The Genesis of Power Chess

Effective Winning Technique ol oldie ol ey and Tactics Keim te National MasterTHE GENESIS OF POWER CHESS Effective Winning Technique for Strategy and Tactics @ Dr. Leslie Ault USCF Master = |a_| THINKERS PRESS) Thinkers’ Press Davenport, Iowa 1993The Genesis of Power Chess Copyright © 1993 by Leslie Ault All rights reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or by any information storage or retrieval system, except as may be expressly permitted by the 1976 Copyright Act or in writing from the publisher. First Printing: October 1993 ISBN: 0-938650-50-5 COLOPHON The type used for The Genesis of Power Chess is Adobe's Goudy Oldstyle and Thinkers’ Press’ C.R. Horowitz in 11/12 from MS-Word® 4® and PageMaker® 4.2a on a Mac II and Centris 650. Cover design: Bob Long & Greg Sterling Cover Enhancement: Rob Long Typographic design: Bob Long Copyediting, input, diagrams and layout: Pat Scoville Proofreaders: Bob Long & Les Ault Requests for permissions and republication rights or a catalog of our chess publications should be addressed in writing to: Thinkers’ Press Bob Long PO. Box 8 Davenport, lowa 52805-0008 USA. Our Chess Gazette is $10/10 issues. Reviews and reports of chess literature and equipment as well as chess software—monthly! $13 to Canada,Contents About Me and This Book ..........secserseseresseeresesseseenses iv Chapter 1: Some Basics ......ccccecsseceesecseeccsceeeeceereesereeee L Chapter 2: The Fight to Win or Draw ... Chapter 3: Cashing in at the End .........sssssccccesesnseeeeeeee 64 Chapter 4: More Fun at the Cashier’s Window .......+++++++ 101 Chapter 5: The Care and Feeding of Pawns .........ssese000 130 Chapter 6: Piece and Harmony ........cssseeecsecsesessseeeeeee L720 Chapter 7: The Endangered King ........ssssscccsssessnneceees 220 Chapter 8: No Holds Barred .......:cccsssccssseeessseeeseeeeeee 276 Appendix I: Chess Notation 335 Appendix Il: Annotated Glossary ......s.scssseseeeeeseeeseeees IDE The Purpose of This Book ......s-sssse+sesssseeseseceecsseesee346 See copyright page for address. iiiAbout Me and This Book . . . 1 am writing this in the shade of an overhang atop the red cliffs of Colorado National Monument. Ten years ago I sat in this same spot writing the opening pages of this book, using this inspirational setting to start transforming outlines and thousands of chess positions into a readable text. Now, my Western camping trip brings me here again, and my remaining task is to say something about myself and this book. Foras long as I can remember I have known how to play chess. My father was an avid player, and taught me and my brother Robin (a year younger) to play at an early age. Thus we kids could play each other, or our father at odds, which he gradually decreased over the years. Soon he began taking us to his club in Elizabeth, NJ., and then to tournaments, which even then (in the fifties) were readily available in the New York area. One year (1957) we even camped for two weeks outside of Cleveland and drove in and out every night to play in the U.S. Open (late games were tough, adjournments even worse, but it was hardest of all on my mother and little brother being left in a tent in the woods when the three of us went off to play). By this time my brother and I were “experts” (the “master” rating was much harder to reach back then) and venturing into chess journalism. With a friend we wrote a newsletter and distributed it through the county high school clubs. Even though Robin and I continued to improve and went on to win state and national titles (for him the U.S. Junior in 1959, '60, and ’61; for me the US. Intercollegiate in 1959), all three of us viewed chess as a recreation secondary to our studies and went on to get doctorates and become college professors. Before that, in my case, I spent seven years working in what was called the “knowledge industry,” starting with a small company in New York called Basic Systems. This company was started by some Columbia behavioral psychologists and specialized in programmed-instruction training programs. When I was hired, Thad finished work on my Master’s in psychology, which helped, as did the fact that one of the executives, Stuart Margulies, knew me from chess tournaments and figured my chess ability would transfer to instructional writing. Unknown to me, Stuart had a contract along with Donn Mosenfelder (for writing) and Bobby Fischer (for the name) to prepare a basic “chess program,” covering simple mating techniques in step-by-step fashion with active responding. After Donn. was slowed down by an auto accident, I was asked to help him complete the manuscript on schedule. For this 1 was paid a small hourly rate but gained valuable experience. Once completed, the book sat on the shelf until giant Xerox acquired our little company and pumped in cash to support publishing it. | was ivgiven the job, nominally as “editor,” to get it ready for publication. To help me I hired Mike Valvo, whom we had recruited a few years before to help Columbia win the US. Intercollegiate Team Championship (1960). Our job was to tidy up the text, make sure all analysis was accurate, and work with Bobby Fischer in integrating some of his own positions into the text. While I knew Fischer by sight from various tournaments in my teens, I had never met him personally. At first he ‘was suspicious and defensive, but soon he became very helpful and cooperative— all in all a fascinating experience to work with a genius on the verge of becoming ahousehold name in America. The result, of course, was Bobby Fischer Teaches Chess, which continues in print today, certainly helped by Fischer's name but also I believe because of its unique systematic presentation for beginners. Nevertheless, | was feeling that another book, written in a similar manner but concentrating on basic tactics, would be much more useful for aspiring players beyond the level of rank beginner. Along the way, my “experience” got me involved as co-author of a 20-hour instructional program in contract bridge marketed under Charles Goren’s name (which “bombed” instead of making us rich). By 1972 had a full-time faculty position (at Hostos C.C/C.U.N.Y. in the South Bronx, where I still am today as Professor of Psychology) and had finally finished my Ph. D. in psychology. Now I was ready to tackle chess again. And the public was too, for this was the year Fischer beat Boris Spassky to capture the World Championship while millions watched on live TV. Originally I was hoping to deal with Fischer myself, but his subsequent withdrawal from all public activity forced me to sell my manuscript on my own. This I was able to do, and the result was The Chess Tutor: Elements of Combinations (1974, paper 1976). ‘The paperback printing was just at the end of the fading Fischer boom, and led directly to me being asked to write two books on the briefly popular game “Mastermind.” Meanwhile, I was thinking, and people were asking, about a chess book sequel. After tactics, the next logical topic is strategy, and | wanted to write a step-by- step programmed book in similar fashion. But I was hesitating, for I couldn’t figure out how to organize and sequence it. After the Fischer book, I found it easy to design my own on tactics. [ The various tactical themes are already widely known and clas- sified, so the major effort was gathering thousands of posi- = =i — Les, in his element.tions, classifying them, selecting the most appropriate, and putting them in order. For strategy, things were much harder to organize. To begin with, very few positions illustrate one single clear strategical theme; there are almost always other themes involved as well. Another serious problem is the constant intru- sion, possible or actual, of tactical themes. For example, a Bishop is supposed to be a little better than a Knight, but this is true only some of the time and in relation to other factors, especially where the pawns are; so telling the reader to “win” with a Bishop for a Knight assumes some understanding of the present and possible future pawn formations, and also assumes that the Knight will not tum into a monster and fork your pieces. So how to handle all this in a coherent manuscript? For a few years I weaved around, gathering positions while trying this or that outline. I even tried to interest some of my fellow masters in collaborating with me—their typical response was that what I was trying to do was interesting but too difficult. Finally, | came to some conclusions and ten years ago, as mentioned above, began writing the text in earnest. Two key organizing factors gave me the confidence to proceed. One was settling on the organizational sequence used in this book, which has a reasonable degree of increasing complexity. The other was accepting and operating within the ambiguities of themes, trusting to my judgment that players beyond the beginner level already have numerous insights about chess principles, even if pethaps ill-formed. Thus I could write without fearing brief discussions about secondary themes and tactics in a position, relying on the reader to have some idea of what | am referring to and gaining bits and pieces on various other themes as | proceed through the main theme. The result is a book which I think is unique in its detailed, step-by-step approach to the underlying principles of chess, and one I believe will be very helpful to any intermediate chess player wanting to improve. ‘When someone asks, “My cousin (or whoever) is getting into chess—what book should | get him (her)?” This one! Leslie H. Ault August 1993 PS. Some people who helped me deserve my heartfelt thanks: Carol Ruderman and Dr. Walter Blanco, chess enthusiasts in the target population for this book, read and reacted to positions and drafts. Bob Long had what we hope is the good sense to like the manuscript and persevere in getting it assembled and published. Finally, my wife Kathie helped with numerous edits and rewrites, and encouraged me to pursue the obsessions necessary to produce a book like this. Thanks one and all! Ed.Note: See page 346 on “The Purpose of This Book.” viSome Basics—I Because chess is primarily a mental game, it is necessary to out- think your opponents in order to win consistently. To some extent in- telligence helps, as do other mental qualities such as concentration and freedom from anxiety. But the most important quality—what distin- guishes masters and experts from “patzers” and beginners—is the specialized ability to think effectively about chess positions. Using this chess-thinking ability, a player looks at a position, goes through a mental process, and emerges with a move. In doing so, the player uses analysis and judgment. By analysis I mean the process of examining possible moves, possible replies by the opponent, possible replies to the replies, and so on. Ina very simple game like tick-tack-toe one can analyze all the possibilities and thereby never lose a game. Chess of course is too complex for that, even for a su- per-fast computer. (Except at the be- ginning of the game and in simplified endings with few pieces left, there are typically 30-40 possible legal moves. When one move and one reply by the opponent are considered, there are usually over one thousand possibilities. For two moves and two replies, there are usually over a million sequences.) In- stead, the chess player must analyze only partially and very selectively. That is where judgment comes in. Having analyzed several possible move sequences, the player must make some judgments about the de- sirability of the resulting possible positions, and these judgments guide the selection of a move. In addition, since there are so many possible moves and replies, the player again uses his judgment to select only a few plausible lines of play on which to concentrate his analysis. In this way, the player can look several moves ahead, but only at the most plausible sequences. Despite the stereotype of chess masters seeing so many moves ahead, evidence indicates that they don’t analyze more—they analyze better! Chess judgment is the key. # Actually you already use your judgment to analyze partially and selectively. Consider, for example, the following position (reached after the opening moves 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 dxe4 4. Nxe4 Nf6 5. Nxf6 Qxf6 6. Nf3 5 7. Bg5), with Black to move. (Chess notation is described in Appendix I. If you are not familiar with it, the algebraic notation used here can easily be learned.)The Genesis of Power Chess 1-1. Black’s 7th move; what should he do? (Look below after you have thought about and chosen your move.) ANSWER Black has 29 possible moves, but you need not and should not bother to check out most of them. Within a few seconds (from examining where the pieces are and how they are re- lated) you should realize that your Queen is under attack, that the Bishop attacking it is protected (by the Knight), and that there seems to be no reason to give up the Queen. Therefore, since a Queen is much more valuable than a Bishop (the relative values of the chess pieces, and explanations of many chess terms, are given in Appendix II), Black should move his Queen. There are ten such places to move. All but two of these moves would still subject the Queen to immediate capture. The only two safe moves are 7... Qg6 and 7... Qf5. You should have chosen one of these moves. (At this point, we won't go any further into the finer points of this position, including the fact that White can next play 8. dxc5 and threaten mate in one with 9. Qd8#.) & Although the underlying reason for Black’s judgment in the previous position was quite specific (saving his Queen), most positions require more generalized judgments—that in positions of a certain sort, such and such a move is likely to be useful. Many of these useful moves involve patterns in the configurations of the pieces, and many of them can be understood and expressed as general principles. You will learn about these principles and how to use them in this book. To begin with, it is important to know and think readily about the basic properties of the various pieces in combat with one another. Here White is about to finish off the game with his Queen and King against Black's lone King. Can you find two moves that mate? ANSWER ‘One way is 1. Qg7#, the “on- top” method—the Queen protected ee all possible flight squares. The other is 1. Qc8#, the back- rank method—the Queen attacks along the back rank (a side file [when the opponent's King is on a side file] will do just as well) while the King covers the possible flight squares along the next rank (here f7, g7, and h7).Some Basics—1 Note that either method requires that the lone King be backed up against the edge of the board with the other King nearby. & Using these same ideas, can you find four moves that mate in one here? Also, can you find the two moves White should not make? 1-3. White to move. SF Oo ae Vi, J, Ua, aes raat ANSWER White mates in one by 1. Qg8# or 1, Qh8# (on the back rank), or by 1. Qa7# or 1. Qb7# (on top, supported by the King). The moves to avoid are 1. Qc7?? and 1, Qh2??, both of which are stalemates—they leave Black not in check but with no legal move (thus, a draw results). & In the previous two examples, White mated in one. In the next diagram, that is obviously impossible; so your task is to mate in two moves, which requires taking into account that the Black King is going to move in the meantime. But don’t stop when you find a two-move mating sequence—find as many as you can. 1-4. White to move. ANSWER Let us consider the various ways to mate, theme by theme: A. Perhaps the simplest to find is the “on-top” mate: 1. Qa7 Kf8 2. Qf7#. (If Black responds instead I... Kh8, White has four ways to mate: 2. Qg7/Qh7/ Qa8/Qb8#, as in the previous position.) B. Not quite so obvious is to use the back-rank method by forcing Black’s King into the corner: 1. Qf2 Kh8 2. Qf8#. Any move that controls f8 .works, and there are two alternate first moves: 1. Qfl and 1. Qc5. C. Finally, and hardest to find, there is a set of mates delivered on d8, where the Queen covers the potential flight square e7. One way is 1. Qd4 Kf8 (forced) 2. Qd8#. The three other ways start with 1. Qd1 or 1. Qb6 or 1. Qg5, which all give Black the option of responding either 1... Kf8 or 1... Kh8; but in all cases, 2. Qd8 is mate. Thus there are eight moves that lead to mate in two: 1. Qa7/Qf2/QfI/ Qc5/Qd4/Qd1/Qh6/Qe5.The Genesis of Power Chess So far we have been looking at mates in the bitter endgame, but the same mating patterns occur in the middlegame, when the board is crowded with pieces. Try this one. 1-5. White to move. ANSWER White mates in one with 1. Qxg7#, using the “on-top” method with the Knight at h5 supporting the Queen.Some Basics—I EXTRA PRACTICE: Here are four additional positions on the same theme for those of you who want some extra practice. These four are slightly different from the last one. Your task in each is: does White still mate with 1. Qxg7? ANSWERS (a) No, since nothing protects the Queen (note the Knight here is on g5, not h5). (b) No, Black’s Queen on c7 protects g7, so 1. Qxg7#?? Que? 2. Nxg7 Kxg7 leaves Black a piece ahead. (c) No, this time the Bishop on f8 protects g7. (d) Yes, finally, since White’s Bishop on b2 guards the Queen; so 1. Qxg7 is mate. Newcomers often do not understand the principle of “greater piece value” or the exchange of one piece for another of “equal value.” Study these positions well.The Genesis of Power Chess & Now try this one. 1-7. White to move. ANSWER Here the Queen uses the back- rank method, Black having left the 8th rank unprotected: 1. Qe8#.Some Basics—I EXTRA PRACTICE: Again, here are four variants from the previous position. Does White still mate with I, Qe8? ANSWERS (a) No, for Black’s King escapes to h7. (b) Yes, since the Bishop on c3 covers the potential escape square g7. (c) No, Black’s Knight covers e8; so if 1. Qe87??, 1... Nxe8. (d) No, for Black’s Bishop can interpose: 1. Qe8t Bf8 and Black is safe.The Genesis of Power Chess B Of course, the same themes can also be used where mate is not immediate. Here is an example. Does White mate here? If s0, how? 1-9. White to move. BY, EU YY ANSWER White closes in for the “on-top” mate with 1. Qh6, with the threat of 2. Qg7#. In general, Black can try to avoid mate by: (a)running away with his King, which is not possible here; (b)protecting the mating square, also not possible heres (c) disrupting a supporting piece (see low); or (d)mating White first (also see below). As for (d), Black can indeed threaten mate in one, taking off a piece in the process, with 1... bxc3; but White mates first: 2. Qe7#. That leaves (c), and as a matter of fact Black can capture White's supporting Bishop: I... Nxf6; but then 2. exf6 renews the threat of mate, and Black has no way to stop 3. Qe7#, with the Queen now supported by the pawn. Tt is true that this last variation requires you to see three moves ahead; but even at this point you may well have been able to, by concentrating only on the moves relevant to the mating pattern.Some Basics—1 EXTRA PRACTICE: Once again here are another four variants, but these are more complicated than the previous extra practice positions. Just decide one thing in each position—does 1. Qh6 force mate, or can Black escape? GY ‘a lw bt 1-10a ZZ i AZ) “a & Dy DD) £Y Fis ie ANSWERS (a) No, for 1. Qh6 QB (or 1. Qh6 Naxf6 2. exf6 QF8) protects g?. (b) No, for 1. Qh6 Ne6 (or 1. Qh6 Naxf6 2. exf6 Ne6) again protects g7. (c) No, for Black can capture twice on 6 (1. Qh6 Nxf6 2. exf6 Rxf6), thereby elim— inating any support for the Queen. (d) Again no, for this time White's King is exposed, and Black mates first: 1. Qh6 bxe37 2. Kel (2. Kal has the same result) Qb2#.The Genesis of Power Chess & Rather than continue to explore such complexities, let us switch back, for now, to some other basic patterns. The Rook, being less mobile and less powerful than the Queen, can normally only mate with just one of the Queen’s two methods. Here is an example for you to figure out. 1-11. White to move. ANSWER White mates in one with 1. Rh8#, using the back-rank method with the escape squares on the 7th rank covered by White’s King. Of course the “on-top” method fizzles, for after 1. Rb7+ the black King side- steps to either a8 or c8. 10 & Let us make things a little more complicated with the following slightly changed position. How should White best proceed? And, by the way, what moves should White not make? 1-12. White to move. —____ ANSWER ____ The quickest way to mate is 1. Kg6 Kg8 (the only move) 2. Rb8#. Observe how White, having run Black’s King into the corner, forces it back into the familiar mating position opposite his own King. But don’t play 1. Rg7??, which is a stalemate, or lose your Rook by 1. Rh7#?? Kxh7.Some Basics—1 Again let us add another small complication for your amusement and edification. How should White mate most quickly? 1-13. White to move. ANSWER The first thing to realize here is that if White moves opposite Black’s King by 1. Kb6, Black does not oblige by going into the corner to be mated, but runs the other way with I... Kc8. The next thing to realize is that it would be desirable for White to leave his King where it is and make Black move his first. Therefore he should make a waiting, or tempo, move with his Rook, 1. Rg? (or R{7/ Re7). Now if Black moves opposite with 1... Kc8, 2. Rg8 is mate; but if he runs away with I... Ka8, we have a mirror image of the previous position and White mates with 2. Kb6 Kb8 3. ReS#. While the method given above is more thematic and probably easier to find, there is another method, which you may have found. In its pure form it goes 1. Rh8t Ka7 2. Rg8 (another tempo move—the Rook can also go to c8/d8/e8/f8 with the same effect) Ka6 3. Ra8#. White can also retreat his Rook anywhere along the h-file, e.g., 1. Rhl, leaving Black the choice of 1... Ke8 2. Rh8# or 1... Ka8 2. Kb6 Kb8 3. Rh8# or 1... Ka7 2. Rh8 Ka6 3. Ra8#t. (In fact, most Rook moves end up mating in three—only |. Rd7, 1. Rc7, 1. Rb7+, and 1. Ra7?? do not.) If you understand the winning technique in the last position, the one below should be easy for you. Can White win? How? 1-14. White to move. ANSWER If you realize that Black has only one move, and a disastrous one, then it should be easy to select a tempo move along the b-file: 1. Rh2 (or Rh3/Rh4/Rh5) Kh8 2. Rxh6#. Normally, the player with a Bishop against a Rook (with no pawns) should be able to draw by heading toward a corner of the color opposite that of his Bishop. But here Black got caught near the wrong corner and was forced to abandon his Bishop. Move all the pieces one square up the board (so that Black’s King is on h8 and the Bishop at h7), and Black is in a stalemate position which renders harm- less White’s attempted tempo squeeze.The Genesis of Power Chess FL Like the Queen, the Rook can also deliver mates in the middlegame or endgame with other pieces on the board. Here is an example for you. 1-15. White to move. ANSWER White has a back-rank mate starting with 1. Rd8t. There are two subtleties: one is that Black created an escape square at h7 by moving his pawn, but White’s Bishop at c2 covers this square; the second is that Black’s Rook can interpose by 1... Re8, but it is unprotected, and White simply continues 2. Rxe8#. Note too that Black gets no help from his Bishop and other Rook, which are still “undeveloped” on their original squares. & Here is a position of the same sort from an actual game. As you can see, Black is giving check on White's back rank. The question for you is, does Black mate or not? Support your answer. 1-16. Alburt—Gulko, U.S. Open, 1986, at White’s 25th move. —_—__ ANSWER Not with proper play, which is 25. Qel Qxel? 26. Rxel, when White not only is safe but is ready to regain his pawn with the better game because of Black's exposed King (in fact, Black lasted only seven more moves). Of course, White can get himself mated with the careless/greedy 25. Rxd1??, for then the back rank is fa- tally weak: 25... RxdIt 26. Qel Rxel#Some Basics—I & Alone Bishop cannot give mate, but two Bishops can. Can you see how to finish off Black here? 1-17. White to move. ANSWER White uses the Bishops on adja- cent diagonals to sweep the King into the corner where he is mated: 1. Bd4} Ka8 2. Be4#. & The mate by the Bishops on an open board must come in one of the four comers, but a little congestion can be fatal along the edge. Try this example. 1-18. White to move. ANSWER White mates in one with 1. Bc8#, made possible by Black’s Bishop blocking the potential escape square at a5. 13The Genesis of Power Chess Occasionally the Bishops are able to give mate in the middlegame, as in the following position from a well- known game. See if you find how White mates in two. 1-19. Ed. Lasker—Englund, Scheveningen, 1913, at White's 17th move. fas GF. ___ ANSWER White finished off the game with 17. Qxc6t bxc6 18. Ba6#. Since the first move sacrifices the Queen, it may be a little hard to find (Black didn’t see it before making his previous move), but knowing the mating pattern with the two Bishops should help. & A Bishop and Knight are also able to force mate against a lone King, though the process is more difficult than with two Bishops. Here isa typical finish with the Black King about to be mated. Finish it off. 1-20. White to move. ANSWER The correct way again involves driving the King into the corner, by 1. Na6t Ka8 2. Bf3#. The other Knight check, 1. Nd7?, allows the black King to get away from the corner with J... Kc8. With the Bishop and Knight, the mate must be delivered in one of the two corners controlled by the Bish- op. Knowing this, the player with the lone King, as he is pushed toward the edge of the board, should head for one of the opposite corners. The player with the pieces cannot stop this, but must then force the King along the edge of the board to one of the fatal corners, which is not so easy to do. For those interested, the complete process is illustrated in most basic endgame books. 14Some Basics—1 B Likewise the Bishop and Knight can sometimes team up for a middlegame mate. Try this simple example. 1-21. White to move. ANSWER White mates in one by 1. Nh6#. Moving up the Queen by 1. Qh6 doesn’t help here, for 1... Nf5 both covers the intended mating square (g7) and threatens the Queen (though not immediately, since 2... Nxh6 is answered by 3. Nxh6#). 15 & As we have seen, against a lone King two Bishops can force mate, and so too, with more difficulty, can a Bishop and a Knight. But, two Knights cannot FORCE mate. Here is an illustration; note that it is Black to move this time, and avoid mate. 1-22. Black to move. ANSWER There are only two possible moves: the right one, 1... Ke8 and the King gets away; and the wrong one, 1... Ka8?? 2. Nc7#. As long as the lone King doesn’t willingly walk into a mate in the corner, the Knights can’t do the job.The Genesis of Power Chess # There are certain positions where the weaker side has a pawn when the two Knights CAN force mate. The difference a pawn makes is shown in the diagram below. Decide what White (to move) should do. 1-23. White to move. ANSWER Black’s King is trapped in a corner where, as you know, it is in danger; but it has no legal moves. With- out Black’s pawn, White would have to release the stalemate; but with the pawn on the board, White has time to prance his other Knight into position and give mate: 1. Nb4 (or Ne!) h1=Q 2. Nc2#. Of course the timid 1. Nf2? catches the pawn, but then 1.. h1=Q 2. Nxhl isa stalemate. 16 & Now that you have the idea, see if you can work out this one. 1-24. White to move. em il iy y Z oO ‘. a Ve, ANSWER With Black’s King confined to just two squares (a7, a8), White can bring over his Knight from g4 to con- fine the King further, then give mate while the pawn is still running. The most direct win is 1. Ne5 g4 2. Nc6 g3 3. Nd7 (or Naf) g2 4. Nb6#. Naturally, you have to COUNT out in these positions to make sure you can mate before the pawn turns into a Queen and breaks up your hanging party.Some Basics—I B_ In the middlegame Knights can cause all kinds of trouble, including mate, as in this example. 1-25. White to move. ANSWER The Knights mate in two with 1. Nh6} Kh8 (forced) 2. Ngf7#. & Sometimes even one Knight can give mate by itself. For this to happen, the enemy King must be hemmed in by its own pieces, over which the Knight uses its unique jumping ability. Here is an example of what is known as the “smothered mate,” played by America’s first great champion, Paul Morphy. Can you find how White mates in four, ad- ministered by the Knight? 1-26. Morphy—Amateur, Paris, 1859, at White's 21st move. ANSWER Morphy won by 21. Nd7t Ke8 22. Nb6+ Kb8 (if 22... Kd8, 23. Qd7#) 23. Qc8#! Rxc8 24. Nd7#. LitThe Genesis of Power Chess REVIEW PRACTICE: These four positions illustrate the basic bitter endgame mates you have learned in this chapter. In each, it is White to move and mate, but | have added a little extra twist to challenge you. 1-27a 1-27b | a) Y, Y a a OAYY YD 1-27¢ |( 1-27d ANSWERS (a) First you need the King up close for support, so 1. Kb6 (Ka6 works too) Kb8 2. Qb7# (or Qd8/Qe8, if you prefer the back-rank method). (b) Black’s Kings in a stalemate position, so don’t move your King; instead, move the Rook across: 1. Rd? (or Re7/R{7/R¢7/Rh7) Kb8 2. Rd8#. (c) Here mate can be given next to the corner by 1. Bb7# Kb8 2. BeS#; if you prefer, you can mate in the corner by starting with a tempo move: 1. Bf6 (or Bal/Bb2/ Bc3/Bd4/Bh8) Kb8 2. Be5i Ka8 3. Bb7#. But don't play 1. BeS, stalemate! (d) This time you must use the tempo move 1. Bd6, which also keeps Black from escaping at f8; then after 1... Kg8 you have the familiar mating sequence 2. Nh6t Kh8 3. BeS#. Remember, you can force mate with a lone Queen, with a lone Rook, with two Bishops, with a Bishop and a Knight, but NOT with two Knights. 18Some Basics—I EXTRA PRACTICE: These next four positions, from actual games, give you some practice finding middlegame mates similar to those shown before. In the first two it is White to move, but in the third and fourth note that it is Black to move. ANSWERS (a) Ault—Kretzmer, NJ 1983. I played 22. Qxh6#; the Bishop on g? is pinned. (b) L. Steiner—Stiassny, Brunn, 1925. The Knights ride: 10, Nc6+ Ke8 11. Ne7#. (c) Field—Tenner, 1923. Black played 17... Qh3 and White resigned. Mate in one is threarened by the Queen on g2 supported by either the Bishop or the Knight (so taking one won't help), while if 18. gxh3, 18... Nxh3#. (d) Spassky—Fischer, World Ch. Match, game 3, 1972. You also have to see mates by your opponent and avoid them. Fischer did, of course; he played 35... Qg6 (protecting g7) and went on to win the game.The Genesis of Power Chess Most chess games are aban- doned, by one player resigning or by both agreeing to a draw. When the game is played all the way out to the end, the result is either a win by checkmate or a draw by various ways. Besides agreement between the two players, there are four ways to draw: 1. stalemate, the player to move having no legal move (and not being in check, of course); 2. insufficient material, where mate is impossible, such as only Kings, or King and Bishop or Knight against a King; 3. repetition, where the same position with the same player to move occurs three times (there are technicalities explained in the Official Rules requiring a claim to be made, either by the player on move in the third repetition or by the player about to move to produce the third repetition); and 4. fifty moves without a pawn being moved or a piece being captured (again, a claim must be made and supported, and special extensions to 100 moves can be granted for certain posi- The Fight to Win or tions including Rook and eee ops against a Knight—again see the latest Official Rules. Usually when the game goes to the bitter end, one side is trying to win by forcing checkmate while the other side is trying to achieve a draw through one of these means. In most of the endgame positions in the first chapter, the mates are easy enough that the player with the lone King would be ex- pected to resign long before. In this chapter, however, the outcome is not so clear, and you will be asked to think hard and fight to win or draw. 20The Fight to Win or Draw—2 & This first position nicely illustrates several of these themes. Give some thought to deciding how White should proceed. 2-1. End of a study by Liburkin. White to move. ANSWER The only correct move follows from logical thought, so let’s think it through. With a Knight and a pawn, for a Rook, White is slightly behind in material, except for the fact that the pawn is on the 7th rank, able to capture the Rook and promote. The trouble is that 1. cxb8=Q is stalemate. Nor can White dilly-dally; a move like 1. Ne2 is met by 1... Rc8 capturing the pawn (leaving an ending where White will be able to draw with careful play). The solution is an underpromotion (you don’t have to take a Queen, remember): not to a Rook (still stalemate) or to a Knight (two Knights can’t force mate), but 1. cxb8=B. There is no stalemate, and, as you should recall, the Bishop and Knight can force mate. There is one other try, which doesn’t work but is worth looking at more closely to see why not: 1. Nb3}. This move relieves the stalemate, but Black captures with check: 1... Rxb3#. White must move his 21 King, but then will be threatening to promote his pawn, and it is not so clear how Black can stop it. If he can’t, and White gets a Queen, White can win against the Rook. Let us consider this situation further ...The Genesis of Power Chess B After 1. Nb3+ Rxb3¢ in the previous position, here are some of the resulting possibilities, depending on where White goes with his King. In each position it is Black to move and save the draw. ANSWERS (a) White has moved down onto the c-file; Black can't get to the pawn, but can continue to check on the Ist or 2nd ranks supported by his King: 1... Rb2¥ 2. Kel Rb1?, etc. If White moves up to c3, the position is analogous to (b).. (b) Black no longer has a safe check. But he saves the game with a tactical device known as a “skewer” or “x-ray attack”: 1... Rb1!, and now if 2. c8=Q??, 2. Rel and Black wins the Queen and the game. White can still draw, but only starting with 2. Kd5. (c) White has stayed off the c-file and walked his King up to the pawn, but Black stops it with a “pin”: 1... Rb7! With the pawn paralyzed, White can move his King up again, 2. Kd8, producing position (d). (a) Black plays simply 2... Rxc?, and after 3. Kxc7 there are only Kings left (drawn by insufficient material). 22The Fight to Win or Draw—2 & Now White's correct move in this position should be easy for you. 23 White to move. ANSWER Black is threatening mate (by ...RaB), and queening either pawn won't stop it, nor will 1. Kf8. The King can escape by |. Kd8, but that abandons the pawns (1... Kxf7, etc.) and loses, too. The only winning move is a simple (once you think of it) underpromotion to a Knight with check: 1. £8=Nt. The check forces Black’s King away from its “on- top” mating position, giving White time to queen his other pawn next. After 1... Kf6 2. g8=Q, White has nothing to fear from 2... RaSt 3. Kd7 with a fairly easy win with Queen and Knight against the Rook. 23 3. Dealing with an advanced passed pawn is much easier when you have a Queen (instead of a Rook). Even when the pawn is only one square away from queening, the Queen can win about half the time, and if not, drawing is no problem. Here is a typical position—can White to move win? 2-4. White to move. ANSWER To win, White must bring up his King without letting Black queen his pawn (if 1. Ke6, 1... dl=Q with an easy draw, Queen against Queen). The winning idea starts with 1. Qe3+. In reply Black can hardly abandon his pawn, so he must play 1... Kd1, blocking the pawn, which gives White time to bring up his King with 2. Ke6.The Genesis of Power Chess & Continuing from the last position (after 1. Qe3t Kd1 2. Kc6), let us assume Black plays on with 2... Ke2, again threatening to queen the pawn. That brings us to this position. Again, White’s task is to make progress with his King by compelling Black to block his pawn. How is that done here? 2-5. White's 3rd move. ANSWER Working out the correct sequence takes some mental analysis, but if you aim to check on the 3rd rank you should be able to find it. Start by pinning the pawn with 3. Qe2, and after 3... Kel (if 3... Ke3, then 4. QdI stops the pawn dead) 4. Qc4t Kb2 5. Qd3 Kel we have the desired position. Now 6. Qe37 forces the block 6... Kd1, and White brings his King a step closer with 7. Kd5. & As you have seen, in these sorts of positions White uses his Queen to force Black to block his pawn, which lets White bring his King a step closer. Eventually the King arrives on the scene, and we get a position like this one. 2-6. White to move. ANSWER The quickest finish is 1. Ke3 Kel 2. Qxd2* Kf1 3. Qf2#. 24The Fight to Win or Draw—2 % Here the pawn is on the edge of the board, and White’s Queen is giving check in the critical position. Can Black survive? How? Black to move. 2-7. & This time the pawn is on the c- file, again with the Queen giving check in the critical position. Can. Black survive here? How? 2-8. Black to move. ANSWER Black can draw, because by playing 1... Kal he creates a stalemate position which White must release by moving his Queen. Thus he has no time to bring up his King. (The same thing happens with the pawn on the h-file.) ANSWER ee ee the familiar position with the King blocking the pawn, letting White bring up his King with 2. Kd4. After this, Black quickly succumbs: 2... Kd2 3. Qd3+ Kel 4. Kc3 Kbl 5. Qxc2t Kal 6. Qb2#. But Black does have a saving move that draws: 1... Kal! This move seems to abandon the pawn, but look again; 2. Qxc2 is stalemate. Meanwhile, the pawn threatens to queen, so White has no time to bring up his King and can make no progress. Of course the same thing happens with a pawn on the F-file. In summary, the side with the pawn draws these sorts of positions (pawn one step from queening, opposing King not on scene) when the pawn ison thea-, c-, f-, or h-files (Rook pawns or Bishop pawns, for those of you familiar with descriptive notation). But the Queen wins when the pawn is on the b-, d-, e-, or g-files.The Genesis of & Remember, one of the conditions for drawing is that the opposing King is not on the scene. When it is, things change, as in this example. Can White win? How? 2-9. White to move. ANSWER The winning idea may be tough to find, since it violates a mental set you are likely to have. First of all, White can neither take the pawn (stalemate) nor advance his King (1. Kc3 cl=Qt, or 1. Kd3 and Black might as well stick the draw in White's face by taking a Knight, 1... cl=Nf, which forks the King and Queen). What to do, then? To win, White must let the pawn promote, but in a position of his choosing: 1. Qa3+ Kb1 2. Kb3! Now if 2.. cl=Q, 3. Qa2#. Only by 2... cl=Nt can Black prolong the game, but just for a little while. 26 Power Chess & Do you get the idea? Then try this one. 2-10. White to move. ANSWER This time you can not only let Black queen his pawn, but also let him move the new Queen—once. Even if you don’t see it at first, there’s nothing else to do but move your King toward the action, so do it. Af- ter 1. Kh4 (moving the King to g4 is OK too, but on h4 you can tease Black by letting him queen with check) h1=Q¢ 2. Kg3, Black is helpless. Moving the new Queen to any “safe” square allows 3. Qel#. The only faint hope is 2... Qf34, which brings us to the next position.The Fight to Win or Draw—2 E._ Black has played his last hope (2... QF34); dash it! 2-11. White’s 3rd move. ANSWER Think before you grab, and do it by 3. Kxf3, followed by 3... Kh1 4. Qe2#. But don’t be careless: 3. Qxf32? is stalemate. & Here is another variation, in which Black has a second pawn added to what would otherwise be a drawn position. What happens now—an Black to move still draw? 2-12. Black to move. ANSWER Things are quite different, for the “saving” move 1.,. Khl doesn’t work here, since 2. Qxf2 is not stalemate because of the other pawn. That leaves 1... Kfl as the only try; but this blocks the pawn, and White wins in the usual way by bringing up his King (ignoring Black’s a-pawn for the time being). 27The Genesis of Power Chess ® Here is a similar position, two pawns against the Queen. Is Black doomed here, too? Where should he move? 2-13. Black to move. ANSWER Again the correct move follows from thinking logically, making use of what you already know. If Black moves his King to the first rank, White takes the pawn (1... Kh 2. Qxh4f or 1... Kgl 2. Qxh4), leaving an ending you should remember is won for White. That leaves only 1... Kh3, and even if you don’t see the continuation you should pick this move because the others clearly lose. The point is that after White replies with the “obvious” 2. Qf2, Black saves the game with 2... gl=Q! 3. Qxgl stalemate. White could also try 2. Qf57, but Black can draw easily by 2... Kg3 3. Qg5t Kh3, etc., and also by 2... Kh2 3. Qf2h3 4. Ke6 KhI 5. Qf3 Kh2, etc. Let’s look further at this last position ... 28 EL This position would arise in the last line given if Black plays 5... h2 instead of settling for a draw by 5... Kh2. Now Black has hopes of maybe even getting two Queens. Can you find what to do for White? 2-14. White’s 6th move. ANSWER Exploiting the pin on the g- pawn, White mates in two by 6. Qe4 Kgl (forced) 7. Qel#, a type of back-rank mate on the front rank.The Fight to Win or Draw—2 H With a minor piece against an advanced pawn, there is no chance of the weaker side winning. The aim is simply to stop the pawn from queening, often by giving up the piece for it. If you can do this, the game is drawn; if not, and the pawn queens safely, you lose. Here is an example with a Bishop; plan out how to save the game. 2-15. White to move. ANSWER With the Bishop, all you need to do is get it onto a diagonal intersecting the pawn’s path. Here there is one obstacle, your own King, so get it out of the way: 1. Ke5 (anywhere but b7 or d5 will do) d2 2. BE3 d1=Q 3. Bxd1 Kxd1 draw. There is also one finesse: if Black plays (after 1. Ke5) 1... Kf2, blocking the Bishop's access at f3. Not to worry, though—just head for the other diagonal with 2. Bc6 (or Bd5/Be4) d2 3. Ba4, securing the draw. 29 & What about here—can you draw for White? 2-16. White to move. ANSWER In order to stop the pawn this time you have to use the tactical device of decoying or diverting Black’s King, though the principle of getting onto a diagonal intersecting the pawn still applies. With 1. Bb3+ Kxb3 2. Kxd2 only Kings are left, while 1... Kc! 2. Bdl loses the pawn, though not the game. Do note that the timid I. BfS¥? Kel leaves White unable to stop the pawn.The Genesis of Power Chess & For a change, take the point of view of the player with the pawn. Can White do better than a draw in this position? 2-17. End of a study by Otten. White to move. ANSWER For Black to stop the pawn, he must control a? with his Bishop before White’s pawn gets there. The immediate access is from e3, but White covers that with 1. Ke4! Black’s King blocks another access, so 1... Ke6 2. a6 Bd8 3. a7 is too late, as is 1... Bd2 2. a6 Ba5 3. a7. Black’s only chance is 1... Bh4, hoping to reach f2, but White continues 2. Kf3. Now there is no way to stop the pawn, and White wins. # A Bishop and a Knight, as you probably know, are approximately equal in value. However, their powers of movement vary considerably, and their relative value varies with the type of position. The basic factor is pawn structure; in general, positions that are closed or blocked up with lots of pawns favor the Knight with its unique hopping ability, while open positions favor the Bishop with its long-range powers. With no pawns at all, the position is quite open, and you have already seen the advantage of a pair of Bish- ops over Knights, and of a Bishop and a Knight over two Knights, in mating a lone King. In combat with a single pawn, the board is also open, and a Bishop functions well in stopping the pawn. The Knight has more trouble against a pawn. It has to get close to the pawn, which takes precious time if the Knight is far away to start with. Here, for example—what happens with White to move? 2-18. White to move. __ANSWER It’s too late. After 1. Ng6 a4 2. Ne5 a3 3. Nc4 a2, with the pawn out of reach White can delay its queening with a check: 4. Na3¥ Kb3 or 4. Ne3+ Kd3. Then the pawn queens and Black wins. Since the Knight can’t do the ee es a eee Unfortunately it can’t either, because Black’s King keeps it away: I. Ke4 a4 2. Kd4 a3 3. Ke4 a2, etc. 30The Fight to Win or Draw—2 & Here we have another distant Knight needing to stop a passed pawn, this time in a World Champi- onship Match. It was Black to move—what should he do, and what happens? 2-19. Bronstein—Botvinnik, World Ch. Match, game 6, 1951, at Black’s 57th move. —___ANSWER__ Botvinnik, the defending World Champion, played 57... Kg3 and White resigned. Black’s King is now positioned out of the Knight’s return. path (58. Ne6 e2 59. Nd4 is to no avail; but with Black’s King on 3 instead, that last Knight move would be with check) and ready to support the pawn (if 58. Kdl, then 58... Kf2). White can’t stop the pawn. And when the Knight does catch the pawn, it may be subject to moles- tation in ways that wouldn’t bother a Bishop. For example, decide what happens here with Black to move. 2-20. Black to move. gaa eke ANSWER Black molests with 1... Kf3 (...Kf2 is OK too). The Knight is obliged to move, and the only place to control the pawn is 2. Nh1. Black continues 2... Kg2, and the Knight is lost. After that Black queens his pawn unmolested (e.g., 3. Ke2 Kxh1 4. Kd2 Kg2 5. Ke3 hl=Q). (A Bishop in similar circumstances would just retreat to a safe distance while still controlling the critical in- tersection.) 31The Genesis of Power Chess & With the pawn away from the edge of the board, the Knight has more room to maneuver, and that makes a big difference. What does White do here, for example? -21. White to move. ANSWER With 1. Na3 White removes the Knight to a safe distance and has no difficulty drawing. The other retreat, 1. Nc3, gets the Knight chased immediately by I... Ke2, and loses (though after 2. Nb5 Black must play 2... Kb3, then 3. Nd4f Ke3 4. Ne2t Kd2). # Even when the Knight can’t quite get in front of the pawn safely, it still has some tricks that may save the game. The position below looks bad for the Knight, but in fact White can quickly force a draw. Find it. 2-22. White to move. ANSWER First the Knight threatens the pawn, 1. Nd4; then, when it queens (1... e1=Q), uses its forking powers with 2. Nf34. Then, of course, 2... Ke2 3. Nxel Kxel leaves only Kings on the board. Since Black must promote to save his pawn, the only way to avoid the fork is to promote to a Knight, which hardly helps. In general, if the Knight can safely reach a square in front of the pawn on the b through ¢g-files, it can stop the pawn and draw. 32The Fight to Win or Draw—2 & Often it is the King alone that must stop an enemy pawn. To do so, unless it can capture the pawn directly, it must be able to get in front of the pawn and stay there. Con- versely, the player with the pawn should try to keep the King away or dislodge it from in front of the pawn. Consider the following basic position—what happens with White to move? ... with Black to move? 2-23. (a) White to move, or (b) Black to move. 2-23 W/BY —____ ANSWER __ (a) White to move wins simply by 1. d7 Ke? 2. Ke?, and the pawn queens next move. White first squeezes the black King out of d8 and then keeps it out so the pawn can advance. (b) With Black to move, the outcome is different. Black op- poses White's King with 1... Ke8. Black now has what is called the “opposition,” where the two Kings face each other and the opponent is on the move; while in most positions it is better to be on the move, in these sorts of King endings the player on the move must give way, so having the “opposition” is an advantage. If 33 White now advances his pawn, 2. d7+ Kd8, he must either abandon it or play 3. Kd6 with a stalemate. If instead White plays around with his King (such as by 2. Kd5), Black still draws by taking care to keep the opposition at critical times. & Here is an illustration of the ad- vice just given, keeping the opposition at critical times. From the previous diagram, after 1... Ke8 2. Kd5 Kd? 3. Ke5 we reach this position. How should Black continue? 2-24. Black’s 3rd move. ANSWER There is only one drawing move: 3... Kd8, which allows Black to oppose White’s King when it comes forward: 4. Kc6 Kce8. If instead 3... Kc8?, then 4. Kc6 Kd8 5. d7 and wins. Having the “opposition” is generally advantageous.The Genesis of & Now that you've seen the basic principle of opposition, figure out what to do here for White to move. And what happens with Black to move? 2-25. (a) White to move, or (b) Black to move. Power Chess & These endings do indeed occur in practical play. Here, for example, I was playing Black and trying to save the game. How? 2-26. Murphy—Ault, NJ 1973, at Black’s 63rd move. ee he) ee (a) White to move wins by taking Ae ra When Black moves aside, White moves diagonally forward, either 1... Kc8 2. Ke7 or 1... Ke8 2. Ke7, and then pushes the pawn through to queen as Black watches help- lessly. (b)Even with Black to move, White wins: 1... Ke8 2. d6; note that Black takes the opposition but White uses the pawn tempo to gain it back, producing a familiar winning position. Now of course 2... Kd8 3. d7 Ke7 4. Ke7 wraps up the win. 34 ANSWER I played 63... Ke? and drew; 63... Kb7 also draws. Either move keeps the White King from getting in front of the pawn (as in the previous position). As long as Black keeps the white King back, it doesn’t matter whether he takes the opposition (63... Kc7) or not (63... Kb7), since the pawn gets in White’s way when he tries to use the opposition.The Fight to Win or Draw—2 & And here it was Bobby Fischer, then in his teens and still thirteen years away from winning the World Championship, trying to save a draw. With Black to move, can he? How? 2-27. Gligoric—Fischer, Candidates’ Tmn., 1959, at Black’s 57th move. ANSWER The only way to save the game is 57... Kb8. Fischer played this, and a draw was agreed at this point. It may seem strange for Black to hang back with his King, but the effect is to give him the opposition when White's King moves forward. If now 58. Kb5, then 58... Kb7, or if 58 Kc5, then 58... Ke7, with the opposition; White can make no useful progress (e.g., 58. Ke5 Ke7 59. Kb5 Kb7 60. KaS Ka7 61. b5 Kb7 62. b6 Kb8! 63. Ka6 Ka8, etc.). Other moves, besides Fischer's, lose the opposition and the game; for example, 57... Kb7 58. Kb5 Ke7 59. Ka6 Kb8 60. Kb6! Kc8 61. Ka7, and the pawn queens without hindrance. 35 & With a pawn on the edge (a- or h- file), winning is out of the question unless the King can establish the “es. cort” position for the pawn by occupying b? (foran a-pawn) org? (foran h-pawn). In this position, as an illustration, Black has two different drawing methods. Can you find them? 2-28. Black to move. ANSWER One way is to head for the corner with 1... Kg8. White would like to move diagonally forward, like 2. K‘i”7, but there is no such square; so he must settle for 2. Kg6. Black continues into the corner, 2... Kh8, and there is no way to squeeze the King out. Alternatively, Black can lock White's King with 1... Kf6, and after 2. Kh7 Kf7 3. h6 Kf8 White can choose between stalemating Black with 4. Kg6 Kg8 5. h7+ Kh8 6. Kh6 stalemate or stalemating himself with 4. Kh8 Kf7 5. h7 Kf8 stalemate. Since, as stated, White needs to get his King to g7 (g8 will do, too), even 1... Kf8 draws, as either 2. Kg6 Kg8 ot 2. Kh7 K{7 leads to familiar positions. The only way to lose is to wander off in the other direction, like 1... Ke6?? 2. Kg7, ete.The Genesis of Power Chess & With each side having a pawn (not passed—see definition on page 343), winning requires capturing the opposing pawn and queening your own. Sometimes this can be done. How about here? 2-29. White to move. ANSWER White should approach Black’s pawn, but only by 1. Ke7. Now 1... Kg5 2. Ke6 leaves hoth Kings attacking and defending the pawns, and the player to move loses. Here that is Black, and 2... Kh6 3. Kxf6 Kh7 4. Ke7 is nice and easy for White. By contrast, 1. Ke6?? Kg5 creates the same position, except that it is White to move and lose. Note also that after 1. Ke7, Black can also try 1... Kg7 2. Ke6 Ke8 3. Kxf6 Kj8, which gains the opposition and blocks White's pawn; but with his King on the 6th rank ahead of his pawn, White still wins: 4. Ke6 Ke8 5. f6 Kf8 6. {7 Kg7 7. Ke7, etc. (Compare position 2-23.) & And what about here—can White (to move) save the game? How? 2-30. White to move. ANSWER True, White must abandon his. pawn; but if you remember to keep the opposition, the game is saved: 1. Kf1! Kxg3 2. Kgl with what should by now be a familiar drawn position. (Unlike the previous position, the remaining pawn is even with [not behind] its King.) Ofcourse not I. Kgl?? Kxg3, and Black has the opposition and wins. 36The Fight to Win or Draw—2 & White to move in the position below seems to be in trouble. What should he do, and what is the outcome? 2-31. White to move. ANSWER White only has two possible moves, 1. Ka4 or 1. b6. Neither one saves White’s endangered pawn, but either one leads to a draw provided White plays correctly to keep the opposition. On 1. Ka4 b6 White must play 2. Ka3!; then 2... Kxb5 3. Kb3 holds Black at bay. So does 1. b6 Kc6 2. Ka4! Kxb6 3. Kb4. & Things look brighter for White here. How should he proceed, and what is the outcome? 2-32. White to move. ANSWER Sure, White wants to gobble Black’s pawn and queen his own, but a little care is called for. First play 1. b5; then the win is easy. But if 1. Kb6 Black responds 1... Kd4 (1... Kd5 is also sufficient), ready to answer 2. Kxb7 with 2... Ke4, catching White’s pawn. If instead White continues 2. b5, then 2... Ke4, ready to take pawn for pawn. (Now if White refuses to accept the immediate draw, 3. Ka5 Ke5 reaches the preced- ing position.) 37The Genesis 8 Here again, you must combine what you know with a little careful thinking. Can White win? How? 2-33. White to move. ANSWER Obviously Black is prepared to shuffle his King between g8 and h8 indefinitely, waiting for White to ac- complish something. For White to win, he must get a pawn to g7 when Black’s King is on g8. (It will probably help for you first to look for and, I hope, find this winning position without analyzing step-by-step; then analyze how to reach it.) To reach this winning position requires timing. You must start with 1.h3. Then after 1... Kh8 2. h4 Kg8 3. h5 Kh8 4. 96 hxg6 (if 4... Kg8, 5. 97 wins) 5. hxg6 Kg8 6. g7, we have our intended winning position. The timing is wrong if White starts with 1, h4? Then we get 1... Kh8 2. hS Kg8 3. g6 hxg6 4. hxg6 Kh8 5. 97 Kg8 6. Kg6 stalemate By the way, if Black moves first in the starting position, White still wins by adjusting the timing: 1... Kh8 2. h4! (i.e., moving two squares instead of one to get the winning position). of Power Chess & This simple position occurred ina game between an almost- and an ex- World Champion. Does White win? If so, how? 2-34. Kortchnoi—Petrosian, Candidates’ Match, game 3, 1974, at White’s 51st move. ANSWER Taking either pawn only draws (eg., 51. Kxc5 Kxa4 52. Kb6 Kb3 53. c5 a4, etc.). The key is to take the opposition: Kortchnoi played 51. Kb5 and Petrosian resigned (if 51... Ka3, 52. Kxa5 Kb3 53. Kb5 and the a-pawn scores). 38The Fight to Win or Draw—2 & Once more use what you know about the opposition along with some careful thinking, from the chair of another future World Champion. How should Black continue? 2-35. Alburt—Kasparov, Latvia, 1978, at Black’s 54th move. ANSWER The obvious moves 54... Ke3 55. Kel and 54... Kf4 55. Kf2 both leave White with the opposition and Black having to back off. What Black really wants is for White to move in this position. In these sorts of positions, Black can lose a move by a maneuver known as triangulation—Black makes three moves, marking out a triangle, to get his King back to where it started. For this to work, White must not be able to maneuver in a similar way but must have to shuffle back and forth, which is the case here. Anyway, let’s watch Garry Kas- parov, who in 1985 became the youngest official World Champion at the age of twenty-two. Kasparov played 54... Kf5 55. Kgl Ke5, and White resigned. If now 56. Kf2, 56... Kf4 and Black enters at g3 when White retreats; or if 56. Kfl, 56... Ke4 completes the triangle (the se- 39 quence ...Ke5-Kf5-Ked has the same effect), returning us to the starting position but with White to move. Now Black wins easily: 57. Kel Ke3 58. Kfl f2, etc. Let us change the position just slightly by moving the pawns on the h-file one square. Can Black still win, with either side to move first? (That ambiguity gets to the heart of the question, for if it’s Black’s move and he wants White to move instead, he can just triangulate, right?) 2-36. Either side to move. ANSWER No, Black can’t win. The big difference is that Black’s King has no entry at g3, so White can play his King to f2 without fear. With White to move (better for Black, though it makes no real difference), we get 1. Kf2 Kf4 2. Kfl; but Black can make no progress, as g3 is blocked and 2... Ke3 3. Kel f2t 4 KfI Kf3 is stalemate. In fact, White can even get away with playing (after 1. Kf2 Kf4) 2. Kel Ke3 3. Kfl because 3... f2 is stalemate, with the escape at g2 stopped by Black’s h-pawn.The Genesis of Power Chess Bi Here again Black is up two pawns to one; but this time, take White’s seat. 2-37. White to move. ANSWER White is hard-pressed, but he can draw with accurate play. The key is, as so often in King and pawn endings, the opposition. But here the obvious play to take the opposition fails, 1. Kd1 Kb2 2. Kd2 Kb3, for now White's pawn gets in the way and Black will be able to gain the opposition while moving onto the c-file (3. Ke2 Ke2 4 Ke3 Kd] 5. Ke4 Kd2, and the endis in sight for White). Instead, White must take the distant opposition. The saving move, and the only one, is 1. Kf1! Now if Black moves onto the c-file White CAN oppose, I... Kel 2. Kel or 1... Ke2 2. Ke2, and CAN maintain the opposition. If Black stays away, 1.. Kbz2, so does White, by 2. Kf2; if then Black continues 2... Kb3 3. Kf3 Kb4, White holds the balance by 4. Kf2 Whatever Black tries, White can hold the draw. (Try it with a set and board, if you'd care to.) & There are certain tricks to holding the previous position besides keeping the opposition. For example, after 1. Kf1! Black can try 1... e4. How should White hang in there? 2-37.1. White’s 2nd move. ANSWER The straightforward 2. dxe4? loses because Black queens his pawn, not only first but with check (2... c4 3. &5 3 4. e6 c2 5. e7 cl=Qf). In- stead, White must close in with his King by 2. Ke2, so that 2... exd34 3. Kxd3 Kb2 4. Ke4 collects Black's last pawn. Also, if 2... Kb2 White can now afford to race with 3. dxe4 4 4. e5 c3 5. e6 c2 6. e7 cl=Q (but not with check) 7. e8=Q drawn. These variations illuminate another Black trick: (from the previous position, i.e. 2-37) I. Kfl! Kal. Now the “pseudo-sophisticated” reply 2. Kgl? makes a winner of 2... e4!, as White’s King is too far away. But White can hold by playing to the e- file, ready to go back to the f-file to maintain the opposition from a distance, e.g., 2. Ke2 Kb2 3. Kf2!, etc. 40The Fight to Win or Draw—2 & With two pawns to the good, the win is usually routine. Sometimes, though, finesse is needed, as in this position. Win it for White. 2-38. White to move. & Here, even though the pawns are even (three against three), Black can make use of pawn tempos to control the opposition and win. How? 2-39. Donner—Smyslov, Havana, 1964, at Black’s 72nd move. ANSWER The white King can approach no further without stalemating Black (e.g., 1. Ke7 Kh8 2. Kf8?). To win, he must sacrifice the h-pawn and transpose to a winning position with King and pawn against King: 1. h8=Qt Kxh8 2. Kf6 (not 2. Kf7 stalemate) Kg8 3. ¢7 and wins. ANSWER With 72... 25, which should be easy enough to find and play, Black fixes White’s pawns and obliges him to move his King (if 73. f4f, 73... wftt 74. Kf3 f6). White resigned, not bothering, against an ex-World Champion, to go through the mo- tions of 73. Ke2 Kf4 74. Kf2 6! Note how Black used the first pawn tempo (72... g5) to gain the opposition, and then after White, in retreating, gets it back, regains it with the second pawn tempo (74... f6!); indeed, without this move, if the pawn were on {6 to start with, Black could not win. With it, White must give way again and his position quickly collapses. 41The Genesis of & Again here it is three pawns against three, but there is an important difference in how the pawns are positioned. How should White make use of this difference? 2-40. White to move. ANSWER The pawn position is “unbal- anced.” On one side of the board, it is three black pawns against two of White's, while on the other side of the board White has one unopposed pawn. This single pawn, which is of course passed, is known as the “outside passed pawn.” In endings, such. pawns are advantageous because they divert opposing forces. In this position, the advantage is big enough for White to win simply by gobbling up Black’s pawns while his King is occupied with the outside passed pawn: 1. Ke5 Kh5 2. Kd6 Kxh4 3. Ke7 Kg4 4. Kxb7 a5 5. Kxc6 Kf4 6. Kb5, etc. When you want to calculate out such positions “to see who gets there first,” it may help you to count moves separately for each side; e.g., in four moves White can get to the pawn at b7, while Black captures the h-pawn and gets back only to the f-file. How- ever, in this and similar positions, you really have no choice but to pick 42 Power Chess a good time to make a break for the enemy pawns on the other side of the board. (If instead you wait around by your passed pawn, Black will advance his pawns and, if you still wait, create his own passed pawn and queen it.) & From the previous position Black does have an alternative worth looking at—and for him worth trying. After 1. Ke5 he can play 1... 5 (instead of 1... Kh5). Then 2. Kd5 b6 3. Kc6 Kh5 produces this position. What now for White? 2-40.1. White's fourth move. 2-40.1 UU7 O7 Yi, ANSWER Actually Black has set a sneaky trap: 4. Kb7?? b5 and Black queens a pawn on cl. Instead, White must first restrain the pawns with 4. a4! Then 4... Kxh4 5. Kb7 Kg4 6. Kxa7 wins in a walk.The Fight to Win or Draw—2 B Here the pawns have been changed around slightly—does White (to move) still win? ... ot lose? 2-41. White to move. ANSWER White still has his outside passed pawn, but now Black has a protected passed pawn at c5, which is even stronger. If White uses the same plan as in the previous position, he loses: 1. Ke5? KhS 2. Kd5 Kxh4 3. a5 (the best try now) Kg4 4. axb6 axb6 5. Kce6 (to no avail, but waiting around with 5. Kc4 is hopeless) c4 6. Kxb6 c3 7. Ka7 c2 8. b6 cl=Q 9. b7 Qe7 and Black wins. Notice that against the protected passed pawn, White’s King must release the passed pawn in order to attack and win any of Black’s pawns, and usually (as here, though not always) White's counterplay is too late. However, we are not done with the position. White can also fight to draw by holding on to his h-pawn. without letting the c-pawn queen. It will help to visualize an imaginary square with the passed pawn at one corner, shown in the next diagram after the moves 1. Kg4 Kh6. 43 BH The white King can stop the passed pawn as long as it is in the “square” or can move into it. Re- member that the “square” shrinks as the pawn moves forward. Thus White's King is all right on the ¢-file, but if it moves outside the square to the h-file the pawn will move forward, shrinking the square, and the King will not be able to catch the pawn. Now, your task in this position is, how does White draw? 2-42. White's 2nd move. 27. ANSWER The general idea, previously given, is to hold on to the the h- pawn while keeping Black’s passed c- pawn under restraint (which means staying in its “square”). Thus 2. Kf5 KhS fails to do the former and loses, and 2. Kh3 c4 fails to do the latter and also loses. That leaves three other King moves. One of them is wrong, 2. Kg3?; 2... Kh5, and something has to give. The other two moves bring about the proper timing: 2. Kf4 Kh5 3. Kg3 or 2. Kf3 Kh5 3. Kg3, and Black must retreat. Also playable is 2.h5, for after 2... Kg7 3. Kg5 Kh7 4. KS Kh6 5. Ke4 White's King is again meeting its double duty, and Black must retreat.The Genesis of Power Chess & Next are two more positions from This second position is a little actual games with passed pawns. The more difficult, but think it through. first is fairly simple—how does Black win? 2-43. Scott—Ault, 1983, Black to move. Ya, fl 2-4: Da Mi ANSWER First realize that pushing the b- pawn to Queen doesn’t work: 1... b2? 2. d7 bl=Q 3. d8=Qt; White not only gets a Queen too, but does so with check and quickly captures Black’s remaining pawn. So the way to win is simply to stop White's pawn first: after 1... K£6 my opponent resigned, since he can’t stop the b- pawn. 2-44. Stoltz—Nimzovich, Black to move. ANSWER If Black plays the obvious 1... Kxf4?, he loses after 2. b6 g3 3. b7 g2 4. b8=Q¢. Instead, Nimzovich (for whom the Nimzo-Indian Defense was named) won by 1... Kd6!, which leaves Black’s King able to hold up the enemy pawns long enough to queen one of his own first. For example, 2. b6 g3 3. b7 Ke7. The game continued 2. a5 g3 3. a6 Ke7 (stopping the a-pawn) 4. Ke2 d3t 5. Kxd3 g2, and Black won.The Fight to Win or Draw—2 & In this position, White seems to be in trouble. See if you can save him, using your cleverness and your knowledge of the critical “square.” 2-45. White to move. eee If White simply heads after Black’s pawn, he won't catch it: 1. Kd7 h5 and so long, sucker! Remem- ber, for its initial move a pawn has the option of moving one or two squares; this fact requires that the “square” for such pawns be drawn one square forward. For Black's pawn here, the proper “square” includes the area bounded by h6 to c6 to cl. With this “square” in mind, the futility of 1. Kd7 should be apparent. The saving move is 1. Kb7, which gains a step by the threat to resurrect White’s pawn. Black must capture, 1... Kxa5, but then 2. Ke6 steps into the “square” and catches Black’s pawn. 45The Genesis of Power Chess OPTIONAL BOARD PRACTICE: If you feel insecure maneuvering in these King and pawn endings, get a partner, set up these positions, and practice playing them out to the correct result. Explanations are under each position, which you can consult before, during, or after playing them out. In each, play both White to move and Black to move. 2-46a | jj, W/B hy ajo This is an almost foolproof draw no This time White has time to get far matter which side moves first. Black enough in front of his pawn and win, must just take care to block White’s King _ provided he moves first. With Black to and not let it get in front of the pawn. move, Black can take the opposition on the 5th rank and hold the draw. 2-460 27, J) wile a ij) Ya, jl fy Vay Vd) Y With either side to move, White With either side to move, White wins easily by moving his King toward should win with careful play. Though Black’s pawn and advancing his a-pawn. not passed, the extra pawn is a tremen- Black's King will be diverted far away to dous advantage in this simplified ending stop the h-pawn. 46The Fight to Win or Draw—2 MORE EXTRA PRACTICE: Want some more? These positions are more complicated, especially the last two, but they require correct analysis to find some key moves rather than simple technique. For this reason, you can either solve them yourself or play them out with a partner. Again, work with White to move and Black to move. a PP ANSWERS (a) Things look bad for White, but he has a well-known winning trick up his sleeve: 1. g6! Black must capture, but then White sacrifices two of his pawns to queen the third: 1... fxg6 2. h6! gxh6 3. 6 or 1... hxg6 2. f6! gxf6 3. h6. Black to move breaks all this up by moving any pawn and blocking the pawn position, then wins by gobbling up White's pawns. Also sufficient is 1... Kc5/6, since after 2. g6 fxg6! 3. h6 gxh6 4. f6 Black is close enough to stop the pawn. (b) Whoever moves loses; the second player must only take care to match pawn moves so as to end up “off-move” when the pawns ate blocked. For example, with White to move: I. h3 h6 2. g4 g5 or 1. h4 5 2. g3 g6, and White will have to abandon the b-pawn. (c) Whoever moves still loses, but the addition of a set of pawns changes things a bit. Here the second player must copy in mirror image: 1. f4 h5!, and now 2. g3 g6 3. h3 f6 4. g4 h4! and Black wins. On the other hand, if 1. f4 f5? White creates problems with 2. h3 h6 3. g4 g6 4. 95! hxg5S 5. fxg5, although Black can just hang on to draw, (d) Again the player to move loses, but with White moving first, Black’s first move must be I... f5! (or 2. c4! for White, with Black starting). 47The Genesis of Power Chess FL When we give the superior side a piece as well as a pawn, winning is almost always a simple matter. Here is an example. 2-48. White to move. & With a pawn on the a- or h-files, things get a little more complicated. Here some proper timing is required, but you can solve that—tright? 2-49. White to move. os ae ANSWER All you have to do is move the Bishop anywhere—its main use here is to gain tempi (see page 344) whenever you need one. Then Black must abandon the “stop-square” by 1... Kb7, and White moves in with 2. Kd7. Of course you didn’t choose 1. Kc6?, which is stalemate. ANSWER In these situations you must be especially careful to leave the opposing King room to move, and there's no room after 1. a7#? Ka8; White must abandon his pawn to release the stalemate, and that leaves only the Knight. The right way is 1. Nb5 Ka8 2. Ne7# (of course, starting with 1. Ne8 to get here is OK too) Kb8 3. a7t, and the pawn queens, followed by a quick mate (3... Ke8 4. a8=Qt Kd7 5. Qe4! Kd6 6. Qe6#). 48The Fight to Win or Draw—2 & Then what happens here? 2-50. Black to move. ANSWER Obviously Black should move into the corner and stop the pawn with 1... Ka8. The real point is that the game is then drawn, since White must release the stalemate by aban- doning his pawn. Of course White's Bishop is a helpless spectator, though things would be quite different were ita light-squared Bishop able to control the queening square (a8)—then a Bishop move onto the h1-a8 diagonal would be mate. 49 & Here we have the same position, one move before and switched to the other side of the board. Your problem: can White win? How? 2-51. White to move. ANSWER Sorry, White can’t win, despite having a pawn and a Bishop. As we just saw, |. h7{ Kh8 would lead to a quick draw. The only other purpose- ful move is 1. Bd5+; but after 1... Kh8 Black has no moves, and White must back off to release the stalemate. Nor is there any other way to make progress. As long as the lone King can get in front of the pawn, these endings with an “edge” (“Rook”) pawn and “wrong-colored Bishop” are drawn. (Of course, with a “right-colored Bishop,” controlling the queening square, the superior side wins easily.)The Genesis of Power Chess & Here is a position from practical ee eee ee should White proceed? 2-52. Capablanca—Corzo, Match, game 11, 1901, at White’s 53rd move. ANSWER What you don’t do is play 53. bxa5?, for then Black plays 53... Kd5, covering the passed pawn (in the “square”) and heading for the safe-hole at a8 from which the King can’t be budged. The extra pawns on the board do not change the essential nature of the position: White has an a-pawn with a “wrong-colored Bishop” and can’t win. The White player, Jose R. Capa- blanca, was only twelve at the time, but already knew what to avoid; he played 53. Bb6 and went on to win the game. This game and three other wins against Cuba’s best player established Capablanca as the unofficial champion of Cuba. He went on to be ‘World Champion for 1921-1927 and is considered one of the greatest players in chess history. 50 & Now try this position for a little practice thinking things out. Can Black, to move, stop the pawn, and if so, how? 2-53, Suetin—Gufeld, Tbilisi, 1970, Black to move. ANSWER Black’s King isn’t quite close enough (out of the square!), but his Bishop can zigzag back just in time by 1... Bb4 2. h6 Bf8 3. h7 Bg?. So far so good for Black, but his situation is still precarious, and in the game White continued 4. Kg5 and managed to win in another couple of dozen moves.The Fight to Win or Draw—2 REVIEW: See how easily you can work out these practical positions using what you have learned. Select your move and also assess the outcome. White to move in (b), Black to move in all others. 8 waa) Yj 80 Zuo ANSWERS (a) Smyslov—Kortchnoi, U.S.S.R. Ch., 1960. Black simply takes the opposition and forces White away from the pawns: 53... Ke3 54. Kf3 Kd3 and White resigned (if 54. Kf4, 54... Kd4, etc.). (b) Kasparov-—Yusupov, U.S.S.R. Ch., 1979. Push ’em! Having stopped Black's majority, White has only to push his own: 36. b3 a3 37. c4 bxe4 38. bxc4 KES 39, Kxh5 Ke4 40. Kxg4 Kd4 41. h4 and Black resigned (c) Larsen—Fischer, Monaco, 1967. First things first! Fischer stopped the pawn, and after 60... Ke6 61. Kg2 Kxb6 White resigned, though against an ordinary player one should make Black play out at least through 62. Kf3.cl=Q 63. Nxcl Nxcl 64. Ke4 Nd3! (the pawn is more important than the Knight here—after 65. Kxd3 Kc5 Black protects the e-pawn and wins by capturing White’s h-pawn at the right moment) (d) Berg—Petrov, Kemeri, 1937. The game was adjourned at this point, and White resigned without resuming play. With 1... a5 Black creates a protected passed pawn (otherwise White can advance his own a-pawn and cut off Black's b- pawn) and after 2. g4 Kg8 eventually gets his King to £4. 51The Genesis of Power Chess HB Here White has an extra pawn, but his pawns are in grave danger. What should he do? 2-55. Lunna—Hiort, NJ 1983, at White's 49th move. ANSWER If Black gets both pawns for free he will win, as after 49. Kc3? Kxf4 50. Kd2 Kxg4 51. Ke2 Kg3, etc. But how can White save them? He can’t, but with 49. £5 he takes out Black’s remaining pawn, since 49... g5? in reply leaves White with a protected passed pawn and a won game. After 49... gxf5 50. gxf5 Kxf5 only Kings were left, and the game was drawn. & At this point, White’s move here should be obvious. 2-56. White to move. —___ ANSWER Liquidate to a draw with 1. Bxf3 Kxf3, insufficient material. So what if you must give up your Bishop? This is the last chance to stop the pawn from queening. 52The Fight to Win or Draw—2 & Here, the situation is more critical for the defender trying to stop the pawn. Can White win? How? 2-57. White to move. (i oANSWERAGu Yes indeed, by screening off (or chasing off) the black Bishop’s cover- age of e7. The first move is 1. Be5, to be followed after I... Bg5 or 1... Bd8 by 2. Bf6. Black’s Bishop can no longer cover e7, and the trade 2... Bxf6 3. Kxf6 Kd8 4. Kf7 offers no hope; one way or the other, the pawn queens. The closest Black can come is 1... Kd8 2. Bf6+ Bxf6 3. Kxf6 Ke8—one more move to f8 reaches a drawn position, but White wins with 4. e7 Kd7 5. Kf7, etc. ® Can White, to move, draw here? How? 2-58. Velikov—Hazai, Vrnjacka Banja, 1985, at White's 53rd move. ANSWER It should be obvious that Black wants to devour White's a- and b- pawns while keeping his own last pawn (with the right-colored Bishop). White can’t let this happen, so he played 53. a5 Kc5 54. b6, and a draw was agreed. Black now has no choice but to liquidate pawns (54... axb6 55. axb6 Kxb6), for 54... a6? loses to 55. b7 Bf4 56. h6 Kc6 57. h7, queening a pawn. 53The Genesis of Power Chess & Now let us switch from Bishops to Queens contending over a passed pawn. Can White save the game here? How? 2-59. White to move. Here things seem even more critical for Black trying to save the game. What do you think? 2-60. From a study by G. Lolli, 1763. Black to move. ANSWER With Queens there’s no salvation in sacrificing for the pawn (1 Qxa2t?), which leaves your opponent his Queen to mate you with. But recall another way to draw—repeating moves. White draws easily by simply checking over and over again: 1. Qe5F Qb2 2. Qe1t Qb1 3. Qe5t, etc. In these cases the resulting repetition is known as “perpetual check.” ANSWER Black’s only check allows White to queen his pawn. But as Lolli showed over two centuries ago, perpetual check still works, even against two Queens, with the King stuck in the corner: 1... Qd8t 2. g8=Q Qd4#, and Black will always be able to check somewhere (on d8, d4 or f6, h4) no matter how White covers his King. Black could also stop the pawn by pinning with 1... Qd4, and will be able to hold the game by checking or pinning as needed to stop the pawn. However, White can play on for doz- ens of moves, and one careless move by Black will lose the game. 54The Fight to Win or Draw—2 & Often perpetual check is resorted to earlier in the game when one side falls behind. Here is an example from a game between the then-World Champion, Mikhail Tal, and the fu- epee ee (“Bobby”) Fischer. What would you do here for Black? 2-61. Fischer—Tal, Leipzig Olym- piad, 1960, at Black’s 21st move. eee Clearly Black is in trouble, being down a Knight for a Rook (the “exchange”); in the long tun, Black will lose. But Tal saved himself with 21... Qe4t, which sets up a perpetual check. The players agreed to a draw at this point without bothering with 22. Kh] Qf3t 23. Kgl Qo4t, ete. 55 & Here is another example, from one of my games. How should White continue? 2-62. Ault—Cole, NJ 1984, at White's 44th move. ANSWER, White is down two pawns for a Knight, so I took the perpetual check with 44. Rh8} Ke? 45. Rh7f. At this point we agreed to a draw, since Black must return to the starting position by 45... Kd8 (if 45... Ke8?, 46. Rc8#). The only way to avoid the perpetual check would be to give up the Knight by 44. Rh87 Nf8 45. Rxf8t, and White is winning. By the way, the attempt by White to win back his piece by 44. Rd6 fails because Black can defend his pinned Knight, as by 44... Rxc47 45. Kd3 Rc7, for example.The Genesis & In this position, Black is threatening to queen as well as to capture White’s Rook. What can White do? 2-63. White to move. of Power Chess & Can you find salvation for White here? 2-64. Pilnik—Reshevsky, U.S. Ch., 1942, White to move. ANSWER Finding White’s drawing idea requires some foresight, but there are few choices to consider. The drawing move is 1. Ra7, so that after 1... c1=Q White can check forever on the a- and b-files (2. Rb7t Ka3 3. Ra7t, etc.) with the Rook protected by the King. If at any point Black should move his King onto the c-file, then Rc77 skewers the King and Queen. ANSWER This is a well-known position in which Samuel Reshevsky, many times U.S. Champion, went astray. Reshevsky had carefully guarded against any possible perpetual check, but overlooked something else. White played 1. Q£2!, which leaves Black no reasonable move except for 1... Qxf2 stalemate. Just in case you wanted to take the loose pawn, it doesn’t work. I'll show you why in the next chapter. 56The Fight to Win or Draw—2 & Previously, the stalemates we saw were the result either of clumsy play while trying to checkmate a lone King (Chapter 1) or of a lone King steadfastly blocking a pawn about to queen (earlier in this chapter). The last position, however, represents a third category with more pieces on the board, where the stalemate is produced “out of the blue” by a losing player. Here is another example— can you save Black? 2-65. Nikolayevski—Taimanov, Tallinn, 1966, Black to move. ANSWER Black’s position seems desperate despite the momentary material equality. Moving his King abandons his c-pawn, and if he pushes his a- pawn White simply shuttles his King between d6 and d5 until Black runs out of pawn moves. But there is a saving stalemate hole: Black played 1... Ka5! Since 2. Kxc5 is stalemate, White can make no progress and the game is drawn. 57 BL Can you save Black here? 2-66. Fichtl—Hort, Kosice, 1961, Black to move. ANSWER You might think about the Bishop and h-pawn, but should realize the Bishop is of the “right color,” so no hope there. But there is one of those “stalemate holes.” Black played 1... Kh3 and a draw was agreed, as 2. Kxf3 is stalemate and there is no other way for White to do anything constructive.The Genesis of Power Chess EL Whar do you make of this position, White to move? 2-67. Middleton—Tassmati, at White's 51st move. __ANSWER_ Black’s King, as you should notice, is in the comer with no legal moves, and Black was expecting to shed his Bishop and pawn to produce a stalemate. Sure enough, White took the Bishop and Black pushed his pawn: 51. Nxh4 a2, and now 52. Bxa2? is stalemate. But White produced 52. Kh6! instead, and Black resigned, realizing that 52... al=Q 53. Ng6 is mate. 58The Fight to Win or Draw—2 EXTRA PRACTICE: Here are four additional positions on drawing themes if you're interested. In each, it is White to move. 2-68b 208 |B, JY, J = mm os Yi fia ANSWERS (a) Obviously hard-pressed, White can force an immediate draw by 1. Qe6ts either capture leaves White stalemated. (This position is based on the game Kortchnoi—Ljubojevic, Tilburg, 1985, agreed drawn at Move 62 with Black's King in check on 6 and a White pawn on f5; had Black played 62... Kxf5, we would have it.) (b) An earlier variation from the same game. Again White forces stalemate by 1. Qa8t Kh? 2. Qe4#, leaving Black no real choice but 2... Qxe4 stalemate. (c) Dzindzichashvili—Timman, Tilburg, 1985. White played 84. Na3, and after 84... Bg3 85. Nb5 BF4 86. Nxa7 was close to the win. Wrong of course would be 84. Kxc7? stalemate, and likewise 84. Nd6? Bxd6 85. Kxd6, leaving a “wrong-colored” Bishop that can’t win. (d) This is the conclusion of the same game. Black resigned after 96. Ka6, in view of 96... Bxd4 97. Nc7# (other Bishop moves, save for 96... Bc7, allow 97. Nb6# Naturally 96, Bxe5? is stalemate. And after the cautious 96. Be3 Black has 96... Bat 97. Ka6 Bxa7 with a draw in store). 59The Genesis of Power Chess MORE EXTRA PRACTICE: Haven't had enough? Then help the desperate side to draw in these positions. White to move in (a) and (b); Black to move in (c) and (d). 2-69a 2-69b | WwW 2-69¢ | 2eu0| Y J, BY, es a We) Z| ANSWERS (a) Reveron—Villegas, World Under-14 Ch., 1985. Black was thinking about winning, but White produced 84. Bh2! and the game concluded 84... Kxh2 85. Kf2 Kh1 86. Kg3 h2 87. Kf2 stalemate. (b) Study by E. Cook, 1864. White starts with 1, Rb7+ Ke8, which looks hopeless; but then 2. Rb5!, and when Black queens, 2... c1=Q (White was threatening 3. RcSt, and taking a Rook won't win), 3. Re5+ Qxc5 is stalemate. (c) Najdorf—Curtis, Mar del Plata, 1984. Black completed a nice stalemate combination by 46... Qh4t 47. Kxh4 (the only other move, 47. Kf4, loses the Queen) g5¥ and drawn; any White move leaves Black in stalemate. The alternative 46... Qd2t fails to achieve perpetual check after 47. Qf4 Qxd5t 48. Kh4 (d) Analysis by Benko and Pinter. Black draws with 1... Kf8 and White's King can never get out of the corner (2. Ng4 Kf7 3. Nh6t Kj8), or also by 1... Kf7 2. Ne# Kj8 3. NAO ef 4. Nagt Kf7 5. Nh6t Kf®. In either case White's Knight must give way before Black’s King, and the Knight can never lose a tempo to correct the timing. Of course, it is obviously hopeless for Black to grab the Knight: I... Kxfo2? 2. Kg8 and queens next move. 60The Fight to Win or Draw—2 & Sometimes the maneuvers involved display real artistry, as in this position from a composed study. Save it for White. 2-70. Part of a study by A. Troitzky, 1895. White to move. 2-7( <2 I, Vi, i, U) Yi, ANSWER White can’t stop the pawn from queening, but he can create a stalemate position starting with 1. Kh3! Now on 1... g1=Q, 2. Rg5t compels Black to capture the Rook (otherwise 3. Rxg!), but either 2... Qxg5 or 2... Bxg5 is stalemate. Since 1. Kh3 threatens the pawn, Black has little choice but to push it and promote. From a practical point of view, his only hope is to promote to a Rook, hoping to be able first to win White’s pawn and then manage to win the ending of Rook and Bishop versus Rook. But Troitzky didn’t leave this loose end. After 1. Kh3 gl=R White can force a simplication with 2. Rf2 Bg5 3. Rg2, and there is nothing left to play for after 3... Rug? 4. Kxg2. Note, however, that White cannot transpose moves: if first 1. ReS? Bxg5 2. Kh3, Black promotes not toa Queen or a Rook (stalemate), nor to a Bishop (two Bishops mate, but not when they're the same color), but to a Knight, and wins. 61The Genesis of Power Chess & Inconcluding this chapter I have selected three positions, each illustrating something worth emphasiz- ing. You may or may not find them difficult; they can be easy if you catch on to the right idea and work it through, and thinking logically and flexibly about each position will help you to the right idea and the right move. The first position illustrates the various drawing themes shown in this chapter. Use them to save Black. L-T1. Part of a study by V. Smyslov, 1976. Black to move. ANSWER White has just queened a pawn at f8, but Black can capture it. That is the first thing you should look at. Unfortunately, after 1... Bxf8 2. Bxf8 Black can’t succeed with his passed pawn (2... Kd2 3. Bb4f stops him cold), and the attempt to liquidate all the pawns with 2... el=Q? 3 Kxel Ke3 fails to 4. f4 Kxf4 5. Kf2, or even to 4. Kfl Kxf3 5. Bd6. Note that in these resulting positions White’s Bishop is on the “right color.” If you can’t save the game by taking off your opponent’s Queen, something drastic is called for. The key move is 1... Be5¥. Of course the 62 Bishop can be captured, but 2. Qxe5 el=Qt 3. Kxel is stalemate. If White declines to capture the new Queen and instead moves away with 3. Kg2, Black has a perpetual check starting with 3... Qg3t. Finally, White can decline to take the Bishop in the first place and play 2. Kel, but then Black gets a crucial extra step in the race to liquidate the pawns: 2... Bxf8 3. Bxf8 Ke3 4. f4 Kxf4 5. Kxe2 Kg3 followed by 6... Kxh3, leaving insufficient material. & In this second position, it is again Black with the move and a passed pawn at e2. What should you do? 2-12. Galic—Vukcevic, Yugoslavia, 1975, Black to move. ANSWER Black’s pawn is ready to queen, but if I... el=Q White promptly wins the Queen with 2. Re37, and after 2... Qxe3 3. fxe3 White wins the ending with his extra pawn. Black can queen the pawn safely by first playing |... 4, but after 2. Rd4 el=Q 3. Rxf4 White can set up an impenetrable barrier with his Rook and pawns, and hold the game. The correct move, simple once you think of it but hard with the wrongThe Fight to Win or Draw—2 mental set (the white player in the game missed it), is 1... el=N#. The underpromotion to a Knight creates a simple Knight fork. Black saw it, played it, and White resigned, for 2. Kg3 Nxd3 is an easy win. What | want to stress is that the outcome of this game depended on the particular configuration of the pieces, allowing the Knight fork to be both necessary and to work. (Place Black’s King on f6, and Black can queen the pawn safely; place White’s King on g3 ot Rook to c3, and the fork doesn’t work.) While this book concentrates on less tan- gible strategical aspects of chess, if you are to have good results in practical play you must be able to see tactical combinations when they arise— and play them or avoid them. Remember: use Rules and Principles, but don’t be a Slave to them. 63 & Finally, what can you do for White here? 2-73. End of a study by A. Troitzky. White to move. ANSWER With a pawn on the 7th rank plus a Bishop, White should hope to win. The trouble is that the obvious way of proceeding runs into a “stalemate hole”: I. Ke5 Kg8 2. Ke6 is stalemate. A different plan is needed, but there seems no way to coax or force Black out of this hole. Well—besides reminding us again of the beauty of chess—the solution requires discarding, for this special position, a basic mental set, one we have been operating under in these first two chapters. That limit- ing set is that we need the pawn to win, since we can’t force mate with just a Bishop. Right!? (If you haven’t yet found the solution, try again now.) White wins by turning the “stalemate hole” into a death trap, which requires sacrificing the pawn to set it up: 1. g8=Q?! Kxg8 2. Ke6 Kh8 (the only legal move) 3. Kf7 e5 4. Bg7#.A couple of diagrams back we dismissed the position below as easily won for Black. Indeed, in the game White resigned upon being forked rather than bother playing out this position (reached from position 2-72 after 1... el=Nt 2. Kg3 Nxd3 3. Kf3). It is an easy win, but for now let’s not take this for granted. & Your task here is not simply to select a move or two, but—more important—to work out and describe Black’s winning plan. 3-1. Describe what Black should do to win the game. 64 Cashing In at the ANSWER The winning process for Black involves the following: (a)Secure the remaining pawn, which is needed to win. (A good start is 3... Kf6, whereas 3... f42 4. Ked loses it.) (b) Block White's h-pawn, using the Knight. (It is not really necessary to take the time to win this pawn.) (c)Penetrate with the King, using Knight moves to gain tempos when needed, and capture the fpawn. (This is the key obstacle.) (d)Push forward the now-passed f- pawn, supported by the King, and queen it. (e) Checkmate White with the new Queen. If you have any doubts about this process, set up the board and play it out (with a partner, a computer, or by yourself) until you can win smoothly.Cashing In at the End—3 & Asa further illustration, here is another position from the Capa- blanca—Corzo game (see position 2- 52). Black, an established master, was not yet ready to resign toa twelve-year- old boy, and played on to this position. What should White do now? 3-2. Capablanca—Corzo, Match, game 11, 1901, at White’s 56th move. ANSWER We already noted that the careless/greedy capture of Black’s pawn results in a drawn ending with the “wrong-colored” Bishop. Another lemon is 56. Ke2?, which allows Black to liquidate both White pawns by 56... axb4 57. axb4 Ke4 58. Bc5 gl=Q 59. Bxgl Kxb4. As in the last position (3-1), White need not capture Black's passed pawn; it is enough to restrain it while penetrating with the King and capturing Black’s b-pawn. For that purpose Capablanca played 56. Bh2, which keeps Black’s King off 5. Black retreated immediately with 56... Ke6, perhaps still hoping the kid would take the a-pawn. Capa- blanca, however, played 57. Kd4, continuing with the correct winning process. # Here is the finalé to that game, a few moves later. Note how White has progressed with his King. What now? 3-3. Capablanca—Corzo, Match, game 11, 1901, at White’s 60th move. ANSWER Now the b-pawn is ripe for plucking; Capablanca played 60. Kc5, and Black decided it was time to give up, for the b-pawn falls followed by the a-pawn. But Black had one last trick: if instead 60. Kc6?, Black saves the game with 60... gl=Q 61. Bxgl stalemate! 65The Genesis of Power Chess The key to winning these endings is to create a passed pawn, push it, and promote it, thereby turning a modest advantage into a big one. With a piece ahead, this process is usually easy. With a smaller advantage, like a pawn or just a better position, the process is the same but often harder to carry through, for the opponent can resist more effectively. In this chapter we will examine this winning process, concentrating on positions with more pieces on the board and equal or nearly equal material. In preference to further exposi- tion, let’s get down to cases. What does Black do here? 3-4. Black to move. ees Material is even, each side has several pieces, and each side has a passed pawn. White's passed pawn is securely blocked from queening, even though it can move forward a couple of squares. Black’s passed pawn has nothing blocking it, and when it moves forward, 1... c2—oh, my!—nothing can stop it. This position is from an un- played variation of one of the games from the Spassky—Fischer World 66 Championship Match (1972). World champions usually don’t per- mit such a position to actually occur. However ... & ... here we have an actual position from a game between two aver- age club players. What happens with White to move? 3-5, Heath—Ruderman, NJ 1986, at White’s 60th move. ANSWER Black had just played 59... Ne7- Ne6, attacking White’s d-pawn. Un- fortunately, she forgot the a-pawn (59... Nc7-Na6 was necessary, and sufficient to draw). White ignored his d-pawn and pushed his passed pawn, 60. a5. There is no way to stop it; the pawn queened, and White won. Create a passed pawn, push it, and promote it—turn a “modest” advantage into a big one.Cashing In & And take a look at this, White to move. 3-6. Capablanca—Corzo, Match, game 9, 1901, at White's 59th move. ANSWER Though Black was a master, he had been through Capablanca’s endgame-grinder and was lost anyway, even if he had stopped the passed pawn. As it was, nothing is stopping it except the illusion it must protect the Bishop; so Capablanca played 59. g7, and Black resigned. at the End—3 This next position may well require more mental effort than the last three, but the aim is the same— just find the means for White. 3-7. Engels—Maroczy, Dresden, 1936, White to move. ANSWER The direct I. d7 leaves the pawn blocked and doomed after 1... Rd8 (when 2. Rdi fails to 2... Rxd7 3. Rxd7 Nxd7, and now 4. Qxd7? leaves the back rank vulnerable and Black mates). White needs another way, and has it with a little combination in- volving the Knight’s clumsiness at very close quarters: 1. Qxc8t! Nxc8 2. d7. The pawn threatens to queen in two ways, 3. dxc8 and 3. d8. Mov- ing the Knight won’t stop the latter, while Black's Queen can stop one or the other, but not both (though if the Queen were on a3 or b4 instead, then 2... Qf8 would cover both prospec- tive queening squares, and the combination would fail). As a result, White gets a new Queen for his old one and emerges with a clear material advantage (Rook for three pawns after Black saves his Knight). 67The Genesis of #& In the last position the defender was keeping an eye on the passed pawn, so that a simple advance of the pawn would not work. Such is the case most of the time, for most players quickly learn to pay close atten- tion to stopping passed pawns. Con- sequently, the struggle usually rages over control of the remaining square(s) in front of the passed pawn. and in relation to the pieces covering or occupying the crucial square(s). In the last position, White succeeded by disposing of Black’s covering Rook. In the stripped-down position below, White must use a different method. Can you find it? 3-8. White to move. ANSWER To win, White must do something about Black’s Bishop, which cannot be allowed even to sacrifice itself for the new Queen. The right start is 1. N£5 with the double threat of capturing the Bishop (2. Nxh4) and cutting it off (2. Ne7). Black can meet both threats by 1... Bd8, but then 2. Ne7 leaves him squeezed to death—a King move abandons the Bishop, while 2... Bxe7 3. Kxe7 is hardly better. The alternative 1. Nd5+ Kd6 leaves White with no effective con- 68 Power Chess tinuation, and Black can draw by keeping his King on d6/e6 where it helps control e7. Can you see what to do here? Make sure to work it all out. 3-9. White to move. ANSWER All White has to do is drive the Bishop from the short a6-c8 diagonal so he can get a new Queen and keep it. There is just enough time to carry out this plan after 1. Ke6 Kf6 2. Kb6 Ke7, and now 3. Kxa6! Kxd7 4. Kb7 does the job directly, though 3. Bg4 Kd6 4. Bh3! (not 4. Kxa6? Kxc7 draw) leaves Black in a losing zugzwang. Note that the alternate plan 1. Ke7 Kg7 2. Kd8 Kf6 3. Bc8 does not work. Black must move his Bishop away, but returns to cover c8 when White unblocks it; e.g., 3... Bd3 4. Bb7 BfS (or 4. Bd7 Ba6).Cashing In at the End—3 & Now we'll add a few pawns. What difference does that make for Black to move in this position? 3-10. Smejkal—Larsen, Leningrad Interzonal, 1973, at Black’s 40th move. ol eANSWERG It makes it easier—with the extra pawns for each side, Black need not worry about insufficient material (to mate); so he simply cashes in his advanced pawn for White’s Bishop. Larsen played 40... Ba2 and White resigned, for there is no way to prevent 41... b1=Q 42. Bxb! Bxbl with an easy win. (Note that Black cannot delay ...Ba2, for otherwise White approaches the pawn with his King and wins it.) 69 & In this position White is two pawns down, but has the obvious asset of the passed pawn at h7. How does White “cash in” this asset? 11. Capablanca—Kupchik, Havana, 1913, at White's 61st move. ANSWER It is not feasible to screen out or drive away Black’s Rook, but it can be traded for the h-pawn. Capablanca played 61. Re8} Ka7 62. h8=Q Rxh8 63. Rxh8. Now even though Black gets White’s last pawn (63... Kb6), White’s King is close enough, and Black’s pawn flock not far enough advanced, that White wins with little difficulty. (First he captures all of Black’s pawns, then he has a Rook left to mate.)The Genesis of Power Chess & What can you do with White's passed pawn here? 3-12. Gruenfeld—Christiansen, World Open, 1985, at White's 42nd move. ANSWER White’s passed pawn has two squares to cross: c7 is controlled by Black’s Bishop but also White’s Rook; c8 is not controlled at the moment. While Black’s Rook can move to control c8 (42. c7 Rc3), White then can use the same maneuver as in the last position (43. Ra8t Ke7 44. c8=Q). That is why in the game White played 42. ¢7, and Black resigned. The best Black could do would be to give up his Bishop at once, but after 42... Bxc7 43. Rxc7 Rxe3 44. Rxh7 it is hopeless against a competent player. By the way, you probably noticed there are various “loose” pawns; but taking one (42. Rxh7 or 42. Rxa5) or protecting another (42. Kf2) is trivial—win the piece first, then deal with the pawns! 70 & Again it is White on the move with a passed pawn. 3-13. Ault—Weeramantry, NY 1974, at White’s 42nd move. ANSWER With advantages in both mate- tial and position, White can win at leisure; but the quick way to finish is 42. a7 Rc8 43. Nb8, which cuts off the Rook. With no way to stop the pawn, Black resigned.Cashing In at the End—3 EB Once again, it is White wanting to score with his passed pawn. 3-14. Ault—Platt, Dumont Futurity, 1985, at White's 44th move. ANSWER If White can’t convert to a winning advantage at once, he'll lose. Fortunately for me, with 44. e7 the pawn can only be stopped at the cost of the Rook: 44... Rh8 45. e8=Q Rxe8 46. Nxe8t, and since 47. Nxf6 follows, White wins with no trouble. Black can resist better with 44... Kxd6 45. e8=Q, but the Queen will soon pick off a pawn or two, and White still has his own pawns to use to win (unlike position 2-72 after 1... f4). In the game, Black played 44... Rh3+ 45. Ka4 and then resigned (if 45... Rh47, 46. b4 shelters the King from further nuisance checks, leaving Black the alterna- tives explained above). i. This time White has given up a Knight for two threatening pawns. Was he right? 3-15. Capablanca—Beynon, NY 1913, at White’s 39th move. ANSWER Yes, for White now won quickly: 39. d7 Nxd7 40. Rxd7 Resigns, for Black has no way to stop 41. Rd8¢ and 42. c8=Q. Also, there was no hope for Black after 39. d7 Kxe7 40. d8=Q7 Keb 41. c8=Q. 71The Genesis of Power Chess HL Here, for a change, it is Black to move. 3-16. Spassky—Fischer, World Ch. Match, game 13, 1972, at Black’s 60th move. # How should Black proceed here? 3-17. Leonhardt—Capablanca, San Sebastian, 1911, at Black’s 51st move. ANSWER —___ ANSWER Black has a bunch of passed pawns, but White has one, and is threatening to play 61. Bf8 and 62. 8=Q. Black must give this threat priority over pushing his own pawns (eg, 60... h2 61. Bf hl=Q 62. Rxhi al=Q 63. Rxal Rxal 64. 8=Q leaves White with one live Queen while Black’s two are dead and gone). Accordingly, Fischer played 60... Rg8 (the only way, even though the Rook gets entombed). The game continued 61. Bf8 h2, with Fischer in effect fighting with five pawns against a Rook. (Eventu- ally Fischer won, though Spassky missed a drawing line.) Learned your lesson? Black isn’t ready to cash in his two beautiful pawns quite yet, while White is threatening 52. Ba7. Thus Capablanca played 51... Bb8. Wrong are 51... 92 52. Ba7 and 51... {2+ 52. Bxf2 gxf2t 53. Kxf2 (which eliminates the pawns Black needs to win). After some maneuvering ... 72Cashing In at the End—3 & ... this position was reached. Fin- ish it off for Black. 3-18. Leonhardt—Capablanca, San Sebastian, 1911, at Black’s 59th move. ANSWER Black is momentarily stymied, so Capablanca played a waiting move to force White to move: 59... Bc7. Even though this allows 60. Ba7, Capablanca had calculated it out: 60... Kh2 61. b8=Q g2t! White resigned here, trusting Capablanca to carry through with the forced variation 62. Kel Bxb8 63. Bxb8? KhI 64. Ba7 gl1=Qt 65. Bxgl Kxgl, and Black queens his last pawn. In this position, White has an extra pawn but some problems—can you solve them? 3-19. Capablanca— Dus-Chotimirski, St. Petersburg, 1913, at White's 35th move. ANSWER White's real advantage lies in his advanced e-pawn, but it must be pushed immediately, as Capablanca did. (“Passed pawns must be pushed!”—an old adage that often applies.) After 35. e7 the pawn threatens to queen supported by the Bishop, and Black loses material: 35... Kf7 36. Rel (no need to give up the pawn yet) Re8 37. Bxe8t Kxe8 38. Re6 and White won easily. On the other hand, the immediate 35. Rel allows 35... d3 36. e7 d2 and Black is winning. 73The Genesis of Power Chess B Here, for a change of pace, is a little teaser. 3-20. End of a study by Saavedra. White to move. # Now consider this position. Is there a way for White to win? ... quickly? 21. White to move. 3-20 Te econ 3-21 Ww ANSWER ANSWER Don’t forget the lessons of the previous chapter. To win here you must avoid stalemate by under- promoting, then use a double threat. The obvious 1. c8=Q only draws to 1... Re47! 2. Qxe4 stalemate. And 1. Kc3 is answered by 1... Rdl, when in view of 2. c8=Q? Rcl+ White has nothing better than 2. Kc2 Rd4, returning to the original position and another chance to find the right move. The winning move is 1. c8=R; normally Rook against Rook is of course drawn, but in this position Black can’t get untangled. Black’s only defense to the threat of mate (on a8) is 1... White plays 2. threat of 3. Kxa4 and 3. Rel#. 4 White’s Rook is well-posted, protecting both his pawns. Black’s Rook, on the other hand, is blocking White's advanced pawn, but has much less scope. Black's King and pawn, moreover, cannot move at all. For White these facts mean stalemate danger, but also opportunity. By playing 1. Kh3, White compels the Rook to move. Naturally Black wants to keep the pawn blocked, and so replies 1... Ra8; but when White continues 2. a7, the Rook is squeezed out. After 2... Re8 3. aB=Q Rxa8 4. Rxa8, White wins easily with his extra Rook. As for the stalemate danger, whenever Black captures the a-pawn or its descendant, the new Queen, White’s Rook in recapturing releases the stalemate by permitting ...Kxg5. There isa more clever try after |. Kh3, namely 1... Rc7 2. a7 Re5, which is worth further examination ... (PS. The alternate first move I. kf4 is OK, though not as quick, and is worth a separate look too—stay tuned.)Cashing In at the End—3 B . in this resulting position. Black is trying to sneak a draw—how should White react? 3-22. White's 3rd move. ANSWER Black’s hope is either 3. Rxc5? stalemate or 3. a8=Q RxaS 4. Qxa5? stalemate. Furthermore, he may envi- sion that if White doesn’t fall for the second stalemate, he can capture White’s g-pawn and set up a drawing fortress with his Rook and pawn against the Queen. But if White is awake he can win in either of two ways, one thematic and the other tactical. The thematic win is simply to retreat the Rook and leave Black dangling. Most conve- nient is 3. Ra3 (it stops annoying checks); now there is no possibility of stalemate, and White threatens to queen the pawn. On the last-ditch stalemate try 3... Ra5, White responds simply 4. a8=Q (naturally not 4. Rxa5? stalemate). The tactical win arises after 3. a8=Q Rxa5. With the Rook “immune” to capture for the moment, White must strike quickly before Black can set up his fortress. A short combination does the job: 4. Qh8t Kxg5 5. Qd8t and White safely captures the Rook. & You may recall that in reference to the original position (3-21) I mentioned that 1. Kf4 was plausible. If Black then moves his King, 1... Kh4, we get the position below. Now squeezing the Rook doesn’t work, so White must pursue another plan, and that’s up to you. 3-23. White's 2nd move. ANSWER White should cross over to the 6th rank with his King, but the immediate 2. Ke5 allows 2... Kxg5 and Black draws with little difficulty. Even if White then moves his King over to b6/b7, Black can be pushing his pawn so that when he must give up his Rook for White’s pawn, his own pawn will soon require White to give up his Rook in turn. To win, White should first force Black’s King away from attacking the pawn, which can be done by 2. Ral threatening 3. RhI#. Black has two lines of defense, but neither stops White. One is 2... Kh3, which allows 3. Ke5 Ke4 4. Kf6, whereupon Black’s g-pawn is dead meat. The other is 2... R{7t 3. Ke5, but then 3... Ra7 4. Kf6 is essentially the same as the first defense, while 3... Kxg5 4. a7 requires Black to give up his Rook right away, at a point when White's 15The Genesis of Power Chess King is still close to Black’s pawn, allowing White to stop it easily. 76 & In this position it is the King blocking Black’s passed pawn, with help from the Rook. How does Black break this blockade? 3-24. Fedorowicz—Ault, World Open, 1974, at Black’s 48th move. ANSWER With 48... Kd3, White is squeezed. His King cannot move, and the Rook must guard the first rank and so has no safe moves. That leaves only the pawns. White tried 49.3 g5 50. h4 g4 and resigned. In this case Black didn’t have to worry about running out of pawn moves first, which would happen after 51. hS, because he can lose a move at will by 51... Re3 52. Rb] Ra3. At this point, which White preferred not to face, the zugzwang is complete—any move White makes loses.Cashing In at the End—3 REVIEW: Here is a set of review positions for you to solve. White to move in (b), Black to move in all others. GUD saat 3-25a| FY Ba le ANSWERS (a) Euwe—Lilienthal, Stockholm Olympiad, 1937. White, the reigning World Champion, had just blundered by 7/. Bf7-Bd5. Black seized his opportunity with 71... £2, and Euwe resigned; the pawn queens, though some finesse is still needed: 72. Kxc5 fl=Q 73. Bxb7 Qf2t 74. Kd6 Qxa7 75. Bet Qd4f, etc. If Euwe doesn’t “blunder” then 71. Kxc5 (the Bishop at f7 is immune) f2 72. Be4 Kxh7 drawn. (b) Timman—Ribli, O.H.R.A., 1986. A typical sacrifice to clear the pawn’s way: 36. Rxa6 and Black resigned (36... Rxa6 37. c7, and the Rook can’t stop it). (c) lvkov—Kortchnoi, Yugoslavia-U.S.S.R. Match, 1966. Black simply covered the queening square by 39... Rd1, and after 40. Rb7+ Kg8 White gave up, for the checks soon run out. (d) Campomanes—Cassidy, Havana Olympiad, 1966. White's ambitions were squelched by 59... Bd4, and a draw was agreed (if 60. f6, 60... Bxj6 61. Kxf6 Kd5, etc). 77The Genesis of Power Chess EXTRA PRACTICE: Often, cashing in your passed pawn becomes a matter of striking the right blow to collapse your opponent’s defense. Here are four positions for your practice. Black to move in (c), White to move in all others. 3-26a | WIZ, aa X a w Bal ame 4 wa 3-26d Uj mee ea DWIOUGAPY ANSWERS (a) Smyslov—Konstaninopolsky, Moscow, 1939. White won at once by 56. Rb7+ Kc8 57. Ra7 Resigns. Mate is threatened, and on 57... Kb8 White gets a new Queen after 58. c7# Kc8 59. Ra8i Kd7 60. Rxe8. White needn't bother to take the f-pawn, but 57. R{7 still leaves Black helpless. (b) Dzindzichasvili—Beliavsky, Thessaloniki Olympiad, 1984. Black resigned on 93. Kh6, for he can’t stop both pawns. If 93... Ke8 94. Kg7 Bd5, White simply pushes and gives up one pawn, then pushes and queens the other. The slovenly alternative 93. Kxg4 does win, but in time and with effort. (c) Prokhorovich—Kortchnoi, U.S.S.R., 1953. Black induced resignation with 35... BES. Since the Knight is pinned (36. Nxf5? Rxgl#), White has no counter to the intended 36... Rxg/f followed by 37... bI=Qt- (d) Shamkovich—McCarthy, NY 1985. White has no time for !. Kd6 Kxh5 2. Ke7 5 and both pawns queen, so he blasted the way open with 1. ¢6! bxc6 2. b4 axb4 3. Kd4 Resigns. Now White queens his a-pawn in four more moves, while Black requires six to queen his g-pawn, and that’s too slow. 78Cashing In at the End—3 MORE EXTRA PRACTICE: Here are four more positions if you want them. Black to move in (a) and (c), White to move in the others. 3-27a Re 7, ae a ROTZDTZ : YY eo Le) Y Yi oy a, w ANSWERS (a) Fischer—Tal, Candidates’ Trn., 1959. White resigned after 51... b2, since 52. Kxc3 bl=Q7 wins by the discovered check, while 52. Ka5 Re! collects the Rook for the passed pawn. (b) Botvinnik—Schmid, Leipzig Olympiad, 1960. Don’t get fixated on the passed pawn—here White must deal with mating possibilities on the back rank and at gl: 29. RbB?? Rel#, or 29. ¢3?? Qh3 ot 29. d5?? Qud 30. 23 Qh3 with mate next at g2 in either case. So Botvinnik played 29. gxf3 Qh3 30. Qc6, and Black resigned. A good continuation could be 30... Rc8 31.. Rb8 followed by 32. Qb7. (c) Christiansen—Shirazi, U.S. Open, 1981. Black should first attend to White’s pawn, which otherwise could become dangerous; so he played 72... Ke5. Since 73. BbI Rd6 bags the pawn and White’s last hope, White resigned. (d) Petursson—Bellon, Hastings, 1985-86. It’s another Bishop and wrong edge-pawn if White plays the straightforward 57. f6? Bxf6. Instead, White played 57. Be5 Bf6 58, Bxb4 and won shortly by bringing his King over to help the f-pawn, 79The Genesis of Power Chess & Here White’s passed, and only, pawn is not so far advanced; but consider what is stopping it. 3-28. Dzindzichasvili—Strenzwijk, Baltimore, 1984, White to move. L,, Jl, Mls wy "y ____ ANSWER With Black’s King so far behind, the Rook is at present the only effective hindrance for White’s pawn. By 1. Rg5 White forces the exchange of Rooks and wins in a walk (1... Kh2 2. Rxg3 Kxg3 3. h5, etc.). Exchanging the Rooks can be seen to win directly here, but also conforms to the general principle of exchanging pieces (but not pawns) when ahead. Zz 80 With the previous example in mind, solve this one. 3-29. White to move. Zi YU, D —____ ANSWER ____ White wins at once by 1. Qf6t Qxf6 2. exf6+ Kxf6 3. d7, and only by giving up the Rook can the pawn be stopped. To reach this winning position, you have only to realize that you can remove the blockader of the passed pawn (Black’s Queen) by forcing the exchange of Queens at the trivial cost of a pawn.Cashing In at the End—3 & Now then, what should Black do in this position? 3-30. Tan—Ault, NJ 1974, at Black’s 44th move. # How should White finish it off here? 3-31. Ault—Shure, World Open, 1974, at White’s 39th move. 3-30 ANSWER Black is comfortably ahead in material, but the white Queen can cause a lot of aggravation. The simple remedy is 44... Qb3+ 45. Qxb3 Bxb3. White resigned here, for Black wins easily without Queens on the board. ANSWER Again, the superior side, White in this case, can win eventually with almost any move; but the way to in- duce immediate resignation is to trade everything off: 39. Re3 Rb7 (if 39... Ke8, then 40. Rc3tKd8 41. Rcd3 brings us back to the main line) 40. Red3 Ke7, and now 41. Rxd7+ Rxd?7 42. Rxd7+ Kxd7 and Black resigned. 81The Genesis of Power Chess Now find Black’s winning move here. 3-32. Braga—Geller, O.H.R.A. II, 1986, at Black’s 40th move. ve 7, Y 20 ZZ Y Y ANSWER Geller didn’t mess around with 40... Rg2# 41. Khl Rxf2t (winning a second pawn but leaving a lot of work still ahead), but instead forced immediate simplification by 40... Rh4. After 41. Rxh4 gxh4 42. £4 a5, White realized the futility of trying to stop the distant passed pawns and resigned. & The position below is what Reshevsky had in mind in his game against Pilnik (position 2-64), to which I promised to return. Instead of playing 1. Qf5-Qf2 and drawing because of the stalemate, suppose instead White had simply grabbed off Black’s pawn on g4. Now what? 3-33. Black to move. ANSWER Black liquidates the Queens with 1... Qel? 2. Kg2 Qg3+ 3. Qxg3 hxg3 4. Kxg3. Black could spare the pawn it cost to trade Queens, for he still has two-to-one left. Let’s consider that too ... 82Cashing In & ... in the position below (after 4. Kxg3). What should Black do now? 3-34. Black’s 4th move. ANSWER If you keep on liquidating with 4... b6 5. axb6t Kxb6, the game is only drawn. White's King can get close enough to prevent the pawn from queening—it gets at least to cl, blocked by the black King at a2, which is sufficient to draw (refer back to position 2-28). Instead, Black wins by stepping around with his King and nabbing White's pawn before White’s King can get over to help: 4... Kb8 5. Kf4 Ke7 6. Ke4 Ke6 7. Kd4 Kb5, etc. As exemplified in this and the previous position, trading pieces when ahead is usually a good idea, but not trading pawns. at the End—3 Here White has a slight material advantage plus a threatening passed pawn. How can he cash in these as- sets for an easy win? 3-35. Capablanca—Corzo, Match, game 11, 1901, at White’s 4lst move. ANSWER Well, let’s try “passed pawns must be pushed” and play 41. d7. Black responds 41... Rd8 and threatens the pawn, which seems lost. Was the pawn push foolish? No, for we are following Capa- blanca, who now played 42. Ng8¥. Black might as well take the Knight, for if 42... Kg6, 43. Nf6 protects the pawn and 44. Bc7 follows. But after 42... Rxg8, White continued 43. Bc7 Kg6 44. d8=Q Rxd8 45. Bxd8. In a material sense White gains very little: he gets a Rook for a Knight and pawn, and when you consider that it was a strong passed pawn, the trans- action by itself seems questionable. However, the broader picture is that White has reduced the position to an. easily won ending where he has a Bishop and two pawns against three pawns. In a few moves position 2-52 was reached, and shortly thereafter positions 3-2 and 3-3. 83The Genesis & Now what should Black do here? 3-36. Seirawan—Beliavsky, Rest of World-U.S.S.R. Match, 1984, at Black’s 64th move. of Power Chess ee ee 3-37. Adelman—Feuerstein, Bergen Futurity, 1985, at White’s 57th move. ANSWER The same principle applies: Black forces the trade of Rooks by 64... Nd3t. After 65. Kf5 Rxe4 66. Kxe4 Nel, White has only his King and an extra pawn to resist Black’s Knight and King. While it still takes a while, for any reasonably competent player the win is sure and fairly simple. ANSWER Again liquidation is the key, though here you must realize that after 57. Rg7t Kc6 58. Rxb7 Kxb7 59. Kg3 Black’s King is too far away to save his g-pawn (and once that disappears, White's h-pawn starts running). It also helps to realize that after the thoughtlessly greedy 57. Rxg5 Ke6 White has at best a long, hard struggle to convert his extra pawn into a win, and in fact he can’t, with best play. In the actual game, Black resigned after 57. Rg7t- 84Cashing In at the End—3 & In this position, it would seem that White is winning easily; but think carefully. 3-38. Benko—Averbakh, Portoroz Interzonal, 1958, at White's 78th move. aa ee ANSWER Again, trading down is the answer} as long as a winning position is reached, it is fine to get the short end of an exchange—here a pawn for a Knight. After 78. Nxf7! (Black resigned at this point) Kxf7 79. Kd7 the remaining pawn is escorted smoothly to promotion. Indeed White's liquidation is needed to win, for otherwise Black can force his own, liquidation and draw: 78. No4 f6 ot 78. Ne4 Ke6. (If the above is not completely clear to you, it may help to realize that White must have his pawn, but not necessarily his Knight, to win the game.) & This time decide what to do for the inferior side. 3-39. Kasparov—Karpov, World Ch. Match, game 40, 1984- 85, at Black's 59th move. 3-39 i . Fi gp 5 a ee Uy, ANSWER If trading down is good for the superior side, it must be bad for the inferior side. Here it should be apparent that if Black allows the exchange of Knights, he will soon lose (59... Nxd4? 60. Kxd4 Ke6 61. Ke5 Ke7 62. Kd5, etc.). So the right move is 59... Ng7, removing the Knight from the possible trade and also protecting the pawn. Karpov made it, and the game was eventually drawn. 85The Genesis of Power Chess # Do the same considerations apply 4 Suppose that after 1... Ke7 in the here? In deciding on your move for Black, please evaluate 1... Bxb5, 1.. Bb7, 1... Kc7, and 1... Bd7. 3-40. Lombardy—Gliksman, NY 1985, Black to move. previous position White makes a reckless attempt to win by 2. e6 Kd6 3. e7, bringing us to this position. What should Black do? 3-41. Black’s 3rd move. Ui, G Y ANSWER White has an extra pawn, but the position is sealed up; so there is no way for his King to penetrate and secure the victory. As a result, there aren’t many ways for Black to lose, but one way is |... Bxb5? When White recaptures, 2. axb5, he has two passed pawns, separated and far enough advanced that Black’s King cannot deal with both of them (2... Kc7 3. e6 Kd6 4. b6 Kxe6 5. b7 and queens). In the game Black played 1... Bb7, and after 2. Ke2 Ke7 White conceded the draw. Black followed the principle for the inferior side of keeping pieces on the board, which is fine here, even though not necessary to draw. In fact Black can allow the exchange of Bishops, as long as he doesn’t disturb the pawn position; either 1... Ke7 2. Bxc6 Kxc6 or 1... Bd7 2. Bxd7 Kxd7 leaves White unable to win (for, as mentioned above, his King can never penetrate into Black’s position, and Black has only to keep an eye on the e-pawn). ANSWER Now Black turns the tables with 3... Bxb5 4. axb5 Kxe7. Black's King, having picked off the e-pawn, is still in the “square” to get the b- pawn, too. Then ... 86Cashing In at the End—3 3... Black brings his King to b5 and pushes his a-pawn, producing a position such as the one below. What should he do next? 3-42. Black to move. ANSWER Don't play 1... a37, which gives Black a beautifully protected passed pawn he can admire from a distance, as the pawn barricade keeps out the black King just as it kept out White’s King when he was hoping to win in the previous diagram. Instead, Black must open a path for his King by 1... axb3. After 2. Kxb3 Ka5 3. Kb2 Ka4 Black works his way forward, and after 4. Ka2 b34 5. Kb2 Kb4 6. Kb1 Ke3 Black gets the d-pawn and the win is easy. Note that this time, contrary to the general principle, the win requires trading off a pair of pawns. B Time for a new position. Here Black is a Rook up but his King is a fugitive, and there are various threats. What should he do? 3-43. Bouaziz—DeFirmian, Gammarth Interzonal, 1985, at Black's 31st move. ANSWER Black played 31... Rf8 and White resigned. After 32. Bxf8 Qxf8 33. Qxf8 Nxf8 the game is reduced to a simple endgame that Black would win easily with his extra Knight. Naturally, Black is quite happy to trade his Queen and Rook for White’s Queen and Bishop to achieve this result. 87The Genesis of Power Chess & Here White is on the move with an extra piece. How should he proceed? 3-44, Dzindzichashvili—Timman, Tilburg, 1985, at White’s 49th move. ow la ANSWER Trade down? Wait a minute! If 49. Nxb6?, there is only the a-pawn with the “wrong” Bishop left for White. White must keep his Knight to win, so he played 49. Kd3. The game continued 49... Kb4 50. Ba3¢ Ka4 51. Bd6 and White is making progress. For the last phases of this game, look back to positions 2-68c/d. In this position Black is only slightly ahead in material, but he does have an advanced passed pawn. What can you make of it? 3-45. Goldenov—Kortchnoi, USSR.Ch., 1952, at Black’s 45th move. ANSWER The key is in controlling the pawn’s file. The immediate 45... d2 is stopped by 46. Rd6, but by first placing his Rook behind the passed pawn with 45... Rd8 Kortchnoi induced his opponent to resign. Now of course 46. Rd6 is met by 46... Rxd6 47. cxd6 d2, etc., while 46. Bf4 runs into 46... Rxf4f (better than the prosaic 46... d2 47. Bxd2 Rxd2) 47. Kxf4 d2 and queens. The only way to stop the pawn is (45... Rd8) 46. Rb6 d2 47. RbI di=Q 48. Rxdl Rxd1, but that is really hopeless. 88Cashing In at the End—3 &% Material is even below, but White’s pawns look much better, don’t they? Can you show why? 3-46. Symslov—Lilienthal, Moscow Ch., 1938, at White's 52nd move. 3-46 Y ANSWER This time the correct process is to push the d-pawn and get the Rook behind it: 52. d7 Ra8 (note that if 52... Rd4, 53. Rd6 ends any resis- tance) 53. Rd6 Rd8. At this point Black has stopped the passed pawn, but in doing so he has had to immobilize his Rook. However, White must be sure he can support his advanced forces before they become vulnerable. Smyslov continued 54. £4 Kf8 55. £5 Ke7 56. £67, forcing back Black’s King and putting him into near paralysis, whereupon Black resigned. F How do you make progress for White here? (Any similarity between this and the previous position is not coincidental.) 3-47. Smyslov—Lilienthal, Moscow Ch., 1938, at White's 46th move. ANSWER Both general principles and perhaps a sharp memory can help you here: the correct move is 46. Q£4 in order to force an exchange of Queens. (If Black declines, by 46. Qd8, we have position 3-29, where White wins quickly.) After 46... Qxf4 47. Rxf4, White has a fairly easy time, with the finish shown in the previous position. The wrong move, though, is 46. 47, which would be good in principle but fails here because of Black’s counterattack with 46..... Ral. With 47... Qgl# threatened, White has no salvation in either 47. Qe? Qxe57 48. Qg3 Qxd4 or 47. h4 Qel t 48. Kh3 Ra3t 49. f3 Ra2, etc. Thus, forcing the exchange of Queens makes it much easier for White to exploit his advantage without hindrance. 89The Genesis of Power Chess & Then what do you do for White to move here? 3-48. Botvinnik—Lilienthal, Moscow, 1936, at White's 33rd move. & For emphasis, let’s go back over applications of this principle of trading pieces when ahead in the next few positions. 3-49. White to move. 3-48 | Ww ANSWER The principles of trading off when ahead (White's menacing a- pawn is a considerable advantage, even though material is even) or to clear the way for your passed pawn apply here. Botvinnik played 33. Re8t Rxc8 34. Nxc8, and now the a-pawn threatens to queen. Black continued 34... Ne8 35. a6 Nc7 36. a7 Na8 (the threat was 37. Nb6) 37. Nxd6 and White won easily. Thus the move that is good on general principles (33. Rc8f) turns out to be the start of a five-move forced variation resulting in the gain of a pawn. We can expect a good player with time for thought to work this through, but we can also expect any experienced player (and this book aims to make you such) to find the starting move quickly on general principles (it must be good to elimi- nate the Rooks in such a position). 90 ANSWER The Queens on the board would make all sorts of difficulties, but White wins in a walk by forcing their exchange with either 1. Qd4f or I. Qb3t. (This position is analysis from. eee ee U.S.S.R. Correspondence Match, 1984-85, where Black resigned before reaching this position.)Cashing In at the End—3 & Can Black (to move) cash in on his slight material advantage here? 3-50. Cirino—Shvartsman, U.S. Amateur, 1985, at Black's & Here, a similar opportunity is presented to White; should he take i? 3-51. Yuchtman—Ault, NY Open 53rd move. 1974, at White's 47th move. 350] 77, 3.51 i, Vad BY Way 7) St 727, ANSWER This is a typical position where the Rook must be given up at the right moment for a Bishop and pawn in order to win. Here, after 53... Rxg3 54. Bxg3 Kxg3 Black gets a second pawn right away, and—most important—wins the ending with his remaining pawn. White tried 55. h5 gxh5 56. Kd2 Kg2 before resigning. Also futile is 54. Bf6 Rh3 55. Kd2 Rxh4 56. Bxh4 Kxh4 57. Ke2 Kg3, and Black’s King is still placed so as to escort the pawn to paydirt. Note that these winning lines depend on White's King being far enough away so that Black has time to gobble the last pawn and get his King back to a sufficient escort position. 91 ANSWER He should: 47. Rxe6 Bxe6 48. Kxe6 produces a winning position, as Black can’t hang on to his f-pawn. after 48... Kg6 49. Ke5. I persisted with 49... Kg? 50. Kxf5 Kf7 51. Ke5 Kg6 52. Ke6 before resigning. Most important in the decision to give up a Rook for Bishop and pawn is seeing that White wins a second pawn after that. It may also help to realize that White has reached an optimum deploy- ment of his pieces and can’t really improve his position, so it’s time to take the plunge with the Rook.The Genesis of Power Chess & How should White continue here? 3-52. White to move. ee White wins at once by 1. c8=Qt Rxc8 2. Rxc8 Kxc8 3. Ke6, collect- ing Black's pawns. Naturally White is pleased to give up his passed pawn to reduce the position to such an easy win. (In the first game of the second Kasparov—Karpov World Champi- onship Match, 1985, Karpov resigned at adjournment rather than have this or a similar position arise within a few moves.) Always be on the lookout for opportunities to lig- uidate into winning King endings. 92 Well then, what should White do here? Be careful! 3-53. Capablanca—Janowski, San Sebastian, 1911, at White's 65th move. ee had See Capablanca won with 65. Qh8t Ke4 66. Qc8t. With a little foresight, White ends up a Queen ahead, whereas 65. Qc5t only trades Queens into a hairy ending, and the crude 65. Qxb8 lets Black out through perpetual check (65... Qc2t 66. Kal Qelf, etc.).Cashing In at the End—3 Can you find a good move for White in this position? 3-54, Dzindzichashvili—Timman, Tilburg, 1985, at White’s 45th move. & What would you do for Black here? 3-55. Leonhardt—Capablanca, San Sebastian, 1911, at Black’s 24th move. Yi 3-55 ANSWER With a Knight for two doubled pawns, White is ahead and would like to trade off pieces, especially Black’s active Rook. That opportunity is present, and White forced the exchange with 45. Rg4 Rxg4 46. Nxe4. It may seem surprising that Black’s Rook on an open board can be confined, but you might have noticed to start with that the Rook has nowhere to move on the 3rd rank. With the Rooks gone, White domi- nates the board; later stages of this game are shown in positions 2-68c/d and 3-26b. ANSWER Black can force the trade of Rooks, which should be easy to spot; and he should do so following the principle of trading pieces and reducing to a simpler endgame, even though Black’s advantage is small and the win a long way off. The game went 24... Ral 25. Rxal Bxal, and Capablanca won in another 36 moves. (Later positions from this game are shown in positions 3-18 and 3-19.) 93The Genesis & And how should White, two pawns up, wind up this position? 3-56. Ault—Kappler, NJ 1974, at White's 34th move. of Power Chess & Bring home the win for White here 3-57. Kavalek—Portisch, Thessaloniki Olympiad, 1984, at White’s 53rd move. ANSWER The immediate liquidation by 34. Qb7t results in the crippling of White’s pawns after 34... Qxb7 35. axb7 Nd7 (meeting the threat of 36. Bb4). White now would have a lot of work to do to win, and that is too high a cost unless Black has real threats for counterplay. Accordingly, White should look to exploiting his threatening forces while taking care that any counterattack can be controlled. That leads to the correct move, 34. Ba5, which both threatens and covers Black’s only immediate counterattack: if 34... Bxf4 35. exf4 Qxf4 White now has 36. Qe7?, trading Queens. In the game Black tried the slower 34... 95, but had to resign after 35. Bb6 gxf4 36. a7. ANSWER White uses his passed pawn and the possibility of trading down to finish the game: 53. f6 and Black resigned. If now 53... Rxg4, 54. Re6 compels the trade of Rooks, leaving nothing to stop the f-pawn. Or if 53... Rxa2, 54. {7 Ra8 55. Rf6t wins the Rook for the pawn. The most sophisticated defense is 53... Rh2t 54. Kg6 Rxa2 55. f7 Ra8 56. Kg7 Kxg4, which brings us to the next position ... 94Cashing In at the End—3 FL... Black now hopes, after giving up his Rook for White's pawn, to use his own remaining pawn to the same effect. How can White finish off the game most easily? 3-58. White's 57th move. oY maa 3% How should Black proceed here with his one-pawn advantage? 3-59. Menchik—Capablanca, Hastings, 1931, at Black's 31st move. ANSWER By 57. Re6, White threatens both to screen the pawn with 58. Re8 and to simply capture Black’s pawn with 58. Rxe5. Black has no way to counter both threats; for example, after 57... Ra7 58. Rxe5 Black will soon have to give up his Rook. The best practical chance is 57... Kf5 58. Re8 Ra7 59. Kg8 Rxf7 60. Kxf7, where White must demon- strate a little technique in stopping the pawn (which you can practice playing out, if you're interested). ANSWER In general, Black should be happy to trade off Bishops so as to more easily exploit his extra pawn with only Kings left. Here he can force this exchange by 31... Bg5, but there is another important factor that must be considered, too. White's King is already in the center, well- posted for the endgame, while Black’s King is still tucked away from the action. Trading Bishops at this point would be disastrous, for White’s King turns vicious: 31 Bg5? 32. Bxg5 hxg5 33. Ke3 (uh-oh!) Kf8 34. Kd4 Ke7 35. Kc5 a6, reaching a position worth coming back to. But first, the correct move: Capa- blanca played 31... a6 32. Be3 Kf8 (the reverse order of moves is also Ok), bringing his King to the center to oppose White’s King, and won in another ten moves. Remember, trading pieces when you’re ahead is generally good strategy, but don’t follow this or any other principle blindly. 95The Genesis As just mentioned, this hypo- thetical position is worth a further look. How should White proceed? 3-60. White’s 36th move. ANSWER Clearly White's King is poised to erase the material deficit, but playing 36. Kb6 at once would be a greedy blunder. The reply would be 36... b4! and Black queens a pawn. Seeing this, you can take preventive action first and still go pawn-gobbling with your King. After 36. a3 g4 37. Kb6 Kd7 we reach the following position of Power Chess g ... -61. White's 38th move. for you to play for White. ANSWER Once again a little patience is called for—think before you grab! If 38. Kxa6 Black defends his b-pawn with 38... Kc6, and while White can still win, it will take clever play for many moves (work it through, if you're interested). However, it is much simpler to exhaust Black’s pawn moves right here and force his King back, like so: 38. h3 gxh3 39. gxh3 g5 40. £3 Kd8. Now White's King can pluck all three pawns (41. Kxa6 Ke7 42. Kxb5 Kb7 43. Kxc4), and the win is easy as pie. Note also that if Black tries 40... a5, the correct procedure is 41. Kxb5 first. 96Cashing In at the End—3 REVIEW PRACTICE: Let us pause and conclude this chapter with four sets of review positions. See how easily you can solve them. Black to move in (c), White to move in all others. 3-62a Vy ae) al “@ Z| WI ANSWERS (a) Kasparov—Short, London Speed Match, game 1, 1987. The pawn marches: 61. e7 and Black resigned. (b) Popovic—Bellin, Hastings, 1980-81. Another unstoppable pawn, perhaps a little harder to see because a sacrifice is necessary: 1. b4 and Black resigned. (c) Browne—Alburt, U.S. Ch., 1986. The straightforward 83... hi=Q 84. Bxhl Rxh/ isnot sufficient to win. Instead Black gives up his Rook to protect his new Queen: 83... Rg2 84. Nel h1=Q 85, Nxg2, and after 85... Qalt 86. Kd3 QdIf 87. Ke4 Qd2 Black soon won. (d) Kortchnoi—Tal, Wijk aan Zee, 1968. Just as you want to guard and push through your own passed pawns, you want to block and capture your opponent's. Kortchnoi played 44, Ra7 Rb8 45. h5 Kg8 46. Rxa4 and won the ending. If White messes around, such as by 44. Rd6, then 44... Ra8 and the pawn becomes a menace. 97The Genesis of Power Chess REVIEW PRACTICE: Here are four more—can you use your passed pawns? Black to move in (a) and (b), White to move in the others. 3-63a A, GY &TF 36| Yo YY GW : Patel ‘a a eee Ui, ae ag on nae ‘ws Y Y 3630| JYaY, 77 36s Ww YY ZF Wig owas WIBE@ @ mt BS EO) Le ANSWERS (a) Kasparian—Simagin, Sochi, 1952. Cash in your passed pawn: 1... Bb5 2, Bxg7 f1=Q 3. Rxfl Bxfl 4. Bxh6 Be2, and Black collected the pawns and won. (b) From analysis by Kasparov. The knightmare strikes: 1.4. c2 2. Re5 Nd3 3. Rxc2 Net and wins. (c) Sax—Fedorowicz, NY 1986. White blasted through with 31. Qxe8t Qxe8 32. 47 Qa8 33. Rxc6 Re8 34. Rdcl and Black resigned. (d) Fischer—Euwe, Leipzig Olympiad, 1960. Fischer finished with 34. Re7+ Kd3 35. Rxc3+ Kxe3; and now the key move, which hopefully you saw, 36. BeS!, and Black resigned (the a-pawn queens). 98Cashing In at the End—3 REVIEW PRACTICE: Another four, to queen or not. Black to move in (a) and (d), White to move in the others. 3-64a en Ui, 3-64b a 3-64c 3-64d Se /, U7 '—. ANSWERS (a) Gold—Dlugy, National Open, 1987. Black won by 37... €3 38. KE3 (hopeless, but so is 38. dxe3 Bxc3 with 39... d2 next) e2, and White gave up here (if 39. Kf2, 39... Bh4#). (b) Petrov—Grau, Buenos Aires Olympiad, 1939. Black seems to have everything closed up and covered, but, as often happens in such positions, a temporary sacrifice rips it open: 35. Nxb7 Rxb7 36. Rxb7 and Black resigned, seeing that 36... Qxb7 37. Qa7 has no answer. (c) McKay—Hort, Lucerne Olympiad, 1982. White is comfortably ahead, but the correct way to cash in is 46. Bd4¥. Black resigned here, since the e-pawn must queen whether he takes the Bishop (46... Rxd4 47. Rxd4 Kxd4 48. e7) or not (46... Ke4 47. e7 RcB 48. Rd8). As you should see, the immediate 46. e7 allows 46... Re4, which the correct Bishop sacrifice blocks. (d) Fischer—Tal, Candidates’ Trn., 1959. Black should want to win this position, and needs his b-pawn to do so; Tal played 45... b3 and won in several more moves. In general, as here, avoid trading pawns when ahead. 99The Genesis of Power Chess REVIEW PRACTICE: And finally, finish off with these four. White to move in (d), Black to move in all others. 3-65a 3-65b YW, | COLD neneeee 3-65c 3-65d ANSWERS (a) Short—Kasparov, London Speed Match, game 2, 1987. Black is winning, but White’s doubled Rooks can cause all sorts of trouble. Kasparov played 51... Re4# 52. Ke5 Re4t and White resigned. Not only does a pair of Rooks go off, but White's King will get cut off from the pawns (53. Kd5 Rxe8 54. Rxe8 Rd3t). (b) Unzicker—Botvinnik, Amsterdam Olympiad, 1954. Black has two ways to get a pawn back, and Botvinnik correctly chose 67... Re4+ 68. Kf Rxe5, keeping Rooks on the board and soon drawing. The alternative is suspect on general principles and wrong by specific analysis: 67... Rxf6? 68. exf6 Kxh6 69. Ke2 Kg6 70. Ke3 Kxf6 71. Kf4 Kg6 72. Kxgd and with his King in front of the pawn, White wins. (c) Speelman—Timman, Mendetaxco Interzonal, 1985. Ahead but bothered, Black liquidated with 30... Rel} 31. Kg2 Qe4t 32. Qxe4 Rxe4 33. Bxh6 Re6 and won. (d) Alburt—Speelman, U.SU.K. Match of Champions, game 4, 1986. White can trade Queens at any time, so the urgent business is to support the d-pawn. Alburt played 35. Rd3 Rh8t 36. Kg2 Re2+ 37. Kf3 Rexh2 38. d7 and eventually won. Various move orders will win, but the key idea is for White to get a Rook behind his passed pawn. 100More Fun at the Cashier's Zi As we have seen, the key to winning in the endgame is to queen a pawn. In the last chapter we looked at examples of pushing and supporting a passed pawn, ways of clearing the way for the pawn, and the principle of trading pieces, but not pawns, when ahead. In this chapter we will look further at issues involv- ing getting to queen a pawn, concentrating more on some of the pawn- play techniques involved. # Let us start with a position requiring some clear thought, perhaps aided by what you have learned previously. How should Black proceed? 4-1. Englisch—Steinitz, London, ANSWER Most obvious is the capture 41. Kxh4, but after 42. Kf4 White gets the pawn back and his King is closer to the remaining pawns on the other side of the board, the typical advantage resulting from the “outside 1883, at Black’s 41st move. passed pawn.” With this understanding, you can quickly judge Black is in trouble in this line, and if you go into it further, analysis will show Black in fact loses. So something else is needed. Steinitz, the acknowledged World Champion at the time, played 41... £47! Now if 42. Kf2, 42... Kxh4 43. Kf3 Kg5, and Black holds on to the extra pawn and wins easily; so White tried 42. Ke4 to stay next to the pawn. But that doesn’t stop it, and after 42... £3 43. Ke3 Kg3 White resigned, for Black queens well ahead of White's h-pawn. 101 Using “technique” to win when materially ahead is emphasized in Genesis. Do not assume you know what in reality you neither know nor practice.The Genesis of Power Chess & Now figure out what to do for White in this basic position. White to move. 4-2. ANSWER The correct move, which may or may not be obvious, is 1. g4! Mate- rial is even, but the position is unbal- anced with each player having a two- to-one majority on one side of the board. In general, each player wants to advance his own pawn majority and create a passed pawn. Also each player should hold back his opponent’s majority, if possible. Here White has a golden opportunity, for 1. g4 cripples Black—for a while at least, White’s one pawn holds back Black’s two. Meanwhile White will be able to use his own pawn majority and win the game. It is hopeless for Black to go to the aid of his pawns: 1... Kf6 2. b4 Kg6 3. a4 5 4. gxh5t KxhS 5. b5, etc.—Black is too late. Instead he must hang around in the center with 1... Kd5. Now White must think carefully, for 2. b4? allows 2... Ke4, and 2. Kd3 Ke5 threatens to penetrate at f4 and obliges 3. Ke3 Kd5, repeating the position. But 2. b3! marks time constructively (keeps Black out of c4) and leads to a win, though White must still play accu- rately: 2... Ke5 3. b4 Kd5 4. Kd3!, and the extra tempo gives White a win in the race resulting from 4... Ke5 5. a4 Kf4 6. b5 Kxg4 7. a5, etc. 2. b3 also works against 1... a5. & And here is a practical example, Black to play. 4-3. Friend—Ault, NJ 1973, at Black’s 48th move. Wo ANSWER The usefulness of crippling the opponent's pawns applies here, too, and takes precedence over cashing in the advanced pawn for the Bishop. The correct move is 48... h5, and after 49. c6 b1=Q 50. Bxb1 Bxb1 51. c7 Bf5 Black wins. In real life I must confess I played the hasty 48... bI=Q 49, Bxbl Bxbl, but now 50. g4! allowed White to draw, since Black cannot preserve his last pawn. 102More Fun at the Cashier’s Window—4 & This time it might appear that White has crippled Black’s extra pawn. Is that really so, or can Black do something to win? 4-4. Martinez—Cobo, Havana Olympiad, 1966, at Black’s 47th move. ANSWER In fact the pawn is not really stopped; Black played 47... £4! and White resigned. Either way White captures allows Black to quickly queen his e-pawn: 48. Bxf4 Bxf4 49. exf4 Kd2 50. (5 e3t or 48. exf4 e3t 49. Kel Bb4#. If White declines to capture, say by 48. Bh6, Black can win as he chooses by either 48... f3 49. BgS Bg3t 50. Kfl (keeping the pawn blocked, while if 50. Kxg3, 50... Ke2 and the f-pawn queens) Kd2 and something must give, or 48... fxe3t 49. Bxe3 Bg3t 50. Kxe3 Kxe3. & Obviously here White wants to tere ee tion is, how? White to move. 45. ANSWER Neither direct push of a pawn works: 1. e7f allows Black to liquidate to a draw by 1... Bxe7 2. fxe7t Kxe7, while 1. {7 allows Black to set up an unbreakable blockade, most simply by I... Ke7 followed at some point by ...Kf8 (essential when White threatens to bring his King to g7 or g8), after which Black can move his Bishop ad infinitum as long as it controls e7. The winning process, quite simple once you realize the pawn pushes don’t work yet, is to bring up the King: 1. Kg6 followed by 2. Kf7 and 3. e7t. 103The Genesis of Power Chess Here it’s two connected passed pawns against a Rook. What should White do? 4-6. White to move. ANSWER Here White must push right away, and the one to push is clearly the b-pawn: 1. b6. Now either pawn threatens to advance, and if I... Rh6 White gives up one to queen the other: 2. a7 Rxb6 3. a8=Q or 2. b7 Rxa6 3. b8=Q and White can play on to win with Queen against Rook. Al- ternatively, Black can try to get his King on the scene to help, but it is just too late: 1. b6 Kd6 2. a7! (but not 2. b7? Ke7 and Black wins) Rh8 3. b7 Ke7 4. a8=Q and wins (but not 4. b8=Qt? Rxb8 5. axb8=Qt Kxb8 draw). As shown here, two connected passed pawns on the 6th rank win against a Rook, in the absence of Kings. Since the pawns can do it on their own, White doesn’t need to bring over his King to help by 1. Ke4? In fact, that would be fatal, for it lets Black’s King get close enough too, and the game turns in Black's favor: 1... Kd6 2. b6 Ke6 3. b7 Rh8 4. a7 Kxb7. & Material is even below, but White has two advanced pawns. Can he make use of them? Benko—Gruenfeld, NY Open, 1986, at White’s 33rd move. 47. ANSWER Yes he can, in two ways. Benko played 33. Rxa7 Rxa7 34. b6, and Black resigned. As you have seen, the Rook alone can’t deal with the two advanced pawns, though note that after 34... Ral White must play 35. b7 Rbl 36. c7 to win, while 35. c7? Kd7 loses. Alternatively, White could win by 33. b6, for after 33... axb6 34. Ra8t Ke7 35. ¢7 (35. Ra7t Ke6 36. Rxf7 also wins) Rf8 36. Rxf8 Kxf8 37. c8=Qt. 104More Fun at the Cashier's Window—4 Here are two variations of the previous position. In each, decide whether one (which?) or both or neither of the methods works to win for White to move. & White's advantage here lies with his passed pawn. What should he do with it? 4-9. Capablanca—Villega, Buenos Aires, 1914, at White's 30th move. ANSWER In (a) only the Rook sacrifice works: 1, Rxa7 Rxa7 2. b6, etc., as before. With the Rook on e7 instead, 1. b6? axb6 2. Ra8t Kf7 leaves White looking foolish and having to fight for the draw. It’s vice versa in (b), where the winning line is 1. b6 axb6 2. Ra8t, etc. With the King on gl instead, the Rook sacrifice fails because Black gains a vital tempo by checking: 1. Rxa7? Rxa7 2. b6 Ralf 3. Kg2 Kd8 and Black’s King holds the pawns. ANSWER Push it! While after 30. 6 the pawn is not going any further in the near future, the closer it is to queening, the more of a threat it is. By contrast, most other moves allow Black to play 30... Qc6 and blockade the pawn one square further back. The importance of this difference can be seen in the game continuation: 30... Kg7 31. a4 Rd6 32. Qe5t £6, bringing us to ... 105The Genesis of Power Chess #_... this position. What now for White? 4-10. Capablanca—Villega, Buenos Aires, 1914, at White’s 33rd move. a a ANSWER Capablanca continued 33. Qxd6 Qxd6 34. c7 and Black resigned, for he can’t stop the pawn except by giving up his Queen for it and leaving White a Rook ahead. (Now you see why Capablanca played 30. c6.) In this position White has the possibility of a similar combination that could end the game quickly. Can you see it? How about it? 4-11. Tal—Kortchnoi, U.S.S.R. Ch., 1958, at White's 33rd move. oo © ANSWER Tal, probably under time pres- sure, saw “it” and played 33. h6#? Rxh6 34. Qxh6t? Kxh6 35. g7, but resigned when Kortchnoi played 35... Qxg3t (obviously after 36. fxg3 Kxg7 it is hopeless). Correct was 33. Qf3 Qd5 34. Qf4, which will quickly produce a draw by repetition since Black cannot let White’s Queen penetrate to the 7th rank, while White cannot afford to lose his h-pawn. A point of unusual interest here is 33... Qb5. For example, 34. Qf4 5 35. h6+ Rxh6 36. Qxh6t Kxh6 37. @7 Qbit 38. Kh2! Qxc2! If White goes 39. g8=Nf he’s probably lost. On the other hand 41. g8=Q obliges Black to take a perpetual. Also, 33... QbS5 34. a4 pretty much forces 34... Qd5 etc. 106More Fun at the Cashier’s Window—4 & In this next position pawns are even, and White's only advantage seems to be his more advanced passed pawn. What can you find to give White a decisive advantage? 4-12. White to move. 4-12 Wi, ia ZZ we ANSWER With 1. b4! White forces two connected passed pawns on the 5th rank, by either 1... bxc4 2. bxc5 or 1... exb4 2. c5 (in the latter case at the cost of a pawn, which here is trivial). Black is then helpless to stop the “pawn roller”—e.g., 1... exb4 2. 5 Rh4 3. d6 Rd4, and now ... & ... in the resulting position, how can White win? 4-13. White's 4th move. ANSWER White has two ways to win. One is to make use of a checking possibility to queen one of his pawns: 4. Re8t (this check can be made now or on either of the next two moves) Kg7 5. c6 Rxd6 6. c7 Re6 7. c8=Q Rxc8 8. Rxc8 and White wins easily enough with his extra Rook, though some care is required. The other method involves putting White’s Rook behind one of his passed pawns: 4. Rel (or 4. Re2 with similar intent) Kg7 5. Rcl and Black can't stop the c-pawn, not even by giving up his Rook for it (5... Kf8 6. c6! Rxd6 7. c7, etc.). 107The Genesis of Power Chess & How should White proceed in this position? 4-14. Chiburdanidze— Akmilovskaya, Women’s World Ch. Match, game 5, 1986, at White’s 36th move. ANSWER The pedestrian 36. gxh5? leaves White stymied after 36... h6, but White, the Women’s World Cham- pion at the time, played 36. g5! This leaves Black’s h-pawns as sitting ducks to White’s King, and Black resigned after 36... Kd8 37. Kh4. A simple continuation is 37... Ke7 38. Kxh5 Kf8 39. Kh6 Kg8 40. Bxh7t Kh8 41. g6 Bxd5 42. g7#. 1 Here Black's pawns are menacing, but White seems to have enough forces to hold them back. In fact, Black can force a decisive advantage. How? 4-15. Marshall—Capablanca, Match, game 23, 1909, at Black’s 31st move. tara 7 YZ YD pgpeanes ANSWER Capablanca played 31... b3 32. Rd2 (if 32. Re3, 32... Rxb2 33. Bxc4 Re2 wins) Rel 33. Bd1 (necessary to stop 33... Re2) and now, with White's pieces disorganized ...More Fun at the Cashier's Window—4 & ... just in case you didn’t see this far, what next? 4-16. Marshall—Capablanca, Match, game 23, 1909, at Black’s 33rd move. Yy ya ANSWER Capablanca bagged a piece with 33... €3 34. bxc3 b2 35. Rxb2 Rxd1. Even so, Marshall with two pawns for his lost Bishop wasn’t ready to resign, and put his Rook behind his passed pawn with 36. Rc2, giving us ... B. ... this position. True, Black has enough of an advantage that he can afford some sloppy play and still win; but it’s so much easier to bear down now instead of relaxing, and finish off the game. That's what Capa- blanca did; how about you? 4-17. Marshall—Capablanca, Match, game 23, 1909, at Black's 36th move. ANSWER The passed pawn will be an an- noyance, and it can be blocked by 36... Bc4; but this leaves Black’s pieces rather unageressive. There is a much better move, which Capa- blanca played: 36... Bf5! First of all, this drives away White’s Rook and allows Black to attack the c-pawn from behind with his own Rook: 37. Rb2 Rel. When White defended with 38. Rb3, Capablanca continued 38... Be4t 39. Kh3 (the alternative 39. f3 R27 loses a pawn at once) Re2. At this point White’s Rook is “off in left field,” while Black’s Rook and Bishop create serious threats to White’s King. In the game, Black soon won. 109The Genesis of Power Chess & Turning to a new position, we again find some menacing pawns. But this time consider for the other player—what should Black do about them? 4-18. Henley—Ault, World Open, 1976, at Black's 43rd move. ANSWER In order to stop the pawns Black must blockade them, which must be done with one pawn ahead of the other, not when they are next to each other. Because of White's light- squared Bishop, a successful blockade must be on the dark squares with the pawns on the light squares. But White will not willingly allow this; instead he will seek to advance first on the dark squares, using his Bishop to remove any blockade on the light squares—e.g., 43... Bxa3 44. f6 Re6 45. BfS Re8 46. e6 is hopeless for Black. So Black must take forcing action, specifically by attacking the e-pawn at once to force it forward to a light square. This can be done by 43... Bd4 or 43... Bd6. I played the latter, relying on the tactical pin (44. exd6? Rxe2t), and after 44. e6 Kg7 the pawns were blockaded and the a- pawn was still under attack. The blockade, along with the opposite- colored Bishops, pretty much nulli- fies White’s material advantage, and the game was agreed drawn in another few moves. & In this position, again with opposite-colored Bishops, Black has two extra pawns but White appears to have them securely blocked. True? How should Black proceed? 4-19, Jarecki—Benko, NY 1964, at Black's 52nd move. 419| J, 7 BY if 2 ANSWER Black exposes the blockade as a sham with 52... a5! After 53. bxa5 (obviously the Bishop must stay on the gl-a7 diagonal), Black has a sec- eee up a pawn and allows White a passed pawn, but that one pawn is easily stopped. On the other hand, Black’s two passed pawns are more than White can cope with. The game concluded 53... b4 54. a6 b3 55. Bd4 £2 and White resigned (of course 56. Bxf2 lets the b-pawn through). 110More Fun at the Cashier's Window—4 & This time White has one extra pawn, but Black, helped by the opposite-colored Bishops, is hoping for a blockade. Can he get away with that against Fischer? Play for White. 4-20. Fischer—Sandrin, North Central Open, 1957, at White's 35th move. 4-20 WG a an 2 a aaa ANSWER As in the last position, one passed pawn can be blocked success- fully, but not two. Fischer played 35. fxg5 hxg5 36. h4 gxh4 37. gxh4 and soon won by penetrating with his King. Here’s how: 37... Bd4 38. a4 Bf6 39. h5 Bg5 40. Kd3 Kb6 41. Ke4 Be3 42. Bf3 Ke? 43. Kd5 and Black resigned. 111 & Here the pawns are even, and each side has a passed pawn. What should Black do? 4-21. Power—Ault, NJ 1974, at Black's 35th move. ANSWER Black can’t race with the passed pawns, for 35... a4? 36. c5 a3 37. c6 is winning for White. But he can take the opportunity to block White first: 35... Be5 is the move. Now Black can advance his a-pawn, while White is throttled—an important feature of the position is that White’s Rook is tied down to protect his back rank, and so can’t be used to bother the blockading Bishop. It took some time, but Black eventually won.The Genesis of Power Chess & This time not only are the pawns even, but neither side has a passed pawn. What should White do about this? 4-22. Smyslov—Konstantinopolsky, Moscow, 1939, at White's 31st move. ANSWER Create a passed pawn—Smyslov played 31. c5 dxc5 32. dxc5, giving him a clear advantage. Of course the game is far from won, and Black re- sisted for another 25 moves, but getting a passed pawn to threaten and tie down the opponent was the first step. & Here White to move has a choice, but you can figure it out. 4-23. Fischer—Spassky, World Ch. Match, game 16, 1972, at White's 33rd move. m_muns, ZZ WY ANSWER The choice is between taking off Black’s a-pawn or saving the h-pawn (in which case Black will then protect his a-pawn). Fischer played 33. Rxa6 Rxh2, reducing the pawns and producing an easy draw (which could have been agreed at this point, but for other reasons Spassky played on for another 27 moves). With the correct move, White eliminates a distant passed pawn and leaves himself easily able to deal with Black’s only remaining potential threat, getting a passed h-pawn. More generally, the right move follows the principle that the inferior side should exchange pawns, but not pieces. 112More Fun at the Cashier's Window—4 % Then what should White do here? 4-24. Euwe—Alekhine, World Ch. Match, game 17, 1937, at White's 44th move. ANSWER Liquidate the pawns on the left side of the board. Euwe played 44. b6 for that purpose. Now 44... axb6 45 Rxb6t clarifies to an easy draw, so Alekhine tried 44... Ra3t 45. Kf2 a6 46. Rb8 Rb3 47. b7 Kg7 (necessary, for White threatened to win by 48. Rg8t and 49. b8=Q). Euwe per- severed with his plan: 48. Ra8 Rxb7 49. Rxa6, and the draw was agreed. i Inchoosing your move for White in this position, first decide who has the better position. From this judgment follows what you should aim for. 4-25. Regan—Benko, U.S. Ch., 1978, at White’s 45th move. ANSWER First of all, Black has the better position, based on his outside passed pawn. This difference is of lasting importance, but the fact that White’s King is better placed is only temporary and cannot be exploited to White’s advantage. Therefore White should be playing to draw, and it serves this purpose to exchange off pawns. He played 45. h4 Ke7 46. hxg5 hxg§, eliminating one pair of pawns. (Note that Black allowed White to make the exchange so as to keep better winning chances, rather than doing the trading himself by 45... gxh4 and leaving h-pawns.) Black still had the advantage and played on for another 15 moves, but White was able to hold the draw. The full principle, applicable here and in several previous positions, is: When ahead, trade pieces but not pawns; when behind, trade pawns but not pieces. 113The Genesis of Power Chess & Now what about here, with White to move? 4-26. Karpov—Vaganian, Budapest, 1973, at White's 37th move. & ... with Black to move. Should he trade Queens or run away? 4-27. Karpov—Vaganian, Budapest, 1973, at Black’s 49th move. 4-26 YD ANSWER First off, it does White no good to play 37. Qxh6, for Black just gets the pawn back with 37... Bxf2; so you must look further. Then how about taking off the Bishop first? With 37. Nxc5 bxc5 38. Qxh6, White not only trades off pieces (following the principle) but also wins a ee it is, because Black is left with a passed c-pawn, and after 38... c4 it is so menacing that White will have to force a draw by repeated checks. Karpov himself commented, “Black's passed pawn easily secures the draw;” so in the game he played 37. NeL Kg7 38. Nd3, preserving his winning chances and improving the position of his Knight. Subsequently it was Black who was obliged to trade his Bishop for the Knight on f4, and this next position was reached ... ANSWER He should run away. Here the principle holds, especially so in that Queen endings are usually very difficult to win, whereas the King ending resulting from 49... Qxb4 50. axbd is fairly easily won for White with his extra pawn. The fact that the extra pawn is doubled makes little difference here, because among other things Black can’t keep them doubled. In the game Black played 49... Qf6, but after 50. £3! was in difficulty, went wrong, and lost (50... Qh4t 51. Kgl Qh5? 52. Qe7, leading to a forced exchange of Queens (e.g., 52... Qd5 53. Qe8t followed by either 54. Qe4t or 54. Qe5t depending we the King goes). 114More Fun at the Cashier's Window—4 & In this position, Black is behind and faces a decision. How should he resolve it? 4-28. Alekhine—Réti, Vienna, 1922, Black to move. ANSWER Again we have an illustration where you can’t follow principles blindly. If you avoid exchanging Rooks and play 1... Re5 to protect the f-pawn, White continues 2. g5— of course White prefers not to exchange pawns, especially when he can establish two connected passed pawns on the 5th rank and steam- roller you. However, Réti saw that he could liquidate down and still draw, and played 1... Rxg4 2. Rxg4 fxg4t 3. Kxg4 Kg?, and a draw was agreed. Despite his extra pawn in the King ending, White can’t win. His only try is to leave the h-pawn as a decoy, go over and grab Black’s b-pawn, and queen the a-pawn. But Black has just enough time to grab the h-pawn and get his King back close enough to foil White. (Play it out if you wish; the main line runs 4. Kf4 Kh6 5. Ke4 Kxh5 6. Kd4 Kg 7. Ke4 Kf5 8. Kxb4 Ke6! 9. Kc5 Kd7 10. Kb6 Kc8 11. Ka7 Kc7, etc.) Here Black has the only two Hee ee eer rete the pawns is under attack. What should Black do about it? 4-29. Yusupov—DeFirmian, Thessaloniki Olympiad, 1984, at Black’s 67th move. ANSWER Black has only two ways to protect his g-pawn, by placing his Rook alongside it or behind it. Correct is 67... Rg6, behind, following the gen- ee ee passed pawns. (From behind the pawn, the Rook can support the pawn’s advance and increase in mobility as the pawn advances.) The game proceeded 68. Ke3 g4, and Black won in another seven moves. 115The Genesis of Power Chess & In contrast, this time Black is seriously behind. Is there hope? 4-30. Burger—Alburt, NY (Kavkasian), 1983, at Black’s 50th move. And how should Black proceed here? 4-31. Ostermeyer—Dueball, German Ch., 1975, at Black’s 51st move. ANSWER You bet! Although behind, Black does have a dangerous passed pawn which should be supported at once from behind—the principle in action again. After 50... Rb4! White’s only way to stop the pawn is 51. Ral (not by 51. Nd3 b2) b2 52. Rb1, but then White’s Rook is immobilized, and Black cannot be prevented from exchanging off White’s last pawn (by ...Kg7 and ...h6) while White takes the time to win the b-pawn. In the game, White realized this and simply took the immediate draw by perpetual check with 51. Ra8f (51... Kg7 52. Ra7f, etc.), which suited Black fine. ANSWER White’s King protects his pawns, but Black’s pawn is in the hands of the Rooks. White is going to get behind it (which is the place to be, whether it is your own or an enemy pawn) before Black can. That leaves Black a choice of defending it from in front or along the side. Black correctly played 51... Rel, prepared to defend with 52... Rc47, alongside. There Black will have chances to harass White with checks along the ranks without giving up his pawn, whereas in front of the pawn the Rook will have a more limited mobility (which decreases if he pushes the pawn). White still has a difficult win, but in this game Black managed to cause enough trouble and gained a draw. When stopping or pushing a pawn, the best place for the Rook(s), friendly or enemy, is behind the pawn. Get there first! 116More Fun at the Cashier's Window—4 & Here is a similar position for you to think about. 4-32. Salomon—Kretzmer, NJ 1983, Black to move. & How does Black deal with White’s winning attempt? 4-33. Variation, at Black’s 3rd move. ANSWER ANSWER Black can defend his pawn with 1... Rg2, but that would leave him in a passive position, and he would lose. To hold the game, Black must now harass to the fullest, starting with 1... Red, and a draw was agreed shortly. Since Black is able to give checks on. the 3rd, 4th, and Sth ranks, White’s King can seek shelter either below on. the 2nd rank or above on the 6th rank. But neither of these havens works; let us see why: (a)below, 2. Ke3 Re3t 3. Kd2, Black attacks the b-pawn and draws easily after 3... Red 4. Rxf2 Rxb5 5. a5 Ke6, ete. (b)above, 2. Ke5 Re5t 3. Kb6—you solve it, in the next position... White's last move was a mistake, punished by 3... Rg6!, leaving White no choice but to play 4. Rxg6 f1=Q. Now it is White who must play carefully, to hold the draw with his Rook and pawns against the Queen (5. Re6 to start with). 117The Genesis of Power Chess & Here isa position I faced as Black. 4-34. Feuerstein—Ault, Bergen Futurity, 1985, at Black’s 50th move. ANSWER The “obvious” move is to protect the pawn, and that’s what | played— 50... Rb2? Unfortunately, this Rook ends up doing little but protecting the pawn while White rolls forward. The game continued 51. Ke4 Rb4t 52. K£5 Rb2 53. £4 and White soon won. The correct move is to keep the Rook and King active and blockade White’s pawns. Achieving these aims is worth giving up a pawn, so 50... al=Q! 51. Rxal Ke6 52. f4 kf5 and White is unable to win. (Chess players typically can offer some good excuse for their losing move, but here it has some broader value—I “knew” I should be able to draw by sacrificing the pawn; but | had only a few seconds to make my move before the time control, and was afraid to make the plunge. Fool- ishly I told myself “Don’t give up the pawn yet—cover it and make the time control and then you'll have time to think it all out.” So I quickly made the “safe” move, and then had plenty of time to think about my lost position.) & In this position White is trying to hold back the pawns and save the game. Can you help? 4.35. Part of a study by Chekhover. White to move. Oe, \Y fh Figg ANSWER Black is threatening 1... Kal followed by 2... b2, after which White has no way to stop both pawns. Therefore White must stop this threat now, and there is a way: 1. Bf7. Obviously now 1... Kal abandons the b-pawn, but Black has two other tries. One is 1... Ka2, but that moves into a pin that prohibits the pawn from advancing, and White need only keep his Bishop on the diagonal by 2. Be6 (or equivalent moves) and wait for Black to try something else. The other try is 1... Ka3, which clears the path for the pawn and doesn’t move into a pin. You saw what to do now, didn’t you? If not, look again before proceeding After 1. Bf7 Ka3, White saves himself with 2. Bg6, ready to answer 2... b2 by 3. BbI with a safe blockade. Of course 2... Ka2 is met by 3. Bf, establishing the pin. 118More Fun at the Cashier’s Window—4 & Can White win here? How? 4-36. End of a study by A. Troitzky. White to move ANSWER White has an advantage, but must “strike while the iron is hot.” Here that requires a tactical stroke based on combining the threat to queen the f-pawn and an attack on the Knight. White wins by 1. £7! Ke7 2. Ke3. Surprisingly, there is now no safe place to move the Knight, for 2... Nc5 gets zapped by 3. Bd67, and similarly 2... Ng5 3. Bf6t (in either case the Bishop is immune to capture on pain of letting the pawn promote). B_ Again here, decide how White should proceed—both his immediate move and the follow-up. 4-37. Ribli—Smysloy, Tilburg, 1984, at White’s 36th move. ANSWER White played 36. Qd4 and Black resigned. The resignation may seem surprising at first glance, but consider Black’s problems. White is offering the trade of Queens (to Black’s unprotected Queen), and also sets up a two-against-one attack. on Black's pawn at a7. This pawn is blocking White’s advanced pawn at a6, and its loss would be cata- strophic. If Black moves his Queen away White captures the pawn (e.g., 36... Qb5 37. Qxa7), and there is little to hinder White from clearing the way for his pawn and queening it, in particular since 37... QbI7 38. Kh2 leaves Black no more checks. On the other hand, trading Queens leads to ... 119The Genesis of Power Chess & ... this position, after 36... Qxd4 37. Bxd4 Bd6. What next for White? 4-38. White’s 38th move. ANSWER White simply takes off the a- pawn and uses his own: 38. Bxa7 Bxf4 39. Be3 Bb8 40. a7 Bxa7 41. Bxa7, winning easily. Obviously (I trust), the alternative of preserving the f-pawn by 38. Be3 and allowing Black to protect his a-pawn (by 38... Bb8) hardly merits consideration. B Now back to Rooks—what should White do here? 4-39. Kasparov—Karpov, World Ch. Match, game 48, 1984- 85, at White’s 64th move. ANSWER White has two extra pawns, but his g-pawn is under attack. He can take Black’s pawn in trade, but 64. Rxh7 Rxgt leaves White's position too disorganized to win (e.g., 65. Rh8 Rd47 66. Kc5 Rh4 67. h7 Kg7 68. Rb8 Kxh7). Nor does checking help after 64. Re6t Kf7. That leaves defending the pawn, which can be done in two ways: 64. Re4 or 64. Rg7. The former is rela- tively passive, and once you realize that 64. Rg7! Rxg7 65. hxg7 Kxg7 66. Ke7 wins at once, the attractions of the latter become clear. Besides covering the g-pawn, it chases Black’s Rook, maintains the attack on Black’s h-pawn, and keeps Black's King out of g5 where it would be troublesome. Kasparov played it (64. Rg7!). In reply, Karpov didn’t want to play the passive 64... Rh8, so he tried 64... Rd8t 65. Ke5 Rd5#, bringing us tO... 120More Fun at the Cashier’s Window—4 B... the position below. What should White do now? 4-40. Kasparov—Karpov, World Ch. Match, game 48, 1984- 85, at White’s 66th move. 4-40 |) WY ANSWER Of course you wouldn’t play 66. Kxd5?? stalemate! Kasparov played 66. Ke4 Rd4 (one more offer) 67. Kc3, exhausting the checks (67... Rd3f 68. Kxd3 is not stalemate). At this point Karpov chose to resign rather than play on to the bitter end. (With this win, by the way, Kasparov brought the score to three wins for him and five for Karpov in this marathon match. But this turned out to be the final game, for the match was aborted without conclusion a few days later.) & Here White has just captured on b3, and Black has three ways to re- capture. Which one? 4-41. Monokrousos—Lief, U.S. Junior Open, 1985, at Black's 31st move. ANSWER The clear choice is with the pawn, creating a dangerous passed pawn. That’s what Black played, and White’s game quickly collapsed: 31... axb3 32. Qb2 Bxe2 33. Rxe2 c4, and White resigned in the face of the impending transfer of the Knight on e6 to c5 to d3. 121The Genesis of Power Chess & What should Black do here? 4-42. Friend—Ault, NJ 1973, at Black’s 42nd move. ANSWER A pawn down, Black wants to draw, and must deal with the immediate threat of 43. Kc4. There is an incisive solution, supported by a tactical trick: 42... b3! Now 43. cxb3 loses the Bishop (if not the game) to 43... BfSt, so White is more or less obliged to allow the exchange of pawns (43. Ke3 bxc2 44. Bxc2). Asa result, Black carries out the principle of exchanging pawns when behind, and furthermore removes the pawns entirely from one side of the board, producing an easily drawn position. (With no distant liability to worry about, Black can simply keep his King on or about g7 and glide his Bishop around the board for as long as White wants to keep trying.) In the actual game, | missed 42... b3! and played instead the unimag- inative 42... Be6. This induced White to try to win, but in doing so he almost lost (see position 4-3) before the game was eventually drawn. 122More Fun at the Cashier’s Window—4 REVIEW: The four positions below illustrate some of the principles covered in this and the previous chapter. Can you handle them? Black to move in (a) and (b), White to move in the others. ANSWERS (a) Nimzovich—Capablanca, Riga, 1913. White is just barely hanging on by stopping Black’s passed pawn, so get another one: 57... h4 (this pawn is immune) 58. Ke3 g3 59. hxg3 h3! and White soon gave up. (b) Capablanca—Janowski, NY 1916. Black faces the choice between trading Bish- ops and giving up his only pawn. Here the former is equivalent to resignation, so Black played 76... Bf2. Capablanca did manage to win, but only after Black missed a problem-like draw. (c) Kortchnoi—Karaklajic, U.S.S.R. vs. Yugoslavia, 1959. White, having just captured one Rook on £8, can now take the other, but that would be suicidal (21. Qxa8? Qxg2t 22. Kd3 BfSt 23. Kxd4 Qd2F, etc.). Kortchnoi correctly liquidated to a winning ending with 21. Qd6t Qxd6 22. exd6 Kxd6 23. Rhfl. (d) Spassky—Fischer, World Ch. Match, game 1, 1972. To win, White must keep pawns on the board; so Spassky played 39. b6, and after 39... £5? (later analysis showed 39... e5! leads to a draw) 40. Kh4 £42 was on his way to a win. 123The Genesis of Power Chess EXTRA PRACTICE: Here are four more positions for some extra practice if you would like it. Black to move in (b), White to move in all others. ata a Y, 4-44a ANSWERS (a) Petursson—Bellon, Hastings, 1985-86. A pawn ahead, White forced the exchange of Rooks by 39. Rd4 Rxd4 40. Bxd4+ Kf? 41. Kg3, leaving a won Bishop ending. (b) Ed. Lasker—Capablanca, NY 1915. With even material, some judgment is needed to realize Black’s superiority in the King ending after 30... Bxc4 31. bxc4 Kc5 32. Kd3 e5. Capablanca played this, and won in another eight moves—play it out and see how for yourself. (c) Fischer—Reshevsky, U.S. Ch., 1962-63. A simple example of putting the Rook behind the passed pawn: Fischer played 54. Rel and Reshevsky resigned. (d) Novak—Rye, Czechoslovakia, 1978. A curveball, for 1. Ra8 a3 2. Rxa3 Rb7 follows principle while snaring a pawn, but leaves White unable to proceed effectively. Instead White used a mating net for a pretty win: 1, Rh8! a3 2. Rxh6 a2 3. Rg6, and Black resigned rather than be mated by 3... al=Q 4 RgS#t 124More Fun at the Cashier’s Window—4 MORE EXTRA PRACTICE: Want some more? Missed a couple? Well, try these Black to move in (d), White to move in all others. 4-45a GY) Vi, Vs, fl Ua 4-450] 7 ANSWERS (a) Sax—Smyslov, NY Open, 1987. Black resigned on 42. Nxh?, for White simply helps himself to all of Black’s pawns in the King ending after 42... Kxh7 43. Ke4. If you thought preserving your Knight was prudent, do penance by analyzing exactly how you're going to stop that h-pawn later. (b) Beliavsky—Salov, USSR. Ch. Playoff, game 4, 1987. A simple case of reducing to an easily won ending by trading Rooks: 46. Re6 Rxe6 47. Nxe6 Bd5 48. Nc5 (keeping the two extra pawns), and White soon won. (c) Dlugy—Suba, NY Open, 1987. Push that pawn: 41. d6 and Black resigned, for 41... RdB 42. Ke5 a6 43. BfS Na7 44. d7 strangles Black. (d) Pachman—Lundin, Leipzig Olympiad, 1960. But don't always push! Black did here with 41... £3, but resigned in the face of mate after 42. Rc8. Obviously, some preventive move like 41... Kh6 was needed, 125The Genesis of Power Chess H In concluding this chapter, let us look first at a fairly simple illustrative sequence, played by Capablanca. How should White proceed in the position below? 4-46. Capablanca—Corzo, Match, game 9, 1901, at White's 30th move. 4-46 ANSWER White is temporarily a pawn down, and he should capture it immediately by 30. Kxg4, which Capa- blanca did. Taking the time to first defend the d-pawn with 30. c3? would not only be unnecessary, but also cause White real problems after 30... g3 (if now 31. Bxf5??, 31... g2) After 30. Kxg4 Black cannot hold the Knight's position by 30... Ke6 because 31. BxfSt gxf5 32. Kf4 leaves Black lost, for he will have to abandon his £ pawn after a few more pawn moves (work it out if you’re interested). Therefore Black continued 30... Nxd4 31. Bxg6, maintaining material equality but unbalancing the position. As should be clear to you by now, this imbalance favors White, for he is left with an outside passed pawn whose advance will force Black to divert his pieces to stop it. Soon ... & ... this position was reached. ‘What next? 4-47, Capablanca—Corzo, Match, game 9, 1901, at White's 37th move. ANSWER White has tied down Black’s pieces stopping the g-pawn, and now should immobilize Black's pawns. Capablanca played 37. b3 Kg8 38. a4, preventing any possible counterplay from Black’s pushing his pawns. (Usually, by the way, pawns should be placed on the opposite color of your Bishop, but fixing Black’s pawns is much more important here.) After this, Capablanca worked his King back to the center, teaching ... 126More Fun at the Cashier's Window—4 B. ... this position. What now? 4-48. Capablanca—Corzo, Match, game 9, 1901, at White's 49th move. ei ANSWER Just as in King and pawn endings, the outside passed pawn diverts the opponent and leaves his pawns vulnerable. Capablanca continued 49. Kc6 Ng7 50. Kb7 Kd6 51. Kxa7 Ke7 52. Ka6, and Black is on his last legs. The conclusion is shown in position 3-6. & And lastly, let us follow a game by Smysloy, illustrating some of the concepts from this chapter. 4-49. Smyslov—Rudnev, Gorky, 1938, at White’s 40th move. 4-49 | Ww ANSWER Clearly the immediate question is how to capture the pawn on b5, for which there are three choices. Smyslov chose 40. axb5, which advances a pawn and reconnects two of White’s pawns (pawns like company). It’s true that 40. cxb5 does these things too, but the difference is the greater ease in advancing White's lagging pawn (to c5 after Smyslov’s choice, or to a5 after the alternate; but a5 is firmly controlled and hard to contest). The game proceeded 40... Re6, giving us ... 127The Genesis of Power Chess & ... the position below. While material is even, White has an advantage based on Black’s vulnerable pawns, White’s more advanced pawns, and White’s more active pieces. Now how should White exploit his advantage? 4-50. Smyslov—Rudnev, Gorky, 1938, at White's 41st move. Dut ANSWER Smyslov now eliminated the Rooks with 41. Rd6 Rxd6 42. Nxd6. White carries out the principle of exchanging pieces when ahead, and furthermore eliminates the Rooks, which are often a source of frustration to the superior side trying to win. And more specifically, Black’s Rook was defending both the b-pawn and the h-pawn along the 6th rank. When Black continued 42... Kg7, the next position was reached ... & ... with Black trying to organize a defense. Can you find how Smyslov wrapped it up? 451. Smyslov—Rudnev, Gorky, 1938, at White’s 43rd move. ANSWER In such positions, the possibility of creating and pushing through a passed pawn should always be considered. Here it works, based on the tactical support of various Knight forks. Smyslov played 43. ¢5 and Black resigned. To see why, note that on the natural 43... bxc5, 44. b6 BaS (or 44... Bg3 45. Nf5i forks) 45. b7 Bc7 46. Ne8t forks the King and Bishop. Black could also try 43... Bb4, and probably should have in the game before resigning, for it makes White find a winning line ... 128More Fun at the Cashier’s Window—4 E. ... in this position. Can you? 4-52. White's 44th move (after 43... Bb4). ANSWER There are ways to go wrong, like 44. Ne4? f5 45. Ke4! bxc5!, but 44. N¢£5t does the trick. After 44... Kf6 45. c6 Ke6 (the King must stop the pawn) 46. Nxh6 Bd6 47. Ke4, White’s two passed pawns are more than Black can cope with (next comes 48. Nf5, 49. Ne3, and 50. Nd5). 129The Genesis of Power Chess The Care and Feeding of The importance of pawns, through their unique power of promotion, should be quite clear by now. In addition, pawns serve other critical roles. These include protecting your own pieces and driving away the enemy's (for which their low individual value makes them well-suited), providing cover for your King, and defining the terrain on the chessboard (open, closed, blocked, etc.) through which other pieces operate with varying degrees of efficiency. But a single pawn is the weakest unit on the chessboard. Its mobility is much less than the other pieces’, and its inability to move backwards has great consequences for how chess is played. So, too, does its inability to capture onto the square it could otherwise move to. What all this means in practice is that you should deploy your pawns carefully and wisely. & For example, every pawn hopes to make it to the end of the board and be promoted. Can you manage that here for White? 5-1. Fellner—Ault, NJ 1983, at White’s 38th move. ANSWER Despite his pawn minus, White wins if he uses his pawns right. He played 38. a6! Kf6 39. b6, leaving me helpless. Neither 39... Kxe6 40. bxa7 nor 39... axb6 40. a7 doesn’t work for Black, so | tried 39... Nc6. But 40. Bd5 chases the Knight, and after 40... Nd4¥ 41. Kd3 axb6 42. a7 | resigned. 130The Care and Fei This position should also be of a familiar type. Consider whose pawns are better and why in selecting a move for Black. 5-2. Lombardy—Fischer, U.S. Ch., 1960-61, at Black’s 38th move. eding of Pawns—S & Here is another basic situation, which should be familiar. How should White proceed? 5-3. Dlugy—Zuckerman, NY Open, 1987, at White’s 49th move. 5-3 ANSWER Black has the better pawns because he can create an outside passed pawn. King endings of this sort usually lead to an easy win, and this time is no exception. Fischer played 38... a5 39. bxa5 bxa5 40. Kb2 a4, using the typical winning procedure of diverting the opponent's King. White could just as well have resigned here, but played on for a few more moves (41. Ka3 Kxc3 42. Kxa4 Kd4 43. Kb4 Ke3). ANSWER Straightforward play is 49. RxaS Rxb3 50. Kg2 Ra3, when White is still a pawn ahead but has traded pawns and left Black’s Rook well- placed behind the passed a-pawn, leaving White little chance to win. Instead White gave himself good winning chances by 49. Re5t Kd7 50. Re3! Re2 (obviously Black must avoid trading Rooks) 51. Kg2, and managed to win a long ending. 131

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