Endgame Lab / Instruction Benko’s Bafflers
Most of the time these studies resemble positions that could actually occur over the board. You must 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
WHITE TO PLAY AND WIN
50. ... Rh1+ 51. Kg4 Rh2 52. Ra6 Rh1 53. Kg5 Rh3 54. Ra7+ Kf8
Somewhat better is 54. ... Kg8, but after:
55. Kg4 Rh1 56. Ra5 Rg1+ 57. Kf5 also wins thereby creating a strong e4 passed pawn.
55. Kg4 Rh1 56. Ra5 Rg1+ 57. Kf5 Rg3 58. Ke6 g6
58. ... Kg8 59. Ra8+ Kh7 55. Rf8 wins.
59. Kf6 Rxf3+ 60. Kxg6, Black resigned. Let’s see some examples from recent
tournaments. The next one is from the Chinese Championship.
Hard to defend Qi Guo Ju Wenjun CHN Ch., 2012
45. ... Kf4 46. Rb8 Re3 47. Rb4+ Re4 48. Rb8 Re2+ 49. Kh3! Kf3 50. Rb5?
A mistake. The only move that keeps the
balance was 50. Rh8! Re1 51. Kh2 Kg4 52. Rg8+ etc.
50. ... Kf4? Black did not see that 50. ... Re3! was
winning (51. Rxf5+ Ke4+! wins ) and since after 51. Kh2 Kg4 the white king becomes completely passive. (51. Rb2 f4 etc.)
51. Ra5 Re5!? 52. Ra4+? The last error. White will not get another
chance to escape. The right defense was 52. Ra1! and after 52. ... Kf3 53. Rf1+ Ke2 54. Rf4 Ke3 55. Kg3.
52. ... Kf3 53. Ra3+ Too late now is 53. Ra1 because of 53.
... Kf2 54. Ra2+ Re2. 53. ... Re3 54. Ra5 f4 55. Rxh5 Kf2+
One pawn less—but the f-pawn is now impossible to stop. 56. Kh2 f3 57. Ra5 Kf1! The winning move, enjoying the benefit
of the well placed e3-rook.
58. Ra1+ Re1 59. Ra3 f2 60. Ra2 Re8 61. Ra1+ Ke2 62. Ra2+ Kf3 63. Ra3+ Re3, White resigned.
We can see that even top players can Usually bishop and rook pawns do not
win in rook endings by theory, but the defense is not easy. The proper defensive methods can only be described in general terms; even the late Bobby Fischer once told me, “We should study this kind of ending because it is not clear to me.”
44. Rb8 This is the most ideal place for the rook
so as to be able to disturb the black king from two directions.
44. ... Kg4 45. Rg8+! He can’t push the white king down to the
first rank—this would equal a loss.
make elementary mistakes, like in the fol- lowing endgame from the European Championship.
Now it was Black’s turn to go awry. 67.
Motifs Hrant Melkumyan Dmitry Andreikin 13th EICC Plovdiv BUL, 2012
(see diagram top of next column)
62. Rb1+ If 62. Kxg4 Rxg2+ 63. Kf3 Rb2, now the
white king is unable to get in front of the c-pawn therefore Black wins.
... Kc3! 68. g4 Rd4! is a well-known motif that would have won by cutting off the white king. For example, 69. Kg3 Kd2 70. Ra1 c1=Q 71. Rxc1 Kxc1 72. Kh4 Kd2 73. Kg5 Ke3 74. Kf5 Rf4+ 75. Kg5 Kf3 wins.
68. g4 Rd1 69. Rxc2 Kxc2 70. Ke4! Rg1 71. Kf5 Kd3 72. g5 Kd4 73. g6 Kd5 74. Kf6 Kd6 75. g7 Kd7 76. Kf7 Rxg7+ 77. Kxg7, Draw.
Similar motifs can be seen in the Bafflers above.
www.uschess.org 45 62. ... Kc4 63. Rc1+ Kd4?
A big mistake since it eliminates the opportunity to play … Rd4. Either 63. ... Kb4 or Kd5 were winning.
64. Rg1 c4 65. Kxg4 c3 66. Kf3? Simply 66. g3! holds the draw. Then
66. ... c2 67. Rc1 Kc3 68. Kf5!. (68. Kh5?) 68. ... Rd1 69. Rxc2+ Kxc2 70. g4 Kd3 71. g5.
66. ... c2 67. Rc1 Kd3? WHITE TO PLAY AND WIN Problem I: P. Benko, 1990 Problem II: P. Benko, 1987
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