Middlesex League Division 1 1989
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| Black has just captured on g7 and offered a draw |
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The opening of the game, as I am sure many people will have guessed, was the Exchange Variation of the Spanish. It is often said the pawn ending in the Spanish Exchange is won for White (assuming the basic structure has stayed the same). However, I remember IM Andrew Whiteley telling me the situation is not as simple as that, which certainly proved to be the case here. For what it is worth, Stockfish10 reckons White has the upper hand, while Komodo10 reckons White has only a slight edge.
23.Ke2 Kf6 24.Ke3 c5 25.f4 Ke6 26.g4 h6 27.h4
The engines give 27.e5!? as very strong, and if 27...Kd5 then 28.c4+ Ke6 29.Ke4, eg 29...c6 30.f5+ Ke7 31.g5! hxg5 32.fxg6 fxg6 33.Kf3 Ke6 34.Kg4 Kf7 35.Kxg5 Kg7 36.e6 etc.
27...f6
Stockfish10 wants Black to play 27...h5? But when it is shown 28.f5+ (Komodo10 finds this quickly), it realises Black is lost, eg 28...gxf5 29.gxh5 or 28...Ke5 29.fxg6 fxg6 30.gxh5 gxh5 - in each case White's passed pawn makes the win relatively trivial. And if 28...Kf6 then simply 29.gxh5 gxh5 30.Kf4 etc.
28.Kd3
The engines reckon that strongest is 28.f5+!? gxf5 29.exf5+, eg 29...Ke5 30.c3 b6 31.c4 b5 32.Kf3 bxc4 33.bxc4 a5 34.b3 c6 35.Ke3 Kd6 36.Kf4 Ke7 37,g5 etc.
28...b5
The engines want Black to move his king, for example to d6, so the pawn-thrust f5 does not come with check and can therefore be met by ...g5.
29.Ke3
f5+!? is again winning, according to the engines.
29...Kd6 30.Kf3 Ke6
This is not liked by the engines because it again allows f5+.
31.g5 hxg5 32.hxg5 fxg5 33.fxg5 Ke5 34.Ke3 a5 35.Kf3?
35.c3 is equal, according to the engines.
35...c4?
The engines' 35...b4 wins, eg 36.Ke3 c4! 37.bxc4 a5 etc or 37.Kf3 c5 38.Ke3 cxb3 39.cxb3 c4 etc.
36.bxc4 bxc4 37.Ke3 a4 38.c3
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| Guess what happened next |
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Neither player can make progress after 38...c5 or 38...c6. Instead Black resigned.
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