. 57.bxc4 57.cxd3? cxb3 58.Kd2 Kf5 59.Kc1 Kxf4 60.Kb2 Ke3 61.Kxb3 Kxd3 62.Kxb4=. 57...dxc2 58.Kd2 Kf5 58...b3 is met by 59.c5 Kf5 … [Read more...]
Queens, Knights, and Knightmares
The material distribution queen and knight against queen and knight is not so well dealt with in the rich literature of the royal game. I want to demonstrate the guideline that a slight initiative weighs heavily, as with the endgame rook and knight against rook and knight. A) Magnus mighty queen The queen and knight duo can be very strong when they cooperate well. 157.01 Carlsen,M (2881) - Agdestein,S (2628) 2nd Norway Chess 2014 Stavanger NOR (9), 13.06.2014 42.Nc3!? Magnus increases his pressure on the light squares to provoke the opening of inroads. 42...bxc4+? Now Black cannot stop the invasion of the queen. After 42...Qa5! it is more or less equal, as the following … [Read more...]
The Sharp Endgame Weapon Zugzwang
Ordinarily pure opposite-colored bishop endings have a very large drawish tendency, but in chess there is no rule without exceptions. I want to highlight one attacking method in particular: 156.01 J.Nunn The position is based on an endgame, which John Nunn played in a simultaneous display in 1977. He analyzes it in detail in his excellent Secrets of Practical Chess, 2nd edition, Gambit 2007 and I use his analysis in the following: 1...Be1 2.Kf6 Bh4 3.Kf5 Kd6 4.g3!! fxg3 4...Bxg3 is met by 5.Kxg5 Be1 A) Of course not 6.Kxf4? Ke7 7.Kg5 (7.c7 Kd7=) 7...Bg3 8.h4 Kf7 9.h5 Kg7=. B) 6.h4 Ke7 7.h5 Ba5 8.Kg6 Kf8 And now 9.Bd5! f3 10.h6 f2 11.h7 f1Q 12.h8Q+ Ke7 13.Qe5+ Kf8 … [Read more...]