Instruction / GM Advice
would probably have been better to break with the immediate c4-c5 rather than to over-prepare like this.
21. ... Qe8 22. Bh3 At this point I have pretty much thrown
away any advantage I had. Better would have been 22. c5 f5 23. Nd2 because my light-squared bishop is ultimately protect - ing my pawn on d5 via an x-ray.
22. ... f5 23. exf5 Nxf5 24. Bxf5 Bxf5 25. Nh4 Qh5 26. Nxf5 Qxf5
c5? Ke7, winning), it’s okay to adopt a holding the position, show-me-what-you- can-do attitude.
37. ... h5 38. Rc3 Ke7 39. Kf3 Kf6 40. Ke2 e4 41. Ke3 Ke5 42. Ke2
And here I miss my second and final
chance to draw with 47. Rxc6 Rd3+ 48. Ke2 Rxg3 49. Ra6. I wasn’t sure of the drawing technique after taking the pawn on c6, and I was too scared of the check on d3. A few days after the game I was fortunate to get some time both with my opponent and another national master who showed me how I could have drawn this. Lesson learned. Strictly speaking, if 47. Rxc6 holds, so
does 47. Rc5+ Rd5 (as in the game—forced) and now 48. Rxc6 leads to exactly the same position as in Chris’ last comments (to 47. Rc5+). And while he was scared of ... Rd3+, the alternative (what he allowed in the game), ... Kf5, and then ... Kg4, was clearly worse for White.
42. ... c6 Also possible was 42. ... Kf5!?, in order
27. Rcc3 Another inaccurate move. In looking at
this position now it seems obvious to me that the better idea is to play 27. f4 since that keeps the knight off the g5-square and gives me a nice active plan of playing a gainst the center. After 17. Qf1, White is no longer better;
after 22. Bh3 he’s definitely worse. And yes, a temporary (perhaps) pawn sacrifice 27. f4—if 27. ... exf4 28. Re7—is White’s best chance, and seems to hold the position.
27. ... Ng5 28. h4 Nh3+ 29. Kg2 Qxf2+ 30. Qxf2 Rxf2+ 31. Kxh3 Rxb2
45. Rc1 (note that 45. Rxd3 exd3+ is a check, and this check wins, as White has no time to take first on d6—46. Kxd3 dxc5 47. bxc5 Kd5). 45. ... Rxa3 and Black should win, albeit there are still reefs to avoid after 46. b5!?. Even stronger is 44. ... d5, e.g. 45. b5 Rd3! 46. Rc2 Rxa3 47. bxc6 Ra6!.
45. cxd6 Here I missed my first chance to draw
32. Rf3 White’s chance to hold the emerging one-
rook (on each side) ending, pawn down, are slim. Thus I’d be tempted to play the aggressive (and risky) 32. c5!?.
32. ... Rf8 33. Rxf8+ Kxf8 34. Kg4 g6 35. Kf3 Rd2 36. Ke3 Rd4 37. Rc2
At this point in the game I’m just
shuffling my pieces aimlessly as I couldn’t come up with any plan that felt useful. With no promising active plans (e.g. 37.
with 45. Ke3 Rd3+ (if 45. ... Rd1, simply 46. cxd6, and if 45. ... Ke5, trying to repeat the position, then 46. b5, and now White is much better—L.A.) 46. Rxd3+ exd3 47. cxd6 Kxd6 48. Kxd3. As is clear from my earlier comments to
45. cxd6, White has an easy draw with 45. Ke3—even a chance to win if Black tries too hard to avoid an immediate draw (with 45. ... Ke5??).
45. ... Kxd6 46. Ke3 46. Rc5—avoiding ... Rd3 with a check
—also looks okay, i.e., drawish, enough. 46. ... Ke5 47. Rc5+
57. ... Rb3 Much stronger was 57. ... h4.
58. Ra4 White still could fight (the strange-looking
58. Ra4 indeed equals immediate resigna - tion): 58. Kd4 h4 59. Kc4 Rb1 60. a4 h3 61. Rh7 Kg3 62. b5 h2 63. a5 Kg2. The only winning move; tempting 63. ... h1=Q leads to a draw.
58. ... h4, White resigned.
www.uschess.org 33
to meet 43. Ke3? with 43. ... Rd3+ forcing a trade into a won pawn ending and deserved attention. White’s best chance, a counterattacking 43. Rc1 and 44. Rf1, most likely wouldn’t succeed to draw.
43. dxc6 bxc6 44. c5
47... Rd5 48. Rc3 Kf5 49. Ke2 Even now may not be too late to hold,
or at least to make Black’s road to victory quite difficult: 49. Rxc6 Rd3+ 50. Kf2.
49. ... Rd6 50. Rc5+ Kg4 51. Rg5+ Kh3 52. Ke3?!
After this the rest is technique by my opponent. “The rest is technique”—but why? Well, because of White’s 52. Ke3, allowing the black rook to jump from d6 to g3 (via 52. ... Rd3 check), winning the g3-pawn and then the h4-pawn, while simultaneously protect ing his own g6-pawn. Again—please show me an easy win after 52. Kf2, and espe cially after 52. a4!.
52. ... Rd3+ 53. Kxe4 Rxg3 54. Rc5 Kxh4 55. Rxc6 g5 56. Ra6 Kg4
56. ... g4 wins easily. 57. Rxa7
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