Benko’s Bafflers Most of the time these studies
resemble positions that would actu- ally occur over-the-board. Youmust simply reach a theoretically won or drawn position for White. Solutions can be found on page
71. Please e-mail submissions for Benko’s Bafflers to:
pbenko@uschess.org
Problem I P. Benko—Szen Memorial Tourney, 1982
R + + +p + + + +
+ + + + + + + + + + + + White to play and win
1. Nb5 c5 Since after 1. ... c6 2. Nd4 c5 3. Nb3 c4
4. Nd2+ Kc2 5. Nxc4 Nxc4 6. Kh6 draws. 2. Nd6 Ka1(!)
Gives the best practical chances of avoiding the threat of 3. Ne4 c4 4. Nd2+. 3. Ne4 In this study I hindered the king walk
towards the c-pawn by putting a pawn on h7. Computer analysis now shows this unnecessary since even without the h7- pawn, 3. Kg5 would lose in 44 moves. Thus 3. ... Na4 4. Kf5 N4c3 5. Ke5 Nb4 would block out the white king.
3. ... c4 4. Nd6 c3 5. Nb5 c2 6. Nd4 c1=knight!
There knights would win against one
knight but after ... 7. Nc2+ Kb1 8. Na3+ Ka1 9. Nc2+ … there is a perpetual check.
Rook versus rook and bishop GM Leinier Dominguez-Perez (FIDE 2719, CUB) GM Judit Polgar (FIDE 2699, HUN) World Chess Cup, 2011
+ + + + + + + +
+ + + + R+ + + + +Pkl+ + K+ + + + + + + +
Black to play The most successful woman player of
all time faced this notorious endgame. 77. ... Rh2+?
uschess.org + + + r
Instead 77. ... Rb8! 78. Ra3 Rb7 keeps White’s king imprisoned.
78. Ka3 Rb2 79. Rg4? White could have reached a drawn posi-
tionswith either 79. Ra7 Rxb3+ 80. Ka4 or 79. Rb4 Rb1 80. Ka2! Kxb4 stalemate! With the textmoveBlack should have been able tomaintain her fortress permanently.
79. ... Rxb3+ 80. Ka4 Rb1 81. Ka5 Rb5+ 82. Ka4 Rf5 83. Rg3?
Longer resistance is offered via 83. Ka3.
The position is similar to the “Philidor position,” demonstrated as early as in 1748. It is sad that it was reached in this game only after 30 more moves.
83. ... Rf4+? There is an immediate win with 83. ...
Rf1 84. Ka5 Rf6, but not at once since after 83. ... Rf6? 84. Rg5 the “Szen” drawn position appears on the board.
84. Ka3 Rf1 85. Rg2 Rh1 86. Rb2 Ra1+ 87. Ra2 Rb1 88. Rg2 Rb3+
Still to come are further unnecessary checks.
89. Ka4 Rb4+ 90. Ka3 Rb6 91. Rg4 Ra6+ 92. Ra4 Rb6 93. Rg4 Rb7 94. Rh4 Rb1 95. Rh2 Rb6
Watching the game live, I was rather disappointed to see so much hesitation. 95. ... Bf1.
96. Rh4 Bf1 97. Rg4 Rb5 98. Rg3+ Bd3 99. Rg4 Rb1 100. Rg2 Rb3+ 101. Ka4 Rb5 102. Rg4 Rf5 103. Ka3 Rf1 104. Rg2 Rb1 105. Rh2 Bf5?
Missing the right path of 105. ... Rb5
106. Rh4 Bf5! Black does adjust hermis- take, but three times the same position will arise with the opponent not noticing.
106. Rg2 Bd3 107. Rh2 Bf1 At long last!
108. Rf2 Bc4 109. Rf3+ Bd3 110. Rf2 Rb3+ 111. Ka2 Rb6 112. Ka1 Rg6,White resigned.
+ + + + K + + +
+L+k+ r
Problem II P. Benko, Chess Life 1986
+ + p + + + +k+
+ + + +p + + + +
+ + + + + + + + + + + +
White to play and win; Twin: Rh8 to h7
+ + +KR
Once Judit was not able to hold a draw
against GM Igor Novikov with her single rook (Pamplona 1991).She thoroughly stud- ied the issue with me and learned the correct way to play the endgame. But it is quite a different situationwhen, under the stress of serious competition, time is tick- ing. For a studywith a similar theme see the “Bafflers.”
Pawn against rook GM Etienne Bacrot (FIDE 2710, FRA) GM Ray Robson (FIDE 2560, USA) World Chess Cup, 2011
+ + + + + + + R
+ + + + + + + +
+ + K kp + + + + + + + +
Black to play There isminimalmaterial.What can be
the problem? 87. ... h2? After 20 good moves one wrong move
can destroy the game. Instead 87. ... Kg2! would have secured the draw since after 88. Rg6+ Kf1! 89. Rh6 Kg2 90. Ke2 h2 91. Rg6+ Kh1 and White cannot make progress because of the stalemate.
88. Rg6+ Kh3 89. Kf2! h1=N+ 90. Kf3 Kh2 91. Rg7, Black resigned.
Robert Fischer said to me, “There are
more than a thousand tricks in chess.” You can also find a twin study using this motif in the Bafflers.
.
Archival Chess Life .pdfs and .pgn files are available on
uschess.org, Chess Life Mag- azine, Downloadable Files.
Chess Life — January 2012 45 + + + +
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