Endgame Lessons From Crete

ONLY two of my eight games at the Amateur Chess Organization's world senior championship in Crete (I had a compulsory bye in round two) reached an ending.

I am using the 13pt rule to define what is an endgame, ie an ending starts when the value of each side's pieces has fallen below 13 points, using the traditional 9-5-3 scale (pawns are excluded).

Here is the first such ending from Crete.

Black has just captured on d6 in Suresh Jhunjhnuwala (1870 Fide) - Spanton (1814 Fide/1998 ECF) in round seven 

*****

*****

*****

*****

*****

White will soon capture the isolani, and so is winning, according to Stockfish13, although Komodo12.1.1 only gives White the upper hand.

24.Rd3 Rc6 25.Nb5 Nc5 26.Rxd6 Rxd6

Black can keep rooks on with 26...Rc8!?, but White's rook will be more active than Black's.

27.Nxd6 Kf8

It makes sense to activate the king to drive away the white knight before trying to create weaknesses among the white queenside pawns.

28.Kf2 Ke7 29.Nb5 a4 30.Nd4 Ne4+ 31.Ke3 Nc3

Black wins after 31...axb3!? 32.Kxe4?? b2, but I rejected it because 32.axb3 leaves White with a pair of connected queenside pawns.

32.bxa4

The engines reckon even stronger is 32.Ne2!? Nxa3 33.bxa4.

32...Nxa4 33.Nb3 Kd6 34.Kd4 b6 35.a3!?

Before pushing this pawn, according to the engines, White should reposition the knight with 35.Nd2, intending Ne4+, when the white king is threatening to advance.

35...h5?!

Missing a chance to make White's task considerably more difficult.

The engines point out 35...f5, which takes away the e4 square from the white king. White will soon be obliged to move his knight, at which point Black can play ...Nc5, intending to drive the white king off the fourth rank with ....Ne6+.

36.g4!?

It is a well-known rule in such endings that the player ahead on material should in general seek to exchange pieces while keeping on pawns. However SJ may have been worried about the g2 pawn becoming fixed after ...h4, although the black h pawn would then be weak.

36...hxg4 37.hxg4 Nb2?

Much better is 37...f5, which I rejected because I feared the weakness of the g6 pawn after 38.g5, although at least then I could set a not-completely obvious trap with 38...Nc5!?, hoping for 39.Nxc5? bxc5, when the position is a dead draw.

38.c5+ bxc5 39.Nxc5

White has created a passed a pawn, which is almost as effective in a knight-and-pawn ending as in a pawn-ending.

The rest is simple, and I quickly manage to make it even simpler.

39...Nd1 40.a4 Nf2? 41.Ne4+ 1-0

Middlegame or Ending? aka Bad Wiessee (part seven)

SOME positions are obviously in the middlegame and others have clearly reached the ending, but inevitably there is a grey area where arguments can be made on both sides.
I have found a useful rule-of-thumb is what I call the 13pt Rule.
I cannot recall where I first saw it, but the basic idea is this: a game has reached the ending when the points value of each side's pieces (not pawns) is under 13, using the traditional scale (ie queen-9, rook-5, bishop/knight-3).
Not everyone agrees - chess is too complicated for a strict dividing line to hold complete loyalty - but over the years I have found the 13pt Rule to be a useful guide.
Take a look at this position, which arose today in round eight.

Boris Miskevicer (2074) - Spanton (1878), after White's 17th move

Would you call this a middlegame or an ending?
Under the 13pt Rule, it is clearly the former as each player has two rooks and a bishop - exactly 13pts.
But I can well understand many people reckoning the position has all the characteristics of an ending, with the possible exception that there are six pawns aside.
Anyway, see how the game proceeded and make your own mind up.
17...Bc5 18.Re1 f6
Playable is 18...Bxf2 19.Rxe5+ Kd7, but I felt it accelerated White's development while leaving my pieces less-well coordinated.
19.f4 Kd7!?
I rejected 19...Bd6 because of 20.Be3, which forced, so I thought, 20...b6 or 20...a6. But the analysis engine Stockfish9 gives 20...Kd7!, and if 21.Bxa7, then 21...Ra8 22.fxe5 Bxe5, with compensating pressure.
20.fxe5 fxe5 21.Bh6!?
This is Stockfish9's choice. The point is that after 21.Rxe5, Black has 21...Rhe8, with lots of activity based on Black's superior development. Even so, it is far from clear that Black has full compensation for the pawn sac.
21...Rhe8 22.Re4?!
I was concerned about 22.Rf1, when 22...Rc7, 22...e4 and 22...Bf8 are all serious candidates.
The problem with the text is that White's e4-rook is rather inflexibly placed, which in turn makes his passed d5-pawn more of a weakness than a strength.
22...Kd6 23.c4?
I expected 23.Rd1, which my main analysis engines reckon is equal. The text leaves White vulnerable to, believe it or not, a middlegame king-hunt.
23...Bd4 24.Rae1 b5! 25.cxb5
Engines prefer 25.Be3, but still reckon Black is winning after the obvious 25...bxc4+.
25...Kxd5
Even more convincing is the immediate 25...Rc3+.
26.R4e2
26.Bd2 covers the c3 square, but after 26...Re6 White's queenside quickly collapses, and White is unable to muster any meaningful counterplay.
The game finished:
26...Rc3+ 27.Kb4 Rec8 28.a4 28...R8c4+ 29.Ka5 Ra3 30.Ka6 Raxa4+ 31.Kb7 Rcb4 32.Bg7 Rxb5+ 33.Kc7 33...Rc4+ 34.Kd8 Rb8+ 0-1
Meanwhile, here is a puzzle from outside of the tournament hall that I have not been able to figure out:

An impressive carving by the Tegernsee in Bad Wiessee, but is it an effeminate god or a butch goddess?