The Practical Endgame / Instruction
Problems: Opposite- Color Bishops
Each month GM Naroditsky will present two problems taken from actual games that illustrate the theme of this month’s column. 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. BLACK TO MOVE
driven to the edge of the board. It appears that White simply needs to move his king away and capture the f7-pawn to force res- ignation, but are things ever so simple?
59. ... Ba2
And now the insanity begins. First and foremost, it turns out that the tempting 60. exf7+ Kxf7 61. Kc5, which looks com- pletely winning at first sight, actually does not win. After 61. ... Ke8 62. d6 Kd7 63. Kb6 Bd5 Black constructs a fortress, and White has no way to force Zugzwang (since 64. f7 Bxf7 65. Kxb7 Bc4 leads nowhere). But Kamsky does not hurry to resolve the central tension, making a crucial improve- ment in his king position first.
60. Kc5! Now, 61. exf7+ becomes a threat—after
61. ... Kxf7 62. d6 Ke8 63. Kb6 Black is not able to defend b7 and play … Kd7 at the same time. Lenderman’s reply, there- fore, is forced yet again.
60. ... fxe6 61. d6
White threatens 62. Kb6 Kd7 63. f7, so Lenderman must get the self-obstructive e6-pawn out of the way immediately.
61. ... e5! 62. Kb6 Kd7 63. Kxb7 Bc4
grined by Lenderman’s incredible resil - ience, loses patience.
64. f7?! An unfortunate miscalculation that
allows Black to draw by force, although for reasons that will soon become clear, this is not technically a mistake. We must not forget, of course, that fatigue and time trouble play major roles in the endgame, and Kamsky’s inability to keep his cool is quite understandable. As it turns out, after the correct 64. Kb6 e4 65. Kc5 Be6 66. Kd4 Black must give up the pawn, since his bishop has to remain on the a2- g8 diagonal. I nearly stopped my analysis here the first time around, since White’s position following 66. ... Bf7 67. Kxe4 Bg8 68. Kd4 Kc6 (a sad necessity, since 68. ... Bf7 69. Kc5 followed by Kb6 and f7 is hopeless) 69. f7! Bxf7 70. Ke5 appears completely winning. He will simply capture the h7-pawn, and win by creating another passed pawn. But let’s take this variation just a bit further: 70. ... Kd7 71. Kf6 Bb3 72. Kg7 Bc4 73. Kxh7 Bd3 74. Kh6 Bf5 75. h5 gxh5 76. Kxh5 Be4 77. g6 Bd5 ...
BLACK TO MOVE
safeguarding the g8-square. For instance, after 79. Kh7 (79. g7 Bg8 is an immediate draw, since Black will simply play … Kd7- e8-d7 and, if necessary, … Kc6) 79. ... Be4! 80. Kg7 Black keeps his bishop on the b1-h7 diagonal with 80. ... Bd3, and White’s king cannot reach h8 or g8 (of course, 81. d7+ Kxd7 82. Kf7 Bxg6+ is an immediate draw, since the bishop is of the wrong color). 81. Kf6 Bc2 82. Ke6 also leads nowhere, since the alert … Bb3+ forces him back to square one. An improbable draw! In fact, I do not
think that I have ever seen a bishop and king successfully restrain two separated passers that are so far-advanced. I would certainly urge you to commit this position to your endgame memory.
Now, back to the text: 64. ... Bxf7 65. Kxa6 Kc6 66. Ka7 Bc4
White’s king is caged in, since Kb8 will always be met with … Ba6. 67. a6 e4 68. Bc5 Bb5 69. d7
Kamsky demonstrates his signature fighting spirit, but with his king so far from the kingside and with Black’s passer so far advanced, the result of the game is decided.
69. ... Kxd7 70. Kb7 Bc6+ 71. Kb8 Ke6 72. a7 Kf5 73. a8=Q Bxa8 74. Kxa8 Kg4 75. Bf2 Kf3
Black could have drawn immediately after
75. ... Kh5 and 76. ... h6, but Lenderman certainly has some time to kill before White’s monarch reaches the kingside!
76. Be1 e3 77. Kb7 Kg4 The more direct 77. ... Ke2 78. Bb4 Kf1
Against all odds, Black is still breathing.
His bishop and king restrain White’s passers, and White cannot tarry for too long—Black threatens to erect an impen- etrable fortress by trading his e-pawn for White’s d-pawn. Kamsky, evidently cha-
... and while everything has seemingly gone according to plan, things are far more complicated than they look. In order to win, White must promote
the g-pawn, but after 78. Kh6 Ke8! it turns out that White cannot actually make progress. At first, I could not believe it either, but White’s problem is that he sim- ply cannot play g7 while simultaneously
79. Kc6 e2 80. Kd5 e1=Q 81. Bxe1 Kxe1 82. Ke4 (but not 82. Ke6?? Kf2 83. Kf7 Kg3) also leads to a draw.
78. Kc6 Kh5 79. Kd5 h6, Draw agreed. Perhaps clichés have a grain of truth to
them after all! Transposing to a presumably lost OCB endgame is a defensive mecha- nism that we should take to heart.
www.uschess.org 47
Problem I: 1500 Level GM James Tarjan (2535) GM Lev Alburt (2570) Greenville, Pennsylvania, 1983
Problem II: 2000 Level GM Peter Acs (FIDE 2602) GM Ray Robson (FIDE 2562) Paks, Hungary, 2010
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