Another Blown Rook-and-Pawn Ending

I MADE it 0/2 for my new club Battersea on Thursday, and the following day caught a train to Hull for the city's 54th annual chess congress.
My cold was still streaming, but I turned in a 178 performance against players graded 180-200.
It could have been even better had I taken my chance in round one ...

Position after White's 42nd move in Spanton (169) - John Cooper (199)

JC has been trying for 10 moves to win this ending in which his only advantage, apart from the massive grading difference, is the weakness of my g3 pawn.
Here he had to accept the inevitable draw that follows 42...Rxg3 43.Rxf6. Instead the game went:
42...Ke5? 43.f4+ Kd5
JC offered a draw. Much worse than the text would have been 43...gxf4+? 44.gxf4+ Kd5 45.Kf3.
44.Kf3 Rg1?
Another mistake. I expected 44...Rb2, with good drawing chances.
45.Rxf6 gxf4 46.gxf4 Rh1 47.Rf5+ Kd4 48.g5 hxg5 49.fxg5 Rg1
Here I rejected the winning 50.Ra5 because I could not see how the pawn would advance, but in fact the White king is perfectly able to see to that. Instead I played ...
50.Rf4+??
.... and the game was quickly drawn after:
50...Ke5 51.Rg4 Rf1+ 52.Ke3 Kf5 53.Rg2 Kg6.

How To Lose A Won Rook-and-Pawn Ending

GUERNSEY turned into something of a nightmare tournament.
I had winning positions in six games and was much better in the other one, but I ended up losing five of them before converting the last two into wins.
That gave me a score of +2=0-5 for a Fide rating change of -24.4 (not as bad as it might have been - all five losses were against higher-rated opponents).
Of course I am blaming the heavy cold I was suffering from, but my round five loss had more to do with lousy endgame technique.
Here is the position after White's 25th move.

Black to play in Ruediger von Saldern (1894) - Spanton (1858)

Black is clearly much better - the only question should be whether White can somehow hold on for a draw.
25...Kf8 26.Rb3 Rd7 27.Re4 Re8 28.Reb4!?
An interesting choice. There is a rule-of-thumb in rook endings that, for the side with the advantage, two rooks are better than one, and none is better than one. In other words, the defending side's best chance of a draw usually lies in getting an ending with one rook aside. However, here RvS opts instead for pressure against my b-pawn.
28...Ree7 29.Rb6 Ke8 30.Kh2 Kd8 31.f3 Kc8 32.h4
Stockfish8 and Komodo9 now agree Black is winning rather than just much better.
32...h5 33.Kh3 Rd1 34.Kg3 Ra1 35.a3 Rae1 36.Kf4 R1e2 37.g3 R2e6 38.g4 Rf6+ 39.Kg3 hxg4?!
The analysis engines are happy enough with this although it does give White the prospect of creating a passed pawn on the h-file. I rejected 39...g6 because I thought 40.g5 might be good for White. (The engines prefer 40.gxh5 gxh5 41.R6b4, rating Black's advantage at around 7/10ths of a pawn).
40.fxg4 Rfe6 41.h5 c5??
MUCH disliked by the engines. Two question marks might seem excessive but White is now better, according to the engines. The point is that after an exchange of one pair of rooks, White's king is much better able to support his advanced kingside pawns.
42.Rxe6 Rxe6 
Better is 42...fxe6!, which gives Black two isolanis, but more importantly gives counterplay thanks to the passed e-pawn.
43.g5 Kc7??
Black is now lost!  43...Re8 was vital to try to restrain White's coming passer.
44.Kf4?
Better was 44.Rf3, eg 44...Re7 45.h6.
44...b5?
Again necessary was 44...Re8.
45.Rh3
If 45.Re3? then 45...Kd7, and if 46.Rxe6?? then 46...Kxe6, eg 47.h6 gxh6 48.gxh6 Kf6 49.h7 Kg7 50.Ke5 c4 51.Kd4 Kxh7.
45...a5 46.h6 gxh6 47.gxh6 Re8 48.h7 Rh8 49.Kf5 c4 50.Kf6 b4 51.axb4 axb4 52.Kxf7 Kd6 53.Kg7 Rxh7+ 54.Kxh7 Kd5 55.Kg6 Kd4 56.b3??
56.Kf5 wins, eg 56...c3 57.Rh4+ Kd3 58.Rxb4 c2 59.Rb3+ Kd2 60.Rc3.
56...c3??
Played instantly, whereas 56...cxb3 is a trivial draw.
57.Rh4+ Kc5 58.Rc4+ Kb5 59.Kf5 1-0

Guernsey Stinker

ARRIVED on Friday for my 19th Guernsey Chess Festival, but unfortunately I was already developing a stinking cold.
The tournament began yesterday, so three of us used the spare day on Saturday to catch a boat to Herm.
I knew the island was supposed to be beautiful, but I was surprised at just how beautiful.

View from Herm, looking back to Guernsey

A day of almost non-stop sunshine helped enormously, but for me it was the second day of having a terribly sore throat.
The cold broke yesterday, but even so I reached the following position in my round-one game.

Spanton (1858) - David Collier (2015), after Black's 34th move

White is a pawn up, but under pressure on the kingside. My priority was to drive away the black knight, but how is this best achieved?
I was torn between playing g3 (trying to take advantage of the unprotected status of the f7-rook), and first consolidating with Nd3.
In the end I settled for 35.g3?? and could have resigned immediately after DC's reply 35...fxg3. What made it especially annoying was that I had seen this idea in another variation.
Komodo9 gives 35.Nd3 h5 36.gxh5 Qxh5 37.Ne1, with a large advantage to White.
Stockfish8 is not so convinced by this line, reckoning Black has fair compensation for the pawn.
Either way, 35.Nd3 was the better choice ...

Notorious f+h Pawns

"ALL rook (and pawn) endings are drawn" is an aphorism often attributed variously to Tarrasch or Tartakower.
It sounds much more like the latter, but in any event there is a lot of truth in it, sometimes even when one player is two pawns up.
The ending of rook, f-pawn and h-pawn versus rook "has been notorious ever since the famous game Marshall-Rubinstein, San Sebastian 1911," according to Reuben Fine in Basic Chess Endings.
I reached such an ending last month in the second round of the Highlands Open in Trebic, part of the Czech Tour.
Here is the position after White's 51.Rxa3:

Black to play and draw in Spanton (1858) - Svante Norlander (1583)

Because this position can be analysed perfectly thanks to the Nalimov endgame tablebases, I shall use the John Nunn endgame convention to punctuate the moves.
Here is a subbed down version of the convention (a fuller explanation is available on Wikipedia):
!: The only move which maintains the current evaluation of a win or a draw. An ! is used no matter how trivial the move in question, unless it is the only legal move.
!!: A particularly difficult-to-find ! move.
?: A move which negatively affects the evaluation of the position. ie turns a win into a draw or a draw into a loss.
??: An obviously bad ? move.
51...Rd1+
Seven other moves maintain the draw, including 51...Rc1 and 51...Kd7 - evidence that the drawing margin in this ending is wide indeed.
52.Ke3 Rh1 53.Ra4 Ke5 54.h5 Kf6 55.h6 Re1+
No fewer than 10 moves maintain the draw here, but they do not include 55...Rxh6?, which becomes a lost pawn ending after 56.Ra6+ Kg7 57.Rxh6 Kxh6 58.Kf4 (or Ke4 or Kd4, or even Kd3).
56.Kf4 Re8?
Only one rook move draws, 57...Re7, and so does the natural-looking 57...Kg6 and even 57...Kf7.
57.Ra6+
57.Ra7 also wins.
57...Kf7

White to play and find the only move that keeps the position a win

58.Kf5!
That wasn't so difficult. Clearly White's king and f-pawn need to advance.
58...Re1

White again to play and find the only move that keeps the position a win

59.f4?
I needed to find 59.Ra8! The point is that Black's king has no useful move, while 59...Rh1 can be simply met by 60.h7 (60.Kg5 also wins).
59...Rh1 60.Ra7+ Kg8!
A fairly obvious choice, but a sign that the drawing margin has significantly narrowed.
61.Kg6 Rg1+! 62.Kf6 Kh8?
Black had to play 62...Rh1! He may have been worried by the line 63.h7+ Rxh7?? 64.Ra8mate. But 63...Kh8! draws.

White has two winning moves in this position -  I didn't find either

63.Rg7?
White wins with the understandable 63.f5 and the less obvious 63.Re7.
63...Ra1?
63.Rf1 and 63.Rh1 draw.
64.Rg6?
Again, 64.f5 and 64.Re7 win.
64...Ra6+ 65.Kg5 Ra1 66.Re6 Rg1+! 67.Kf6 Kh7 68.Kf7 Rf1 69.Rf6 Rg1
69...Rxf4?? is the only move that loses in this position!
70.f5 Rf1! 71.Kf8

My plan over the last few moves has been to sacrifice the h-pawn in return for reaching a winning Lucena position, but Black has three moves that foil it

71...Rg1?
Black had to keep his rook on the f file. After the text, I get to execute my plan.
72.Ra6 Rf1
Stockfish8 reckons 72...Rg8+ draws, but Nalimov (and Komodo9) show White winning after either legal king move.
73.f6! Kxh6 74.f7+ Kh7 75.Ra4 76.Rh4+ Kg6 77.Kg8 1-0

How To Lose In 13 Moves

I PLAYED at the Highlands Open, a nine-round swiss held in Trebic from Sep 23-30 as part of the Czech Tour.
My score of +4=1-4 was good enough to gain 25 elo points, but in the sixth round I had the embarrassment of losing in 13 moves.
The game began reasonably enough ...
Jan Bartos (FM2209) - Spanton (1858)
Catalan Opening
1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.g3 c5 5.Bg2!?

Black to make his fifth move

This is quite a common idea in the Catalan: White ignores Black's threat to demolish his centre and instead gets on with developing his kingside. I was already out of book.
5...cxd4
Most popular is 5...Nc6, but the text has been played by some strong players, including Aronian.
6.0-0 Nc6
6...dxc4 is possible, but White replies 7.Qxd4, leaving Black even further behind in development.
7.Nxd4

How should Black play in the centre?

First, it is important to realise that the ambitious 7...e5? loses a pawn to the simple 8.Nxc6 bxc6 9.Nc3, eg 9...Be6 10.Bg5 Be7 11.Bxf6 etc.
7...Bc5 drives the d4-knight from the centre, but there is no gain of tempo as White hits the c5-bishop with 8.Nb3.
Instead, I came up with ...
7...Qb6?!
This drives away the knight with gain of tempo, and I later discovered it had been the move of some strong players. But I think it is more significant that the queen becomes a target for White's minor pieces.
8.Nc2
By no means the only reply. The most popular line runs 8.Nxc6 bxc6 9.Nc3 Be7 10.cxd5 cxd5 11.e4 dxe4 12.Nxe4, with an excellent position for White thanks to the powerful Catalan bishop on g2.
8...d4?
The text is liked by the analysis engine Stockfish8, but Bartos's strong reply shows it to be an error.
Komodo9 prefers 8...dxc4, but that hardly convinces after the straightforward 9.Nba3.

Bartos's ninth move proved very strong

9.e3!
I had not been worried about White giving up the bishop-pair to grab a pawn with 9.Bxc6 Qxc6 10.Qxd4 - Black's compensation is obvious. But the text gives White a strong game, whatever Black replies.
9...Bc5??
I rejected 9...dxe3 10.Bxe3 Qxb2 as too risky. The analysis engines at first disagree, until they find the move that caused me to reject this line, namely 11.Nba3.
Best may be 9...e5 10.dxe4 dxe4, although Black's passed d-pawn is probably weak rather than strong.
10.b4 
Even better, according to the analysis engines, is 10.exd4! eg 10...Nxd4 11.b4, which wins a piece.
10...Nxb4?
Black is still just about in the game after 10...Bxb4, but 11.exd4 gives White the upper hand.
11.exd4 Be7
11...Qd8!? is a computer-suggested near-save, and does keep the game going, but White should win comfortably enough after the forcing 12.Nxb4 Bxd4 13.Nc2 Bxa1 14.Qxd8+ Kxd8 15.Nxa1.
12.c5 Qb5 13.a4 Qd3
Losing instantly, but the b4-knight could not be saved, eg 13...Qc4 14.Nba3 Qb3 15.Rb1.
1-0
So how do you lose in 13 moves? There are many ways, but this game shows three things that help:
1. Pick a variation where you know very little theory.
2. Develop your queen early.
3. Push a pawn across the halfway line when it will be difficult to support it.