The results have been somewhat random, and therefore rather instructive.
 |
| Black has just captured on a7 in Dario Cittadini (2064) - Spanton (1982), Swiss Chess Open (Luzern) 2007 - what should the result be? |
*****
*****
*****
*****
*****
Black is winning comfortably.
The game continued:
56.Rg2+ Kf3 57.Rg6 Rh7 58.Kg1 h5 59.Rg8 h4 60.Kf1 Rh5 61.Kg1 h3?
The Syzygy endgame tablebase shows Black has 11 winning moves after 61.Kg1, but the text is not one of them.
62.Rg7?
Blocking the h pawn with 62.Kh2 draws, as does preparing to check from the flank with 62.Ra8 or 62.Rb8.
62...Rh4?
Black wins with 62...h2+, 62...Re5 and 62...Rf5, eg 62...h2+, eg 63.Kh1 Kf2 64.Rg2+ Ke1 (not 64...Kf1? 65.Rf2+! Ke1 66.Rxf4) 65.Ra2 Re5! 66.Ra1+ Kf2 67.Ra2+ Kf1 68.Ra1+ Re1 69.Ra2 f3 (other moves also win) 70.Kxh2 f2 71.Kh3 Re3+ 72.Kh2 Re5 73.Kg3 Rg5+ 74.Kh2 Rd5 75.Kg3 Rd3+ 76.Kh2 Ke1 77.Ra1+ Rd1 etc.
63.Kh2 Kf2 64.Ra7 f3
My notes from 2007 show Fritz9 and Junior10.1 reckoned 64...Rh8 wins, but it does not.
65.Ra2+ Ke3 66.Ra3+ Kf4 67.Ra4+ Kg5 68.Ra5+ Kf6 69.Ra6+ Ke5 70.Ra5+ Ke6 71.Ra6+ Kd5 72.Ra5+ ½–½
 |
| White has just captured on a3 in Spanton (1858) - Svante Norlander (1583), Highlands Open (Třebíč, Czechia) 2017 - what should the result be? |
*****
*****
*****
*****
51...Rd1+
This is one of eight moves that draw.
52.Ke3 Rh1 53.Ra4 Ke5 54.h5 Kf6 55.h6 Re1+
Not 55...Rxh6? 56.Ra6+ Kg7 57.Rxh6 Kxh6 as the white king has no trouble reaching e5 (it needs to reach e5, f5 or g5 to convert the pawn ending).
56.Kf4 Re8?
Three moves draw: ...Kg6, ...Kf7 and ...Re7, eg 56...Kg6 57.Ra6+ Kf7 58.Kf5 Rb1 59.f4 Rb5+ 60.Kg4 Rb1 61.f5 Rc1 (not 61...Rb4+ 62.Kg5 Rb1 63.Ra7+ Kg8 64.f6, which reaches the same winning set-up as shown in the Sergey Belavenets' study in part one of this series) 62.Kg5 Rg1+, and White cannot make progress.
57.Ra6+ Kf7 58.Kf5 Re1 59.f4
Only 59.Ra8!, trapping the black king on the seventh rank, wins, eg 59...Rh1 60.h7 etc, or 59...Rb1 60.h7 etc.
59...Rh1 60.Ra7+ Kg8 61.Kg6 Rg1+ 62.Kf6 Kh8?
Black draws with 62...Rh1 as long as 63.h7+ is met by 63...Kh8 and not 63...Rxh7?? 64.Ra8#.
63.Rg7?
Winning are f5 and Re7, eg 63.f5 Rh1 64.Kf7 Rxh6 65.Ra8+ Kh7 66.f6 Rh1 67.Ke7 Re1+ 68.Kf8 Rf1 69.f7 Kg6 70.Ra6+ Kh7 71.Ra2 Re1 (or 71...Rh1 72.Re2 etc) 72.Rh2+ Kg6 73.Kg8 etc.
63...Ra1?
Both 63...Rf1 and 63...Rh1 draw.
64.Rg6?
The winning moves are 64.f5 and 64.Re7.
64...Ra6+ 65.Kg5 Ra1 66.Re6 Rg1+ 67.Kf6 Kh7
Also drawing is 67...Rf1.
68.Kf7 Rf1+ 69.Rf6 Rg1 70.f5 Rf1 71.Kf8 Rg1?
Shuffling the rook on the f file draws.
72.Ra6 Rf1 73.f6 Kxh6 74.f7+ Kh7 75.Ra4 Re1 76.Rh4+ Kg6 77.Kg8 1-0
 |
| Black has just captured on a3 in Spanton (1923) - Michael Ashworth (2140). Cotswold (Gloucester) 2018 - what should the result be? |
*****
*****
*****
*****
This is rather a trivial example as White has no winning prospects, eg 58.Rb4 can be met by 58...Kd4 with ...Kc3 or ...Kc5 to come.
The game finished quickly:
58.Rc2 Rxa4 59.c5 Ra7 ½–½
 |
| Black has just captured on a5 in Rajesh Aadith (1714) - Spanton (1895), Benidorm (Meliá) U2000 - what should the result be? |
*****
*****
*****
*****
The position is drawn although, as usual, Komodo14.1 is convinced otherwise.
49.h4 Ra1?
Drawing is 49...Kf6. The trouble with the text, as has been seen in similar positions I have covered, is White can push the h pawn and get behind it with his rook.
50.h5 Rh1 51.Rh4 Rg1+ 52.Kh2 Rg7 53.Kh3
Also winning is 53.h6.
53...Rh7 54.Kg3
Only 54.h6! wins, eg 54...Kg6 55.Kg4 Rxh6 56.Rxh6+ Kxh6 57.Kf5 etc.
54...Rh6
Black draws with 54...Kf6!, eg 55.f4 Ra7 56.Kg4 Kg7 57.f5 Ra4+ 58.Kg5 Ra1 59.f6+ Kf7 60.h6 Ra5+ etc.
55.Ra4!? Rb6
Or 55...Rxh5 56.Ra5+ Kg6 57.Rxh5 Kxh5 58.Kf4 etc.
56.Ra5+?
The old check temptation strikes again. Both 56.Rg4 and 56.Rh4 win.
56...Kf6 57.Kg4 Rb4+ 58.f4 Rb1 59.Ra6+ Kg7
An only-move.
60.Rg6+ Kf7 61.Kg5 Rg1+
Another only-move.
62.Kf5 Rh1 63.Rf6+ Kg7 64.h6+ Kh7 65.Rd6 Rf1 66.Re6 Rf2 67.Kg5 Rg2+ 68.Kf5 Rf2 69.Ke5 Re2+ 70.Kf6 Rf2 71.f5 Kxh6?
Drawing are 71...Rf1 and 71...Rf3.
72.Ke7+?
White wins with 72.Kf7, eg 72...Kh7 73.f6 Rf1 74.Kf8 Rf2 75.f7 Ra2 76.Ke7 Ra7+ 77.Kf6 etc.
72...Kg7 73.f6+ Kg8?
Correct is 73...Kg6, eg 74.f7+ Kg7 etc.
74.Re5 Rf1 75.Rg5+ Kh7 76.Kf7 Kh6 77.Rg8 Kh7 78.Rg2 Kh6 79.Rh2+ Kg5 80.Kg7 Kf5 81.f7 1-0
Having played over these games, I can well understand why Grigory Levenfish and Vasily Smyslov in Rook Endings call this type of ending "complicated."
No comments:
Post a Comment