Review: Practical Endgames Vol 8 - Practical Rook Endgames

I've finally gotten a chance to sit down and watch Karsten Müller's Endgame Vol 8 - Practical Rook Endgames.

It's taken him a couple of Chessbase DVDs but Müller now is able to smile on camera and is definitely very relaxed. He is in a particularly jovial mood and his presentation on camera is infectious.


There is no denying the endgame aspect of the royal game is definitely in his area of expertise and this time, he gives it in spades.

Mixing a bit of humour (for a German!) in between serious analysis and explanations, Müller is by now extremely comfortable in front of the camera. This is in stark contrast to his earlier DVDs where he can rattle off some complex variations and endgame techniques in a single breath. Here, Müller takes the time to pause and allows the idea to sink in (but not too long). He has definitely become a much better presenter, in fact, in spite of his German accent, his English is easily understandable and he has become one of my two favourite Chessbase authors (the other being Daniel King).


Ironically, one of the best segments was his commentary on an endgame between himself and fellow Chessbase DVD author, Daniel King. It was a team event in the German Bundesliga and Müller's team had by then lost. However, he explains how he wanted to play the endgame through to the end with King much to the consternation of his team-mates who wanted to go out and eat.

"Why go and eat when you can play a Rook ending?" was his reply.

LOL. The game lasted some 75 odd moves so you can imagine how long his team had to wait for him!

This DVD focuses exclusively on Rook endgames. Unlike his earlier DVD 2 (did I review this? I really need to find my old Chessbase DVDs in the closet), he expounds on important techniques such as how to deal with a blockading Rook, how to use the checking distance effectively, how to maximise the full potential of the Rook.

Chessbase has kindly provided a short video of this DVD. In this video, Müller adopts a slightly more serious tone but this video is typical of the rest of his videos, his explanations are always succinct and precise.

However, all this is not just fun and games. When you start the video, Müller fully EXPECTS you to pause the video in the beginning and study the position and decide on the best course of action to take.

I feel that this method is the best way to reap maximum benefit from this DVD.

The DVD is broken down into the following chapters:

Chapter 1: Rook v Pawn (5 videos)
Chapter 2: Rook techniques (9 vide0s)
Chapter 3: Protection against a series of checks (10 videos)
Chapter 4: The 4th phase of the game (3 videos)
Chapter 5: Activity counts most (5 videos)
Chapter 6: Defence (12 videos)
Chapter 7: Complicated cases (8 videos)

The majority of each video lasts between 2-4 minutes. However, do not be put off by the short length of the videos. What matters most important is the communication of ideas and how well the audience is able to absorb the lessons imparted by Müller. And it is here that Müller does not fail you.

There is one more thing I need to add. In some positions when Müller says this game is "theoretically drawn", he EXPECTS you to know HOW TO DRAW THIS GAME. If you're having trouble with this, please do get a copy of his book, Fundamental Chess Endings (or Nunn's Chess Endings) and read it. At the very least, get his earlier Chessbase DVDs Endgames Vol 1 and 2. These 2 DVDs will teach you the basic strategies and how to apply them correctly in endgames.

In summary, this is a top class video presentation given by Müller. He has IMHO, overtaken Dvoretsky as my favourite endgame author.

I am definitely looking forward to his next Chessbase DVD on endgames. Incidentally, if you haven't got enough of his endgame lessons, I encourage you to visit the Chesscafe website (where he produces an Endgame column every month).

Finishing Puzzle

One of the hardest things to accomplish in chess is trying to finish off your opponent as fast as possible.

As they say, to succeed in chess, you must show your opponent you know "how to win the won game", so to speak.

Here is a game I played with my opponent.

White is 2 pieces and 2 pawns down.

The White Queen however is a pain and Black has to constantly watch out for tricks and White can play on for a long time, harassing Black's minor pieces. How can Black make the game end quicker?

Unfortunately, I could not find this move over the board.

Question: Can you find a way to make this game resolve more quickly? White had just played 1. Qd3. It is Black's turn to move.

The answer can be found by highlighting between the brackets
[Black gets the Queens traded off and White's position is untenable after:
1... Qc1+
2. Kg2 or Kh2 Qh1+!!
3. Kxh1 Nxf2+
4. K (moves anywhere) Nxd3
5. b4 Bxb4! or Nxb4!
6. axb4 and now Nxb4 or Bxb4 White cannot survive long with 3 passed pawns on the Queenside]

A Nice Endgame By Michael Adams

I apologise for the lack of updates. I've been busy on my end with work + weekend work to catch up on the blog.

Good endgame technique is one of the hardest skills to learn and an even harder one to put it into practice in tournament conditions (where the pressure is enormous).

To understand endgames means to understand the concepts of opposition, triangulation, shouldering, passed pawns, the increased value of the pawns, rule of the square and so on and so forth. And not just to understand but to understand them well enough to apply the appropriate principles as when you need it.

Why is endgame literature so hard to fathom? Because there is no one rule that fits all cases.

GM Dejan Antic who is now playing at the Doeberl Cup gave this advice on his chess lectures,"There are so many good young players in Australia, but they don't want to learn the endgame.... So I say, I'll show you how to win in 60 moves instead of 20, and you'll win more often."

Unfortunately, acquiring endgame skill is an extremely laborious process. I've spent hours trying to learn a particular endgame technique and I hope that it shows up in my game play. For example, How often do you have to employ Karstedt's rule?

And the funny thing I've noticed is that once I've started to learn the endgame (I love endgames and I never have the problem of going into an endgame even if I am in a disadvantageous position), a whole new world opens up. Accuracy is of the utmost importance and missing a tempo can mean the difference between winning, losing and drawing.

Out of the whole plethora of possible endgame positions, Mark Dvoretsky reckons that rook endings are the ones which requires the most careful study (in his book, Technique for the Tournament Player). This is primarily because firstly, rook endgames tend to appear in half of the endgames in practice and secondly, rook endgames has a well-developed theory with little material. It is this theory that must be learnt and mastered.

Some of the endgames just blow my mind. Take a look at this game played between Michael Adams vs Mikhail Gurevich - two very strong GMs.

49.... Rg3 (see first diagram on right)

Michael Adams is White, Mikhail Gurevich is Black.

White to play. How should White proceed?

Think about the following position and have a go before continuing.

In the game Adams played 50. Bd3! A very surprising move, sacrificing the h3-pawn.

This move actually accomplishes 3 aims.

1. It blocks the White king from any hidden checks on the 3rd rank should the Bishop move.
2. It occupies a more active diagonal.
3. Adams also has a particular winning idea in mind as we shall see in the next few moves.

50...Rxh3

51. a5! (see 2nd diagram on right)

Very clever. Adams had counted that his a-pawn cannot be stopped so in turn he sacrificed a 2nd pawn. The a5 pawn is of course poisoned because 51... Bxa5 is countered by 52. Rf5+ winning the dark bishop and the game. This brings to mind another wonderful endgame technique: Always maximise the full potential of your pieces.

51... Rxh4 (Gurevich has no choice but to take the remaining pawn)
52. a6 Rh8
53. a7 Ra8
54. Rxf7 (now White takes the pawn on f7 at his own leisure. It is interesting to note that Fritz thought that taking the pawn on f7 should be the first move on move 50.)

54... Ba1
55. Re7+ Kd6
56. Be4 (see final position on right)

The a-pawn cannot be stopped without sacrificing the Rook so Black resigns.

1-0

And for the last point of the day, it looks like wonderboy Magnus Carlsen is picking up a few "tips" from ex-champion Garry Kasparov. In a rapid game against Aronian, Magnus played a blunder and tried to take back the move. Kasparov of course, infamously, took back a move against Judit Polgar and wasn't punished. *tsk tsk* Magnus. You can't do that these days, not with cameras on you all the time.

This is what his father has to say of the event:

In the second game Magnus got a small but comfortable advantage as white and was trying to make progress in the rook and bishop endgame when the unfortunate incident took place.
Magnus moved his rook to a3 and discovered immediately the blunder (due to Rg3+). He mind was so occupied by registering the blunder and instinctively correcting it that he did not really notice whether he had released his rook at a3 or not.

Aronian immediately took exception to the corrected move and the arbiter was involved.
Magnus was somewhat surprised when the arbiter said that the video footage clearly showed that Magnus had released the rook on a3 before moving it to c1. He has not seen the video but of course he accepted the ruling of the arbiter, and duly resigned. 0-1.

After the game Magnus has emphasised that he did not intentionally try to cheat and he has apologised to Aronian for any disagreement he may have felt during the episode.

.......[snipped]

Henrik Carlsen
Lommedalen, March 19th 2008.

Converting Your Advantage

In his book, Technique For the Tournament Player, trainer Mark Dvorestky states that in most cases, conversion of an advantage takes place in the endgame.

An inadequate knowledge of endgame theory is one of the principled reasons why players fail to convert their advantage. In addition, if players do not know their way around theory, then the probability of mistakes sharply increases.

In my example, I have the following game (see picture on right):

It is Black to play (I'm Black).

It is well know that in BvN endgames it is true that the Bishop is stronger than the Knight because it is possible that the side with the Bishop can put the other side into zugzwang however, here it is slightly more difficult.

White just played 37. Kf3

What would you play as Black?

I gave this position a good long thought.

The only thing Black has get going is a passed d-pawn. Black's positional minuses are that White has a dark squared bishop and can attack Black's pawns on the kingside if Black is not careful.

In endgames it is extremely important that you minimise your opponent's counter-chances.

How then should Black proceed? The most important thing is to activate your king.

I played 33 ...b4

What I intend to do (see 2nd picture on right) is shuffle my king to the square d3 by taking advantage of the light squares or attack the pawn b2. White must do something to stop this.

38. Kf4 (White hopes to gain counterplay by breaking open the kingside) Kb5

39. b3 (well timed by White - White stops Black's progression by prevent Kc4/Ka4. White hopes that with the Black king "stuck" on the Queenside, White can march the pawns forward to win. Unfortunately, this meant....)

39... Nd2 (White had fatally weakened the b-pawn and is now subject to attack by the Knight)

40. g5 (White hopes to gain the initiative by breaking open the kingside pawn) Nxb3! (this moves was tricky to make. my first thought was to retake on g5 but I then realised, after some tempo calculation that I can get my queenside pawns moving much faster than White)
41. gxh6 gxh6
42. Be3 Nc5 (my kingside is close to collapsing if I'm not careful so I have to hurry to protect my kingside pawns)
43. Kf3 h5
44. Bg5! (A surprising move and one which I should have foreseen beforehand - see 3rd picture on right)

White has a very nasty trick. At the time, I was calculating tempi and I found that if I had taken the bishop with 44.... fxg5 45. hxg5, this might lead to a pawn race where Black queens the b-pawn and White queens the g-pawn (not the f-pawn of course because after 45... b3 46. f6 b2 47. f7 b1Q 48. f8Q Qf1+ ... winning the White Queen).

I thought the result is very unclear and creates unnecessary chances for my opponent. I chose the defend the f-pawn.

44... Ne4! (now White is in deep trouble. I am really threatening to take the Bishop with my f-pawn and recapturing the g-pawn with my Knight)

After this move, there is no defense for White and Black's b-pawn roams home.

After this game, I found that I could have taken the bishop with 44... fxg5 45 hxg5 as the Knight will have everything under control. after 45...Ne4 46. g7 Nf6. This just goes to show that I need to calculate better.

Laying Out An Endgame Plan

While I'm still on the topic of endgames, have a look at the following position.

This is a game in which I am Black. I lost this game because of poor endgame skills. As you can clearly see, Black has the advantage here because of the bishop pair and White's Knight is on the edge and needs to be brought back to the center asap.

White has the open c-file but this control is largely illusory. White is also saddled with a bad bishop on b2.

Now White just played the move 33. Rc2. (see 1st diagram on right)

In my game, I played a poor move, got duly punished and lost.

What should I do next?

What I should have done is plan a coherent long term strategy.

The most obvious move that comes to mind is of course 33.... Rc8 challenging the c-file and swapping rooks.

But is there a better move? I relooked at the position after the game and saw something.

First, there's no hurry to swap Rooks just yet. What Black needs to do is clamp down the position on White's camp and prevent any counterplay from White. Prophylaxis here pays off.

The a and b pawn structure is not fixed. We need to fix this pawn structure because if the Rooks come off (which is very likely) than it is important to find out how to deal with the pawn structures.

Black has problems with the light squared bishop (which is limited in activity), this bishop needs room to roam. The central pawn chain is rock solid and White's Knight can't attack it just yet.

The only thing is to find activity for this bishop.

How do we activate this bishop on b7?

Simple. We open up the light-squared a6-f1 diagonal. Is there any other downside to opening this diagonal? Not at the moment but it has to be remembered that the Knight on h3 will surely make its way to the Queenside.

The Knight is most likely to take the following path in red (as shown in the 2nd diagram on right).

The squares that need to be guarded are c3 and a2 (highlighted in green). Note that it is possible for White to push the b-pawn and the Knight can then squeeze into b3 to cause chaos in Black's position.

And the only way to do is to push the b-pawn. 33... b4 was the correct prophylactic move. If White plays 34. axb4 axb4. If White plays a4 the pawn chain is fixed in the same way and the Knight cannot use c3 or a2.

Are there any other threats or positions that might change this plan?

Not at the moment but we have to be careful of the pawn triggers by White, mainly f4, g4, h4 or a combination of the three. The good news is that this is not likely to happen soon. Any pawn breaks is easily guarded by Black's dark-squared bishop on d6 which is in a perfect position and the Black king can easily move to g6 if the need arrives to render more help to support the kingside pawns.

Only after the moves b4 can Black now swap Rooks with Rc8.

How is Black then to win? With the a3-f1 diagonal open, Black must at the opportune moment swap off the Knight with the light-squared bishop. This bishop can wreck some havoc by going to d3 and then b1 to prevent the Knight from going to a2 . In order to do this, White must make a concession on the kingside pawn chain sooner or later. And the plan is very easy. After trading off the Knight and Bishop, start moving the Black King up along the board and use the h-pawn to break open the position and get to a winning ending.

The move b4 is not easy to see, I admit. I certainly didn't.

Update: I've added the game below - highlighting, main lines and various variations (as suggested by Fritz) on continuations of this game. Cheers. :)

Why You Should Learn The Endgame

Lots of chess players groan at the thought of learning the endgame.

Why are endgames so hard to master? That's because in the opening and middlegame play, usually, you do not get punished as severely when choosing sub-optimal moves.

In the endgame, there is no such thing as sub-optimal moves. Usually, the move has to be technically accurate and correct. The margins between winning, drawing and losing are on a knife's edge. Choosing the wrong strategy results in disastrous consequences.

For a long time, I've been trying to get my head around working on endgames (with many thanks to Karsten Mueller for his terrific tomes and DVDs). The problem with endgames are that you need to know what you're doing and you need to do it right every time.

Who are the greatest endgame masters?

On the top of my head, 3 famous names come to mind : there's of course the well known Cuban champion Jose Raul Capablanca, the inimitable singer and gentlemanly champion Vasily Smyslov and the monster that is Viktor Korchnoi.

If you want to learn endgames, choosing any books from these players with actual games from these masters and you are very unlikely to go wrong.

In addition, there are also many great endgame books eg. Averbakh, Nunn, Dvoresky, Fine.

As an example, take the following position (1st diagram on left):

This game arose out of a Sicilian Najdorf. I am White and it is White's turn to play.

Over here, Black activated the Knight to gain some activity with 27.... Nc5.

The question is: should you trade the dark-squared bishop for the Knight?

In this case, I took my time to carefully calculate.

And the answer is a resounding yes. Why?

All of black's pawns are on dark squares, surely it is more advantageous to have a dark squared-bishop so you can attack the pawns, no?

Not so in this case, in this game, I calculated that in order for Black to activate the bishop, his only route is via h6 and the only pawn he can attack is h4. In order to get around h4, he needs to manouevre his bishop h4-e3 or d2. The Knight is a fine blockading piece, I am going to move my Knight around to occupy e4.

28. Bxc5 dxc5

Now I manoeuvre Knight to the perfect outpost on e4 where it attacks b5 and f6 Now Black must spend the rest of its time defending and can only watch while I carry out my plans.

29. Nd2 a5
30. Ne4 Kf7

With this done, I now want to close off the a-file to stop any potential counterplay. I can take my time to do this because Black isn't going anywhere. Remember that it is important that you do not hurry in the endgame.

31. b3 Kg7
32. Kf2 Kf7
33. Kf3 Kg7
34. Ke3 Kf7
35. Kd3 Be7
36. Kc2 Kg7
37. Kb2 Kf7
38. a3 Kg7
39. axb4 axb4

now that the a-file is closed. I can carry out my plan.
40. Kc2 Kf7
41. Kd3 Bf8 (see 2nd diagram on left)

42. d6! Bxd6 (forced) if the Pawn is not taken, then d7 is coming followed by either Nxf6 or Nd6+!! (the Knight cannot be taken of course else the d-pawn queens) and the Black King cannot move around to attack the d7 pawn. Now all I need to do is move my King to attack the queenside pawns via the hole e4-d5 and White wins.
43. Nxd6+ Ke7
44. Ne4 Kd7
45. Nxf6+ Kd6 Black resigns 1-0

Karsten Mueller: Endgames Vol 1

I've finally got some time (in between fuelling a massive cough/sore throat) resting at home, sucking on Strepsils, gargling salt water and taking cough medicine, I got some time to sit down and watch Mueller's Endgame Volume 1 : Basic Knowledge For Beginners.

Mueller is a well known endgame expert GM (my wife calls him the "bun" - because his cheeks are rather round and the shape of his head looks like a bun) and also has a PhD in mathematics. In this series of DVDs, he lays down the basic rules which "all chess players must know" (as Mueller himself puts it).

A resident from Hamburg, Mueller speaks with a noticeable German accent. Mueller is concise, goes through each example slowly and it was thus, not a problem following him.

The layout of the DVD is as follows:

Chapter 1: Mating (with Queen, Rook, double Bishops, Bishop and Knight)
Chapter 2: Pawn Endings (Rule Of The Square, K+P v K, Bodycheck, Opposition, Passed Pawns, Triangulation)
Chapter 3: Knight Endings (Knight vs Pawns)
Chapter 4: Bishop Endings (Bishop vs Pawns, Opposite coloured Bishops)
Chapter 5: Bishop vs Knight
Supplementary Chapter: Queen vs Pawns (1 video)

In all, there are slightly over 35 video fragments.

Most of the material covered here is fairly basic but it is a very good refresher course (even if you do know it). Mueller chooses highly instructive examples to demonstrate his point and he is very comfortable with the Fritz GUI, using highlighted squares and arrows throughout his presentation.

Mueller's tone is slightly deadpan, he's not as interesting as say, instructors like Andrew Martin but he carries himself well in front of the camera and exudes confidence.

There are some slightly comedic moments eg. when Mueller says,"Even if I were to wake you from your sleep, you will still be able to know how to checkmate with your Queen!"

Do note that his material is taken from his encyclopedic book, Fundamental Chess Endings. So if you don't feel like spending the $$$ for this DVD, do at least grab his book.

One thing I noticed with regards to learning chess this way, I absorb the material much faster than if I were to read a book and play the moves from the book using a board. The downside is that Mueller unfortunately cannot cover more of this in just one DVD.

If I have to give this a rating, I would say, it's 8.5 stars out of 10 stars.

It's a very good chess DVD (the Chessbase Reader is included fyi) and one I would heartedly recommend.

Endgame

While I continue to pore through dk-transformation's database, there are a couple of things that caught my eye. Amongst them are some very interesting games to play over.

The games dk picked are very instructive and some of the combinations are very beautiful.

The best way to make full use of the database is to pick up where some of them stopped and figure out for yourself how best to proceed. These games are really tough and will really stretch your chess brain (I'm not kidding).

Forget those simple 1-move checkmates. This database contains the creme-le-creme, as they say. If you wish to obtain his database, do drop him a note. I guarantee you will not be disappointed.

Now for today's study, I am back to reading up on endgames.

In the following position, how does White save himself?

[1. Rg5!! f1=Q 2. Rf5+ Qxf5 stalemate]

Endgame Realisation

How good is your endgame technique? Definitely superior to mine, that's for sure.

I recently played this endgame.... or rather, misplayed this endgame.

I managed to convert this endgame... again, playing the 2nd line which Fritz recommended and again, I missed the stronger line. In fact, the difference between the suggested 1st and 2nd lines were so wide, I was surprised I missed it totally.

White just captured my pawn with
47. Rxe3

How would you proceed from here?

[In the game, I played

47...Rf4+
48.Ke2 Rxe3+
49.Kxe3 Kxh5
after which I proceeded to win by marching down my pawn.

However, the strongest continuation was:
47...g4+
48.Kf2 Ra2+
49.Kg3 Rxe3+
And I win White's Rook]

Endgame

Endgame study time. This game was taken from the book, Secrets of Pawn Endings by endgame expert Karsten Muller.

White to play and win.

Answers are between the brackets.

[White wins by the technique I discussed not too long ago. It's called triangulation.

The same thing occurs here. White must pass the move to Black and put it into fatal zugzwang. Black can only move on the White squares so White simply triangulates.

1. Kg4 (1. Kf6 - stalemate) Kf7
2. Kh5 Kg8
3. Kg5 Kf7
4. g8Q+ Kxg8
5. Kf6! +-

Now the White King simply grabs all the pawns on e6, d5 and White wins easily.
]

Playing The Endgame

I was playing a similarly rated opponent today on FICS. My endgame skills are torrid to say the least here. I should have easily converted this to a win. Instead, I made wrong moves and this game went on for 26 more moves instead when it should have been quicker.

We arrived at the following position (see 1st diagram on right). I am White. Black just played

21. ... h4

I made mistakes from this point onwards. Up till then, Fritz was relatively happy with my play. I had slowly put on the pressure on my opponent and was threatening to break through.

Instead, I played the terrible move. 22. Nf4 which handed my opponent a lifeline and he instantly took advantage of it with 22... Rg4 and we traded a Rook each. This was a mistake. What I should have done here is play the move.

22. Rh5! This move IMHO is the most accurate.

White's aim: White threatens to take one of the 2 h-pawns.
White's additional aim: It also parries a potential threat from Black. Black is threatening ... c5! and after bxc5, Black wants to put the Bishop on c5 so as to fatally pin the Rook. However, if my Knight had remained on e2, I can safely repel the attack with d4.

After a pair of the Rooks were traded, realising my foolhardiness, I was forced to withdraw my Knight back to e2 which where it should have been.

Now my opponent missed a golden chance for his bishop and instead played 33... bxc5? (see 2nd diagram on right). Definitely better was 33... Bxc5 where the Bishop is now free.

In this position I made the cardinal sin. I took his rook with 34. Rxg4. Ouch! Remind me never to do such stupid things again.

I've just unrolled his double h-pawns and now his kingside pawns are rock solid again.

There were 2 moves I could have done. One was 34. c4. This would blockade his Bishop but unfortunately, here, it does not work well. Because after the Rook trade, Black will win my crucial e-pawn and I will be forced to back-pedal. What I should have played here was a very nice move 34. Rf4! This move works. I threaten to take his h-pawn which cannot be defended. If his Rook goes to h5, then I move my rook to the now open g-file and he cannot go back to the g-file. One thing is interesting is that he can create some counterplay with the strong move c4! after which his Rook can slide to the a-file to attack my a-pawn and this would lead to unclear play with chances for both sides.

My Rook endgame technique right now belongs in the "I suck" category. I must continue to work harder at it. Interestingly enough, one of my friends recommended me to have a look at Korchnoi's book Practical Rook Endings. I will have a peep at the book soon. I'm still in R&R mood and half my mind tells me to enjoy the holiday, the other half says,"Don't be a lazy bum. This is the only time you can squeeze some chess training time in." Decisions, decision...... :)

Castling Queen Side

Polly has a very interesting chess blog at Castling Queen Side.

Do remember to check it out! I highly recommend it. :)

I've also been busy updating chess blog links that are of similar interest to me on the side of the blog and that I regularly visit. Each of them has something interesting that is worthy to take note. Do drop by and have a look at them. Cheers.

I am still working my way through endgames on Convekta's Total Chess Training set.

On a peculiar note, there was an older article in ChessBase that was closely related to a training set I had just done. I've reproduced the problem here. See the position shown.

If you had asked me 1 week ago, I would have racked my brains for quite a long while to find the solution. Can you spot Black's problem squares and how White can capitalise the situation? White to move and win.

Do note that in this case, you cannot win via moving the f-pawn with the King because Black has the opposition, and if you try to force Black to move the a-pawn in this way, you will end up in stalemate.

I'm not going to give out the full answer here but I'm going to give you the general idea of how to win such endgames (there's enough chess literature around on this technique). Can you find it?

The winning move is a slight variation of a technique called Triangulation. Black's problem square is f8. How many dark squares can Black go to from f8? None. In other words, if you perform a triangulation by moving to dark squares, Black cannot follow because unlike White, he cannot use consecutive dark squares. In effect, White now must start a triangulate move - using f4 square as an interim point.

White's king will then head straight for Black's h-pawn via f5 and once that happens, White will win as the King captures the h6 pawn and moves back to g5 to protect both pawns. The Black king subsequently cannot stop both pawns from marching down the board and one of them will Queen. If Black attempts to triangulate, it will fail and White will gain back the opposition and march the f-pawn down instead to win.

If you have a trouble understanding the concept of Triangulation, there are plenty of free online chess materials around. eg. Wikipedia.

Triangulation is a very important tool and it's definitely good to keep it in your arsenal of endgame techniques.

Calculating Your Endgame

The following endgame occurred.

I am Black.

White had just played:

42. Kd4 (see 1st diagram on left)

Now here's the question:

Should Black swap rooks by playing 42....Rxc5?

Give yourself a few minutes to think this over before proceeding to the answer below.

Before swapping Rooks, it is important to calculate first if the resulting pawn race is a win for Black or not.

What do you do after the White King recaptures with 43. Kxc5? How do you stop any of the White pawns from strolling up the board? Is there enough time to stop any of these pawns? If so, how?


Let's first consider the line 42. ... Rxc5

White naturally recaptures with 43. Kxc5 (see 2nd diagram on left)

Now we come to an important decision. What should Black play next?

When looking at endgames, it is important to calculate your tempi carefully. In endgames like this where it's down to a pawn race, every tempo is worth its weight in gold.

At the current position, only 2 of Black's pawns can Queen without being hindered by Black's King. The d and g pawn. Let's look at the g-pawn. It takes 5 tempi to get the g-pawn to Queen and 4 tempi for the d-pawn to Queen. It takes White 5 tempi for either the a or b pawn to Queen. With that in mind. Let's proceed.

We have a look first at 43... Ke4. This tempo is a wasted move. Why?

Look at your pawns after 43.... Ke4. 44. a4. Black needs 4 more pawn moves for the d-pawn to Queen. White's a-pawn also needs 4 moves to Queen. In other words, Black's pawn Queens then White's pawn Queens and the resulting endgame is a headache as both sides try to fight for an advantage. The position becomes messy as Black is trying to manouevre the Black Queen into a position so that he can trade off White's Queen or attack the remaining White pawn and White will do its utmost to keep up with annoying checks on the Black King to force a draw. It's not much fun and gives you an immense headache in the process. Black is probably winning but it's difficult.

But it secures the d-pawn, you say.

Well, does the d-pawn need securing? Is there any reason to be afraid of Kxd5? The answer is no. The simple reason is that this is a pawn race. White can ill afford a King move so any other move other than the pawn move results in a precious loss of tempo and letting Black queen first. So put your mind at ease. White will not take your d-pawn.

What about 43... d4 then?

Well, what about it? White is now forced to play 44. Kxd4 and again we have 2 pawns queening one after another and a prolonged fight ensues.

No. There has to be a simpler and quicker method to end White's misery. And there is.

Look at the White King. What is the problem with the White King's position?

Yes, it happens to rest on a diagonal belonging to a potential Queening square. The g1 square.

In other words, if I push my g-pawn I would Queen with check, gaining a precious tempo before White can queen (see 3rd diagram on left).

This tempo is enough to secure Black's win.

43 .... g5 (let's say White pushes the b-pawn although the end result doesn't really matter if the a-pawn was pushed).
44. b4 g4
46. b5 g3
46. b6 g2
47. b7 g1=Q+ (see last diagram on left)

Now White is lost.

If White captures the d-pawn with
48. Kxd5 Qg2+ (see the green arrows) secures the b-pawn

If White plays
48. Ke6 Qb6+ (see the red arrows) secures the b-pawn again

If White plays
48. Kc6 Qa7 (see the yellow arrows) results in White having to waste more tempi and Black's d-pawn simply races up the board while the Queen sacrifices itself for White's b-pawn leading to a simple win.

So the final answer to all of this is:

Yes, Black should play 42... Rxc5

Unfortunately, this is where where I erred. As I was short on time, I made things difficult for myself (this was a blitz game). I did not swap Rooks and played 42... Rd1+. I was lucky that my opponent blundered in time pressure and the game was subsequently won. However, I am still unhappy with the fact that I made the wrong move and gave myself unnecessary headaches in the process. I must work on my endgame technique more.

I hope that by showing you all of my blunders, I am helping you to make less mistakes as well.

Endgame Trouble

This position arose from a Sicilian. I am White.

Black offered to trade Rooks on f8 and I did (see 1st diagram on right).

32. ..... Kxf8

While this may not seem like it, but Black is now in trouble.

Why is Black in trouble?

A few things.

1. I have a queenside pawn majority and Black has doubled pawns on the b-file. This is a long term weakness which Black cannot expect to hold.

2. My center is guarded only by my e pawn while Black has 2 central pawns. That should give him an advantage, you say. The answer is no.

3. That's because White has the g and h-pawns and it is these 2 pawns that will win the game for White and ironically stops Black from pushing his central pawns. I find it strange how pawns on the side actually controls the pawns in the center.

First of all, what did I play as White?

I made the standard move. I activated my King.

My plan is very simple.

Notice how my kingside pawns is guarding the crucial squares f5, f6, g6, h6? White has a central blockade and this makes the Black king task impossible to get around this pawn structure.

In this position, it is crucial that my pawns deny the Black king any activity.

33. Kc1 e5?? (see 2nd diagram on right)

A blunder in time pressure. With the pawn move, the Black king cannot attack my e-pawn now and this makes my task simpler.

I continue to move my King
34. Kd2 Kf7
35. Kd3 Ke6

Now I am ready to deal with the weakness of the doubled pawn on the b-file.

36. c4! bxc3

(see 3rd diagram on right)

Now I am winning. I simply take the c-pawn with my King and storm down the b-file.

37. Kxc3 d5?

A mistake. Black cannot hope to achieve any counterplay with this pawn break as now my g and h pawns romp home.

38. exd5+ Kxd5 (the King is now outside the rule of the square for my h-pawn and White's h-pawn queens easily)

39. g6! (hxg6 40. h6 Ke6 41. h7 Kf7 42. h8=Q) 1-0

Endgame: Centurini

Ok, so there's good news and bad news. Last night at the social chess, I lost two games in 10 minute blitz games (now I wonder why I bother to play such fast games) and I won a game against my opponent where we played without a clock.

My school starts next week and as expected, my chess club decides to commence their rated competition (just great) - which probably means that I can't really maintain a consistent rate of play.

I do notice that my endgame is starting to have an effect eg. have a look at this position. Is this a draw or a win for White? White to play.

This is the classic example of a position where Centurini's rules apply. There are 2 simple governing principles (and they only apply to B v B+P endgames):

1. The game is a draw if the black king can reach any square in front of the pawn that is not of the color of the bishop.

2. If the defending king is behind the pawn and the attacking king is near the pawn, the defender can draw only if his king is attacking the pawn, he has the opposition, and his bishop can move on two diagonals that have at least two squares each.

Now this is where Black runs into trouble in this game here. Because this is a Knight's pawn, Black's bishop cannot move on 2 diagonals with more than 2 squares each (see the highlighted green squares - Black is in trouble because while the a8-h1 diagonal is fine, the other diagonal a6-c8 is only 3 squares but 1 of them is crucially held by the White king - b7) and Black will gradually be eased out by White who will start to move his bishop to the vital square b7 via f5-c8-b7 (to drive off the Black Bishop off the a8-h1 diagonal) and when Black's bishop goes to a6 (only position possible to stop the pawn from advancing); sacrificing the White bishop via the following moves b7-g2-f1 ensures the pawn queens, reaching a winning Q v B endgame.

Recklessness On The Board

Yesterday, while I was playing against my brother-in-law, while in the midst of an extremely messy situation, I suddenly found that because of the position of our pieces, tactics were flying all over the board with pins, counter-pins, exchange sacrifices and skewers. No doubt some of the moves were less than optimal, but overall, it was a very fun game and we enjoyed it very much.

It was after this game that I noticed my preference for unbalanced sharp positions are heightened where I can strive for dynamic positions. While I used to worry about losing pawns and all that, I find that if I can create enough headaches, unless my opponent is a better tactician than me, he/she is going to encounter problems. Some players I played with are happy to take the pawn that I sacrificed and then spend the remainder of the game trying to defend an extra pawn - which kind of works for me.

I also noticed one more thing, the players at my club are a real conservative lot. They want to move slowly, positioning pieces, not being aggressive etc. I am more aggressive (and reckless), if something looks good, I go for it rather than miss the window of opportunity. Of course, I would not do this in real competitions (I will be calculating far deeper) but for 5 minutes blitzes, they are just pure fun.

I also noticed that 5 minute blitz games are terrible for my chess and I usually end up in inferior positions (that's because I normally don't play my opening repertoires in 5 minute blitz games as I see no point in them as I could do that by playing on the Net instead to sharpen my opening repertoire).

Hmmm.... my endgame technique is still not much better these days after going through Convekta's training set. One of my games, I failed to see a drawing line for an endgame. Hopefully, this would improve as I'm now working my way through the 2nd training module.

Biting The Bullet

After much thought, I finally acquired Convekta's Total Chess Training 2.

The software on the CD came with the following 5 separate applications:

Encyclopedia of Middlegame II
Chess Tactics for intermediate players
Mate Studies
Theory and Practice of Chess Endings
Chess Endgame Training

I've already started working my way through the Theory and Practice of Chess Endings and there is a huge amount of material to digest.

Last Wednesday, out of the 3 rapid games I played, I lost 2. The 2nd game I fell into a blunder of enormous proportions by allowing my young opponent a mate in 4 (oops! LOL). My third game was with Mick Waters. Mick is a fine gentleman and he's a very active and steady player here in Sydney. I see him playing on Mondays at Manly, again at North Sydney on Tuesdays and Ryde Eastwood on Wednesdays.

Mick is a dangerous opponent to face (his rating is about 1500) for me as I've lost to him before. In our game, Mick opened with the French Defence. After 5 moves, I deliberately took Mick out of book and played an unusual line in the Tarrasch variation of the French Defence. We ended up in the position shown in the diagram after some 20 odd moves.

While thinking over this position, I suddenly realised that I have a winning endgame! I didn't like my dark-squared Bishop earlier on and deliberately swapped it off with one of his Knights as my central pawns were on the dark squares. I am exerting a huge amount of pressure on Black's 2 main pieces holding the position. The Knight on c6 and the Bishop on e6. My plan here is fairly simple, use my Knights to attack the Queenside, exchange off another one of his piece and Black will be in trouble. So my first course is to rip his center to shreds with Bxe4 (exploiting the pin on the Queen again). As expected, shortly after, a flurry of exchanges occur. My Knights continue to gobble up his remaining Queenside pawns and I managed to get 2 connected passed pawns on the Queenside in a winning R+4P+K v R+2P+K endgame.

I am indeed thankful to have won this game and 2 months back, I would not have known what to do in this position.

Endgame #2007-09-25

Took some time off my studies to practise my game in preparation for tomorrow.

I logged onto FICS and started playing. And despite weathering some early pressure, I reach an ending as shown:

Black had just played the move 58.... e4. What should White do?

There's only 2 options worth considering:
59. Kd4 or 59. Kxb4

Which would you choose? One leads to a win, the other a loss.

Highlight the solution within the brackets:
[If you pick 59. Kxb4 e3 60. fxe3 f3!! And Black's f-pawn queens. The correct answer was 59. Kd4 59... e3 60. fxe3 fxe3 61. Kxe3 Kxa7 62. Kf4 Kb6 63. Kg5 Kc5 64. Kxg6 Kd4 65. h4 Kc3 66. h5 Kxb3 67. h6 Ka2 68. h7 b3 69. h8=Q b2 and White has reached a winning K+Q v K+P endgame and Black only has a Knight's pawn and cannot draw 1-0]

North Sydney Ford Competition: Musings

I popped by the North Sydney chess club last night for a quick hour or two to see the Ford competition games.

First of all, hats off, I was mightily impressed by Board 1 player, Vladimir Smirnov. A very talented player. His opponent got into a losing position and was gracious enough to resign instead of fighting on as his position was unsalvageable. Vladimir then took his time to discuss the game over with his opponent, highlighting any mistakes as well as strategies and possible variations to improve his position. Top class bloke.

Simple Endgame : Philidor's Position

Endgame theory represents the cornerstone of all chess games. GMs, IMs, FMs, National Masters all know their basic endgame theory by heart.

This particular endgame has roots going back to a Frenchman by the name of Francois-Andre Danican Philidor. He was born on September 7, 1726 in Dreux, France. Philidor was exceptionally gifted in the game of chess (and music) and was then regarded as the unofficial world champion.

Have a look at this position. Yes, I've turned the board upside down to make it easier to play. Black to play and draw. What would you play?

There's no answer given here. If you don't know, just fire up Crafty or Fritz or Rybka and go over it with an endgame tablebase. Okay, if you really want to know, go to Wikipedia for the answer: Philidor's position