The Practical Endgame / Instruction Zugzwang!
Each month GM Naroditsky will present two problems taken from actual games that illustrate the theme of this month’s column and whose solution is hinted at by the subtitle above. Your task is to find the best line of play. Problem I should be solveable by a player at roughly a 1500 rating and Problem II by a player roughly at a 2000 rating.
See the solutions on page 71. WHITE TO MOVE
we’ve already seen, 55. ... Kd4 56. Kb4 Kd3 57. Kb5 is curtains, but what about 55. ... Kd2? Bisguier evidently thought 56. c5 won on the spot, but—and I hope you are sitting in a chair while you are reading this—White cannot make progress after 56. ... Kd3!
see, even in the most hopeless-looking pawn endgame, king activity can defy all conventional notions. Now, as a lighthearted encore, let us
take a look at the flip side of the coin: those rare cases in which bloodthirsty (promotion-thirsty?) pawns do vanquish an active king.
Bloodthirsty pawns IM Norman Weinstein Michael Rohde
Lone Pine op (4), Lone Pine, California, 03.23.1977
40. ... h4? 41. gxh4 gxh4 42. Kd4 Ke6 43. a5 bxa5 44. bxa5 Kd6 45. a6 Kc6 46. Ke5 Kb6 47. Kxf5 Kxa6 48. Kxe4, Black resigned.
ANALYSIS DIAGRAM White’s main problem is that he cannot
leave the b2-pawn unattended. To this end, the straightforward 57. Kb4 Kc2 58. b3 (58. Kb5 wins after 58. ... Kb3? 59. Kb6 Kb4 60. b3!, but the paradoxical 58. ... Kd3! does not allow the same trick: 59. Kb6 Kc4 60. b3+ Kb4! and Black has the last laugh!) 58. ... Kd3 59. Kb5 Kc3 60. b4 Kb3 leads nowhere. White can try 61. Ka5!?, but the calm 61. ... Kc4! draws immediately. Amazingly, White simply has no way to force Black into Zugzwang or keep his b-pawn protected: A. 57. Ka4!? is tricky, but achieves little
after 57. ... Kc4 58. b4 Kd4 59. Kb5 Kc3 60. Ka4 Kd4! (not 60. ... Kc4?? 61. Ka5, with b4-b5 to follow) 61. Kb5 Kc3 and White cannot make progress. B. 57. Ka3 allows an immediate draw
with 57. ... Kc4 58. b4 Kb5 followed by … b6. A one-of-a-kind drawing mechanism!
56. Kb4 Kc2 57. Ka3! Kd3 58. Kb3
A final triangulation, and this time, Black runs out of tricks. 58. ... Kd2 59. Ka4 Kc2 60. b4, Black resigned.
The importance of king activity in the endgame is well-known, but as we could
AFTER 39. a4 Black is a pawn up, but not for long.
White will recapture the doomed pawn on c4, and reach a familiar scenario: an out- side passed pawn lethally distracting the opponent’s king. This time, Black seems unable to put up any resistance: his pawn chain is extremely vulnerable. Thus, Rohde’s only conceivable chance is to organize some kind of kingside counterplay and his next move is practically forced:
39. ... g5 40. Kxc4 (see diagram top of next column) Black’s kingside pawn armada sure
looks intimidating, but White needs only one move—Kd4 or a4-a5—and it will be permanently put out of commission. For instance, the indolent 40. ... Kc6? fails to impress after 41. Kd4 Kd6 42. a5 bxa5 43. bxa5 Kc6 44. Ke5 and the game is over. Evidently, disheartened, Rohde went down without a fight:
But was Black’s counterplay really non- existent? Let’s return to the diagrammed position after White’s 40th move. With White’s king temporarily distant from the kingside, it is clear that Black must create a passed pawn in his own right. The para- doxical 40. ... g4, intending 41. ... f4 42. gxf4 h4, certainly makes sense. However, White’s king comes to the rescue yet again: 41. Kd4 f4 42. Kxe4 and Black is dead. But what about 40. ... f4? In that case, 41. Kd4? actually loses to 41. ... f3! 42. gxf3 h4, but Rohde evidently thought that 41. gxf4 gxf4 42. Kd4 was hopeless. Hopefully, you can see that this is not the case. By sacrificing the e- and f-pawns, Black paves the way for his remaining kingside pawn in study- like fashion: 42. ... e3! 43. fxe3 f3! 44. gxf3 h4 45. Ke4 h3 and the pawn is unstoppable; White’s own pawns fatally impede the king’s movement. It is crucial to remember that in practical
endgames, you must determine in which cases general principles apply. Even in pawn endings, an active king might be powerless against a passed pawn (Weinstein-Rohde), and an ostensibly overwhelming material advantage might actually not be enough to win (Fischer-Bisguier). Ironically, in both cases, Black was so convinced that his posi- tion was unsalvageable that he failed to discover the hidden counterplay.
www.uschess.org 47 WHITE TO MOVE
Problem I: 1500 Level Samuel Reshevsky Jaime Sunye Neto
Lone Pine op (7), Lone Pine, California 03.28.1977
Problem II: 2000 Level Pal Benko
Mato Damjanovic
Monte Carlo (12), Monte Carlo MNC 04.15.1968
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