Thursday, June 7, 2018

Rook endings at the Chicago Open

Improvement is possible. E4stat spent a decade in Class A, but finally became an expert in 2016. Then at the 2018 Chicago Open, I crossed the 2100 threshold. Today's lesson is about two instructive rook endings from the tournament. You may have read about the Lucena position, but do you really know it? Could you still win against a different defense that tries to stop you from building the bridge? Unfortunately, my opponent did. Later in Round 6, I was tested on the famous Alekhine-Capablanca ending. If you are unaware of that game, click here! Or look it up in Alexander Alekhine's "My Best Games of Chess" to see it with his annotations.

If the games are not displaying properly, click here
New ...
Open...
Share...
Layout...
Flip Board
Settings
MoveNResultElo
Replay and check the LiveBook here
62...d3?! Black is still winning after this move, but it does allow White to prolong the battle. 63.Rd8! Black is in zugzwang! But the FM doesn't lose his cool. Re2+ 64.Kxg3 Ke3 Heading for the Lucena position, an endgame that you must know if you're serious about chess. 65.Re8+ Kd2 66.Rd8 Re7 67.Kf3 Rf7+ 68.Kg3 68.Ke4 Ke2 69.Rxd3 Re7+! 70.Kd4 Rd7+ wins the rook 68...Rf6 Black would like to park the rook on f5 in order to build the famous Lucena bridge. The reason that I played 68.Kg3 was to kick the rook away with Kg4 if it ever came to f5. So instead Black puts the rook on f6, but that's too far away for his construction plans to work. 69.Rd7 Ke2 70.Re7+ Kd1 71.Rd7 d2 72.Rc7 Rf5 73.Rc8 If White tries to sabotage the bridge with 73.Kg4 , then Rf1! wins easily. 74.Kg3 Ke2 75.Re7+ Kd3 76.Rd7+ Kc3 77.Rc7+ Kb4 and the checks are certainly not perpetual. So I tried a different plan. 73...Ke2 74.Re8+ Kd3 75.Rd8+ Ke3 76.Rd7 76.Re8+ Kd4 77.Rd8+ Rd5 is the key idea in the Lucena. Instead, I keep my rook on the d-file, since the pawn is not threatening to promote at this moment. 76...Rg5+! Pushing my king back. 77.Kh3 Ke2 78.Re7+ Kf3 Threatening mate and promotion 79.Rf7+! Foiling Black's plan, but he has other ways to win Ke2 80.Re7+ Kd1 81.Rc7 Or else 81...Rc5 followed by 82...Kc1 and Black wins without any difficulties Re5 81...Rg1 82.Kh2 Re1 83.Kg2 Ke2 84.Re7+ Kd3 85.Rd7+ Kc3 86.Rc7+ Kb4 is also good enough. White quickly runs out of checks 82.Kg3 Ke1 83.Kf4 Re8 Ending my last hope. After 83...d1Q 84.Kxe5 I could test if he knew how to win queen vs. rook 0–1
  • Start an analysis engine:
  • Try maximizing the board:
  • Use the four cursor keys to replay the game. Make moves to analyse yourself.
  • Press Ctrl-B to rotate the board.
  • Drag the split bars between window panes.
  • Download&Clip PGN/GIF/FEN/QR Codes. Share the game.
  • Games viewed here will automatically be stored in your cloud clipboard (if you are logged in). Use the cloud clipboard also in ChessBase.
  • Create an account to access the games cloud.
WhiteEloWBlackEloBRes
Wilson,M2093Eckert,F22380–1
This is the game that pushed me over the 2100 barrier: a win against a National Master.
New ...
Open...
Share...
Layout...
Flip Board
Settings
MoveNResultElo
Replay and check the LiveBook here
My clock ticked down to 12 seconds. I went for the combination. 38.g4! 38.Rd5 Rc5 is less convincing 38...Be6 39.Bxe6 fxe6 40.Rxd7 Rc2+ 41.Ke3 Rxb2 42.Rd3 The dust has settled after the time scramble. I was quite confident here. I'm up a pawn. I don't have any weaknesses, but Black does. Kf7 43.b4 I had vague ideas of Rd3-d6xa6, but those variations never seem to work. 43.Kd4 was simpler, but Stockfish thinks the two moves are about equally good. a5 White threatens to raid the queenside, so Black figures that it's better to trade his a-pawn than it is to risk losing it for nothing. 43...Kf6 44.Kd4 Rc2 45.Rc3 Rf2 If Black trades rooks, then he loses the pawn ending, even if he inserts 45...e5+ first 45...Rd2+ 46.Kc5 Ke5 47.a4! is similar 46.a4! Ra2 47.a5 Rf2 48.Kc5 Ke5 Here my notes continue with 49.Kb6, which is good enough, but Stockfish's 49.b5! wins easily 43...Ke7 44.Kd4 Kd6?? falls into an unusual trap: 45.Kc3+! 44.bxa5 Rb5 45.a4! Maybe 45.a6 Ra5 46.Rd6 also works, but I was nearly certain that the text was winning. Know your classics! After.. . 45...Rxa5 46.Ra3 ...White has an improved version of the famous Alekhine-Capablanca ending. Unlike in that game, here White can create a second passer and Black's pawns are more vulnerable. Ke7 47.Kd4 Kd6 48.Kc4 Re5 48...Kc6 49.Kb4 Kb6 50.Re3! During the game, I was planning on 50.Rd3 , but then Re5 and the rook has found the ideal defensive post 50...e5 51.Rd3! and Black collapses 49.a5 Kc7 49...Rc5+ 50.Kd4 Rc7 51.a6 Ra7 52.Ra5 Ke7 53.Ke5 Zugzwang! 50.a6 Kb8 51.Kd4 My original intention was to insert 51.a7+ Ka8 here. However, in some lines, White can benefit from keeping the pawn safe on a6, where it doesn't have to be defended. E.g., 51. Kd4 Re1 52.Re3 and it will take Black's king two tempi to snap up the pawn. Rd5+ 52.Ke4 Rb5 Stockfish announces mate in 43! 52...Ka7 53.f4 gxf4 54.Kxf4 White will simply march the g-pawn up the board. There isn't much that Black can do about it. 53.Ra4 Rb1 53...e5 54.Kf5 Ka7 55.Kxg5 e4+ 56.Kf4+- 54.Ke5 Re1+ 55.Kf6 Re3 56.Kxg5 Rxf3 57.Re4! The rest is straightforward, even with just a minute left on my clock (there was a 10 second delay) Kc7 58.Rxe6 Kd7 59.Rf6 Ra3 60.Kg6 Ke8 61.g5 Ra5 62.Kh6 Ke7 63.Rb6 Ra1 64.g6 Rh1+ 65.Kg7 Ra1 66.Kh7 Rh1+ 67.Kg8 Rc1 68.g7 Rc2 69.a7 Ra2 70.Kh7 Rh2+ 71.Rh6 1–0
  • Start an analysis engine:
  • Try maximizing the board:
  • Use the four cursor keys to replay the game. Make moves to analyse yourself.
  • Press Ctrl-B to rotate the board.
  • Drag the split bars between window panes.
  • Download&Clip PGN/GIF/FEN/QR Codes. Share the game.
  • Games viewed here will automatically be stored in your cloud clipboard (if you are logged in). Use the cloud clipboard also in ChessBase.
  • Create an account to access the games cloud.
WhiteEloWBlackEloBRes
Wilson,M2093Shanmugasundaram,N22831–0
Posted by at

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)