Most Complicated Pawn Endgame I Ever Played

I usually do not post very detailed analysis on this blog since
a) complicated analysis is not always necessary to illustrate an idea
b) who has time to read chess complex analysis on the Internet
c) lengthy variations often contain errors and are wrong anyway

In this pawn endgame from one of my games from 2000 BC Active Championship – complex analysis is required, but ideally the result of such an analysis is not a myriad of variations, but rather a collection of themes and ideas that serve the purpose of finding the truth – evaluation of each given position that occurred during the game. I suggest that you look at the ideas first, and only if you`re interested – look at the more detailed analysis.

 Black to move, initial position
Who is better here? During the game, I felt that White ought to be better (even winning) because White would create two disconnected passed pawns – one on the kingside, and one on the queenside. Black king would not be able to stop both, while White king can safely block the ‘e’ and ‘f’ pawns. Things are a LOT more complicated however, because Black has several counterattacking ideas:
1) Black can have pawn breakthrough on the queenside to create his own passed pawn, before White gets his ‘h’ pawn going.
Imagine after 34...e4! 35.Kd2 f4 36.a4 Kd7 37.b4 Creating a passed pawn like this does not work since central pawns are too far advanced, and g and h pawns are not going anywhere, so Black king can stop the a pawn

Black to move - 37...b5!! –+ This idea reminded me of the game Adams – Lutz from Endgame Secrets by Lutz.

2) Black can activate the king to support central pawns
Again, imagine a hypothetical position after 34. Kd7  35. a4 e4 36. b4 axb4 37. cxb4 f4 38. h4 Ke639. a5 Kf5 40. b5 f3 41. Kd2
Black to move 41… Kg4!! 42. a6 f2 43. Ke2 Kg3 44. axb7 Kg2 45. b8=Q f1=Q+ 46. Kd2 Qd3+ 47. Kc1 e3 –+
But not 41... Kf4? 42. a6 f2 43. axb7 f1=Q 44. b8=Q+ with a draw since White queens with check. Mark Dvoretsky's Endgame Manual has several similar positions. I remembered from his book that it is advantageous to  have the pawns advanced as far as possible – in that case when the king supports the pawns, they are a lot more dangerous. For the same reason, it is better for White to play Kd3, sooner rather than later. Already here we can see that in this endgame – every tempo may count.

3) Black can blockade White pawns if they are advanced carelessly - This is what happened in the game, after 34… Kd7 35. b4? axb4 36. cxb4 b5!

  Now White will actually have to sacrifice a pawn with a4 to have any chances for counter play.
If Black is careless (and in our game he was), however, that breakthrough will be very effective:

 White to move 40.a4! bxa4 41.g6! hxg6 42.h6 Kf7 43.b5 f4 44.h7 Kg7 45.b6 f3 46.b7 f2 Diagram

 White to move 47.h8Q+ every tempo counts! Kxh8 48.b8Q+ +-

Now that I covered the themes of this endgame, and assuming you are still bearing with me, on to what actually happened in the game, which turned into a comedy of errors, as we were blasting off the last moves in SD time control.

Jiganchine,Roman - Remedios,Russell [B76] BC Active (2), 17.06.2000

34...Kd7?
it may be hard to evaluate this move precisely, but likely committing the king too early was a mistake. The core of the position seems to be that Black needs to advance his e and f pawns ASAP, and White should create passed pawns on kingside and queenside. The White pawns have not advanced far enough though, and Black manages to create his own queenside passer in many lines 34...e4! was correct, I believe Black is winning –+
35.b4? Now only black can play for a win. Correct was 35. Kd3! Ke6 (35...e4+ !?) 36.h4 on the kingside - White can create a passed pawn (or a threat of one), on the queenside - both sides can create a passed pawn if white plays a4 and b4, and Black breaks through with b5. So maybe makes sense to advance kingside pawns first? 36...Kf7 37.h5 Ke7 38.a4+- Diagram

White is winning since Black does not have time to bring central pawns into motion 38...f4 39.Ke4 Ke6 40.b4 f3 41.Kxf3 Kf5 42.bxa5 Kxg5 43.c4 Kxh5 44.c5 Kh4 45.a6+] 35...axb4 36.cxb4 b5 Diagram

during the game - here I realized that I made a mistake. the tables have turned, now White will have to create rescuing chances by the a4 break, but his king will have to guard the e and f pawns as well 37.h4 Ke6 Diagram

38.Kc3? 38.Kd3! definitely makes more sense, even though it could still be losing
38...Kd5??+- Diagram

Without good reason - the king goes too far away from the h pawn [38...f4 Diagram

and White king is too far from e4 39.h5 Kf5 40.g6 hxg6 41.h6 Kf6-+ 42.a4 f3 43.Kd3 bxa4 44.b5 f2!-+ Diagram

this is why it is better to have White king closer to the ‘f’ pawn before playing a4 45.Ke2 a3 46.h7 Kg7 47.h8Q+ Kxh8 48.b6 a2 49.b7 f1Q+ 50.Kxf1 a1Q+-+]
39.Kd3??-+ Diagram

this move should have lead to a loss.
[39.h5! was correct Ke6 Diagram

40.a4! bxa4 41.g6! hxg6 42.h6 Kf7 43.b5 f4 44.h7 Kg7 45.b6 f3 46.b7 f2 Diagram

47.h8Q+ Kxh8 48.b8Q+;

After 39.Kd3? Now black gives a few decisive checks, and the breakthrough is no longer possible, since Black's `a` pawn runs ahead, and my king is too far to stop it. 39...e4+ Black gains decisive tempo for advancing his pawns. 40.Kd2 f4 41.h5 Ke6 42.g6 hxg6 43.h6 Kf6 44.a4 bxa4 45.b5 a3 46.h7 Kg7 47.b6 Kxh7 48.b7 a2 49.b8Q a1Q 50.Qxf4 Qa5+-+]

All this did not matter, since we were both so short on time and confused about what was going on that we agreed to a draw: 1/2-1/2

A very complicated pawn endgame, in which both White and Black were taking turns in making decisive mistakes. The endgame was initially winning for Black, then tables turned several times, some variations lead to possible draw in queen endgames. When I looked at it the first time in 2007, I came to several wrong conclusions, and even now, after spending another few days on it – I am not sure of all evaluations! Pawn endgames are supposed to be simple …
You can replay it in the viewer with even more detailed analysis:

Pawn sacrifice in Closed Sicilian

This position could have occurred in one of my recent online games

  White to move

White sacrificed a pawn (on b2), but has a surprisingly (to me) strong initiative.
14. e5!! dxe5 15. Nc6!! Out of nowhere, White generates dangerous threats! Black king is stuck in the center and his queenside pieces are not developed, so White opens up files and diagonals just on time.

now probably  best is 15... Qc7 and something like this could happen: 16. Bb6 Qd7 17. Nxe5 Qxd1 18. Rfxd1 O-O 19. Bc5 Re8 20. Bd6 Rd8 21.Bxb7 Bxb7 22. Rxb7 Ne4 23. Nxf7 Rdc8 24. Rc1 and and White maintains winning chances.

But what if Black wants to be ‘shown’?

15…dxc6?! 16. Bxc6+ Bd7 17. Bxa8 Qxa8 18. Qd6!

Black to move. Rb8 is a decisive threat. White is winning. 18… Ne4 19. Rb8+ Bc8 20. Qc7 +-

Positional Chess – Exploiting the Open File

This game, played 10 years ago still brings pleasant memories, and recollections of how easy it can be to a win a chess game if your opponent does not have a plan.
Lee – Jiganchine, 1999
 Black to Move

White played very passively in the Exchange Variation of the Slav Defence, and Black is in control. 26… Qc4! 27. Qxc4 dxc4! This transforms the advantage of an open file, into an advantage of a better pawn structure, where Black has a dangerous majority on the queenside. White’s queen was an important defender that was traded off, and White’s pawns on b2 and a3 now can be attacked by both Black bishop and rook.

Black is winning here already – due to the threat of c4-c3. Out of desperation my opponent played 28. Be5, dropping the f2 pawn and White Resigned a few moves later. Otherwise the game could have developed like this:

28. Kg1 c3! 29. bxc3 Rxc3

White can’t save the a3 pawn. 30.a4 bxa4 31. Rb8+ Kh7 32. Rb6 a3 33. Rxa6 Rc2 34. Kh2 a2 35. e4 Bb4 36. d5 Bc3 37. Ra7 exd5 38. exd5 a1=Q 39. Rxa1 Bxa1 -+

The position after 27… dxc4 however, reminds me of the Jurgis-Botvinnik, 1931

Black to move. The future world champion won beautifully by 1... Rc4!! 2. bxc4 Bc5 3. Kg2 Bxf2 4. Kxf2 b3 0-1

What if in my game against Jason Lee, Black also tried to win with 3 pawns and a bishop against the rook after the game move 28. Be5  ? The sac is completely unjustified, insane, but apparently Black might be able to hold a draw!

28... Rxb2 ?!?! 29. Rxb2 Bxa3
Just for fun, could Black sacrifice a rook?

  30. Rc2! a5 31. e4 a4 32. Kg3 f6 33. Bc7 Bf8 34. d5 a3 35. d6 b4 36. d7 Be7
Both sides have advanced their pawns, but Black has 3 of them!! They are so dangerous that White has to bail out with 37. Ba5!? b3
37. Ba5 b3 38. Bb4 bxc2 39. Bxe7 c1=Q 40. d8=Q+ Kh7 41.Qa5 e5 42. f3 c3 43. Bxa3 Qf4+ 44. Kf2 Qd2+ with a draw.

Replay the game in the viewer:

British Columbia Chess Championship 2009

Round robin tournaments are in my opinion more appropriate for improving one’s chess strength, compared to Swiss events or knockouts. In this post I will try to explain why. Round robins tend to have players of more balanced strength, and allow to prepare for your opponents well in advance, resulting in higher quality of games, and fewer accidental opening choices. Here are some lessons learned from a typical round robin tournament among players of average 2200 FIDE strength.

I competed in the 2009 BC Closed Championship last weekend. Thank you, Stephen, for running the tournament again, and providing the crosstable:

Last year I already wrote a summary of my games and tournament overview of 2008 championship. Back then I had 3 wins and 3 losses, only a single draw. This time I took a different path to the same result – 1 win, 1 loss and 5 draws, with a tie for the 3rd place yet again. In itself, regular participation in a tournament like this is definitely essential if I want to maintain and improve my chess level, so I am very glad I took part. Jack Yoos won convincingly, although he was clearly losing at one point in his game against Lucas in round 6, that game could have change the situation quite a bit. Dragoljub Milicevic was included at the last moment, but posted an awesome result. He now agrees to draws a lot more willingly than 10 years ago, but also is being practical about picking up points when opponents give him a chance. Tanraj Sohal showed a lot of potential for his age, I did not realize that he is only 12 years old.

A few personal observations again:

- I had a bit more time to prepare the openings before the tournament, and was more careful about getting enough sleep throughout the tournament. My games were also shorter, so I was not as exhausted as last year. Last year’s preparation was also helpful since 4 of last year’s opponents played again this time, and obviously their opening repertoires have not changed all that much since then. Opening preparation for a tournament like this (opponents are known well in advance) is time consuming and sets the tone for each game. Although I thought I was reasonably well prepared in the opening - my opponents still managed to surprise me by their choice in the opening in nearly every game. Still, except for the games against Jack Yoos and Brian McLaren, I felt sufficiently familiar with the position that arose …

- I am not happy with my time management again. In a couple of games I had a good position in the end, but went for a draw by repetition because I had significantly less time than my opponents. What was worse, in two games I knew all the opening moves quite well, but still spent half an hour or more on those known moves. Roman, if you know the moves – just frigging play them!

- UBC is a pretty nice place! It was a longer daily commute for me than last year, but I still enjoyed the playing site quite a bit.

I also posted the video of my only win – game against Alfred Pechisker, and a nice combination I found analysing my endgame against Howard Wu. Another tactical idea I posted about – was found while preparing for a game against him.

How to Attack in Sicilian Scheveningen – video with analysis

What does your best chess game look like?

I’ve put a complete video on ChessVideos site: http://www.chessvideos.tv/forum/viewtopic.php?t=5940, and split it up into two parts for youtube since the most popular video sharing site has a limit of 10 minutes per clip: Part 1 and Part 2. Why put up this game? It was my only win in a tournament, and it turned out quite nice. The game could have concluded with a really spectacular finish if Black did not resign and continued to the bitter end:

White to move

23.Qf6!! would threat with Qg7x and Qf7x, so the only response is 23… Nxf6, but then 24. Nf6 is mate

Alfred still has a positive score in our personal encounters (that started in 1998), so of course him walking into my opening preparation was the main reason for such a disaster. Our games are always more fighting than my average game, so I am sure I'll have to prepare even harder for to survive our next battle.

Replay the game in the viewer with all variations:

Sharpen your Endgame Skills - Breakthrough in a Rook Endgame

Do you ever analyze your games with a computer and find really unusual hidden possibilities? It can be worth it sometimes!

  Black to move

I came across this curious position while analysing one of my games from a recent tournament. Black has the initiative, but in most lines White is active enough to trade off all the pawns. The d2 pawn is a strength and a weakness at the same time. Computer found a brilliant concept:

53… g3!! You can check yourself that taking on f2, or f5 is not quite sufficient.
The idea is to win control over the e3 square, so after 54. fxg3 Re3 + Black wins the rook.

 
The king has to stop attacking the d2 pawn, so after 55. Kc4 Re1 – Black wins the rook and is on time to collect White’s weak pawns. The d pawn proves to be a strength in this variation!

Click here to read more about rook endgames on my blog.

Typical mistakes in IQP positions – YouTube video

Here is an older video I actually recorded a while ago (but only now had time to go to and do some minimal editing). I go through my blitz games and look at different ways Black can go wrong while trying to complete his development.

Moral of the story:
Memorize an opening variation – you may be lucky to win a single game.
Understand typical tactical ideas in a common pawn structure – you will win multiple games while your opponents play what they think “common sense moves”.
 

PS. Yes, unfortunately the audio is not very loud, my video editing skills are still non-existent.