Practical Bishop Endings

PrrACTICAL BTSsHOP ^ENDII\TGS (

GM EE;dmor Nlednis

I

Practical Bishop Endings Grandmaster EdmarMednis

1,990 Coraopolis,Pennsylvania ChessEnterprises

Preface oCopywritelgg0byEdmarMednis.Allrightsreserved.

rsBN0-945470-04-5 Editor:B. G.DudleY CoverDesign:E. F. Witalis,Jr' Typographyand Diagrams:Bob Dudley Proofreading:Frank Cunliffe SecondCorrectedPrinting

As a result of my training and teachingwork I have learnedthat lessexperiencedplayerstend to gre-atryunderrate the Bishop,.It apparentJy seem.s sucha simpl-epiele as it jusi movesback and forth along a diagonal. C
qames. The obiective of this book is the same as for Practical kook Endings:to presentmaterial sufficiently clearly so that the reader will have at least 95Voof the knowledgerequired to play suchendgamessuccessfully. To ensurethat the reader and the author are on the samewavelengthregardingthe meaningof the questionand exclamationmarks as they are used in the characterizationof moves,theseare the presentlyacceptedmeanings: ! : !! = ? = ?? : !? : consideration ?! : cal reasons

astrongmove & V€Ustrongmove; a fantasticmove a bad move; a weak move a horrible move;ablunder an enterprisingmove; a move worthy of a dubiousmove,for theoreticalor practi-

This is mv fourth book for B. G. Dudlet's ChessEnterprises. I am graiified that the earlier Practicdl RookEn/ings, Questionsand Answen on PracticalEndgamePlay, and StrategicThemesin Endgameshave been well receivedby the public. I am very happy to be associatedwith Bob Dudley. I am hopeful of a good public receptionfor this book also. Edmar Mednis

NewYork, 1990

Contents Preface

2

Introduction

5

Part I: SameColor BishopEndgames

8

Chapter1: MaterialAdvantage Section1. Introduction Section2. Material Advantageof One Pawn - Pawnson One SideOnlv Section3. Material Advantageof Onti Pawn - Pawnson Both Sides

8 8 8 19

Chapter 2: PositionalAdvantages 38 Section1. Introduction 38 Section2. Better King 39 Section3. Better Bishop 43 Section4. Better Pawns 50 Section5. SmallAdvantagesin BishopEndgames60 Part II: OppositeColor BishopEndgames

75

Chapter 3: Characteristicsof OppositeColor Bishop Positions 75 Chapter4: Material Advantage- Normal Positions80 Section1: One PawnAdvantage 80 Section2: Two PawnAdvantage 89 Chapter5: Material Advantage- ComplexPositions - ComplexPositions 100 Chapter6: PositionalAdvantages Section1: Better Bishop Section2: Better Pawns Section3: Better King

120 120 120 125

Chapter7: Summaryand Comparisonof SameColor vs.OppositeColor BishopEndgames 133

and forth and can choosethe momentthat it returnsto the kev square. This is a very important strategyin zugrwangtypi: posltlons.

Introduction Characteristicsof the BishoP of the Bishop in The most important characteristics play are: endgame (1) The Bishop is particularlygood in open positions where there are pawnson both sidesof the board. (2) The Bishop is effectivein copingwith far advanced passedpawns becauseit can stop the pawn even from far away. (3) If the Bishop's'Job"is to attacka specificpoint, it can do this from anywherealong its diagonal. This allows maximumflexibility asfar asdeterminingwhereto placeit.

%

Diagram 1

% %,/ru t% % % A% % % wr% % % v& % %A% % % % %

The play from Diagram 1 can be consideredto be an principle. A more advancedapplicaelementarycaseof this "losinga move"is shownfrorn Diagram 2, tion of the value of with Black on move. White has a decisiveadvantagebecause: I ) he has the superior King and, 2) his Bishop can menace Black'sb- and f-pawns.Bestplay is:

Diagram2

% % t % % ' %% % E{'A% t ' % t %^Ex %t"/h,

lru w 1tut

White wins

% % %% % t ,%%%%a%% 1 ....

White captures Black's f-pawn

% % %

Look at Diagram 1. ClearlyBlack'svulnerablepoint is the f5 pawn and the help of White'sBishopis neededto capture it. With White on move,there is no brute force way of capturinsthe pawn. Yet White wins with either 1 Bc2! or I 861!. Tle Bishop then still attacksf5 and irrespectiveof Black'sresponse,White capturesthe f-pawn. (a) The Bishopcan "losea move". What this meansis that the Bishop can draneuveron its important diagonalback

The b-pawn must be protected,while_1...4c6?allows the decisivepdnetrationby White'sKing with 2 Ke5. 2 Bd3

h5

movesand The King and Bishop - have no satisfacto-ry is also h-pawn now the However, therefore the text is forced. would again Black if Notice that rulnerableto White'sBishop. appropriwith White Therefore, be on move,he would lose. ate Bishopmaneuverswantsto "givethe moveto Black". 3 Bbl!

Bc8

the If 3...8e6 4 Bc2l Bc8 (4--.8d7 5 Bd3! establishes move) 5 on again Black positionafter Black's2nd moie with game. Bdl and White wins the h-pawnand the

4 BaZl PART I

White threatens5 8fl7winningthe h-pawn. 4 .... 5 Bb3!

Bb7

Chapter1: Material Advantage

Threatens6 Bdl winningthe h-pawn. 5.... wins.

Bc6

Or 5...Bf3 6 Bc2 Bg4 7 Bd3 Kc6 8 Ke5 and White 6Bc2l 7 Bd3!

SameColor BishopEndgames

Bd7 White wins.

The position after Black's2nd move has been establishedwith Black on move. Black must now lose either the for b-pawnand thereforethe game.

Section1: Introduction Material advantageobviouslyrefers to an advantagein pawn(s). A three-pawnadvantageis routinely sufficienl for the win and so is a two-pawnadvantagein all normal cases. The winning metho!_gen'erally consists-ofcreatingand queening passedpawns. Thus only the significantcasein which one side hasthe materialadvantageof one pawn is consideredin this chapter. Basically,a player needsto know when a onepawn.advantageis sufficientfor a win and what the proper techniqueis for achievingit, or if he is a pawndown,wh-enand how he can draw. His approachwill dependon whetherthere are pawnson one or both sides,topics discussedin the next two sectrons. The generalexchangingprinciplesalso apply to same color Bishopendgames: -- the side up materialwantsto exchangeBishops. -- the side down materialwantsto achieveroutine exchanges of pawns. Section2: Material Advantageof One Pavyn - Pavyns0n One SideOnly A. Bishop& Pawnvs.Bishop As far as general defensivestrategyis concerned,the defendercan feeisatisfied if he has achieVedthe abovesituation. He doesnot haveto worry about tosingany pawnsand there is only one enemypawn to be concerneiiabbrit. He can

readilv afford to sacrificehis Bishopfor this last pawn. The kev pilnciplesin knowingwhetherihe resultingpositionis a win br a dfaw are as follows: (1) If the defendingKing is alreadyin front of the pawn and caniot be chasedawcly,or if it cdn getto sucha squdre,thegame drawn. is hopelessly A t y p i c a l e xa mp l efro m p ra cti ca lplay is^shownin Dias ra m 3 ; E. M e d n i 's- F . Gh b o rg h i u ,Gr az 1987,after WhiTe's97th move. Black offered a draw here, becausehe cannotDreventWhite's King from reaching92 and once there the Kinl is unassailable. 07...g3 98 KR followedby 99 Kg2; 97...Ke{ 98 Kf2 followedby 99kg2; 97...Bg398 Kfl followed by 99 Kg2.)

Diagram3

% % % '',.,& % % % % % % %s% % % N t % % '%%%g%

E. MednisF. Gheorghiu Graz1987 After White's 97th move

, 0 . ', ' ' ' n ' ' u , 4 t

Diagram4

'

,/,i' $t:: ,&*u ::r^ %

L. Centurini 1856 Draw

%

rBn

Bez

2 8196

Bc4

Black can alwavsstavon one of two diagonalsto prevent f7.

3 Bh7 4 Bg8 5 KxgS

Bd5 Bxg8 Kxf6 Draw

The above se_qugnce showsthe importanceof Black's King location on 95, becauseWhite cairnotchaseBlack,s Bishopoff the a2-SEdiagonalby playinga Bg8. If Black is on move in Diagram4, he drawswith either 1...896or 1...8e8.He dare not giv-eup his idealKing location.

(2) If the defendingKing cannotget in front of-thepawn, the itiaiing chdncesire not good, To be s,ure..ofthe draw, his Bishop-mustbe mobile oi both diago.n-a.ls; -(haveaccessto dt leastiwo squareson eachdiagonal)and hisKng must be attacking thepafin from the rear wliile havingvefticalopposition. The above favorable defensiveformation allows the defenderto alwap achievethe draw, eveg i[ it is by just a hair. One suchexampieis shownin Diagram! (L' Centurini 1856). (SeeDiagram4 on the followingpage). Irrespectiveof who is on moueihe positionis drawn. ,A,logicalsequencewith White on move is:

(3\Because it is so dfficult in real life to reach thefavorable defensive formation of-Diagrgm4, theTefendelsBkh6p must try t,o.preventthe.pawn fro.m bging advanceduntil the-defending Ktng,cdn get closeenoughto it. The following two examplesfrom practicalplay will demonstratethe corr-ectdefensivbapproach.Diagrani5 ihows th.epositionfrom E. Mednis- F. Cheorghiu,GrIz 1987after 5 on"the-followingpage). ElaCk's89th move. (SeeDiagram " The thematicgamecourseis:

10

%" " N% , A ' t %, /t

Diagram5

e%fu,% ****',

Now White's King gets back. But if 95...Ke4,96 Be7 stopsthe pawn.

E. MednisF. Gheorghiu Graz1987 After Black's 89th move

96 Kd3!

94

After 96...K94,97Be7 followed by 98 Bxg5draws. 97 Ke2 Draw

% % %

We havereachedDiagram3, discussed earlier. 90 Kc4 A t t h e m o m e n tWh i te ,sB i sh o p sta ndswellenoughq' d s i n c e t h e r e i s n o w a y t h a t W h i t e c a n h o p e t o . p r e help venttne ;'1fi";;;romotion oiBiack's pawnwithout'thedefensive of tn. Kiirg, it startsheadingback'

Diagram 6 showsthe position after Black's 53rd move K. in Regan - P. Benko, 1978USA Championship.After Blackwill capturewhite's pawn,the pawnsituationwill be the same as in Diagram 5. What is different is that here the Bishopsare on light squares.Playcontinuedasfollows:

Bf6

90 9l Ba5!

as to the c1-nQ.dlqgpnal White'sBishopmustget access quicktyasiJ.iiui". t\either"glBc7+?Ke4or 91 Bb6?Ke4do thejob.

Diagram6

Ke4

91 ""

t, "'%,% % 'ZrA7, , % pZ % '/zu Z" A 2 7M ,7.r,% 2 t

"ru,

"%"'

pgck in time with 92 Kd3 After 91...g5,Whlqe-ge-t9

s {l rcezKg494 Bd2)' (92...Ki i i3 Bd2+";'iz.-scr

54 Kb2!

Be5

92 Bdz 93 Bg5!

As from Diagram 5, here too the King has to try to get ascloseto the queeningsquareasquicklyaspossible.

TheBishopneedsaccesstofwodiagonals,cl-h6and h4-d8,to prevent the g-pawnfrom advancing'

Kfs

93 .... 94 Bh6 95 Bf8

Bf4 95

11

K. ReganP. Benko 1978USA Championshio After Black's 53rd move

*t

E

fl

54 .... 55 Kcl 56 Be6!

Kd4 Ke3

Getting in position to preventthe advanceof Black's pawn-t-o-be. Passed

L2

BB

5 6.... 57 Bd7

The g-pawncannotbe savedin anycase(57 94 Kf4 and 58...Bxg4will come with gain of time), so that White keepsthe statusquo.

Kfz

57.... s8 Kd2!

IGg3 B{2

59 Kel 60 Be6 Instead60...8h3 ilBn

Kh2 Kh2 is parriedby 62 Bh5.

After the text move the theme of the position is very clear:if Blackcanget in ...g4,he will alsoget in ...g3andwill win. To draw, White must prevent...g4. Therefore,quite wrong is, for instance,61 Bfs? (the tournamentbulletin erroneouily givesthis move as actuallyhavingbeenplayed). Black then wins as follows:61...8h3 628e4 94 63 Bd5 93 64 Be4 Bg2 65 Bd3 BB 66 Bfl (White has accessto only one square on the short f1-h3 diagonaland is easilychasedoff) 66...894! 67 Kdz Bh3 and Black wins. 6l Bg4l

Draw.

The game was adjournedafter Black's 60th move and White had sealedthis, the only correctmove. Now White can preventthe advanceof the g-pawn- 61...Bh3 62 Bh5, etc. and the gamewascalleda draw without resumptionof play. (4) If the defendercannot achieveconditions(1) or (2) and qecute (3), then hegenerallywill lose. cdnnotsuccessfully A typical lost position is shown in Diagram 7, A. Matanovic- P. Benko,Portoroz Interzonal1958,after Black's 69th move. BecauseBlack'spawn is alreadyonly one square from queening,White's Bishop only has one long diagonal. Black'swinning method is to first chaseWhite'sBishopoff the c1-h6diagonaland then to chaseit off the short c1-a3diago-

L3

nal. The gamecourseis:

7' ry"%

Diagram 7

/'2,". , ' / ; 7 2 / 2 7 ,4r g g %s% ffi % % % %" .tr% r , W% 'r,&

%

A. Matanovic - P. Benko Portoroz Interzonal 1958 After Black's 69th move

Kc3 Bh4

70 Ke3 7l Ke2 72 KfL

A move born in frustration. After the more "normal" moves,Black wins as follows: a)72B,a3Bg5 73 Kel Kb3 b\ 72 Bf4 K62 73 Be5+ Kbl 74 Bf4 Bf6 75 Kd3 Bb2 76 Bg5 Bcl 77 Be7 Bf4 78 Ba3 Bd6! Kd3

72 ....

Here too Black could executethe plan shownunder b) above:Kb3-t-bl, followedby Bf6-b2-c1,etc. Bg3

74 Bh6

The immediate73...8f6wouldsavea move.

Be5

74 BgS 75 Bcl

If 75Kel Bc3+ 76Kf2Bd2. Bd4 Be3 Kc3

75 .... 76 Kel 77 Ba3

L4

Bg5 Whiteresigns.

78 Ke2

After 79 Kel Kb3 White'sBishopmustgiveup guardingc1.

Er r

Diagram8

ffi,%/M

B.2Pvs.P;3Pvs.2P King is backandthe pawnformaWhenthe defensive "normal" (i.e. situation),the abovecases the tion healthy goodmovesare all that are Normal shouldbe readilydrawn. sideshouldnor: required.Thedefending allow the opponent'sKing to penetrate

/ / A, f t I z

Offering a routine exchangeof pawnsin caseWhite plays39 ef6+. Also the pawn is no longer under attack by Whjte'sBishop.

39 Kcs 40 Bg8

weakenown pawn formation put pawnson samecolor as own Bishop put pawnson same color as opponent'sBishop (This euidblindworksout to be the sameas the previousone, but I Im addingit for emphasisbecauseof its importance.)

Bd7 h6

And not 40...h5?which seriouslyweakensthe g- and hpawncombinationby putting the pawnson the samecolor as White'sBishop.

41 Kds

Ba4 Bd7

42 Kd4

C. 4P v s . 3 P As the numberof pawnsremaininqon the board inside. It can of the st-ronger creases,so do the winning'chances trv more thingswhile the defenderhasmore to defend. The 4P vs.3P case-withall pawnson the sameside is both frequent and important. As long as the defenderpayscloseattentionto the guibelinesunder Blabove, he will noi haveseriousdifficultiesln drawing. A model demonstrationis shownfrom Diasram 8. G. Stahlbere- R. Fine, Kemeri 1937,after White's 38th move. White hls the superiorBishopand pawn formation, but Black'sKing is well placedfor defenseand his pawn formation is fundam6ntallysound. GM Fine gainedthe draw asfollows:(SeeDiagram8 on the followingpage). t6l

38 ....

15

G. Stahlbers - R. Fine Kemeri 1937 After White's 38th move

Black is satisfied to keep the statusquo by playing simple,healthymoves.

43 Bc4 4 Bd3

Ba4 Be8! Drawagreed

Black shouldnot play 44...f5?whichseriouslyweakens the f- and g-pawncomblnationwhile turningWhite'se-pawn l!!o a protectedpassedpawn, nor play 44...Kn?which allows White'sKing to p'enetratbwith 45 K^d5. However,playableis an immediate44...95;but since it c-annotbe prevehted anyway,Black can wait and see how White plandto make pr%"res{.-A possiblecontinuationcould DC:

L6

g5! Still drawn.

45 h4

N o w t h a t Wh i te h a sco mmi tte d h i sKingsidepawns,it- is logical ror stact to stop potential play-there. Notice the i,-rhonious placementof filack's forces:the King and Bishop iir."."l-p*Etration by White's King and,-by being on dark the pawnsdepriveWhite'sBishopof opportunltres. Squares, "my gyidelines",then an Yet, if the defenderignores unwelcomblossis quite posfible. That this can befall very ttionl plivio it shownbv the courseof play from DiqgIaT ?' V. H6ti f'M. gertok,Zagreb 1969,White 6n move' Black is trErebecausehis h-pawnis alreadyon somewhathandicappbO h5 and blocked. Ttius,togetherwith the g-pawn,lt can eventuallv becomean obje6t fdr anack by Whfte'sBishop. Otherwise-Black'sposition is soundand there is no oblectlvereason why - with bestplay - he shouldnot draw.

fxg4Bd3 10g5 jxgS+. 1I Kxg5Bxe_4! and Black draws. This line r evealsa detens l v er es our c eBl ac k has i n D i agr am9: white's Bishopis the.wrongcolor for his h-pawnand tfierefore Black.has.opportunitiesfor the draw by sa-crificing his Bishop for White'snext-to-lastpawn.

4 Kn 5 e4 6 Ke3

to go here. The correcrset-up TtrSSilg has.nothing followedbv...f6. for Blackis 6...Ke7 7 Bb3 8 Ba2 der.

%

t%.9 i, / '%f% /,2 %

Diagram9

A% % %t 2 % ';ftA,ft % : f t 2.,

V. Hort M. Bertok Zagreb 1969 White on move

i , % , f t € l<97 Be2

1 Bds 2 W

or ignorance'Black Starting here, out gf carelessness move,s.Black time-wastinf inferior, a"series'of unOertitces -..Be8,thereby .'.f6 an-d -..Ke7, piuv by followed 2...Kf6, Jh*td formatlql. drawn a stable, establishin-g Kf6 3R variation: GM Hort gives the followjn-ginte^res-ting 3...f6! 4 Kr2 Bb5 5 e4 Kf8 6 Ke3 KeI t Kf4 Kf8 t ga hxga 9

L7

Bbs Be8 Ke5?!

A waiting move,giving Black an opportunityto blun8 ....

f5??

^ _. _Criminallyhorr.ible.Requiredis 8...Kd6followedby 9...Ke7and Black'spositionremainsdefensible. 9 f4+ 10 e5+ lt Kd4

Kf6 Ke7

The differencebetweenthis positionand the final one from Diagram 8 is like night and day. Here White has the better King, better Bishop,6etterpawis and the extrapawn as a.protectedpassedone. Thereforeit shouldnot be surprising that White h'asa forcedwin. 11 12 13 14 15

.... Kcs Kb6 Kc7 Bb3!

Ba4 Be8 Ba4 Bb5 Black resigns.

18

-- Be careful.

Diagram10

Hort % w g ,' % ' ' r% % V. M. Bertok %'% "%A%:" Zagreb 7969 ,fut%t '",&r,& After ';,,M White's 7fu, 15Bb3! % % %a% ' % % % ,tu % %

% ' % " %% Black'schoicesare to either lose his Kingsideor to allow a lost K + P endgame- which is no choiceat all. The two main variationsare: ( 1) 15...8e216 Bg8 Kf8 17 Bh7 Kg7 18e6 KxhT 19 e7 Bb5 20 Kd8 Kg7 21e8:Q BxeS 221fte8 Kf6 23 Kf8. (2) 15...Be817 Bg8 Ba4 17 e6l Be8 (17...8b518 Bf7 Kf6 19 Kd8 Ba4 20 Be8!) 18 Bf7! Bf7 19 edT ICdT 20Kd7lKf6 21 Ke8 Kg7 22Ke7 Kh8 23 Kf8 Kh7 24Kf7 Kh6 25 Kg8. Section3: Material Advantageof One Pawn' Pawnson Both Sides With pawns on both sides,under normal conditions,a onepawn advantageis sufficientto win. This is a strong statement,yet is borne out by practicalexperience.All the examples in this sectionare theoreticalwins. They may look quite different from each other, yet are sufficiently"normal"to fit the aboveconclusion. Sincewe are dealingwith a won endgame,it is important to first becomefamiliar with the generalprinciplesof how to win a won endgame.Theseare: -- Establishand follow a clearplan. -- Don't allowcounterplay. -- Avoid unclearor unnecessary complications.

l-9

Never be in a hurry, either with respectto time or numberof moves. -- Hold on to materialadvantage. -- When aheadin material,exchangepieces(here Bishops), not pawns. -- Aim for the basicpositionsknownastheoreticalwins. To the above principlesmust be addedthe specific applicableto samecolor BishopendgameS.The te.chniques winningstrateg]consistsof thesesteps: (1) Centralizethe King. (2) Put the Bishopon a usefuldiagonal. (3) Create a passedpawn on the sidewith the pawn advantage. (4) Advancethe pawn as far as possible.This will tie down the opponent'sBishopor King. is the blockader,offer to exchangeBishops. S). tf ttr.e^Bishop Thiswill free the queeningsquareor win the Bishopl (6) If the King is the blockader,marchyour King to the other sideof the board and pick up enoughpawnsto wi"n. Alwavs rememberthat won endgamesiust don't win -You themselves. need lots of care and discipline. tf a playerno matter how strong - starts disregardingthe principles enumeratedabove,the win can vanishquickly. I will start off with suchan example.Diagram1l showsthe positionfrom K. l.*gl S. Gligoric, Hastingi lg73-74,after White's 23rd move. White had jult beiore errdneouslyailowedthe exchangeof all Rooksand"because of Black'sniore activeKing, Wh-itenow f indshimselfin a lostB * P endgame:

20

"'re,"T ".f,r,,4%'f% "ru ''*i'tt Diagram11

%%fr%% %t% ,,.& %%A%% fr7,&% %r % % 9 , %

30 Bfl

K. PWelS.Giigoric Hastings 1973174 After White's 23rdmove

23 .... u Bfl

Kg4?!

Pointless. The correctplan is still 30...h6followed bv 31...g5.

31 Ke3 This voluntaryde-activation of the King is incomprehensible.W ith 31.. .8a2or 31...h6Bl ac kc oul ds ti l l ac hi ev e winningpositions.

32 Be2 33 h4!

The K + P endgameafter 24Kd2?lBxd3 25 Kxd3Kfs 26Ke3Kg4t! 27 Ke4 f5+! 28 Ke3 is evenmovelost because assoonasWhiterunsout of pawnmoveson the Queenside, he mustlosea Kingsidepawn. 24 .... 25 Kd2l?

Bbl

Worseis 25 a3?!Kf5 26 93 Ke4 followedby ...Kd4 and...Ba2. 25.... Kf5! 26 Ke3 Bxa2 27 Bd3+ Kg4! 28 Be2+ Kh4! Black haswon an importantpawnrhasthe activeKing and no deficiencieswhatever. It shbuldbe duck'ssoup for I famousGM, yet strangethingsstart to happennow. 29 Kd4

Bbl?!

The Bishopstood well enoush. Accuratewasto start m o b i l i z i n gt h e K i n g s i d ew i t h 2 9 : . h 6 a n d i f t h e n 3 0 K e 3 , 30...b5!is decisive.

Kf6 h5

Undesir able,but al l ow i ng34 94 w oul d be equal l y undesirable.

34 g3 35 Kd4 36 Bd3

Bf5 Bd7

What a differencea few movescan make! lt isWhite who now hasthe activeKing and the superiorKingsidepawn formation. These factors are sufficient - with correct play - to neutralizeBlack'sextraQueensidepawn. 36 .... 37 dxc6 e.p.

c5+

It is in the interestof the defendingside to exchange pawns,not to mentionretaininghis King oh d4. Black would win afier 37 Kc3? a6 38 b3 b5-39 8c264+ 40Kbz a5, with Black then moving his King to a6 and breakingdecisively with ...a4(Pytel). Bxcf 37 .... BB 38 Bc2 Ke6 Bd3 39

4 Bcz

a5

41 Bd3

f5

2L 22

Blackwantsto preventa potentialf5 !y White qnd.pa4 the cleir costof creafinga weakg-pawn.The superiorityof Wt ii.tr Kingsidepawn f6rmation i-sh very importantfactor in his achievingthe draw.

42 Bcz

Bc6 d5

43 Bdl

All pawn exchangesare in White's interest,though Black has no other way ib try to make progress.It would be wrons now for White tb be greedyand play 44-Bl3?!because ift.r"44...Kd6 45 cxd5 Bd7-followedbi 46...b5'Black would s.t u mobile Queensidepawn majority,while White'sd-pawn frould only be an impotentfigurehead.

Bxd'

xlffif.'

"rnarchyour King to the other side o.ftle board and pick up eqougf pawns,.towin." After 28...Kh4!Black had his ft,ng on "theother side",but then unaccountably marchedback! I will start the demonstrationof the^properw_inning upure"position,asshown techniquewith a in Diagram12. ThE symmetrica.l; position.isessentially Wh.ite's"only'Y advantageii a clear,healthyextrapawn. With White on move,this is-how to achievethe win:

Diagram 72

'/1 '1, tv'/ , . /'

White's Bishopnow is active,can get to Black'sg-pawn and keep back Black'sb-pawn. White alsohasretainedthe more aciive King. Black ian't hope to make progressand the positionis drawn.

Baz

45 .... 46 Be8 47 Kc3

Kf6 Be6

48 B>d7l
Bg8 Bh7?!Draw.

After managingto stalematehis Bishop on the least activesquareon thE bbard,Blackoffereda draw. He canjust hold on'after50 Kc4 Ke7 51 Bc6 Kd6 52 Kb5 Kc7 53 Bd5 Kd6 54 Bf7 Kc7. that to Black'ssinglegreatesterror wasthat he "forgot"_ win he needsthe"he"lp of his King. Our last priniiple said:

23

ftft A

,,

,

tft/

7 fr

A won position for White White is on move

1 Bc3 Puttingthe Bishopon a usefuldiagonal:it bearsdown on Black'sKingsideand prevents...Bes.At the moment1 Be3 rsratner potnfless. 1 2 3 4 5

.... Kfl Ke2 Kd3 Kc4

96 Kf8 Ke7 Kd6

The King is centralizedon an active,usefulsquare.

5 .... 6b4 7 B 8a4 9 Bd4

Kc6 Bb6 Bc7 Bb6

24

The Bishop controls two important diagonalsfrom here. 9 .... 10 b5+ 11 axbS+

Bc7 axbS

A passedpa\,ynhasbeen created. 11 ....

The type of positionshownin Diagram 12 doesoccur However,tne the practlcal ical playermust learn frequenttyeno.ugh.. frequentlY 9no.ugn.. to cope with situationswhich are lessroutine. An excellent shownfrom.D.iagram13, H. Donner - A. Bisguier, cxampl^e,is As will Bled 1961,after Black's48th move. " how to w i nbe seen,Wf,ite'd a w on Bi s hop play m akes.useof al l the k ey cndgamePrlnclPles.

A

Kb7

If Black plays 11...Kd7,so as to blockadethe pawnwith the Bishop,White wins after 12b6 Bg3 13 Kd5 Bf4 14 b7 Bb8 15Be5.

12 Kds 13 b6

Bb8

Advancing the pawn as far as possibleto tie down Black'sKing.

13 .... 14 Be5 15 Kd6

BM Bg1

The King penetrates. 15 .... 16 Ke7

Kxb6 Kcs

17t
Winning by pickingup the pawns.

17 ....

Kds

18 Bg7 h5 19 Kxg6 White wins. He will alsocapturethe h-pawn. The positionwould be won evenwithout that.

25

/ , 2 % i Diagram13

p % % %t:rtZtZ

E ftt,4z g' fr. fu.

H. DonnerA. Bisguier Bled1961 After Black's 48thmove

/ , A f t J

White is a pawn up in Diagram 13. At the moment both Kings are rather active. BecauseWhite's pawnsare safe from attack by Black's Bishop, whereasBlack's pawnsare potentiallyvulnerableto White's Bishop,White has some longer term prospectsthereby. However, at this point White's only significant advantageis the extra pawn, which gives White a 2P vs.P Queensidemajority. White'sfirst objective, therefore,is to createa passedQueensidepawn: 49 Bd1! With the idea of 50 a4 bxa4+ 51 Ka3 followed bv 52 Bxa4. Black cannotpreventthis. 49 .... 50 a4 51 Ka3

Bf7 Be8

51 axb5is alsofine. But 51 a5+?! is dubiousbecause White may not be able to penetratethe resultingrather blockadedposiiion.

26

Bf7 Be8

51 52 axb5 53 g4l

to placethe Bishopon a usefuldiagonal. Preparing is forcedsince53...96?54gxfsgxf5saddles Black'sres'ponsd - thef5 pawn. Blackwith hnotherlongtermpawnweakness

bestthat Black has. 60 Kd2 6l KeZ 62 R!

This breakstartsclearingthe wayfor White'sKing.

62 .... 63 IGtr3 64 e4'!,

Bxg4 Kxb5

53 .... 54 Bu44 55 Kb3

from 55...Kc4.White, potentialcounterplay Preventing of course,wants"tdleavehis Bishof aitive ratherthanretreat itto e2. Bf7 Kb6

55 .... 56 Bd7+ 57 b5

Advancing the passedpawn as far as possibleto tie down Black'sKing. 57 .... 58 Kc3

95

T h e K i n g n o w mo ve sto th e K i ngsideto see what damageit can do there. 58 .... 59 Bc6 An ideal location for the Bishop since it continues

of theO-OtU".:tthattack"ilr,.|,.d-pawn. defense

In unpleasantpositions,pawn pushescom.eeasily,but senerallvshbuldbe fesisted.Here alsothis makesit easier Ior Whiie's King to get at Black's Kingside. Keeping the statusquo with 59...BE6followed by ...Kb6,...Kc7etc. is the

27

h4 Be6

erf3+ Kb6 l

'//%t

% % % ,,fu A%A%

Diagram14

'%'"ru,

%* % t % l&t % % %s% % % % % %

H. DonnerA. Bisguier Bled1961 After 64 e4l

And this break continuesthe clearingprocess. Do note that all of this is worthwhile only becauseBlack's King chainedto White'sb-pawn- will not be able to help in defending his pawns. 64 65 66 67

g4+ dxe4 Bc4 Be2

... Kf4 Kxe4 Kf4

TheK + P endgame after67...e368 hxg3hxg_3 _6! Kxg3Bxb5 70 Bxb5xius is losrby onEtempoifter 7t rcr+ Kc6l2 Ke5Kd7 73Kd5. Kc7 Bxb5 Kd6

68 Bd7! 69 Bxg4 70 Kgs

28

A two-paw::.ffie winsheretoo.Blackdecides to

go after the d-pawn,but this leaveshim without defense againstthe h-pawn.

Kd5 Kxd4

7l ....

72 Kgs 73 h4

As we already learned in Section 2, Part A, if the defendingKing cannotget back very quickly,he will lose. This exampleshowsthe bleaknessof the situation againsta Rook pawnstill on the 4th rank. 73 74 75 76 77 78

.... Be8 Bfs! Kes B196 Bbs h5 Bc4 h6 Bg8 Bfs! Black resigns.

There is no defenseto the coming79 Kg6 followedby 80 Kg7. Often enough the passedpawn that we have been able to create (or inherit from previousplay) looks too sickly to be able to offer real prospectsfor progress. No matter. A passed pawn is a passedpawn and it is up to us to use our creativity to mobilize it so as to transform it into a power. A marvelousexampleof the successof such an attitude is shownfrom Diagram 15 (on the next page),E. Paoli - H. Liebert, Debrecen1968,with White on move. White's passed c-pawn looks like a non-starter,while the doubled g-pawnsare no beautiesand the forward one is vulnerableto Black's Bishop. Routine play will not be enough,e.g. after 1 Bd4, 1...8d8!is adequate.Yet there is a creativeway:

Diagram15

% % % ''Ng%% % %t 'ft,

% %tr,ffi t %.rzMg% fr% % % % % % r

Thoughapparentlyunprotected,the pawn is immuneto now_l...Bxc5?!2 Bxa5and the impotentc-pawn capture.If "transformed"into an outsidepasseda-pawn, been enaha's b l i n g t h e W h i t e K i n g t o s o o n i n f i l t r a t et h e K i n g s i d e . I f l...Kxc5?,Black landsin a lost K + P endgamebecauseafter2 Bd4+ Kc6 3 Bxb6 Kxb6 4 Kc4! Kc6 5 93 White has the opposition.Also 1...Bd8is nothingsinceWhite has2B,t6. 1 .... 2 Kc4

Bc7

Thanksto tacticsWhite's King and c-pawnhavebeen ableto move one step forward. White's next step is to prepare the invasionof his King into Black'sKingside.

2 3 4 5 6 7 8

.... Bf6 Bc3 Bd2 Kd4t Bf4t Ke5!

Bd8 Bc7 Bd8 Bc7 Bd8 Be7 Kxd

This losesthe Bishop,but 8...Bxc59 Kf6 allowsWhite's King to devourthe pawns. 9 Ke6 10 Kd7!

Bd8

I c5!!

29

E. PaoliH. Liebert Debrecen 1968 White on move

30

The fine tacticalpoint of White'spreviousmaneuvers. failsto 11Be3+. The Bishopis trapped,since10...Bb6

10 1 1 Bxg5 t2 Ke6

Bxg5 Kb4 Blackresigns.

There also are times when the passedpawn looks very nice. It may be, for instance,alreadya well advancedprotected passedpawn. But if the defender can readily prevent its further advance,the win may be difficult to achieve. This is the situationin Diagram 16,-M.Tal - Giterman,USSR 1951, after White's 4Lst move. White's protectedpassedf-pawn is stopped and the g-pawn is vulnerable to Black's Bishop. Obviously,without the a-pawnsthe position is a dead draw. Thanks to the presenceof these pawns,White, if he can get into Black'sQueenside,will win. The job is far from easy,but the 14 year old Tal gets it done thanksto some fine Bishop maneuvers:

% % %,,%Afu, %'%

Diagram 16

t"4r, %

% %fr'"&, % % % r ,% % % $ , * % %a%

M. Tal Giterman USSR1951 After White's 41stmove

Ke5 Bc4 a5

4l .... 42 Bc8 43 a3

remain

ca n n o t on the actived1-94 diagonarbecauseH]ffi*' 44Bb7la5Whitehas45BB. Bl a c k ' s Bi sh o p

BN Bg8 BN

31

47 BB Before the King headsfor the.eu.eenside,the g_pawn " be must protected.The principle:don't allow.outit..pliyi47 48 49 50

.... Kd3 Be2 Bdl

Bg8 Ba2 Bd5

This and the following six to sevenmovesare a holding operationto-gain time on fhe clock to preparethe wrnnrns mane.uver.In practical.p.lay it is.always-a gbod idea to havE sufticienttime when decidingcrucialstrategy-.

50 .... 51 Kc3

Bg8 Bf7

Black is forcedto move only the Bishop,sinceif the King leavesits ideallocationon e5,White'sKing will quickly penetrate.

52 Bb3 53 Bdl 54 BR 55 Bcf 56 Bbs 57 Be2 58 Bc4! 59 Kb3!

Be8 Bn Ba2 Bg8 Bds Bf7 Be8

White has finally set up the optimum King and Bishop placement.The Kine sbtsreaiJvto sd to either a{or c4. Sinc'e Black'sBishopcaqn6iguard both if tnosesquaressimultaneously,nor can the King-helpout, White'sKing is sureto get at tne a-pawn.

Bctr

59 60 Be2l

a4+?!

32

try is 60"'Kd4 6l qtllypractical Totallyhopeless.-T!t. f6 Bd5l- Akiqk.S- OSKxasIAd6thoughaiter64.a4White Jin"JearifyenoughsinceBlack'sKing cannotguardbothsides of the board.

Diagram 17

62 Kcs

g

ft,a7 ' /

'/,

If 61...8b7,62Kb5winsthe pawnfor nothing' 63 Bbs Black resigns.

i.

t2,

Kf6 Be8

61 Kb4

'

t r g /'A / , ^ t i1t tft

t:

E. MednisA. Lein New York 1977 After Black's 34th move

/

the time control at move40.

The aboveexampleillustratesso well the needfor the stronsei iiO.'r King to 6e able to effectivelypenetrateinto the bo.rO 'ioiO.fended by the weiker side'sKing. .lf ;i|;|i;il; iitir Cunnotbe achieved,the chancesare excellentthat the The very first of my generalprinciples.stated: iu*.ir-Oi"*n. PleriiUfirtr ind follow a clear plari.". In samecolor Bishop "nOg"r.*, a cardinalpart of any plan mustbe to ensurethat into the ehemyposition.This importhe kine can penetrat'e light when there ls a shouldbe the guid.in_g tant rea-lizatibn is This-concept poTentialpaths. choicebetweenfwo or more A. Mednis 77,E. Diagrhm *.filif urtraredby rhe play frbm after Black's "it) Internati-onal Vork (nl1atdt f;i;;N;; .197.7, his fis.missing White S+ttt'*ou.. e qdick look Showsthat Therefore, it. for ou*n and hasnd discerniblecompensation that the likelih|od of beingin a theoreticalWt ii-. *"rii*p..t lv lost position is very high. White'sonly advantageat present ii that'hisKing is m6re activethan Black's.The chancesare

Black must immediatelydecideon his "clearwinning plan". He must recognizethat in integralpart of it must be t5 "normal,' ienetrate into WhitevsQueenside.(AI is true for the cases,so here too White's King can cope with the e>rtrapassed pawnon the Kingside.)How-canBlack get into the Queenside? The chancesare poor that he will bt able to usethe c4 square becaus-eWhite's Bishop_cancontrol that readily enough. Thereforethe spingboariifor the invasionrru$t be thb d4 square.Black's_^clgq plan mustensurethat his King can get to that square._If Blaik usesthis logical decisiorimaki-ng ploggsl: he will cgrye up with the colrect recapture. Is it 35...Kff6or 35...ef6?

confidencein and thereforeplayed:

The text move must have looked attractiveto Black becausehe can quicklyactivatehis King to e5. Yet there is no wln,becausethe King can't get further. In a momentwe shall seewhy.

planthatI had iffi;hiJ t6*fif pJo. I didnotseea defensive (SeeDiagramon the nextPage) 35 exf6+!?

F r o m a th e o re ti ca lsta n d p o i n ta move that m akes Black'stask easier,but I felt that most likely I wouldiave to plttii G;.i o. iti.t. Yet my overridingreison for playingit hofi *as to force Black to makea verymajor decision before

33

A)

3s ....

K}f6?

This is the gamecontinuationand is wrong. The correct35...ef6will bEdiscussed underB).

g5+ Ke5 h6

36 93 37 Ke3 38 Be4 39 Bc6 34

A l r e a d y no w w e se e th e p ro b l em with 35...Kxf6?. White's King on e3 fulfills two defensivefunctions:stopsthe passede-pawnand, most importantly,deniesaccessto d4 for Blaqk'gKing, And, like the Rock of Gibraltar,the King cannot Fp {.rlodged from e3. All that White needsto do islo keep his Bishopactiveand this is easyenough.

13;;,

5ou

Since the prospectsare so poor for a King invasionvia t h is s q u a r e , R l a ck g e ts re a d y to u s e the pawn for a potential ...c3break. Yet this break never offers the chance for an advantage.

Kcs

41 Bbs 42 Be8 43 Ke4 44 Ke3 45 Bfl+ 46 Be8 47 Bd7 48 Kd2 49 Ke3

e5 Kd6 Kd5 Kc5 Bc2 e4 Bb3

h6 Kf/!

Before advancingthe Kingside pawns and therebv creatingsome holeson the light squares,Black centralizesth6 King.

38 Ke4 39 Be8 40 Kf4 4t 86 42 hry5 43 Ke3 4 Bb7

Ke6 f5+ Kf6 g5+ hxgs+ Ke5 f4+ gd4+ Bd5 Kd4!

4s sfi4 6 Kez 47 Ba6

Compare this position with those after 35...Kxf6?: Black'sKing is readyto infiltrate and there is nothingWhite cando about it.

/t8 Kfz Or 48 Kd2 B! followedbv 49...Bc4.

Draw Offered by Black. There is no way to progressby normal meansand the ...c3break just neverworks. For instance,49...c3 50 bxc3 Kc4 51 Kxe4 Bc2+ 52 Ke5! Kb3 53 94! Kxa3 54 Kf6 Kb2 55 Bxa4Bxa4 56 Kg6 etc. B)

36 h4 37 g3

35 ....

erf6!

Now Black will be able to executehis "classicalstrateg/': createa viable passedpawn on the Kingside(the f-pawn), advanceit to f4 to dislodgeWhite's King from e3 and while White's King is busycopingwith it, Blackt King will penetrate i nto White'iQueen-side.

35

48 .... 49 Bb7 50 Bctr 51 KB 52 t
Bc4 Kd3 Bb3 Kc2 Kxb2 c4l c3 c2 Bxc2 Kxa3 Bb3 Kb2

Blackwins.

36

And so, despiteWhite'sbestdefenseand Black'shandipawn for his Bishop,after the cap of triving'ttrewrong Rook"routine". is win Black's 35...eff6t coi'rect

Chapter2: PositionalAdvantages Section1: Introduction A more active King, a potentiallymore productive Bishop,an over-allsuperiorpawnformationor a specifically \ery powerfulpawn - theseare the specificsof what is called 'positionaladvantage".Often it is a combinationof these t'hctorsthat allowsthe positionaladvantageto be a meaningfulone. In making a j udgm ent about a pos i ti on a tw o s tep processis required: firstly, who is better, and, secondly,how iargeis the advantage.Thoughseeminglyobvious,it must be emphasizedthat the first step is an absoluteprerequisitefor a result. If you evaluateyour positionto be superior, successful when in fact you stand worse, and proceed to play to win when you should be scratchingfor a draw, is it any surprise that you lose? Once we havethe correctqualitativeevaluation, then we need to considerthe quantitativeside. In a superiorposition, do we have good, some or no practical winningchances?The defenderneedsto askthe samequestions in reverse. The theoretician alwavswants to know whethera position is a forced win or draw. But in real life often only a lot of postgameanalysiscan help to answerthat. W hat the pr actica l pl ay er needsto k now i s the r el ati v e "goodness" oi the positionthat he finds himselfin br "badness" and the correct strategyin aiming for the most that he can expectto get. It is thesetechniquesthat I will be presenting in the sectionsthat follow. a positionaladvantageis e.xpeltedto yield a .N_ormally -- in our casepawn(s). Once material materialadvantag-e advantageis achfu v edthe w i n i s us ual l ys i m pl e,s i nc ethe attributesof positional advantagegenerallyremain. The examplesthat-followdeal only with positionswith pawnson both lides becauseonly this situationgivesmeaningfulwinningchances.

37

38

Section2: Better King

and Karpov immediatelystartsto prove that White has a won

The examplesin Chapter 1, Section3, have alreadv demonstratedthe power and destructivecapabilityof the King in Bishopendgames.The sourceof this power is threefold: (1) the Bishop is, after all, only a minof piece; (2) the Bishop cannot protect pawnsnot of his color; and (3) if the [ing occrrpiesan important.postnot of the Bishop'scolor, then the Bishopcannotchasehim away.

Diagram18

% %g A% % t t,t t 7 z t %'% t/ z t

v&

,.ru

We can makg the following importantgeneralizations regardingKing location:

%%%e% fr"%% %n

(1) If the Kng is on thefourth rank and cannot be chased awcty,thk is a tangibleadvantage.

38 Ke3!

(2) If the King is on the fifth rank and cannot be chased awa.y,this givesgood winningchances.Only whenthe opponenfs p,ositionshowsno fundamental weaknesses can he be sureof a draw. Let us now add meaningto the aboveprinciplesby lookingat actualpositions. A. King on Fourth Rank That a King on the four rank is the activeKing is easy "on to see graphically:put a King on the fourth rank your board. You will see that the oppositeKing is therebyreli:gated to his third rank. Thereforeit makeslense that-anunassailable King on_thefourth rank is a tangible advantage. However, by itself, this advantageis insufficientfor the iin. You must also be able to successfully attackthe enemypawns with your Rishop. Thesefactorswer6 alreadydemonst?aledin the evaluationof Diagram2 andthe play thereof. Most examplesfrom practical play are of somewhat more complicatednature. Characteristicis Diagram 18, A. Karpov - V. Hort, Budapest7973,after Black's-37thmove. Black had just before wronglyexchangeda pair of knights

39

A. Karpov V. Hort Budapest t973 After Black's 37th move

White is nowsureto havethe activeKing. 38 .... 39 Bd3 40 Kd4

Bg4 Be6

White's King now has a securepositionon the fourth rank and thereby a "tangible"advantage.This when addedto the followingfactorsgivesWhite a won position: -- Black'sKing not only is relegatedto its third rank but cannotmove,becauseWhite's King would then infiltrate via c5or e5. -- All of Black's pawnsare on the samecolor as White's Bishop,and becadsethey are stuck on that color they are readilyvulnerable. The piimary target is the d-pawn;secondary targetsare a6 and h7. -- White will be able to createa passedpaw! on-the f-file. Note that White'sdoubledg-pawns'areno liandicaphere,since theyhold back Black'sg- inb h-pawns,the_r_eby ensuringthat the-f-pawnis an effectiv6extrapawnon the Kingside.

40

40 .... 4l Bczl

Bg4 Be6

lf 4t...8e2,White's f-pawnshowsits power with 42 f5!, winning.

t"%,,g"Nt%i

% % % % t%e%ft%fr

Diagram19

% % % % ' , . , N% % % % % % %

42 Bb3! Forcingthe Bishopto remainon the e6-g8diagonal.

Bn Be6

42 .... 43 Bdl!

threatof 44B,94.

Forced

But a slight worseningof this position and chancesare excellentthat Black is lost. Considernow Diagram?n. White on the move wins rather effortlesslvafter:

T:Xthe B l a c k n o w i s i n zu g zw a n ga n d m ust allow either White's King or Bishop to penetrate. Notice how efficiently Karpov set up this position,,withouthavingto utilize the two existingtempo moves,a3 and g3.

Diagram20

'% %@ry%t % %'"'/P''% %t%e% %t White wins % %"",,w / & %

fr%

White threatens46 Bc8 and 45...Be6 46Bxe6Y,'xe647 48 f5 leads to an easily won K & P endgamefor Kd6 94 White. B. King on Fifth Rank A King on the fifth rank is a very substantialadvanrelegatesthe opponenl'sKing to its second tage because"this rafik. The defensivesi6e must havba troublefret positionnot to be lost. One such position is shownin Diagram 19. It is drawn becauseWhitd's Bishopcannotattacklnything and Black'sKing can preventany further penetrationby White's King. (SeeDiagram19on the followingpage.)

%

% %'% % % %

Bf7 Black resigns

4.... 45 Bg4

Drawn

1 Bcs! Firstthe Bishopis chased back. I .... 2 f5!

Bd8

ThenBlack'sf-pawnis fixedon the colorof White's Bishop. )

Bc7 Bd8

3 Bd4

And now White wins Black's b-pawnand the game

4I

42

i t s e l f a n d m u s t b e a b l e t o a t t a c k t h e v u l n e r a b l ep o i n t s (pawns!)by itself.

with...

4 Kcs

With the abovebackground,we can now formulate the followingtwo key principles:

White wins. The plav from Diagram 20 demonstrateshow cramped the defender'sjlieces are 6n the last two rank. Moreover,all suchK & P enciingsare invariablylost for the defensiveside. Section3: Better Bishop first need to In evaluatinethe qualitv of a Bishop,the "good" gishoi Bishop. and what i-sa know is what is a'6ad" "bad" Bishopis one which is lockedin by his own.pawns The and has therefor'elittle scopeto maneuver. Of necessity,-this to definition also sals that suchBishop'spawnsare wlnerable caseof the "bad" an attack by the 6nemyBishop. An-e>itreme Bis h o pi s d h o wni n D i a g ra mZ t. Wh i te' sextr a piece - his Bishop- is like a pawnan-dthereis no win in the position.

Diagram21

% % % %'tfu.t %'"1f, % %',rru. .,rm,fr.,rut

Draw

"1ft.n%fr%fr% fr%A% '2e%% ft%

For a Bishop to be "good",two factors must be present: (2) (1) the Bishopmay not be Encumberedby his pawns,-and i.e. pawns, the eremy to attack able must be aiso ini: nisnop the pawnsmust be on the samecolor as the Bishop. In openin s ' a n d m i d d l eg a mep l a y th e fi rst p a rt of the definitionis sulficientsincei-fthe Bisliop hasa gieat open diagonalit can combinewith anotherpiece'(in -color particularthe Queen)to wreak Bishopendgame,the Bishopis by havoc. But in a same

43

(l) !" normal simationsthe "good'Bishopwins againstthe,,bad, BishoP.

A typical ex am pl efr om pr ac ti c alpl ay i s s how n i n Diagram12, H. N. Pillsbury- Billecard,Munilh 1900,after Black's46th move. All of Black'spawnsare on the samecolor as his Bishopand moreover,the Bishopis caughtbehindhis own lines. On the other hand, Whitets_ Bishop is obviously good. With his next move White makeshis Bishopeven ',bet1 ter",therebydrivingthe lastnail into Black'scoffin:

4 ," ,Kt Diagram 22

4t'@r,,t,

t7t,ft

ft

%

€r

"%veD%%%

H. PillsburvBillecard Munich1900 After Black's 46thmove

,z

%

Be8 Bf7

47 g5! 48 Bfi

This is the main line. In the qame Black allowed a ftgpelessK & P endgameafter 48...Bd7-49Bh3+ Ke7 50 BxdT 5*97 and lost quiEkly after 51 Ke3 Ke6 52 Kd4 Kf5 53 Kc5.

49 Bh3+ 50 Ke3 51 Kd4 52 KcS

Ke7 Be8 Kd8 Kc7 44

Jd:q^il:ffi:. Jh.r1b?e,,

must allow Kd6 with decisiveeffect.

and B,ack,s King

If the "bad"Bishop is Qgdenough,evenbeing at the to prevent the loss. In Itart a payn qp may be insufficient Diagram 23, White's Bishop is "perfect'i,Black'sworse than bad. Even with Black on moveheloses:

Diagram23

A% % %t *1, %t t % %t % i t& v& %trffi.,'& Tru A% 'rr,r.M % % % % % % % % % 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

Whitewins

Kd8 Kc7 Kcf bxa4 Kc7

Bb7 Bxa6 a4l b5+ b6+

Bbs+!

Kctr Kb7

Bxa4

White hashis pawn back and the open Queensidewill allow his King to penetrate. Black'sBisho:pmust continueits "modest"role.

8 .... 9 Kc3 10 Kb4 11 Bbs+ 12 KaS 13 Ka6

Ka6 Kb7 Ka6 Kb7 Kb8 Ka8

45

14 b7+ 15 Kb6

Kb8 White wins

The moral of thesetwo examplesis simply:bewareof t,oluntarilyacceptingthe truly bad Bishop. It almost always loses' e) The betterBishopalway givessomewinningchances. To be clearlv sufficient for a win, however,additional advantages -A are reqdired. Thesecan be a better King or better Dawns. combinationof all three usuallygivesa sure win, hr *e alreadysawfrom Diagram2. White's advantagesin Diagram 24, B. Pytel -. Hojdarova, Hungary 1969,White on move,are the better Bishop an_d betterQuetinsidepawns. Black hasthe better King, bul the d5 Dawnis weak anil the a6 pawn potentiallyso. His Bishop, tfrouehinferior to White's,hasgood scopeand the Kingside pawn-formationis healthy. White hassomewinningchances, but Black shoulddraw with correctplay. But soon Black goes astray:

Diagram24

%%a%% t % % %'" %t"%,t.fu, ,% 4 vM. %

TMB%A7ru

B. PytelHoidarova Huhgary1969 White on move

% % %

Bfs+

1 Bhs 2 Ke3

Bd7 94??

3 h4!

A mammoth strategicerror. Better is 3"'gxh4 which exchanges off a pawn at th"ecostof weakeningthe f4 square.

46

However,best is leavingthe Kingsidepawnsllone-and Pl.ayq White's.position and ec6-fOOi 5 Bi8 Be8 .lf i,in S...gdOl After the iii36"i.i, but I don't seewherehe can pene^tratevery.bad. Black's good and very becomes 1!*1;Wirlfi'i nirhop wins a White maneuvers, tem-po bV ,."ni of by-now-familiar game. pawnand the voluntaiIn samecolorBishopendings,never,neuer,,never there unless pur Bishop as color ly put Wur pcwns on the iame it. dr-eveiy,very,verygoodreasons for 4 5 6 7 8 9

Kf6 Kes Be8 Bd7 Be6

B196 Bc2 Bd3 BeZ Bd1! a4l

Starting to undermine Black's Queenside' If .Pl.ackexctranseJ.his"a-pawnwill be weak; if he allows White to then the b-pawnwill be vulnerable' excha"nge,

18 Bfs! 19 Bh7 20 Bg8

To protectthe d-pawnwith 20...Bc6meanslosingthe hpawnafter 21B,n. Diagram 25 showsthe position from V. Smyslov- L. Szabo,Zurich Candidates1953,after Black's 24th move. White hasthe better Bishop,sinceBlack'sd- throughh-pawns are on the samecolor as his Bishop. Yet Black has no fundaand with careful play Szaboensuresthe mentalweaknesses draw:

'z '2t ,M L , 1 2 t %t t,& % ,/l-, 'r,

Diagram25

ft.

f t % % /& % % f t %^4, % " %

Bd7 axb5

9 .... 10 axb5 11 Be2!

Black again is in zugzwang.SinceBlack'sKing must keephis grounii,a secondweakKingsidepawngetscreatecl. h5 Bcf Be8 Bf7 Be8 Ke6 Kd6

11 12 ilil 13 Bd3 t4 Bc2 15 Bh7! t6 Bd3! t7 Kd4

If Black'sKinesidepawnswould still be on 95 and h6' the positionwould bddrawn. Now it is totally lost'

47

BF/ Be8 Blackresigns

25 Kn 26 K8

V. Sm'slovL. Sza6o Zurich Candidates1953 After Black's 24th move

Ba6

First White centralizeshis King. 26 27 28 29

.... BR erf6+ e.p. Kd4

h6 f5 ICd6 g5!

The weaker side tries to exchangeas many pawnsas possible.

hxgs

30 ft95+ 31 e4 48

-

OtherwiseWhite canmakeno plogress.If 31 h4 gxh4 32 grh4Bb7!followedby 33...e5(+)andBlackhasno worries. dxe4 Bbs

31 .... 32 l{xe4

+?l 33 Ke3 Bf3?? 34 Kxf3 as the And not 32...F,b7 in K & P endings' pawnis usuallydecisive outsidepassed g*t4 a5!

33 h4 34 gxh4

pawns as manyQueenside Blackalsoaimsto exchange aspossible. 35 Kd4?! with thisandthe followingmove,white underestimates Black'spotentialfor counterplay.In orderis 35 a3,to parry bv36 b4. 35...a4?t a4 a3! Be8 Bfl e5 Bds

35 .... 36 b4?! 37 Be4 38 Bb1 39 Kc3 40 bi-

this, Now Black hasthe betterBishop. Recognizing draw. force the Smplovhurriesto 41 O 4} 4 45 6

Kb4 l(xa3 Bd3 1ft4 Bxe2 a4

e4 e3 BB e2 Bxe2 Draw

47 a5 will exchangeoff Black'slastpawn.

49

Section4: Better PavYns Having the superiorpawn formation- or more simply, "berterpawns"- can mean in a positivesense,havingeffective sense,not beingsaddled nassedpawn(s)or in a non-negative pawn(s). In section both of theseimportant this weak irirh covered. will be categories A. PassedPawns the As the number of pieceson the board decreases, pawns increases. It therefore follows importance of relative that in an endgamewhere each side only has one Bishop,a viable passedpawn is a significant favorable factor. Most it may queenbut even if it does not the King import-antly, it (a blockadingBishop can often be must blockade usually to exchange- see Diagram 29), which an offer off by chased allowsthe opponent'sKing to wreak mqyh.elnon the rest of the board. Therefore - as will be recalled from Chapter 1, Section3 - the key principle in positionswith a pawn advanpawn. The tageand pawnson tioth sides,is to createa passecl pawns passed are: four typesof desirable 1.OutsidePassedPawn The outsideoassedDawrlis alwaw a simificant advantagebecauseit ties down ihe defendeilfing-or Bishop).far ariayfrom the rest of the board,enablingthE offensiveKing to penetratethere. In most casesthe outsidepassedpawn is sufTicientto win. The exceptionsoccur when the defensive side'spawnsare few, healthyand thereforereadily defensible - asin Smlslov - Szabo,Zurich 1953in the previoussection. A thematic demonstrationof the value of the outside passedpawn is shownfrom Diagram26,M. TchigoriJt- H. N. Pillsbuiv,London 1899,after White's33rd move. From his Q.ueenside pawn majority Pillsbury createsa passeda-pawn whichties down Wh"ite'sBishop and Black'sKing can then startbotherinsWhite'sDawns: (See"thediagrim at the top of the nextpage)

50

Diagram 26

"'e,"e %g'% ''&,'%' %t'%:, %tr.fu-;%,",&"t %%fr%% .t"/w / f% €/fut

1sd exploitWhite'spawnweaknesses.

M. Tchigorin - H. Pillsburv London1899 After White's 33rdmove

a5!

33 ....

N 4l 42 43 4 45

The threat was45...8d4+ 46KeZ Kd5 and there is no defenseto that. If 45 f3, then also 45...Bd4+ 46KeZ gd3+ 47 K{3 Kd5 is sufficient.

45 6 t5 47 Kn

Ensuringthat after ...a4Blackwill obtainan outside assedba*n. Elackmustnot tarry asotherwise34 b4l makes is task-alot moredifficult. Ke6

34 KR 35 Ke3?

Now Whiteis definitelylost,asBlack'sBishopwill be 3q.91! abletomenaceWhite'sKingsidepawns.Mandatory-is light on placed be can piwns Kings'ide .niuiing tttat White's squares. g4l

35 ....

F i x i n g White's pawnson the same color as Black's Bishop. 36 37 38 39 40

hxg4 a4 bxa4 Be5

hxg4 Kd3 bxa4 Bb4 Ba3

In a senseWhite has a favorable defensiveset-up blockadethe pass:gP?g: becausehis Bishopcan successfully Ho*eu.., White is still lost becalse the absenceof White's biittop atio*r Black'sKing plus Bishopto dominatethe center

51-

Bal! f5 Kes! Krfs Ke5

Bcl Ba3 erfS Ke3 f4+

Kd5 Be5! Ke4 Whiteresigns

As a starter he will loseboth Bishoppawns. 2. ProtectedPassedPawn A protectedpassedpawn is usuallydecisive.Because neitherthe King nor Bishop is required to protect it, they havefree hands in trying to penetratethe other side of the board. Diagram27 is quite won for White. Black'spawnsand Bishoparebasically O.K., but the protectedf-pawn'tiesdown the King so that White gainsentry on the Queenside.With tslackto more the play could continue:

Diagram27

tl tl

' % % % t % t " &'4 g% /l

A ', fti,

%% % %% 't %

52

Whitewins

Bf8 Bg7

1 ....

2 Bcs!

All K & P endingsfrom this positionare lost for Black. Now Whiteprotectshis Bishopso that he canplay Kd6. Bf6 Ke8 d5

3 b4! 4 Kd6 5 Kc7

The play after 5...b5 6 a5 d5 7 Kb6 is similar to the main line. 6 KxbT d4 7 l{xa6 d3 8 Be3 Bc3 9b5 d2 10Bxd2 Bxd2 11 b6 Kd7 l2b7 Kc7 13 Ka7 White wins 3. ConnectedPassedPawns Connectedpassedpawnsare better than disconnected passedpawnsin Bishop eq9games.Becauseconnectedpassed pawnssupportedUy tlre Bishop and/or King can be readily advanced,they.usuallywin. For-the defenderto hope tir draw, he must either be able to effect a blockade(verv'difficult to achieve)or obtain counterplaywith a far'advanced passedpawn. . . The p.r.opermethod^ofcreating connectedpassedpawns and then utilizing them will be dembnstratedfrom Diasram ?.Q,.B.Gurgenidzf A. Zaitsev, 1969USSR Champion-ship, White on move. Just a quick look is enoughto seettiat White must be clearly better. His Queensidepawn majority is in the form of a valuableprotectedpassedpawn. On the oiher hand, Black'sKingsidemajority is hampeiedby the doubledpawn

53

and thus Black cannotc{ggtga passedpawn on that side. yet answerthe for winning purposes,White must successfully question:llo.* tg progrerss!The dS.pawncan b6 readilyconrbined-andthe chancesfor penetratingthe Kingsideare.poor. White's correct method is to createunderfavbrablecrcumsnncesconnectedpassedpawnsusing a characteristictactical motif:

/ ./7

tt Diagram28

'g/ A

.t',

2t

"'1fr/ u

fr'rft'' t t A 'f, € T , Z,

B. Gurgenidze - A. Zaitsev 1969USSR Championship White to move

1 Bd4! White first improveshis positionall around:Bishop centralization,King centralization,Kingsidepawnstructure. In the game White jumped the gun with 1 a5? bxa5 2 B x a 5 ,b u t a f t e r 2 . . . f 5 1W h i t e ' s K i n g w a s o u t o f p l a y a n d Black's a-pawn (lfte outside passed-pawn)gave dufficient counterplayto draw. Bd8

1 ....

This passiveretreat is forcedsinceafter 1...Bc5?2Bfzl Blackonly has the choicebefweenthe lost K & P endgames after 2...Fif2 3 Kylz or after 2...g5 3 Bxc5 bxc5 4 fxgSfxg5 5 Ke4. Kd7

2 Ke4l

Black cannotafford 2...a5?becauseafter 3 c5! bxc5 4 Bxc5the a-pawnis vulnerableto White'sBishopand White's

54

,7

to b5. King hasaccess g5

3 f5!

thenBlack'sh-pawnis Worseis 3...9d5+4 #5 because unprotectable. 4 a5! 5c5 Well supportedby White'spieces,the connectedpassed pawnsmust in-due coursewin. Yet note how White throughbut combinesdefenseagainstthe a-pawnwith the determination to advancehis passedpawns. 5 .... 6 Kd3 7 Kc4 8 Bc3! 9 Bb4! 10 Ba3! 11 c6! 12 BfB 13 BxgT

a4 Bas Bel Bg3 Be5 Kc7 Bf4 Bc1 Bbz

BecauseBlack's King had to watch the passedpawns, White's Bishop was able to penetrateBlack'sKingside. Now Whi t e ' s Ki n g d oe s i ts j o b o f ma ki n g the for war d a- pawn harmless. 14 Kb4! 15 Kb3 16 BfB 17 Bxa3 18 Be7! 19 Brf6!

a3 Kb6 Be5 Kbs a5 White wins

After 19...a4+ 2OKa2Bf4 21 Bxg5! Bg3 22Bxh4 White has five passedpawns. Also this exampleshoweda commonoccurrence:the viable passedpawnsparalyzedthe

55

cjefendersufficientlyso that he could not protect the rest of lrisProPertY. 4. AdvancedPassedPawn The further advanceda passedpawn is, the greater its tbrce. The most importantguidelineto rememberin positions * ith passedpawnsis: passedpawnsmustbe pushed! A basic demdnstratlonof this is shown in Diagram 29. Here both sideshave advancedpassedpawns,but White's is further advancedand he wins easilyafter Bg3 - even if Black is on move. In normal situations- and unlessthe King can catch rhe passedpawn - the followingprincipleapplies:when both side'shave ilassedpawns,the further advancedpassedpawn lvins.

r y % %

%fr% %@% % ' %% Diagram29

% %'"ru,

%%%fr% % %e%fr

White wins

% % ' M % B. Weak Pawns

Weak pawnscan be consideredto be thosewhich are in dangerof imminentcaptureby the King or Bishop. Yet such a difinition will not help us in learnlngabout.pawnplay involvinginherentlVinferior pawn Structures.I nereloreIn thissecti"ion I witl onlVbe coniernedwith the inherentlyweak isolatedpawn and the inferior doublepawnstructure' l. IsolatedPawn Theiso|atedpawnisonewhichhasnopa.wn-o samecolor on an adjoiningfile. It is weakbecauseit doesnot

56

-

have anotherpawn supportingit and becausethe absenceof to the enemyKing. adjoiningpawnsmakesit more accessible When both sideshave isolatedpawns,both haveopportunities for counterplayand the most likely gameresultis a draw. If only one side has isolatedpawn(s),the strongerside hasgood winning chancesbecausethe protectionof isolatedpawns requiresthe help of either the King or Bishop,and this gives the strongerside'sKing or Bishop the opportunityto try to penetrateon the other side. If this can be done,the game generallyis won; otherwiseit is a draw. This point is well illustratedby the play from Diagram 30, M. Matulovic- M. Cebalo,Yugoslavia1970,White to move. Black has four isolatedpawns,of which the b- and d-pawns are the most vulnerableones and require continuedattention by Black'sforces. On the other handWhite'sQueensidepawns are perfect and the Kingside pawnssafe from any attack by Black. ThereforeWhite hassomeadvantage, but to win White will haveto penetrateinto Black'sKingside.Can it be done?

,% %g'N % t %t ' "%mt % .% % % {%e%t % * % f t % l4 .% % % 7////Z

% % % Diagram30

,7\

1 Bd4

MatulovicCebalo Yugoslavia

r970

Whiteon move

Kbs?!

Black completelymisreadsthe sceneof action. Correct is 1...Kd7 2 Ke3 Ke6 and it is doubtful whether White can make any progress.

2 Ke3

f4+??

57

momenr.We haveatreadylearnednor to ^,..__J,f-:]g:ilq put pawnson the colorwheretheycanbe-ittacked votuntanty pVtne enemyB.iqhop aldLhis^p_os{igl $ no exception.Abso_ lutely.req.uired is 2...K.c6! 3-Bg7Kd7 a Kdaket and art.hgug!White has madeprogrels,I havenot fou;da win. Afteithe straresic blunder'2. ..(4+??,Blachhas ; ..dd p;;; accessible to white'sBishopald goesunder.G;i,r" 3 on the howwhire shourdtrandlethis. lsltsl nighqpl'demonstraled GM Matulovic's execution is flawless. 3 Kd3 4 Bg7 5 Bh6!

Kc6

Bcs Be3

After 5...8d6?! 6 Kd4 Black is alreadyin zugzwang.

6 Bf8! 7 Bd6 8 Be5 9 Bd4! 10 Ba7 rl Bn 12 Bel! 13 c3!

Kbs Kas Kbs Bcl Kcf Bb2 Kcs

The creationof_anoutsidepassedpawn at this moment leadsto a forcedwin of Black'sf-pawn.

13 .... 14 Bxc3

bxc3 Ba3

Black has no choice,sincethe outsidepassedpawn createsa won K & P endingafter 14...Bc115 Bd2! gxd2 16 Kxd2Kd4 17 h4l.

15 Bd2 16 B,fr4 l7 Bd2! 18 Be3 19 f4

Bb2 Bf6 Kd6 Kc:6

58

Passedpawnsmustbe pushed!

19 .... 20 f5 2l Bf4+ 22 BeSl 23 B(7 24 Kc3 25 Kd4 26 Ke3 27 KB 28 f6 29 Bh8!

Be7 Kd6 Kcf Bc5 Ba3 Bd6 Ba3 Bcl* Bd2 Bc3

If white tries 1 Ke4,Bracks_iryrply forcesthe King with 1...f5+and then reavesthe Kirigiidepawnsas is] back over_att, Btack'spawnsare safeandwithT.arofriur;;ilfiir.]Lsition is drawn.

Diagram31

,%t , t '',tAgt), , 1 % .% + *

% % ; , t u+ ,

*,,

// €t % 1z ,

The threat of 30 f7! forcesBlack'sresponse.

29 BM 30 Kf4! Bd6+ 31 KI5 Blackresigns After 31...Kd7 32897 White'sf-pawnis readyto roll; 31...d4 32Ke4 is the end of Black'scounterplay

The othersideof the coin is illustratedin Diaeram 32. Againwhite's Kingsidemajorityis staticand inciiable of cratinga passedpawn. on tfie otherhand,gtait<'se[iensioe malontyis a normalone and with 1...b5!Blackireatesa vlablepassed pawnandtherebygoodwinningchances.

2. Doubled Pawns Except for the caseof isolateddoubled pawns,double pawns as part of a pawn structure are not inherentlyweak defensively. Rather, the problem with double pawnsis their lack of ofiensive punchi It is difficult to crdate a passed pawn from a pawn majoritycontaininga doublepawn. Even then a dynamic(non-symmetrical)formation is iequired. If the double pawn is part of a syrnmetricalformation,-thenit is impossibleto create by force a passedpawn just from pawn play alone. We saw alreadyin Diagram 28 how Black'spawn majority on the Kingsidewasmade impotentby the presence of ilou6le pawns. Two additional eiamples"ares^hownin Diagrams31 and 32.

Draw

l!t

Diagram32

i,'tz

. iZ t

A

tt % &ft.,* :

I rAs t % ftl fr

Good winning chancesfor Black

Section5. SmatlAdvantagesin BishopEndgames

In Diagram 31 White's extra pawn is of very limited value since hd cannot force a passedpawn on the l(ingside.

The singlemost characteristicfeatureof the contemporary tournamentsceneis the need to win the game that you ar e.playing.This i s equal l ytr ue both for the gr andm as r er and the amateur. Obviouslywhenyou are playinga match for the Wortd Championship(a;d dlso of cciurietle earlier

59

60

Candidatesmatches)the stakesare high. Yet the adventof sFtgm tournamentswherefirst place"is everything" the_Swiss a n d l o w e r p ri ze s" n o th i n g "h a sp l aceda hugepr em iumon winning. This is true for the GM ("Open")Groupand alsofor the lower groups. This is particularlyso for the tournaments in the United States. To win "almostall" gamesor at the very least"lots',of games,a certain amountof risk taking is reqiired. yet this must be at a measuredlevel,sincefoblish risks iust lead to losses. Therefore, more and more, experiencedblavers are 'advantages turningto the technique^of trying to exploitsmall into a win. The risk of losingsuchtindgamesis slim; ihe prosp€ctsof a win can be br-ightif yofhave the needed k n o w l e d gea n d d e te rmi n a ti o n -.A "[ongtim e" aso it was thoughtpoor mannersto keepplayingouisuperioriyettheoretically "deaddrawn"endgamei. Yo[ weresupposeoto trust your opponent'sability_to alwaysdefend coriectly. Such times are long past and the practiial tournamentprav6rbetter be awareof that. You nust-want to play out your slishtly*prior endgameswith greatenthusiasm ahd deteniinatioi: v6u^utt be ready to defend slightly infertor endgameswith greatcare and patience.The worst thing that you can do in a-ninferior

,1.^lg oppongnt fo^rplaying it our. q:,-uP^l:l i?{gi3: I n r s w l l t l ea d to n o th tnlt,your g .b g a ! l o wer ingof your guar d

trying to scorethe valuablehalf point.

% A % % 1 'fu,t"ru,

,' "%r u , % % t Diagram33

, %t'% % % 7 M % '

fr%A% %

ft/

z

ftt

W. Browne J. Grefe 1975USA Champions After Black 22nd move

in

To discussthis importantsubjectI haveselectedtwo endgames:one where the ilefenderis iarelessand rosesdeserve d l y a n d t he o th e r w h e re th e d e fenseis up to the iob. I decidedto usesamecolor Bishopendgamesbbcauseth"edifficulty of correctlyplayingsuchendgailesis often underrated Dyressexpenencedplayers. Our first startingpoint is Diagram33, W. Browne- J. Gr_efe, 1975USA Cham-pionship, after"Black's'22nd move.The only significantpermanbntiteriris that Black'so-pawnian be |jl1.k5g QV.{!iqe's Bishop,whereasWhite'sd-irawnis safe trom tslack's Bishop. _yef white can only attackBlack'sdpawn by the Bishop,whereas Black hastio defe;d;rs avail-

61

able. Therefore,obviouslythere can be no talk that the rrawnis a significantweakness.Black'sisolatedd-pawnis t thatWhiteftas. When I analyzedthis endgame iheadvantage rJepthshortlyafter it wasplayed,I referredto Diagram33 ;r "deaddraw". But now - older and wiser - I know better. very strong internationalmastercan lo the first place,if a "dead draw"? There are three importa it, how can it be a reasonswhy White not only shouldplay it out but is-entit to do that: (1) White hasno risk of losing,(2) Blackwill al haveto move and can make error(s),and (3) becauseBla will alwayshave to spendsome energyin guardingthe pawn,this could give White somechancesof openingup al infiltratinginto the Kingside. Much to gain,nothingto lo is the situationfor White. White doeswin, asfollows:

23 Kfl

Centralizingthe King is a logicalfirst step. Black h this. alreadyaccomplished Bd7

23 .... 24 a3!

At our startingpoint Black hasthe temporarilys-t1p or QueensG ["*n fSrination. With the perceftivetext Wh ensiresthat tliis situationcan not be mabe pe'rmanent.Aft i...Pidl, g l act
alwa* be on theda il;;i"i in"t t iJ Or.iniioe pawns-will rq"ii*lwriittr diGh;;il"?*. Ao*eu.., arter24a3!,wh 62

is able - at his convenience- to continuewith b4, thus also placingboth of his pawnson the dark squares.

24 .... E Ke2 26 Ke3

Kf6 Ke7 b5??

This major strategicblunderdoesnot yet losethe game but is as wrong as can be: Black needlesslyputs anotherpawn on a light squarewhere it can be attackedby White'sBiihop. But how can an experiencedIM commit such an error? I think that the explanationinvolvesletting down one'sguard. The position appears "dead drawn" and the text helps to blockadethe Queenside.Yet the damagedoneis permanent.

31 h3 32 KR 33 Ks3 34 Bhs 35 h4!

Bd7 KA l<97 Bc6

White tries to loosenBlack'sKingsidepawn formation in the hope_of cr e.ati ng.ani nv as .i onr oute for hi s Ki ng. llandicappedas he is by his wlnerable b- and d-pawns,Black rnustdefendvery accuratelyand purposefullyto preventthis. of his condi\'et he neverseemsto fully graspthe seriousness tion. Bd7 35 .... Be6 36 BB Bd7 37 Be2

38 Bhs!

26 b4t The refutationof Black'slast move and the point of White's 24th. Black might aswell capture,as after 27...a4?lthe a-pawncould go lost in casethe b-pawnis gone.

27 28 axb4 29 t4t

axb4 g5

White now hasthe obviouslysuperiorBishop,but Black just prevent damagefrom that source. So Wtrite must try can get to his King into Black'scamp. There are no routesopen on the Queenside,so White's King will haveto head for-the Kingsideto look for chancesthere. 29 ....

t6

Black wantsto be in the position that after a fxg5 he can recapturewith the f-pawnand keep a symmetricalpawn formation. If Black would recapturewith the h-pawn,-then White has excellentchancesfor creatinga viable outside passedh-pawnby g3 and h4. 30 896

Bg4

53

Using the characteristicBishop tempo maneuvers, rvherebythe Bishop can "lose a move",White has brought aboutthe sameposition as after Black's35th move,but with Black on move now. Yet havingto move is unpleasantfor Black. For instance,his Bishophas no good moves:38...Be6? 39 Be8 wins the b-pawnor 38...Bc6?allows39 Bg4! followed by Bc8and Kg4 (similarto the actualgame). KI8??

38 ....

Sincethe Bishopcan't move,Black movesthe King. In is required. After critical positionsa lot-moreperceptivness the ioad into Black'sKingside' King has iree a text White's 'fhe is ! 39 defense 38...gxh4+ correct only I&h4 f5!, aspointed out by GM Robert Byrne. Wh-ite'sKing then has no infiltration route and Black'JBishopcanjust pr-otecthis pawns. A 94 breakby White is neverfea'sibleis after ...fxg4the net result would 6e that Black's h-pawnbecomesan-outsidepassed pawn. 39 hxgs! Just at the r igh t m om entw hen Bl ac k 'sKi ng i s aw ay

64

from his g-pawn.

39 .... 40 ft95 41 BB

rruwfland it is not clear what White can achieveon the KingiiA.. Wtlite's advantage,of course,is hugeand yet the win is tot 1007ocertain. After the text move,it is.

hxg5

ft95

45 Bg4!

Moreaccurateis 41Bg4! (seemove45). 4t .... 42 Be2 44th).

of BishFinallythe right idea. Becausethe exchange must White-'s peneBishop allow to BTack's feaiible, not is ops trate.

Be6 Bd7?

The only chanceis 42...Ke7 ! (Seenote after Black's 4} BB

Again correctis 43 Bg4!. Whitewantedto playthe text movequickly,soasto forceBlackto sealthenextmove. €

....

4 BeZ

Diagram34

, ",%,&), t % % % %'%a% '' ?t%t% ,, ,&;,ft%%

% " % % w

% %A%fr' % % % % %

W. Browne J. Grefe 1975U.S. Championship After 44B,e2

45 .... 45 Bc8! 47 Kg4 a8 93!

Bcf Kg7 Kg6

Whitecan PuttingBlackin zugrwang.If now48...Be8 Be6 Kf3 51 Bc6. pawn 50 49..-sal+ a9 Bb7, e.[. 6v rrina - 49 game to the is similar likely strdnger most However, se6Bc6 50 Kf5)50 Bdt! Bd7+ 51 Bf5+!Kf6 (49...Kh6-50 Kh5. Kf6 Be8+

48 49 Khs! 50 Kh6

White's penetrationroute is unusualbut effective. Thanksto rugziang, White's King getsfurther and further in.

Bc6 Be8

50 .... 51 Kh7 52 Bg4l

Enablingthe King to reachg8, since52,.8n fails to 53 Bd7and 52...Knto 53 Bh5+.

Black's ,,.r1-""" "r,., "ollL?nment leads to a defi-

nite losssince there is now no way to preventWhite's King from penetrating^pl-ack's Kingside.A full night of analpis h a d c o n v i n c e dGM B ro w n e th a t B l a ck' s onlv chanceis 44...Ke7145 Bxb5 Kd6!. Black'sKing can then stop the b-

65

896+ 52 .... Bf5 53 Kg8 Bd7 54 BeZ 55 Kf8! 94 but no desirablemovesexist, Obviouslyundesirable,

66

e.g.55...Bc656 Bg4!Bb7 57 Ke8,etc.

Orrrsrartingpoint !s p^iggrlm36,3. {"rpgy G. Kasparov, world Championship1985,Game20,aftei Black's46th move. .T-hc chessenthusiastwho yearnsfor the romanticera is no dogbt-disappointedthat suchpositionsexistand are played our . Yet this is ver y muc h par t of the br eadand buttei of iontemPorarYtournamentchess.

56 Bfl! Preparingthe final plan for z\grwang. 56 .... 57 Bg,2!

Bc6 Bb7

After 57...Ke6,White gets to Black'sg-pawnstarting with 58 Kg7l. 58 59 60 61

Diagram36

Ke8 Ke6 Kd8! Kd6 Bfl! Bc6 Bd3! Black resigns

Diagram35

i

t

t

ft fr

t;

/& ' %%A'% T, %

W. BrowneJ. Grefe 1975U.S. Championship After 61 Bd3!

% ,%,

The end of this most classicalendgamedeservesa diagram. Though at this moment materiafis still even,begqus_e of zugrwangBlack will now start losinghis pawns:(1) 61...Ke662 Kc7 followedby 63 Kb6, (2) 61.:.8d7'62 Be2n, givingBlack a Hobson'striple choice:losethe b-pawn,losethe g-pawnor lose the K & P endgameafrer 62...Kc6 63 Bxb5+ Kxb5 64Y\xd7Kxb4 65 Kd6 Kc4 66 Ke5. Now let us turn to an example of perfect defense againstthe then reigningWorld Champion,i patient maneuverer who continuouslytestshis oppbnent's-skill.Yet the Champion-to-beshows-whyhe des6rvesto wear his mantle.

67

% ' w ,% % itu%%/tuft /& %Artu,%

A. KarpovG. Kasbarov 1985World Championship Game20 After Black's 46th move

% % %

% w , ' T ,%

% % " % "'z % %a9,.%

'%,, %t'U t a g i .M.'% % %t

White must play out this positionbecausehe has two clearadvantages:(1) the better King, sinceby being on the fourth rank it relegatesBlack'sKing to the third rank, and (2) the superiorBishopbecauseit canmenaceBlack'sKingside pawns. The abovefactorsare not enoughto win, but more than enough to attempt to do so. Kasparov'squalitative evaluationof the situationis perfect:"The endingis unpleasant,but it is tenable,a s tor e of pati enc ebei ng al l that i s required." Therefore,Black clearly has the proper attitude, and"all" that is required is to find the proper moves- somethingwhich requireseternalvigilance.

Be8 f6

47 Bc4 48 h4

Both necessaryand good: Black safeguardsthe important e5 square,enablix a pdtential ...g5adva-nce, while__removing one of tne Kingside^pawns froir the vision of White's Biihop. 49 Bg8! Already forcingBlack to start seriousthinking' The

68

7

attemptto activatethe Bishopwith 49...Bd7?50 Bf7 Bf5 leaCs

tg plgbpqsglter.s!R!:_(1) !!..Ke7 52BdsKd6 53Be4,oi (z),lt...pc]-s?g4.Ke7 53BdsBdl 54Be4f5 (or54...Kfi'55 gxh5gxh5.56Kd5)55gxf5gxf5 56 Bxf5Bxf3 57 Ke5- ii eachcae with a substantialadvantage for White (analpis by GM YuriAverbach)

49 .... 50 Ba2 51 Bds 52 Bg8 53 Bb3!

Kc6! Kd6 Ke7 Kd6

Wlite, with his apparentlyaimlessBishop maneuvers, 'For kee.psgiving Black the-op-p^ortuniiy to go wrong. instance, a blunder now is 53...Kc6??becau-se after 54 g-a++b5 55 Bci Black'sb5 pawn is a new fundamentalweakness.

53 .... 54 Bdl 55 Be2 56 Bd3 57 Bc4 58 Be2

Ke7 Kd6 Bd7 Be8! Ke7

Becauseof Black's steadfastdefense,it has become clear to white that the value of Bishopmaneuvershas been exhausted. Thereforg, it-is tim-eto prepare a pawn advance. The-place.to d9 this is where the otriponenthabweaknessesthe K.ingside.Lessobviousis how io do it. Kasparovpoints out that a routine paw.l advan_ce by 58 f3 Kd6 59 94 is of.59-.95!, with the.reiulting pawn exchinges 191!i"g !ec.au1e. berngonly in Black'sfavor. He pointsourTdrtherthat even del a y i n gt h e f 3, 9 4 a d va n ceu n ti l w h i te' s Kins is on f4 and will also not be sufficientto winiecause after Hfrrqp on d3 ".2' "3'lg5

f"g4 g,1jlg1 Ke7thereis no apparenr way "1_ Ior whtte to improveryfl hisposition. 58 .... 59 94

Less flexible is 59 f4 sinceafter 59...Bf7 60 Bdi Beg has 61...g5,and w i th the i m pr ov em entof hi s Black f5 rrl pxw.n formation,Black has appioximateequality lingside + Zaitsev)it.utpou

59 .... 60 Bxg4

hxg4

Here again is anothermomentof truth for Black and Kasparovtook 30 minutes for his move, before correctly deciitingthat keepingthe statusquo is the right defense.

" t 4 ,A % % % Diagram37

i g rr P,'%'% % € A & % % %

,&%"/M% % %

The active 60...95? 61 h5 f5 is refuted by 62 h6l B.96 63 Bhs! Bh7 64 Kc4!. Xasparov is satisfiedto end the analysis here with "White musf win". Karpov + Zaitsev take it further: 64...94(The passive64...Kc665 BeS+ Kd6 66 Kb5 Kc7 leads to-zuirwaris and trouble after 67 Ka6 94 68 Bh5! Kc6 69 b4 axb{ 70 alb4 Kc7 71 b5.) 65 Kb5 Ke5 (65...Kc7 66 Ka6! will transposeinto the aboveline.) !0__ne!t-(p.l3c!-ge^tl strongcounterpliLyafter 66 Kxb6?! Kf4 67 K*u{ Kf3)-66...f4 (Nor,rithereis no fime for 66...Ke4?! 67 Bc6+ ! Kd3 68 Kxb6 and White will come first) 67 Bc6 93 68 fxg3 f-gl -9.9Kxb6 Be4 60 Bxe4Kxe4 7lh7'g2 72 h8-=Qgl:Q+ 73 Kb5! and thereis no reasonwhvultir[atelvWhiteshouldn'twin' BfTl 60 .... 6l f4 white now threatens62 f5!, creatinga winningoutside

70 69

A. Karpov G. Kasparov 1985World Championship Game20 After 60 Bxg4

passedpawn,thus forcing Black'sresponse.White could have fried first a few more BiJhopmaneuverswith, e.g.6l Be2 Bd5 62 Bd3 Bt7 63 Bc4 Be8, yet ultimately 64 f4 needsto be plavedand after 64...f51we wouldhavethe samepawnformat io ir a s i n t h e g a me . Wh i te ca n i mp ro vehis King position after 65 Bg8! Ke7 (forced) 66 Kd5 or 66 Ke5, but Black's position is stableenoughto hold. Still this approachseemsto give White better practicalchancesthan the gamecontinuation.

f5! Bd5 BR!

6l .... 62 Bdl 63 Ba4

Black wants to keep his Bishop active, becauseafter 63...8f7 64 Bb5! he would be forced to play 64...Ke7and after White's61st acquiesceto the passivepositiondiscussed move. After the text it is worthwhileto examinewhat White's pawn advanceshave led to. Both of Black'sKingsidepawns are vulnerableto White's Bishop,with the g-pawn being fundamentallyweak. Yet White also has absorbedsome demerits:one pawn has been exchangedoff, White's split pawnsare vulnerableto an incursionby Black'sKing and, most importantly,White has a h-pawn- the RP which is the wrongcolor for his Bishop! 64 65 66 67 68

Bb3 Bf7 Kc4l Kc3 b4

Be2 Bh5 Be2+ Bh5

l)awnretain control of b4 or c5? 68 ....

Ke7!

The key again i s that W hi te c annotput Bl ac k i nto lugzwangby force on the Kingsideand the-reforeBlack's on d6 and therebyproKing will Qgqble.tohold.hisgror.rnd iect c5 sufficiently. Los i ngi s 68...ax b4+?69 Kx b4 s r nc e White'sKing can then infiltrate as follows:69...Kc6 70 Be8+ Kcz 71Kc4! Kd6 72Kb5Kc7 73Ka6Be2+ 74Ka7 Bh5 75 tlfT Kc6 76 Kb8! (Kasparov). Notice how similar this winning maneuveris to that of the previousgame. There White won by getting his King to g8 via the Kingside;here to b8 via the Queenside. 69 Bc4 70 bxaS 7t Kd4

Kd6! bxa5 BR

Now, in Kasparov'swords,Black'sBishop is "evicted" from the d1-h5diagonal.He considers 71...Bd772BflBB! as the most accuratemoveorder. 72 Bfl

Bd5

The Bishop must head back as after 72...B,94?73 Kc4l Kc6 74 Bg2+ Kb6 75 Bd5 White'sKing will penetratedecisivelyinto Black'sKingside.

73 Be2 74 Bdt 75 Ke3!?

Bb7 Bds

(SeeDiagram38 on the followingpage)

Black can never be put into zugzwangon the Kingside becausea 68 Be8 is alwaysansweredby 68...Ke7with an attack on the Bishop. Therefore,White must now try to progresson the Queenside.The text doeshave the disadvantagdof causinga Queensidepawn to be exchangedoff, yet it againforcesBlack to makethe correctchoice. ShouldBlack's

A surprising,creativemove. White wantsto attackthe 96 pawn with a B!8 or Bf7 without allowingBlack's...Bh5 tlefense.Bv guardingthe f3 square,White'sKing prevents lllack'sBisfiobfrom iettins to li5. Of course,the text allows Black'sKing to be aciivatedand this factorwill be enoughto

7I

72

obtain a draw.

'24,7K Diagram38

t 2 %AA %tt % , f t &

r

g

A. KarpovG. Kasilarov 1985World Championship Game20 After 75 Ke3

Kds! Kc5

79 Bbs 80 Kd3 81 Kc3 82 Kd4

Kd6! Bb3!

W hite' s a- paw n i s w or th - for Bl ac k - both of hi s Kingsidepawns. In a momentwe'll seewhv.

83 Be8 u Bxg6 85 Blds

Ke7 Bxa4 Kf6 Draw!

75 .... 76 Ba4 77 Bd7

Kc5 Bf7

Whitecannorput Blackin zuszwans,bv 77 Kd3!?Bc4+ 78 Kdz Bf7? 79 Kc3,_becaue Black-has t-hebetter7g...Kd4!, taki ng^adupg}age^ gf_Wlri_te's spIit pawnsto reach equality after79 Be8Ke4 80Bxg6Krf4 8t n5 fg5 (Averbach).

BecauseWhite's h-pawn is the wrong color for his [3ishop,Black has a sure draw if he sacrificeshis Bishopfor the f-pawn and his King can reach h8. It is not that difficult to realize that Black can achievethis. Kasparovgivesthe following instructivevariation:86 Bd3 Be8 87 Kc5 a4 88 Kb4 Ke6 89 Bc2 Kf6! 90 Bxa4 Kf5! 91 Bxe8 Krd4 92 Bd7 Ke5 followedby...Kf6, Kg7,Kh8.

77 .... 78 a4 Unavoidable,but with the disadvantage that the pawn now is on the samecolor as Black'sBishop.-yet Karpciv,by playing a4 immediately,again forcesKasiarov to be on'hii toes. The active 78...Kb4-?loses after 79 Kd4 Bb3 g0 Beg Bxa4 81 Bxg6,e.g.81...BcZ82 Be8! a4 83 Bxa4Bxa4 g4 h5 896 QbKe5 Kc5 8T Kf6 (Averbach). The active PSA__AS^ItQ 78.-.Kc3?losesafter 79 Bbs! whenBiack hasnothinsbetter than enteringthe aboveline with 79...Kb480 Kd4 8b3."

Kes!

78 ....

Kasparov'sperceptivesolution:the King will be used the.queenilgof White'sKingsidepd-wns prev.en^t while the lq Bishop'sfunctionwill be to obtain counlerpldyagainstthe a4 pawn.

73

74

Part II OppositeColorBishopEndgames chapter3: characteristics of oppositecolor Bishoppositions As soonas there^are oppositecororBishopson the board,alwap be awareof the fcitibwing t*o priniipi.5," (1) If trtouayeQowTmateriar,tookfor drawingchances in a pure oppositecolorBishopendgame. mostuniqyegndgaTg-is the pureopposite ^^,^- tsishop J::9lblf_rhe c.o.rol. one. Here eachof thE Bishopsdoes"tiii o*n thing",comfletelyobliviousof the e*ist.niJ6i tn. otn.r one. In.alto:fer endgame,s the piece(s)cananddo attackeach orner. r ne strategyof exchanging is oftenthe keyconceptin playingto.winsuptriorendgailrei.euiiuc-hmiii.iJ6..or. rrrerevant l.npureoppositecolorBishopendgames. Therefore much increases in importance. However, Lt:qj:t]ylrl_y:ry an.active Kiirg is gene.aity *iii :l:t3p:r,t?1.:,9f faving recognrzed rn ail endgames. Theconceptthatis sospeiialin is that'ort[i elbtkADe. lppositecolor.Bishofendgames Becausethere is no riay ro"chaseawa.yt[e. pirfitbi;fferi"g an,elghqnge, blockades-in oppositecolbrgisnoti;d;ai,o "r. andverydifficuttto bre-ak.Very :?i1rlt:'I::1y lo achieve orren,a one.pawn advantage is insufficient to win: oftefi enougnIo gry^g comtbrtto the defender,a two pawnadvan_ t a g ei s i n s u f f i c i e n ta;n d p e r i o d i c a l l y ' e v e n ; i h ; ; .p a w n advantage is nor elgugf. Ttreieaion'.1*.y, -*I i't.-J"r., u blockade whichcan'tbe"broten. n?ajo:.pieces (euegnqnd/oqRgok(s)) on' -"theboard, 9)_W.:tn opposite colorBishops favor thesidewiththeoitiit . However.there.is a paradoxregardingthe value opposite cofqr Bi!["p;l; an"infe.i8r'po,ition. of rf Il"i-':g^ -tl. tnereare majorpieces(eueenandTorR;kciiof i[.'uo.to, 75

,,ndthese can create an attack,then the defender'sjob is ,,iuchmore difficult, becausethere is nothingthat he can put ,ip to n.utralize the strengthof the enemyBishop. Often in such positions,the most effective method of increasingone's advantageis to exchangeQueen'sso that the 'can ii removed from the board and the ,jefender-'sbest piece do its iob with little inteference.This is ,'irackineBishop play from Dlqgram39,J. Sp€man - J' the ittuitrated'in ri.tt BarcelonaWoitd Cup 1989,after Black's21stmove. t'..tosueiras, doubled on the 7th rank are a fantasticpower, R6oks Wtrlt.'r gtack's active Queen is doing double duty as both an ,ef Therefore: defender. and httacker

"Etgz 'N "r,rt. %t",,ru t% % % t -T

Diagram39

% % t %A.1,& ,rrr,r&" , %'g % %w% %'r,& + %'%/M,frt, % #, 22 Qc3!!

J. SpeelmanJ. Nogueiras Barcelona World Cup 1989 After Black's 21stmove

Qxc3

Forcedsince22..-Qdl+?? 23 Rel d4 droPsthe Queen after24 Qc4+. Rae8 Kh8

23 bxc3

7z5!h3! W+

the Of course,White's immediateneed is-to preventwon and h4?l 25 played back rank mate. f n i'tti-g"*. W1tit. is 25

tig;;"'%'much stronger afrerpooroerense'uy'bi;'il.gamg''white's ttli"Jt.iottenoti6v cM spititun afterthe noi is Rooksstandf.nt"lJilifiV,ir"i ttiJnitnop toparticipating the in theattack.If wilil'A;ld'g;i theBishop d4'then 76

end for Black would be immediate. ThereforeWhite needsa route for the Bishopfrom 95 to d4. That route is Bh4-f2-d4 and thereforethe Bishop needsaccessto both the h4 and f2 squares. A likelycontinuationnowwouldbe: 25 ....

8g6

After 25...f3,simplestis 26 gxf3 followedby Be3; after 25...b5,decisiveis 26 Bf4 followedby Be3.

with White'sBishop! fr)ping ' Still, m ost of the ex am pl esof the adv antageof the color Bishopin the an'ackoccurwith Quee"ns on the rrr:posite t,bhrd.Witnessthe playfrom Diagram40,E. Mednis- J. Gore, New York 1955,after N{arshallChessClub Championship, Black's39th move. At first glanceit may appearthat Black lrasa strong attack,yet the truth is otherwise. Black'sBishop is both irrelevant for an attack againstWhite's King and aroundhis own irnpotentas a defenderof the dark-squares h ing. White won quicklyasfollows:

'%A%

26 B! If 26...Rg8,27RyhT+ ! BxhT 28 Bf6+ Rg7 29 BxgT+ Kg8 30 Bd4 is killing.

Diagram40

r

27 P,g:dT The immediate27 Bh4 can be met by 27...Rc8;now 27...Rc8? is refutedby 28 Bf6+! 27 ....

Rel+

After 27...Rf5,White plays 28 Bh4 and 29 BfZ; after 27...K98,28Rxds is good enough. 28 l
Re2

PreventingBh4-f2,but now the Bishopgets to d4 a different wav.

29 Bh6 Rfe8 Kg8 30 Bg7+ R&6 31 Bd4 32 Rg7+ Kf8 33 Bcs+ Ke8 34 Rg8 mate Pleaserecall how irrelevant Black's Bishop was in

77

rg

t rn

+ Zl I

t

-

L

J

% %t

r

*

't\1, E

40 Kg3 41 Kh4!

ft, t

t

\

.

E. MednisJ. Gore New York 1955 After Black's 39th move

Qe4 Qe7

Black has no via bl e pl an for ei ther defendi ngthe chronic dark squareweaknesses around his King nor for achieving counterplay.Thus al...Qgz or 41...Qe2are alsomet bv 42 Qf4:'after 41...b4White plays42 Qb6. 42 Qt4

Qe4

Here and on the next move Black tries to exchange Queensto lessenWhite's attack. If 42...Rf8,43 Bb4! R>d6 44 gxf6wins. After 42...8e4White wins a secondpawn with 43 R.xa6while retainingall his attackingchances.

Qds

43 Qd6 4 QcTl 45 96l

Rd8

78

The start of the decisiveattack. Notice how the rockposition of White's Bishopon d2 both blockadedthe dlike prevented checkson e1, while still being readyto jump pawri, at a moment'snotice. attack the into

fr&,* Pfl3 is 47Qe5. After 46...Kg7,simplest f7 Rf8+ Blackresigns

Chapter4: Material Advantage-- Normal positions Section1: One PawnAdvantage A one pawn advantage,without othersignificantadvantages,is insufficientto win. This is the principle whichsets endgameapait from all the rhEpure oppositecolor Bishop "goodextra pawn" is sufficient. eithers.In other endgames,a [-et us return for a momentto Diagram 12. This was a thematic routine win. Yet, if we changethe color of Black's Bishopto get Diagram 41, the positionthen is a certaindraw. A likely continuationwould be:

"h,

% %{T t%a% '% Diagram41

/ 2 ,

z "%'% "ry %n t/& "',,e/efr"'% % % % w 1 Bc3 2 B 3 Kn 4 Ke3 5 Bb4 6 Bf8 7 Be7 8 Bd8 9 h4 1 0 93 1 1 b3

t6 KT7 Ke6 Kds 96 h5 f5 Bbs Bfl Bbs Ke5 Kds Ke6 Kfl

t 2 Bc7* 13 Kf4 l 4 Kgs

Draw 79 80

Draw

Clearly White cannothope to progres.s.Even.ifBlack misolavsDiaeram 41 from the starf an-dallows White the ictiie King an-da passedpawn on the Queenside,ch{tces are itiat ttre p5sition is still drawn. Let us now look at Diagram +2. wttite on move wins with 1 Kc6! followed by the advance of the b-pawn. But Black on movecanstill draw:

'% % % %,%

tt "o%,

% g%t% w % ,fr'% ,%'/,& t%t l.&, %",.,WA '% , % /M % %%'% %

Diagram 42

White on movewins Black on movedraws

1 ....

2 Kcs Or 2 Ka5 Bd3 3 b6 Be4 4 Ka6 Kc8 5 Kb5 Kd7 5 Kc5Ke6,etc. t

Be4 Bb7 Ke6 Kd7 Ke6

3b6 4 Bel 5 Bf2 6 Kd4 Draw

White's King cannotget into the Kingsideand the bblockaded. pawnremainssecurelY Now let us take a quick look at some examplesfrom tournamentplay which fuither prove the correctnessof the oiinciote staied'attne Ueeinningof this section. Diagram43 ft. DonnEr,San"taMonica 1966,after-White's I- i{. ii*friilj. 3fth move(30 Bc4-d3). The Dutgh GM jumps at the chanceto establisha ilrawn oppositecolor Bishopendgame.

Diagram43

%E% %@.z 'ry, % %t/fr,t t" r % % % % y,'% %8% % t f l % % '& %A% ,& t,'H t ft

% %wtrj

30 .... 31 B)ds 32 Qxcl 33 Kfl

kc2! Rc1 Bxcl

If 33 d5, 33...8a3stopsthe pawn

34 .... 35 Ke2 Draw

h6 Kf8

Even as great a fighter as Fischer decided that there wasnothing better than to offer a draw. Black readily stops the d-pawn and White has no hope for progressanywhereelse either. The play fr om D i agr am 44 ( on the nex t page) ,A. Matanovic- M. Udovic, Zagreb 1965,after Black's34th move, showsthat the extra pawn in the form of a far advanced pr otectedpassedpawn al s o m ay be i ns uffi c i entto w i n. White'sextia pawn'isthe c-pawnand Black is readyto paraItzethat with 1...Bb4.Therefore,Whitetries: 35 c5! then 36 d6 and 37 Kd5; White'sKing If now 35...dxc5?, then is well placed,whereasBlack'sKing is cut off from the winningchances.Black Thus White hasreasonable _tl-pawn. lltereforebaseshis defenseon the principleof blockade.

82

8t_

R. FischerH. J. Donner SantaMonica 1966after White's3fth

"ry.& '4. % "% % '/z //t '% ""& &

Diagram44

2t'2 2 t% % 7t %A%frt2, '%ft%e%, % '/Z ''&.

%"'ry, N 7t'',2 %'%I h. 7t 35 ....

Ke7!

37 Be2 38 Bg4 3e #6

Bb6 Kf6 h6

%

A. Matanovic - M. Udovic Zagreb 7965 After Black's 34th move

Bas

16 6

As a precautionBlack removesthe h-pawnfrom the color of White'sBishop. ,m Kff 4l Kc4

Bc7 Ke7

When White's King movesto the Queenside,so does Black's. Kd8

42 Kbs Draw

After 43 Ka6 Bb8 44 Kb7 Bc7 there is no way for White to break the blockade. The kind of frustrationsthe side up a pawn can feel are well exemplifiedfrom Diagram45 (on'the'nextpage),E. Mednis - F. Damm, Lugano 1987,after Black's 26th move. White hassix normal pawnsand a samecolor Bishopendgame would be a routine win. Yet here there are no reasonable winningchances,no matterhow hard White tries.

27 Kn

Bc2!

28 a5

Diagram45

'%

%9"4r,

% M %t.&,t rt %tt % % % % % ' % % r t ' %t% % 7.&, t:

Obviouslyforced, but now White's chancesfor the only thematicbreak on the Queenside- b5 havevanished. Bd3 Bfl Kt8 Ke7 Kd7 96 Be2 h5 Bfl Be2 Bfl

28 29 Ke3 30 93 31 Kd4 32 Kcs 33 Bd6 34 Be5 35 f4 36 BE 37 Bh6 38 Bg5 39 f5!?

Hooins for 39...exf5?!when Black's split Kingside pawnscouid g-iveWhite'I tcing somesmall chancesof success there. Black'sresponseendsthosedreams. Bd3! ft96 Bfl Bd3 Bfl

39 4 ft96 4l Kd4 42 Ke5 43 Be3 4 Bcs 45 Kf6 4 Be3 47 c4

Bd3

8f5 Bd3 8f5! Draw 84

83

E. MednisF. Damm Lugano1978 After Black's 26th move

7

49 Bcl

Bdl

drawnl!;:3#.il:'i:i'#3l"'131,,fl;;i,f; :i,:r'"y,-r:R,._?,i. The crux of Black'sdefensewas the last two moves. of making anyfurther rt ryinningi*tptq.

i" i;i;;1'17

realize how handicappedWhit6 was by his "do nottrT*,;oppo_ sitecolor Bishop.

\&hite'splan wasBe3,followedby Kb4-a5,followedby b4, b5.

t,,

ti Diagram46

g r :

A i,z fttft

/

t A A lzf t t /&: z

D. BarlovE. Mednis Graz1987 After White's 4fth move

Black alsohaseyeryright to expect_to.draw Diagram 46,D.Barlov- E. Mednis,Gr# 1gg7,a{tii Wt it.', iott move, thoughsomemore care is n...*"ry than il1h.;;;vious example: 40 .... 4r Kd2 42 Ke3

Ke6 Bc4 Bfl!

A k e y p a r t o f B l a c k ' sd e f e n s e :b y c l o s i n so f f t h e

Kings-id.e, Btackontyhasto *o.ryiilil.Jp;;\ifi?.",s

out of the Queensid-e.

43h4

u Kd2 45 b3 46 a4

Black'sposition seemsrock sorid,but white finds a . nrcemaneuverto untanglehis pieces.

47 Bbz! 48 Kc3!

Bd3 Bezl 85

There is no time for 53 Ka5 becauseBlack'sBishop capturesboth QueensidePawns. Kd5 Be2

53 54 ;; Draw

W hite has been c onv i nc edthat ther e i s no w ay to Drogress.After the obvious55 b5 axb5 56 a5, Black sets up blockadewith 56...b4+!!57lkb4 Ba6. hn unbreakable All the previousexampleshave shown how difficult it mustbe to winwith a one pawn advantage.To be successful there truly must be significantpositionll.advantages.The 47'Bkind of position that can be won is shownin_Diag^ram Larsen-^R. Hubner, LeningradInterzonal 1973,after Black's are: 43rdmove. The characteristics

King

h5! Kd5 Bd3 Bfl

Kcf Be2+! Bdl!

50 Be3 51 Kc4 52 Kb4 53 Ka3

Diagram47

'% %a%@'% % ' %" % % tt w

%'ry

%tt%, "/& % % %ft%

ft% % % t

B. LarsenR. Hubner Leningrad (i^) 1973 After Black's 43rd move

On the Queens i deeac h has a pas s edpaw n' w hi c h i s 86

hSviltg blockadedby the Bishop. White hasthe 3{v.an1ag9.of is the Bishop ourisidepassed'pawn.Howeve_r,.White's |fiili" careful be must *rone .oior for ihe a-plwn and thus White ;ii;-fi. ir-nor left with the Bishop + a-pawncombination *hen Black'sKing canget to the queeningsquare' -- White hasthe activeKing. -- Black'sg-pawnis a fundamentalweakness' W h i t e h a s t h e p o t e n t i a l h 5 b r e a k w i t h t h i s .P l q n af t e r . .. e *h S'Kx f 5, fb l l o w e d b y K g 5 a n d Kxh.S' .Black' s giihop 5n d7 preventsthis plan,-bufcan be pulted awayby of the a-Pawnthe acivance Thesefactors add up to a win becausewhite will win a secondDawnunder circuhstanceswhere his King remains active. the instructivegamecourseis: 4

a3'!

Already putting Black in zugzwang:if theBithoP,l1t-ry on the c8-e6diagonal,the a-pawnadvances;tf tne blsnop is decisive' the-ht itup on the a4-e$diaSonal, B:?O Bd7 6 a4 Bc8 6 aS 47 Bbz

lllwn.

c3!

49 IGCS

In the same Black resignedafter 49 Kf5. The text is glack's best t"rysince otherwiseWhite playsKg5 and Kxhs lrndis uP three PassedPawns.

50 Bxc3 51 93 in Of coursenot 51 ga??hxgawith a drawasdiscussed thenoteto Black's48thmove. Be2 Ke7 Whitewins

51 .... 52 t4 53 Ke5

BecauseW hite al s o i s l eft w i th a g- paw n'Bl ac k 's B i s h o pc a n n o t a f f o r d t o s a c r i f i c ei t s e l f f o r t h e f - p a w n ' by ?l White\ two widelyseparatedpassedpawns'supporte.d activelyplacedKing are a s ui e w i n.- T he nex t s ec ti onw i l l showhow to play suchendgames.

Another zugzwangposition and Black's Bishop must giveup his watchoverf5. Ba6 gxhS

47 .... 48 h5!

White must be carefulabout how to capture' W.tgngl! rs 49 Kxh5?becauseafter 49...c3! 50 Bxc3Ke6 the position Kinga dra*n, sinceto ptogte*sWhlt-gwill haveto exchange .G t;;; and then"Black'sKing q.uicklyruns to.the-C)ueen-

sideivhile theBishop"siiiiri.*'i?rii 6;'whii.'i-tutt Kingside 87

88

winningtechniqueconsists.ofbringingthe King over to the Kingsideand then advancingthe e-pawn. WIth White on move:

Section2: T\voPawnAdvantage Becausea one pawn advantageusuallyis insufficient to win, the important questionsbecome:when does a two pawn advantag'e win and whendespitea fwo pawndisadvanpos-ition the coirect technique drawn. As alw'ays, tage is the pawnsand then passed is first obtain to foi the strohgerside pawnsare phssed quedn of The two categories them. to try to passed pawns. In passed pawns and disconnected conriected pertaining principles the basic this sectionwill beconsidered to each category. Chapters5 and 6 will considermore advancedcases. A. ConnectedPassedPawns We can formulate the following four important principles:

1 2 3 4

White doesnot evenneedto play 5 Kf7; after 4...Bg3or 4...Kc8the e-pawncan be advancedimmediately. 3) If the pawns arefunher back, then the keyquestionis wheth' advancedto the sixth rank. If the er theycan be successfully answeris yes,then thereis a win; otherwiseit is a draw. The two key situationsare shownin Diagrams49 and 50. Diagram 49 is drawn irrespectiveof who is on move. With White on move,play can pr6ceedasshownon the following page:

() fhe defendingKng must be in front of the pdwns to have any hopefor a draw. (2) When both pawnsare on the sirth rank, the glme is usually won. The only uceptionsare afew RP + NP positions. A typicalwon positionis shownin Diagram48.

'.,/

Diagram48

% * . ' % 7| t

t t "'7r. "'%rg% %'%e% 4 '"& % 7 %'%

Whitewins

| %Aa7,

2

'% "1t "////r.,,

I t i s w o n i r r esp e cti veo f w h o i s o n move. W hite' s

89

Bf6 Bg5 Bh4 White wins

Bb5 Ke4 Kfs Kg6

"%a%% %,ffi,% % %'%

Diagram49

% ,rut% %%e%,

Draw

% % % % % % % 1 2 3 4

Bh4+ Kf4 Kgs Bel Dravvn

KN Bd7 Bc8! Bd7

Black dr awsbv s i m pl ym ov i nghi s Bi s hopbac k and forth betweend7 and 68; Whiie can make no progressbecause

90

his King must continueto protectthe f-pawn. We can now formulaTethe followingrequirementfor the positioningof the defender'sBishop to b€ able to draw: it must be in front of the pdwns, 'veing must attaik one of them and musthavesufficientmaneuspaceto be able to remainon that diagonal.

Diagram50

''h, g' % % %'% % '/'&ft% % '%'%',9% ,"%,,%% % % %

Blackon movedraws

Kd7 Kd6 Ke7

Bh4+ e6rBg3+! Ke5!

White is now ensured of getting both pawns to the sbrthrank. The next step will be fbr White's King to get into Black'sKingside.

4 5 6 7

.... f6+ Kfs Bd6+

Be8 KA Bhs Kg8

After 7...Ke8?8 Kg5 it is over immediately.

8 Kgs

Kg8

The pretty lt?lgmqte try-10...Bf7!?is parried by the pr€ttier 11 Bd4! Bxe6 12 f7 mate. After-thetext White r:v€fl zugrwang with a thematictempo movewith his Bishsetsup his r:p,thus allowing King to finally reachthe key97 square. 11 12 13 14

White on movewins

The courseof play from Diagram 50 showsthe damage that a momentarilvmisplacedBishopcan cause. lf Black is on move,he can gbt his Bishopbackwith 1...8d7!and draw. Yet White on movewins asfollows:

1 2 3 4

10 Bes!

Bd4! t
Kf8 Bh5 Ke8 White wins

i4) The strongerside'sKng shouldbe in front of thepawnsfor becausethen he can directlyassisttheir maximumeffectiveness advance. The importanceof the aboveprinciplewill be illustrated from Diagram 51, E. Walther - R. Fischer,Zurich 7959, after Black' s 53r d mov e. It w as onl v after c ons i der abl e strugglingthat GM Fischerhad reachedttris position. The presenceof the h-pawnsdoesnot affectthe evaluationof the iosition becauseWhite'sBishopis of the wrong color for his h-pawn. ThereforeWhite will haveto win on the Queenside with his connectedpassedpawns. ObviouslyBlack'sonly chancefor a draw is to set up a blockade. If White knows how to handle his King and pawnshe will win. First I will demonstratethe correcl methodand then will give the game continuation.

Diagram5l

'% %"@ N% ' %' % %

% e % ' %% % % % % % %A%fr '% fr',.,&/z %

Be8 Kh8

9 Kh6

9L

92

E. WaltherR. Fischer Zurich 7959 After Black's 53rd move

(a) The correctway = Make and keepthe King active Kc7 Kb8

54 b4! 55 Ka5! 56 b5

White is readv for b6 irrespectiveof Black's response. ThereforeBlack has nothingbetteirthan to temporarilyblockNote the-powerful placeme.lqof White's ade the a-pawn. 'the central diagon-al:it takesawayb7 from Black's Bishopon King and is the right color for the a-pawn.

Ba3 Kc8 Kb8

56 .... 57M 58 Ka6! 59 Be4!

Putting Black in zugrwang,becauseafter 59...Kc8'60 Ka7 is decisivE.Therefore t-trenis-tropmust free the a-pawn'

Bc5 Bd4 Bc3 Bd4 Whitewins

59 .... 60 a4 61 a5 62 Kbs! 63 a6

Both pawns are now on the sixth rank and there is not hi n sB l a i k c a n d o a b o u t th e co mi n g64a7+ . Pr oper ly done, White's win seemseasy,yes? Now we will seehow not to do it. (b) The lwong way = Gamecontinuation

Kc7 Kb8!

54 a4? 55 b4 56 a5

56 .... 57 Kc4

Ka7

There is nothing in 57 Ka4 Bc7 58 b5 Bd8 because illack meets59 b6+ with 59...Bxb6!. 57 ....

Bg3!

Black could alsodraw with 57...Bc7by then srayingon "short"diagonalanO Tt ls rhe a5-d8 diagonal,yet that is a saferto be on the longgl-a7 diagonal.

BN Be3 Bd2

58 b5 59 Be2 60 Kb3

To me 60...Bf2seemsa lot simpler. Kb7 Kc6! Kcs!

61 b6+ 62 Ka4 63 BbS+ Draw

It is Black who now has the activeKing! White can make no progress:if 64 b7 Bf4 65 a6 Kb6 and the blockade is still complete. Thus by being ignorantof Principle(4) did IM Walthermisshis chancefor immortaliw. B. Disconnected PassedPavyns The followingfwo generalprinciplesand four specific principlessummarizt ourknowleclgeof disconnected passed pawns. CeneralPrinciples

White's King now will not be able to help his pawns' Yet it is too late foi 56 Ka5 because,as a resultof the tempo lostwith 54 a4?.Blackhastime for 56...Ka757 b5 Bc5.

ll fne fiaftherapaft thepawns,thegreaterthe winningchances. the onti exceptionis the two RPsiflhe defendingKn-g is,Yfely tttfront-of the'RP whosequeeningiquare is not controlledby the qttqckelsBishop.

93

94

Q\ The closertogetherthe pawns,the more easilythe weaker blockadeiidt's Kng can helpachievea ruccessful SpecificPrinciPles

OtherwiseWhite will penetrateandwin after 2Ke6.

But not 2...Ke7?when White will win after 3 Ke4! Kd6 bY5 f4. followed Bd7 t

(3) Pawnsonefile aqdrtonlYdraw.

3 4 5 6

(4) Pawnstwo filesdpart (especiallythe c- andf'pawn combination) givegood winningchances. (5) Pawns more than two files apart give excellentwinning chances. (6) To win, the strongerside'sKng must be able to-penetrqte inio the ene)myterritoryand assistin the advanceof his.pawns. Whetherpeneirationis possiblewill be determined Py^tne.bcation of is owi pdwns and how activea location the defendelsKng has. The next three exampleswill help to explainthe truth behindthe aboveprinciples.Diagram52 is a 1950studyby GM Yuri Averbacli. If White'sf-pawnwould alreadybe on f5 White would win, but this positioh is drawn. BecauseWhite's f3 p a w n c a n n o t b e mo b i l i ze d ,B l a ck'sKing can help his Bishop to blockadethe c-pawn. With White on move play couldcontinue:

Diagram52

% % % t, /NA% % %"% f t %'%%'&, 7 % %&% '%rfr% % % % "ry,,

I Kds

Bg3!

2 Bg4

Bc7! Ke7 Kd8 Bf4

Kcs Kb5 Ka6 Kb7 Draw

There is no waythat White canbreakBlack'sblockade' For the combinationof a centerpawn and a sidepawn, the correct defensivetechniqueis: blockadethe centerP(w-n iiln int kng and usethe Bishopto preventthe advanceof the sidepawn. For aopreciatingthe problemsin breakinga blockade, there is no b'etterillust-rationthan Diagram53,1t{.Miller A. Saidv.AmericanOpen 1977,White on move' Black'spayns ii. 6p"rated bv thiee files, the g-pawnis alreadyon the sixth i""t-i"O u.it-ti.r. is no win foiillack! The main reasonis ih;i-Whir6t fing hassucha powerfulactivelocationthat he ei ther s i 9e of the iin L."o Blackt King fr om 'penetr ati ng so let hopeless, inherently penitration ieems Uoird. duE.niiO. Kingside: get the into can usseewhetherBlalk

Averbach 1950 Draw Diagram53

%:@%% %'/,&rg% % " %

,

%

Kf6!

95

96

N. Miller A. Saidy American Open 1971 Whiteon move

__---

7

1 Bh3+ 2B,9 3 Bh3 4B,9

pawns lundamentaldecisionwhether.toopt for disconnected ;s far apart as possible(by playing39...Bxb2)or to irefer i,avinga further advancedpassedpawn (by playing39...c3). was: \nd tne Oeclslon

Ke7 Kf6

Kgs Kf4

5 Kc4!

c3!

39 .... Bl a c k i s cl e a rl y a i mi n g to g e t to e3 and ther efor e White'sKing headsback. 5 ... 6 Kd3 7 86 8 Bg2! 9 Kc4! 10 Kd3 11 Kc4

Bd4 Bg1 l<94 Bf2' Kf4 Ke5 Draw

40 41 42 43

Clearly there is no way for Black to break the blockade. Yet, as a postscript,I shouldmentionthat Black won the White resignedthe gamewhenDiagram g?me. How? B.gcqgge 53 was reached! Why? Becaus6he tho[ghr that it mult be lost, becauseof a rule in Fine's BasicChessEndings (I will havemore to sayaboutthis "rule"in Chapter5.) Finally I will discussa positionwhere the defenderis not able to blockade. Diagram54 is S. Bernstein- E. Mednis, U. S. Championship1961162, after White's3fth move.

ts Diagram54

i

A i i'% a "%.

%

f

t

%n g

My reasonfor choosingthis way was that it immediate{l'immobilizesWhite's Bishopand thereforeallowsmy King to be the first one to reachan activecentrallocation. By nofr it should be obviousthat Black'sKing must penetratedecisivelyto win.

S. Bernstein - E. Mednis U. S.Ch. 1961t62 Aftei White's 39th move

,/,

bxc3 Kf6! Ke5! f5!

bxc3 Bb3 KB Ke2

Only after Black hasensuredan activelocationfor his King doeshe start mobilizinghis other passedpawn. Because he will get the pawnto the 5th rank the win is assured. Ke4

M h4 45 Ba4

The game was adjournedhere and White sealedthe text. He resignedwithout resumingthe game. I hqd worked be the main-line: out the followTng- what I considered"to

4s ....

Bgl

46 4t 48 49

Bh6! Kd3 BgI Ke3

Be8 Kdl Ba4 Bbs+

Black's King is excellentlyplacedto assistthe f-pawn's queening. f{l

50 Be8

Two movesbefore the time control I had to make the

97

98

BecauseBlack'sBishop can simultaneouslyprotect the c-pawn and stop White's h-pawn,the g-pawn is not important foi Black. What is important is to havehis King assistthe fpawn.

51 Bxg6 52 Be4 53 h5 54 Bcf

ss Bs2

56 Ke2 57 Kd3 58 Bn 59 h6 60 Ke2 6t h7 62 Kd3 Blackwms

Kfz! B Ke3! p, Kf4 Bh6! Kg3 Bg7 Bh8 KM! Bg7! Kgl

Black's King is in and White's lights are out after 63 Ke2 c2. Note how the far advancedc-pawnwas used as a "decoy''toassistBlack'sKing in penetratingthe Kingside.

Chapter5: Material Advantage- ComplexPositions which are inherently Here I will be discussingposit.ions play requires necessary a very high where the complexor In cases all creativity. one side has and icvefof sophistication position of yet landscape each the is i t*o pawh advantage, entirelYdifferent-

% % % A '/ fri 7

.1,' Z Diagram55

t,

% % % n "ru ffi, vru{%

% %e%

% % %

Klimenkov Kabanov USSR1969 White on move

The first position,Diagram55, Klimenkov- Kabanov, USSR 1969,White on move, may on the surfaceappearrather sim ole.but will be s how n to be ful l of hi dden s ur pr i s es ' Though White is two pawns up, the following factors make thewih problematical: - all pawnsare on one side, making it easierfor the de-to fender blockade. - the h-pawnis the wrongcolor for White'sBishop' - the e-pawnis securelyblockadedby the Bishop' - White'sBishophasno offensivepunch- white's King is contained,while Black'sis activelyplaced. Ther e is an others i de of the c oi n for the_l as t i tem ho*.u.i' Bi"if.;r fing is not well placed for defending,

99

100

Y becausehe doesn'thave accessto the e5 square,nor can [s afford to step onto c5 or d5. It shouldbe clear that White cannot afford to tarry in startinghis attack:

, / /

7

l)iagram56

1g5 The threat of 2 h6 forcesBlack'sreply. Of course,I f5?? is a horrible blunder becauseafter 1...Ke5Black has blockade. establisheda successful I 2 Ks4!!

After 2Kg4l!, Black'slogicalresponsesare2...Ke4, 2...8e7 and 2...gxf4.Sincethe latter just transposesinto a variation after i...Be7 3 Kf5 pd4 4 Kf4, only ihe first two needto be considered. Ke4 2 .... A) Black thereby tries to use his King as the prim-ary defender,by keepingit as activeas possible-.Becauie-3-fxgj Ke5 l e a d s[ o t h e d i a w n p o si ti o n s'g i veafter 2 fxg5? Ke5' White must captureon 95 with the King.

3 Kxgs 4 l<96

Be7* IGf4

l-01

AAt,

% %t%e% %" % % % % 9%, % r % % . %%%%% % % %

ft95

The whole conceptof this endingis to activateyour keep the opponent'sKing as far awayas possible King, own while at Ihe saine time preventinga-blockade.Thereforethe obvious 2 txg57 is insufficient becauseafter 2...Ke5 Black's Kins hasa stions defensiveposition. Model play then would be:3 tcg4 Bf8 4'h6! p
t

KlimenkovKabanov USSR1969 Variation after 2...Ke4 Positionafter 4...Kf4

There are now two instructivewars for White to win: (l)

5 Be8

The idea behind this move is for White to delaycapturing on 97 until the Bishop has been placedon an optimum location.I will nowonlygivethe main line. 5 .... 6 Bd7! 7 Kn 8 e7 9 IkeT 10 Be8 11 896!

n Kn 13 Kg8

BM Be7 Bb4 BxeT Kgs Kh6 Kgs

Kh6 Kgs

White wins

14 KY$I

(2)

5 KxsT

After this routine capture,Black comesvery closeto settingup a blockade,but some very non-routineBishop maneuvers savethe dav for White. 5 6 h6 7 Kh7 8 Bhs!!

Kgs Bf6+ Bd8

LO2

Only this idea of Dutch IM van Wijgerdenworks There is no progresswith the routine8 896 Bf6 9 Be8 Bai 10Bd7Bf6 1l Bc8Kh5!,-etc.Thggc.etgTpopl"VI ge8Bie 9 8 g _ 6 . q 9^81_0K g 7 B f 6 + 1 1 . K f 7i s .f o i l e d b y t l q n i c i i ll...Kxh6! 12l
Bf6 Be7

9...Y\ry410Kg6queensoneof thepawns. 10 r(€.7 11 Kt7

Bf6+ Whitewins

The King has been liberated, the pawnsare ready to roll and there is no stalemate.

B)

gxf4

This js !!g ga.mecontinuation3nd hasthe disadvantage road into Black's Kingsid?. White's King hq! " rSar ittherefore,3...g4l?4 Kxg4.clgaI Ke4 suggests itself,but WhiG still Bc 6+ i s 6 fol l ow edby 7 Kf5 The Be8!. thr eat 5 r vinsafter than bg1te1 5...Kd5,leadingto has nothing Black a1d8 Kg6. (But 7 Kg6! not the tempting7 play: Kd66 Kf5 iiic following l0 lkg6 Bd4 with a draw Ke7! h7 t 96+!! tstl? Bf6 8 h6 position is a marvelous This final by van Wijgerden. apalysis pawns, yet there is erampleof the blockade:White is up three (7...8f6 get 7...1ke6 in.) 8 Kf7! is rrowayfor White'sKing to for Black.)8 Bf7+ (A more exoticwin is 8 f5+ Ke5 9 hopeldss BciTBf6 10 Be6! - van Wijgerden. Black is in zugzwang:A Bishopm ove allows 1 1 Kx gT ;a Ki ng m ov e al l ow s1I h6.) 8...Kd79 KxgTBd6 10 f5 Be5+ 17 f6, winningbecausethe hpawnwill costBlackhis BishoP. 4 I()d4

2 ....

Black preventsthe threatened3 Kxg5 and hopesfor 3 fxg5?Ke5 when White's King cannotpenetrateand the play would develop as after 2 fvgi?.

Heading back with the King will not ryo{; keepingthe King activewil-lloseas in the variationsafter2...Ke4.

5 Kfs 6 Kg6

3 Kfs!!

% % %* % % %e,fl

%'%tffi' v& % % % %'///////%

KlimenkovKabanov USSR1969 After 3 Kf5!!

Now White's King is active and the obviousthreat becomes4 fxg5. Black hastwo legalwap of preventingit.

103

Kd6 Bf8

If 6...Bf6,7 h6 wins.

% /NA%ft

Diagram57

3 ....

7 KhTl 8 Kg8

Ke7 Black resigns

A completetriumph for White'sKing activity! After 8...g5t hxg6Bh6 10Kh7! Bf8 l1 97 Whitewins. As far as positi onsgo, D i agr am 58 s eem snor m al cnough, yet extremesophistiiationw-illbe requiredfor Black 'biagram to wifi. 58 is the adjournmentpositionfro93, jul9l lournament"held with the'BielOpen 1986'GM in coniunction that ti es Patr ickW olff became" fas c i nated w i th the pos s i bi l i"for his it couldirise and spentthe betterpart of a nighton

104

Y own pleasure". The analpis that follows is partly basedon GM Wolffs work.

Diagram58

A t "rfr@%r %'% "%.r% %, e/ sf ,t % '% 1 ' f t ,/ ./ ta 2,

Biel Open (Junion)1986 Whiteto move

A quick count of material showsthat Black is up tw_o pawns. One of theseis a far advancedpassedpawn on a2. Yet at the moment both this pawn and Black'sother extra pawn - the d-pawn- are very well blockaded.As a matter of lact, if we cah visualizethd completeexchangeof all Kingside pawns(i.e. White's e-, g- and h-pawnsfor Black'sf-, gand h-pawns),the position becomesa l00Vocertain draw. There 6ven are two reasonsfor this. Firstly,Black will not be able to break the blockadeand secondly,White's King can head for al and the Bishopsacrificeitself for Black'sd-pawn. Therefore,it is far from certain if Black can win from Diagram 58. And even if a "chessgod" would say that there is a to actuallyfind it. win, it is necessary In Diasram 58 it is White's move. White can usetwo "do approaches:(t) a passive, nothing"one, or (2) play e4. I will look at thesein turn. I White doesnothing : passivedefense 1 Bc3

2 Bb2 3 Bal 4 Kc3

Kc6 Kb5

standhisground,asafrer4 Bb2Kb4 . ^ T\g King.cannot ,ir 4 Bc3Ka4!followedpy 5r59.1,-w.hite's ring wiliatsotrave ro headbackto preventBlack'sKingfromgeftdgb cZ.

4 .... 5 Kd3

Kcs! Kds

Black' s Kitg is .now w el l c entr al i z edand r eady to infiltrate via e4. Black should neverconsidera moveiike sincethenthtt_keysquareis no longeravailableto his 5...d5?? King and most likely White canset up a succ-essful blockade. 6 Bb2

Be8!

With Black'sKlqg 9l its optimum squareit is time to activate-theBishop. Black'simmediateobj'ectiveis to chase White'sKing awayfrom d3. 7 Bd4

Ba4!

A sophisti.{ ..9 r em po m ov e w hi c h pur s W hi te i n zugzwang:White's Bishop must move and thdt leavesthe ePawqwithout sufficie nt pr otec ti on for the c om i ng Ki ng rnvaslon.

8 Bal 9 Kc3

Bbs+

Equally hopelessis 9 Kd2 Ke4 followedby 10...K8 and I l...Kxg3.

Kd7!

The Bishopstandswell enough,both protectingthe a" Dawnand coverinethe importantd5 and c4 centralsquares' T here f o r e i t i s l d gi ca l fo r th e K i n g to h ead as quickly as possibleto whereBlack'sstrengthis: the Queenside.

9 ....

Ke4!

There is no way that Black can both protect the ap a w na n d i n f i l t r a t e w i t h h i s K i n g o n t h e K i n g s i d e . B u t

l-06

t_05

Y to win. achievingthe secondobjectiveis all that'snecessary

Black hastwo fundamentalchoicesfrom Diagram59: on e4 or not to take. I will analyzethesein turi. take to

Kxe3 10 Kb3 KR 11 Kxa2 Blackwins

II Active Play With 1 e4!

Diagram59

% % % % t %

% wt% % % % / &

1 ....

A)

A f t e r 1 2 K b 3 K xg 3 B l a ck i s u p 3 pawnsand will queenthe f-pawnafter 13Bf6 f4, etc.

% % ' % % % %'/qfr"@'%t% %a%t

KingSide.The questionnow simplyis: canBlack do this?

Biel Open (Juniors)1986 After 1 e4!

The game continuationwhichdefinitelyis the wrons practicalchoice. At this momentit is far from clearwhethei Black can win from Diagram59. Yet it is necessary to keeo the position as unbalancedas possibleto increasethe chancis for the win. The routine text violatesthis principle. The position now is drawn and in fact the gamewas soon abanijoned as a draw. A thematicline of play now is: 2 3 4 5 6

t/,& % % t/& % % ' % 2

This move/planmustbe theright one for a numberof reasons. In the first place a routineexchangeoI pawnsls ai*i1" the correct gendral strategyfor the side-down-material potentialEhemyQueenfrom the board. becalseit removes-one variation,White will not Mot.ouer, comparedto the previo_us havean elpawrithat can go iost. However,in this casethere also is a sophisticatedstiategicbenefit from the text move: White's Kirig gets accessto the_importante3 central sqy?r9 for setting increasesWhlte's-PrgsPg9.ts and this sign"ifTcantly King. Black's penetration of preient to up a btocka?e It is also important to realizethat White achievesall of "nothing". As alreadydiscussedearlier, the the above for ex c ha n s eo f a l l o f th e K i n g -si d ep a w n sleadsto a dr awn oositionl We shouldbe ablelo realizethat if we just remove Wt iii;i .-pa*n anOblack's f-pawn from the board, that White can securdlyblockadeBlack'spasseda--and d-pawns.-.There-

foi;; t" ;iir eiu.[t Ki;; t"ii u. aut. to cdptureWhite's L07

fire4?

Kd7 Kcf Kb5 Kc5 Bc4+

l{xe4 Kd4 Bal Kc3 Kd3

7 Kdzt

Diagram60

'% / / , '%,t % % % 7f,,%t % 9 , % % A %a% %"r",e.

%% %

Variation IIA After 7 Kdzl

r' w s% % % The kev to White's defensemust be to preventBlack fr om gettingit W hite 'sKi ngs i de.T o penetr ateBl ac k w i l l haveto do this via d5 and e4 and White wantsto ensurethat he can preventthis. Bad is 7 Kc3? becauseBlack can poweriuttymobilizehis d-pawnwith 7...d5!and8...d4.

t-08

nlternativeaPProach.

7 8 Ke3! This is the kev differencebetweenWhite's passiveplay from Diagram58 and the play from Diagram59: White's King positionon eJ' is able to gain the unassailable

8 .... 9 Bf6 10 Bb2 11 Bal t2 Kdzl

Ba6 Bc8 Kc4 Kb3

lr)

14 Ba1 15 Ke3! 16 Bb2 17 Bal

2 Bal 3 erf5+

Bc6 gd5!

% %%%%t ' % % Bf5 Kc4 Kd5 Bbl Kc4

placedto preventboth the aWhite's Bishopis ideally -White is sdtisfiedto keep the and d-pawnsfrom aclvancing. statusquo.

r7 ....

Be8!

Because...fxe4is not going to work, Black needsto I'orceWhite to captureon f5. Then the positionbecomesmore unbalancedand that increasesBlack'sopportunities.

Black'sKing cannotbe allowedaccessto c2.

t2 .... 13 Bf6

1 ....

d5

A lasttry.

Diagram61

%alft,s% %f % '% f i t,% %v, %ffi,% % % % , & . t % % % 2

Variation IIB After 3...gf5!

Of course, not 3...Kxf5? 4 Ke3 Kg4 5 Kt2 when White'sKingsidepawnsare safe from Black'sKing, while White'sBishopkeepsblockadingthe a- and d- pawns. It is not at all yet obvioushow Black can progressfrom Diagram 61, yet it is the only try. 4 Ke3!

18 Be5 19 Bal 20 Kdzt!

Bf5 Kb3 Draw

The a- and d-pawnsare stoppedand Black'sKing can't penetratethe Queensidenor the-Kingside.A total triumpn ior Whire'sBLOCI(ADE. Let us now return to Diagram 59 to analyzeBlack's

White's King must watchboth sidesof the board. Thus afterthe temporizing4Bb2?l perhapsimmediately Blackcould-starting '(See with Black's tfi'egamecontinuation Pla.y4...f4!!. 'Clearly iOth move.) ilrong is 4 h5? becauseaTter4...h6! 5 Kc4 Bf3 6 Kb3 exh5 7 Kxa2 Bf7! White's pieceson the with Bldck'sKingside Queensidehave no chanceof coping 'l}nxf4 power.e.e. 8 Be7 h5 9 Kb2 f4l h4 I I Bd4 h3 l2 Ilg I Kf5 is rcios t4 Bh2 Ke4 15 fT Kf3! 16 Kd4 Kg2 11

rrf4h2 18Bxh2*roT.*.t

t*t'ir'

t_09 1_L0

Preventsboth a potential h5 Qy Wltitg.as well as a counteraffackby white's'King againstBlack'sKingsidePlwns becauseBlack-cannow routinelyprotectthem w.ltn...tt94. Moreover,the text has no disadvantages.I he onlyPosslDle nesativeis that Black'sKing cannotnow usetne.nJ.square uut that wou-ldnot be a realistic infiltration i#I;iiiffiitu, conceivablesituation' ai'y route under

5 6 7 8

Bb2 Bc3 Bal Bb2

Ba4 Bd1 Bg4

AfterSKd4Blackcanimmediatelyexecutethe-key strategii concepr9...f4!! g 9{J4Kf5 since10 Kd5 is too slow:

ii-Koo r.s tlrccqraz 13Kb4Kc2 14Ka3 ii)_:K"-14h-pawn kUf inO the a-pawncostsWhite his Bishopwhile the remainingis thd right color for the Bishop'

As it turns out, White can only delaythe "'f4 break' Still that is how the practicalplayershouldbehave'

8 ....

Kds

9 Bf6

The King standbeston e3. After 9 Kfz? Black's^King ttt. OleentiOi*itn either9...Ke4or 9"'Kc4;after9 infiltratesKd;i eii.k infifttat.sit e Kingsidewith 9...Ke4;after9Kd3?! ii6&i"" immediiGlybreak"with9...f4!!(seethe mainline since jusl dropsth.e.f;P$.vn l"'r.,:;i.-lft"r ttre ie*t, 9---f4+?? Krng. hrs with whiie canplay10Kd:4andgetbackin time Kc4! f4 +!!

9 .... 10 Bal

This fantasticconceptwasdiscoveredby GM Wolff' u pi*n io 6reakup White'sKirigsideso that Blacksacrifices White pawnst-here.. fri *-"-"ftimarety.Srd;;"6ifr of VVnite's cannotcapture;iih ih; Ki'g tin.. ;ft;; il kxr+z rd3

Black'sKing is in and the a-pawnwill costWhite his Bishop.

ll 9fr4

t , % '% % %

% /ft,

Diagram 62

, 1 1, t

,rg,

ftA

t ,/, A /.'

Z

%', % e %

VariationIIB After 119fr4

If Black now routinely headsback with his King with 11...Kd5?,White hasthe perceptive12fslt,therebypermanently gaining accessto the f4 squarefor his King. White can then prevent Black from infiltrating the Kingside. White draws becausefrom f4 he can keep Black's King out of the Kingsideand from e3 he can keep Black'sKing out of the Queenside.White hasachievedthe ultimatedefensiveweapon: blockade. 11 ....

Bfs!!

This important refinementof the Wolff conceptwas suggested by CM J ohn N unn. Bl ac kpr ev entsW hi te fr om sacrificingback the pawn until Black can capturewith the King and therebydenyaccessto f4 to White'sKing.

t2 Kdz 13 Ke3 A valid alternativeis to head to the Queensidewith 13 Kc1 Ke4 148f6 Kx f4 15 Kb2. But then the d- paw n becomestoo stronq, e.s. 15...8e616 Be7 Ke5 18 Bg5 Bc4 18 -Ke{ Bh6 d5 19 Bs7+ 20 Bf6 d4 21 Be5 Kf3 22 Bf6 d3 23 tlg5 Ke2, foll5wed by 24...d2.The probi-emfor White in such an approachis that-hisKing cann6thelp in the stoppingof

1-11 LL2

-

the d-pawnbecausehe is tied downto stoppingthe a-pawn'

13 .... 14 Kl3

Ke6 Bc2

pawn.for the Bishop,and (2) the separationbefweenthe aand d- pawns.isonly tw o s quar esw , her easthe s epar ati on betweenthe d- and h-pawns.isthree sq.uares. .The lirger the separatjo.n befweenpawns,the more difficult it is to sEtup a successfulblockade.

Definitely never 14...d5?sincethen White can protect the f-pawnwith a Be5. 15 Kg3 16 KI3 17 Ke3

Kfs Bdl+

I n f e r i o r i s 1 7 K g 3 ? B g 4 fo l l o w e d by 18...Ke4and Black'sKing infiltrates.

t7 .... 18 Bf6

Ba4 Bc6+ Bd5

The minor evil is to givebackthe f-pawn.

2t .... 22 Bal. 23 Bf6

rads Kg4 Bc6!

Putting White in another kind of zugz\ang, whereby White'sKingfrrustmovefurther awayfrom the f4 square. 24 KfZ

al=Q!

The last major strategicdecisionthat Black must make' He is happy to trade his pa$ed l-Pawn to achievea passedh(t; ttre h:pawn is the corr6ct Rook f;;'t'*;.."iont' i;il 1-t_3

Kxh4

"'mKrru%Tr%',ry, '7

Diagram63

7 2 . :.

Kg4

No betteris 18 Ke4 Bf3+ 19 Ke3 Bc6 20 Bf6 Bd5. andmustgiveup thef-pawn. Whiteis in zugzwang 18 .... 19 Ke4 20 Ke3 21 f5

25 Bxal

,

,'t

. ' g :

; ;

VariationIIB After 25...Kxh4

%

A thematicallyimportant basicposition in opposite color Rishopendgamt*:th^estrongersidehastwo discoirirected passedpawnsseparatedby three files. For such a caseit would seemthat Reuben Fine's rule in Basic ChessEndings(p. 179)applies:"lf the pawnsare two or more files apart,ttrey win." The passage of time (BCE waspublishedin 1941)has shownthis rule to not be universallytrue. There are positions where the defender is able to set up a successfulbiockade. Suchpositiongenerallyhavethe defendingKing sufficiently activelyplacedto preventthe strongerside'sKing from decisivelypenetratinginto the defender'scamp. In other words, the defendercanIchieve an airtightblockacie. However,in Diagram63 Black'sKing is alreadyactively placedand the win if routine enough. A logicals6quence nowcouldbe: 26 27 28 29

Bf6+ Be7 Bf6 BeS

l<94 d5 h4

LL4

-__---...............

Y 29 Ke3?l Kg3 with 30...h3an-dBlack'staskis easier'

Kfs!

29 ....

It is important for Black'sKing to help both pawns advance.

Ke4 h3 d4 Kd3!

30 Bd6 31 Be7 32 Bd6 33 Bcs

White's Bishop has no offensivepunchsinceall Black pawnsare on the opposite-colorsquares.

It is alwaysgood practice to activatethe King when trying to queenPawns.

36 Bd6 37 Bt4 38 Kel

Even though the position is a theoreticaldraw, White is obviouslyjustified in making some attemptsto win. The gamecontinuedas follows:

Or 38...h239Bxh2d2+. 39 Bxd2 Blackwins.

lr2

1 ....

The last examplealreadylooks complexat the starting point. Diagram 64 showsthe positionof Bradvarevic- R. 7970,Blackon move. Maric, Yugo-slavia

Diagram64

t : 1i At K f t 't / : t ft T ftA

./,,//fu % % % % %

White's King, though activelyplaced,also can do no damage,becauseBlack'sonly vulnerablepawn - the f-pawncan be readilyprotectedby the Bishop. -- Black'sKing, though passive,is exactlywhere he should be for defensivepurposes. White cannot dislodgethe Black duties. King from his defensive,pawn-blockading

Bd7 Kc3 d3 Kc2 d2+

34 Kg3 35 Kfz

tion and standswhere Black's.Kingoncestood. Black'sKing is coopedup on his back rank. Moreover,White has a tw6 pawn advantageon the Queenside.Yet if Black plals well he will dr aw. The r eas onsw hy D i agr am 64 i s c l r aw nagai n revolvearoundthe matterof a successful blockade:

Bardvarevic - R. Maric Yugoslavia 1970 Blackon move

White's King has infiltrated totally into Black'sposi-

Kb8!

The Black King'sjob is to blockadeWhite's Queenside pawnsso it is important for the King to make sure that it is ilroperly placedfor that. Black must-nottarry sinceotherwise 2 Be5 cutsthe King off from the a-file.

2 3 4 5

Ka8 Bd3 Bc4

Kd8 Be5 Ke7 Kf6

White realizesthat his onlv chancefor successis a breakthroughon the Kingsideand ihuspositionshis King for e.g. a potentialF5. The Kinglas no futuredn the Queenside; ptisitionhim on c7 and-youwill seethat there is no way of makingprogressthere.

5 .... l_L5 LL6

6 Bd6 7b5 White starts a small demonstrationon the Queenside which Black can and must ignore. Of course,7"'Bxb5?? 8 frCZ *ins quickly for White s-incethe Pary$.p{n.that White will costBlackhis Bishop. Black *ill obtainbn the Kingside -Queenside g,fwhite's play because^one n".o noi fear white's can Whlte theretbre and extra Queensidepawns is doubled positioned is King Black's onty oU]iin one pisseOpawn there. perfectly to stop one Pawn. 7 .... 8a6

9 Be5 10 f5! but Black White is tryingveryhardto makep{ogress, gtgug! by 14e can keepthe Kinfsid'ebkickadeintactre?gr-ly B>d5and in K'6'7 11 or fxg6 fxg6 11 Tf then ,i''.'pi.-fO.,.e63. safe. eith'ercaseBlackis 1007o Bxb5??

for sucha horriThereis no rationalchessexplanation aboutthe worry to no need has Black move. blv careless there; everything safgguards King the because eireensiOe Yet breaks. Kingsidq for-possifile look out musr iirtliO he gl".k rornentarilyforgetsaboutthe themeof the position. still had nothingon the KingAJo"r.nitv tte feti thatfuhite "prove" this. would sideandth-eto,lt 11 g4!!

hxg4

11 ....

No better are 11...Bd3 12 KxfT exf5 13 sxh5or 11...8e2 12l
Bb3 Be6!

Obviouslynot 8...bxa6??9 bxa6 and the two connected passedpawnswin. After the text Black need not fear 9 a7 Wnite's Queensidepawnsare forever immobilized -Black's Sinie itt'en Kingside remain'sdefensible. Therefore White ;lii[ now-switcheshis"total energy towards a Kingside breakthrough.

10 ....

What a shockand rude awakeningfor Black who had only-expectq lt f:g9 fTgq.121396when 12-.B,e2 still keeps the Kingsideblockaded.Now, however,White getsa passed pawn th_ereby force and wins becauseBlack'sKing ii stuck bn the Queenside. However,White's exactexecutionis most impressive.

gd5

12 l
g'/

t

rf Diagram65

..

.w'z

/: ,

A7,, At'2"

"

i,'/> 2// ,7 ,l

12...gfs

What White has to start worrying about now is a stalecare is.requiredto mate draw by Black and consider-abii: prevent it. Fbr instance,Black can draw after 13 h5 f4! 14 ilxf4 Bxa6 16 h6 Bd3 16 Kg7 93! L7 h7 BxhT 18 KxhT 92 -Black's King oscillatesbefween 19 BhZ 91:Q 20 Bxgl Kb8. b8 and 68, when Wh-itecan stalemateBlack in severalways but cannotwin. 13 Bf4!! From the above variation we saw that if Black has time to both olav ...Bxa6and sacrificethe Bishopfor White's h-pawnthe g'ameis drawn. The blockading("interference")

L 1-8 LL7

Bradvarevic - R. Maric Yugoslavia 1970After

Y

text is able to just Preventthat. 13 ....

Now 13...8xa6is too slow:14 h5 93 15h6 92 16 Bh2! (Not 16h7??Bc4+ with a draw) 16...f4l7 h7 andwins.

14 h5 15 Bh2 16 h6

g2 f4 Bd3

OtherwiseL7 h7 wins immediatelY. 17 axb7+! 18 Bg1

Chapter6: positionalAdvantages

g3

As before for samecolor Bishops,a positionaladvantqge may be "better"pawns,Bishop,Kin! - br a combination of these. Section1: Better Bishop

Theconceptof the betterBishopis easvto understand: it.is the 9rffr.gp whichcansuccessfully attackenemypawns. Diagram66 illustrates thisperfectly.

KxbT Black resigns

White will win Black'sBishopwith 19 Kg7 and 20 h7. Then White's King can first chooseto-capjureBlack'spaw{tl or head immediatElyfor the Queenside.There the King will help the b-pawnqueen. ThroughoutBlack'sKilg has the worst of both worlds: he is tied ddwn to stop the b--pawnyet cannot hope for a stalemate.

.

Diagram66

€_ .

$

ar i

9

t

Blackon move

'7,7>.ry t

t

The pawn_ "active",yet- Blag!formation is symmetrical,White's King is on move can i:aptureall of White'spawns as foflows: 1...8!1,.2...8f2,3...8xg3,4...8fr4,5...893,6...Sxh+truly the betterBishop! Section2: Better Pawns Sincewe alreadylearnedin Chapter4 that a one pawn a.dvantage in normal positionsis insufficientto win, it is clear lhat there must be somethingquite specialabouthavingthe superiorpqwn formationto bE aUleto win startingwith dqual material. The kind of positionthat illustratesthis is shownin Diagram 67, B. Kurajica - A. Karpov, Skopje 1976,after White's33rd move. Black hasa passeda-pawn,yet it is securelyblockadedby White's Bishop. Moreover,White's doubled- d3pawn per ?or m sa v al ua6l edefens i v efunc ti on: i t

t-19

L20

7

preventsBlack'sKing from penetratinginto the Queensidevia b5 and c4 and in the centervia d5 and c4. Thereforeto win Black will haveto be able to break throughon the Kingside. Can this be done?

% ' " r u%, " r e Diagram 67

%t% lf, 7,&A%%t % 7,&A% %

t % ll r u%%' % %t%t% % % #,tzfi

33 ....

B. Kurajica - A. Karpov Skopje1976 After White's 33rd move

h4!

GM Karpov realizesvery well where the battlefield will be. Therefore,he activatei the h-pawnand, also quite importantly,temptsWhite to challengeit. 34 g3? Hindsight tells us that at least in the practicalsense this is the losingmove. (Seethe discussions after White's37th and 44th movesfor the "theoretical"side.) The text seriously weakens the Kingside pawn formation and leaves White without a satisfactoryway of preventingBlack'seventual...g4 pawn !1eak, This break will loosenup the light squaresand allow Black'sKing to infiltrate. Karpov'sexploitationof this is flawlessand tecfinicallyclear. But how could we have used/oresightto select the proper defensiveset-up? Black'spawn break on the Kingside must obviouslybe basedon an eventual...g4;thereforethe correct pawn formation for White should start with 34 h3!. Black could then be expectedto place 'Thushis King on h5, the fpawn on f5, the g-pawnon g5. prepar-edBlack will play ...g4. At this momentWhite must be able to respondwith

T2I

Black'sKingof potentialinfiltrationsquares. [1,!l,9.pr_iying wnr.r.e's posrtrondoesremainpassive, but I havenot bednable way that Black can decisively break into ?ny I9,.gls9ouer. wh,rte'sposi.tigrl. In_certain positionsBlackcansacrificehis resources to Trsnop'Dutwnrtealwayshasenoughdefensive oraw. 34 ....

Kf7!

+ ? Ieadsto a deaddraw,as , - pnly;o] -lnstead34...hxg3 does 34...951. since Bra].k in eithercaseracksbreakll €xh4 rnrougnposstbt ttttes. 35 Ke3 and,g.enerlfso in the furure,worseis 35 gxh4 L __-. Hgl. because Black'sKingwillfyrecaptur.e the pawnandbe actively for imminentpenetration. p-t_qqe{ (yet seethe commentaftei White's37thmove!) 35 .... 36 Kf4 37 Ke3?

f5 Kg6

Apparentlyworth little criticismsinceBlack can force this r etr eat with ...B a2and ...Bb1. H ow ev er ,Kar D ovhas pointedout that at exactlythis momentthe paradoxic al 37 #4!? ryay-befully playable. The justificati
37 .... 38 Bb4 39 Kn

Kh5 g5 Ba2

Black's Kingside pawns are ready.for.the d_ecisive break. But first Karpov maneuversaroundwith the Bishop, both to find the mosf usefulspot for it and to kill time befoie adjournmentso that the winningmaneuvercan be preparedin the quiet of the home taboratory.

L22

With three excellentpawnsfor White'simpotentBishop,Black shouldwin.

40 Ba3 4l Ke2 42 BcI

4.... 45 d4

$Kn

% r , 7 ?. ' 1 , ,2t 2

(/, fu %tt t% 'fr, % '2, 2' t /4t'ru

Diagram68

B. Kurajica - A. Karpov Skopje1976 After Black's 43rdmove

% , ' 2 €

A " r u

So that the Bishopcango to a6to attackthe d3 p?.yn' likes if the needeverarises.The ei-world champion.always possrDre' as side his at to haveasmany Tt:::"ptions

cxd5 t4tl

Black must open up the Kingside. Insread45...94??46 :f4 is a certaindraw.

t6 N4 Black was threatening46...fxg3+ 47 W h3! followed by ...g4, The h-pawnties ddwn White'sKing ind Black infiltratesvia the centeror the Queenside. lf 46 94+, Black hasno needto "risk"46...8Xg4 and can win by strictly positionalmeansas follows: 46...Kg61, followed by placingthe Bishop on d3 and runningthe Kin[ over to the Queensideand infiltrating there via b5 and c4. It is the lack of the d3 pawnthat makesthis possiblefor Black. 6

g4l

....

Throwingawaythispaynensurestheloss,andaccordThe point of Black's previousmove. White's light ins to fa.pou i3 to U6blaniedon nerves.Alsounsatisfactory squares are weak and Black'sKing will infiltrate alongthem. il?4 K;T f4;; 4i iifi iqt with Black infiltratingand winningsimilarlYto the game. Bf5 47Kg2 I K]t2 9d3 ThereforeWhitemustplay44Ke2|.Whatthen?After Be4+ 49 Krf3 '!: 46hxg3 ebzZK;td;;i"'..2S...tt*g3 aa...Ba6"aS rg.4 50 Kfz qb bv 4e"flff!,

rc(zKh3! foLlowed to'i71-sq+Kh4 i.f it -g.tt+QpcJ.r95.4eBbZ ...e*g lt "l-e?a,'...il;'6'"no (fi in duticoutieBlack'sSilg will infilB"os ;nO-H;Gver, ii'i+r"i;O Karpoyftq$ th-atwith the trateon the QueJnt*;. correct45Ke3!wiilt.;ilOiiw ue'cauiJirt"i45...f4+46 9fi4 94 he has47 f5!.

Black has anvthing -ii The questionthereforeis _whether se.*i to me that the rli.i ++ feZt. berter than aa...e"a6 (45 pda ga!)' After 4) immediateaa...fa!*isi.iv ptotising

Black'sKins has finallv penetratedinto White's half of the board. At theinoment White'spositionappearstenable. However,becauseof zugrwangWhite's pieceswill have to giveway. Kxf4 Kg4 c6!

51 Bb2 52 Bcl+ 53 Bb2

TsaiZot"s4+ K44' ?S'..."s i rr. iii Jn""p'i"iiii irices 94+ BIacksacr L23

L24

Y

7 A good practicalmove. Black preventsforever any White counterplaybasedon c6 and an attack on Black's cpawnby White's Bishop. 54 Bcl

lft3!

The start of the final phase. Black'sactualgoal is to get his King into White's Queenside. With the paradoxical text he is able to deflect White's King so that the primarygoal is achieved.

55 Kgl 56 Khl

896! Bh5!

Black tries to get White's Bishopto move,which then would enable either Black's a-pawnto advanceor Black's King to reachf4. Bdl 57 Kgl White resigns

t

t

Diagram69

t%A% &t7., "%,tL&.@% .&

'/.. /& % ",,,fu. % % 2

tr'",r@t':.

J. BellonD. Minic SiegenOlympiad 1970 After White's 39th move

. The g;pawnsare eguivalent:both are on the color oppositethat of the enemyBishopand readilydefensible. -- Each side hasa soundpassedpawn. The Bishopsar e al s o equi v al ent:nei ther c an do any damage. -- Black'sKing is obviouslythe activeone.

G M K u r aj i ca sa w w h a t w a s co m ing - becauseof zugzwangBlack's King gets to the Queenside- and didn't want to be shown. The probablycontinuationwould have been: 58 Khl Kg4 59 Kg2 Kf5! 60Kn (equallyhopelessis 60 Kh3 Ke4 etc) 60...Ke4 61 Ke1 Bg4 62 Bb2 K&i. Black's King is in and the a-pawnwill costWhite his Bishop.

This later factor together with the weaknessof White's a-pawn(as will be seenthere is no way to defendit) should give Black wonderfulwinningchances.But how to go about it? Thereare threecontinuations worthdiscussion:

Section3: Better King

White has three wavsto defend. The critical defense point is ultimately the b-pawn- as we will see the a-pawn goeslost very quickly.

Becauseof the inherentlimitationsof the Bishopin a pure oppositecolor Bishop endgame,the importanceof the King increases.If the King is activeand hasthe potentialof doing real damage,it can becomea hugepower. The potential for King power is alreadypresentin Diagram69, (seediagram on the nextpage),J. Bellon - D. Minic, SiegenOlympiad1970, after White's39th move. A thorough evaluationof the position leads to the followingconclusions:

L25

1) Direct Defensewith 39...Kc4

(a) Direct Attack with 40 Bb2

q Bbz

Kb3 B

41 Bcl

Hold on to material,wherepossible!

Kc2 a5!

42 Kn 43 Bt4 L26

This is unquestionablythe fastestway becausethe srraiehrforward43...Kb2allowsWhite to blockadewith M BcTl rc* " 3 4 5 B a 5 . Th e S o vi e t IM Ma rk Dvor etzky has demonstratedthat here too Black can get White into zugzwang *ittt +S...fb3 46 Ke3 Kc4 47 KfZKd3 48 Bd8 Ke4 49 Bc7 Kf5 50 Bd8 Kf4! and Black either wins the g-pawnor gets in ...a5. In due courseBlack shouldwin. After the text White must capture as otherwiseBlack plays44...a4. 4 bxas 45 a6 45a7 Black wins

Kb2 Kxa3 b4

Blackwins

BecauseBlack's_f-pa-wn is still on f4, this preventsa blockadeby White on the-h2-b8diasonaland makesBlack's tqs[ c_onlderably.easier than in the position after 40 Be5 f3 41Bc7. Black'swinningmethodis: (-t).His King walks over to f5 to attack the g-pawnwhich White mustdefendwith Bd8. (2) Black then plap ...a5. White hasrwo choices:

The b-pawnwill costWhitehis BishgP:-.Ye.anwhile is ideallyplacedto stopbothof-white'spassed Black'sBishotri pawns.

40Be5:

u"T;:.-'*"t:fth (b)Brockao.

## ffii.

[{ bp5,, Black's passedb-pawn assistedby the King will costWhite his Bishopand the game. _ . If Bxa5, Blac k c aptur esthe g- paw nand w i ns on the Kingsideby leavinglhe f4 pawn whtie it is, advancingthe gpawnto 93, then playingKg4 and finally the decisiveB.2) Elegancewith 39...a5

Black cannot afford to give up the f-pawn.because passedpawnsgain h draw after 40...Kb3? White's King plus '428d2 a5 43 bxaib4 44 Bcl +l KaZ 45 Ke2 418fr4 Kx# b3 46 Kd3 b2 47 Bxb2 Kxb2 48 Kd4 Kb3 49 Ke5 Kb4 50 Kf6 Be4 51 c6 Kxa5 52c7 Bf5 53 c8:Q. 4l Be7

42 Kn 43 Bas

Kb3 Kxa3 Kb3

The samepositionhas been reachedas in the note to Black's 43rd mov'ein the 40 Bbz variation,with Black win-

;i"g;ft.i++ r.s r.+ +s Kf2Kd3 46Bd8.Ke447BczKfS

48 Bd8 Kf4, etc.

(c) Blockadefrom the back starting with 40 Bd8:

L27

The point of this move order is to preventthe variation 39...Kc440 Be5! B 4l Bc7. The main line after39...a5is as in the variationafter 39...Kc4 40Bb2: 39 .... 40 bxa5

a5 Kc4!

But never40...I3c5?becauseafter 41 Be7+ the a3 pawn is safe.

4l Bbz 42 Bcl 43 Kel 4 Bf4

Kb3 A Kc2 Kb2

Black winsthe a3 pawnand the game.

L28

7

3) The gamecontinuation39....Ke4? With two movesto go before the time control Black "play it safe"by protectingthe f4 pawn apparentlydecidedto solhat it doesn'tneedto be advancedto B. Yet the question raisedby the move is: what is the King doing on the Kingside?

39 .... 40Kn Draw

Diagram70

Ke4? Bd5

" % % % % % % t % %"/&t

rfA r r gr

% % % % % * i z % % %

The eKraordinaryimpo.rtance of the more active King is dr iven hom e by the- r es ul ti ng pl ay fr om D i agr am71, R : Calvo- D. Byrne,Palmade Malldria t'gOS. Biaitdn moue.

g J. BellonD. Minic SiegenOlympiad 1970 After 40...Bd5

The game was adjournedhere with White sealinghis 41st move. The Yugoslavsoffered a draw in the nnorning becauseafter a full night of analysisthey had not found a win. They consideredthe followingto be the main line: 4l Bd8 Bc6 42 Bc7 Kf5 43 Bd8 Kg4 44 BeTl a5 (This correct break now comestoo late) 45 bxa5 Kf5 46 a6 Ke4 47 a7 Kd4 48 a8:Q! Bxa8 49 c6l Bxc6 50 Bd6. The positionis drawn sinceBlack cannotwin White's a-pawnor g-pawnand White's King securelyblockadesthe f-pawn. Not surprisinglythe passageof time has punctureda few holes in the above variation. Thus IM Dvoretzky has shownthat insteadof 42...Kf5?,Black can play 42...Rand win by walking over and capturingthe a-pawn,as given in two of the earlier variations. On the other hand,White can draw by playingthe immediate41 c6!!. The c-pawnis not important for White's prospects;the chancefor a successful blockadeis

1,29

EVERYTHING. After 41...8xc6Whire'sBishophas much nlorg scopeand can plote_ct the b4 pawn from the front and alsohasaccessto theg.l-a7diagonalTrom e.g.c5 and can help to stop the,f-parvn.Very exhiustiveanaly"sis by Dvoretzky hasshownthat White canjust defend.

Diagram71

_

z t

ft%t'N /fr. t A

R. CalvoD. Byrne Palmade Mallorca'68 Blackon move

Each side has connectedpassedpawnsand Black even ax extra pawn in the form of the pas'sedg-pawn,yet it is White who hasa forcedwin! The factorsreJpbnsibiefor this are: -. White's King is directly able to assistthe passedpawnsto advance. -- White'spassedpawnsare farther advancedthan Black's. -- In the immediatefuture White'sBishopis ableto blockade Black'spawns. Even though it is his move,Black has no satisfactory defense: 1 .....

Kd6

The gamecontinuationwherebyBlackaimsto immedi-

130

7 atelyactivatehis King. Alternativesare no better: ( l) l...Bd4 2Ka6 Kd6 3 a5 c5 4 Kb7! (Keepingthe King in fr6nt of the pawnsboth givesWhite'sKing maximummobility a n d r e s t r i c t st h e B l a ck K i n g 's d e fe n siveoppor tunities.) 4...Kc5 5 Be2! (Not only protectingthe b-pawnbut also denyingBlack'sKing the irirfortant bS-square.i5...ga 6 a6 93 7 a792 8 a8:Q 91=Q 9 Qa3Mate. (2) 1...Kc7 2Ka6l d4 3 b6+ Kb8 4 a5 followedby Kb5, a6, a7+. SinceWhite hasthe right Bishopfor the a-pawn,Black lacksthe defensiveresource...Bxb6after White'sa6.

2 Ka6l 3a5 4 Bxe6

Kd d4

There is no reasonnot to take off this pawn. Then White no longer hasto worry about connectedpassedpawns and the Bishop can blockadethe d- and g-pawncombination. However,the immediate4 b6 alsowins. 4 ....

s b6!

d3

Passedpawnsmust be pushed!

5 .... 6 Bfs!

9 Bdl! Forcing the Black King to abandonthe attackon the apawnsinceBlack hasno reasdnablewaitingmoves. 9 .... 10 Ka7 11 a6

t2 b8=e!

Kd Kbs Ka5

The only way to win. Instead12 Be2 Bd6 13 Ka8? leadsto nothingafter 13...d1:Q 14Bxdl ltua6.

t2 .... 13 Kb7 Black'sBishopis stuckon b8 to preventa7. As soon as the Black King can be deflectedfrom the attack on the apawnWhite will win.

13 .... 14 Bg4l 15 Be2!

Kb5 Ka5 Black resigns

Zugrwangis here! Neither Black'sKing nor Bishophas a reasonablemove,while giving up the d- and g-pawnsonly postponesthe inevitable.

A very fine strategic move: White forces the d-pawn f o rwa r d s o i h a t th e f1 -a 6 d i a g o n a li s opened up for the Bishop(seemove15!). 6 .... 7 Bg4 8b7

d2 Bt4 Bc7!

If instead8...8b8,9 Kb6 followedby the advanceof the a-pawnleadsto an elementarywin. The text requires moves. White to comeup with somesophisticated L3r.

1,32

7 Chapter7: Summary-andComparisonof SameColor Bishopvs. OppositeColor BishopEndgames ters.

Here I presenta summaryof the precedingsix chapA. Bishopand Pawnvs. Bishop

pawnsto win the game. D. DefensiveStrategr With Material Disadvantage t. Try for as manyroutinepawnexchanges aspossible. 2. Try to havepawnson only one sideof the board. 3. With oppositecolor Bishopsaim for a blockade.

SameColor

E. PositionalAdvantages I f t h e d e f en d i n gK i n g i s i n fro n t of the pawn and cannotbe chasedawayrtheg-me is drawn. If the defending King is not in front_oi the_pawnor can be chasedaway,thE g a m e i s g e n e r a l l yl o st. T h e w i n n i n g str ategvconsiitsof deflectingthe defendingBishop (the only deTenderin the absenceof the King) away from the pawn by offering to exchangeBishops. OppositeColor As long as either the defendingKing or Bishopcontrols anysquarein front of the pawn,the gameis drawn.

A more activeKing (one that is at leaston the fourth rank or can get there),a better Bighop(able to attackenemy pawns),and better pawns(haveviablepassedpawn(s)and a flexible,soundformation; avoid doubled/isolated/backward pawns)are the three typesof positionaladvantages.To have winningchancesin positionswith evenpawns,at leasttwo of the above advantagesare usually required. Always try to keep the enemy Bishop as impotent as possible. Therefore never, never, never voluntaily put your pawns on the same color as the enemyBishop.

B. Material AdvantageGenerallyNecessaryTo Win SameColor 1.Pawnson one sideonly:two pawns 2. Pawnson both sides:one pawn OppositeColor: two pawns C. Winning StrategyWithMaterial Advantage M a k e a p a s s e dp a w n ( s )o n t h e s i d e w i t h t h e e x t r a pawn(s)..Remember:passedpawnsmustbe pushed! If the enemy Bishop tries to stop if, deflect it bv 6fferinq to exc hang eBi s h o p s .If th e e n b myK i n g sto psit, infiltr i- tewith own Krng lnto the other sideof the boardandcaptureenough

133

L34

$7.95

Preeminentendgamespecialistand author Grandmaster Edmar Mednispresentsa conciseguideto properplay in bishopendings.Correct play with a bishoprequiresmore preciseknowledgethan rook or queen,and manyplayers fail to appreciatethe subtletiesinvolved.Mednisfollous the pattern set in his bestsellingPractical RookEndingsto providea usefuland understandable guideto how to get the mostfrom bishop,palvn,and king endings.This book is a mustfor playersof all strengths.

rsBN0-94547044-5