*****
*****
*****
*****
*****
*****
The game saw 67...g3?, which threatens mate on the move, but that is easily thwarted by 68.Rb1, after which there is no way for Black to make progress.
Returning to the diagrammed position, it should be obvious there are two plausible ways for Black to win.
One is by checkmate, based on the white king's restricted location on the back rank; the second is by promoting the pawn.
Since the first method cannot be realistically realised, Black must go for the alternative.
Once that has been settled, it becomes a matter of how the second way is to be attempted.
Clearly the white king has to be evicted from the queening square, and when Black has understood that, the correct move screams out from the position.
After 67...Ra1+, White's reply, 68.Kf2, is forced. Then Black's most obvious continuation, 68...g3+, can quickly be recognised as very strong.
It is not necessary to see Black has checkmate in a little over 20 moves (21, according to Stockfish17; 22, according to Dragon1!).
LESSON: at a simple level this is an example of how logical planning leads to finding the winning move, whereas moving does not necessarily lead to finding the winning plan.
There's a general premise in Rook & pawn v Rook that when the defender can hold the queening square, then it's a draw. More often than not it's the g pawn or b pawn that survives to the ending. It might have been previously an a pawn or h pawn of course. Many openings liquidate the centre, so that gets rid of the c,d,e and f pawns. The a and h pawns can get liquidated by the frequency with which P-R4 (h4,h5,a4,a5) is played once or even twice.
ReplyDeleteRdC
Everything seems fairly easy and straightforward when reading about such endings in books; matters are rather different over the board!
Delete