CBM Blog: The overgrown pawn and the South Eastern Corner

by ChessBase
10/11/2011 – Today we are going to learn, from our resident endgame expert, how to open up an apparently impregnable fortress in a bishop and pawn ending; and where, geographically, the rook belongs when defending a R vs R+2P ending. GM Karsten Müller, whose is well known from his ChessBase Magazine video contributions, explains it all in his didactically annotated examples.

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The overgrown pawn

In bishop endings fortresses often play an important role. At first sight this seems to be a case in point. But this is deceptive. How did Black break through ?

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1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.e5 c5 5.a3 Bxc3+ 6.bxc3 Nc6 7.Nf3 Qa5 8.Bd2 Qa4 9.Qb1 a6 10.Qb6 c4 11.Ra2 Qb5 12.Rb2 Qxb6 13.Rxb6 Nge7 14.Be2 h6 15.a4 Nd8 16.0-0 Bd7 17.Ra1 Bc6 18.h4 Kd7 19.h5 Kc7 20.Rbb1 a5 21.Nh4 g5 22.Nf3 Nc8 23.Ra2 Nb6 24.Rba1 Nd7 25.Ra3 Rf8 26.Rf1 f6 27.exf6 Nxf6 28.Ne5 Be8 29.g4 Nc6 30.Be3 Rg8 31.Kh2 Bd7 32.f3 Raf8 33.Ra2 Be8 34.Rb1 Nd8 35.Bc1 Rg7 36.Ba3 Rfg8 37.Bc5 Nc6 38.Bb6+ Kd6 39.Rab2 Nd7 40.Nxc6 Nxb6 41.Nxa5 Nxa4 42.Rxb7 Rxb7 43.Nxb7+ Kc7 44.Nc5 Nxc5 45.dxc5 e5 46.Ra1 Bc6 47.Ra7+ Bb7 48.Kg3 Ra8 49.Rxa8 Bxa8 50.Kf2 Kc6 51.Ke3 Kxc5 52.Kd2 Bc6 53.Kc1 Be8 54.Bf1 Bf7 55.Kd2 Bg8 56.Kc1 Kb5 57.Be2 Ka4 58.Kb2 Be6 59.Bd1 Bd7 60.Be2 Bb5 61.Bf1 Ba6 62.Bg2 Bc8 63.Bh1 Be6 64.Bg2 Bg8 65.Bf1 d4 66.cxd4 exd4 67.c3 d3 68.Kc1 Bd5 69.Bg2 Kb5 70.Kd2 Kc5 71.Ke3 Kd6 72.Bh1 Ke5 73.Bg2 Bc6 74.Bf1 Ba4 75.Bh3 Bc2 76.Bf1 Bb3 77.Bh3 Bc2 78.Bf1 Bb1 79.Bh3 Ba2 80.Bg2 Bb3 81.Bh3 Ba4 82.Bf1 Be8 83.Bg2 Bf7 84.Bh3
84...d2‼ Opening an inroad is more important than the mighty protected passed pawn. 85.Kxd2 85.f4+ does not help either: gxf4+ 86.Kxd2 Bd5 87.Ke2 87.g5 hxg5 88.h6 Bg8 89.Bf1 Kf6-+ 87...Kf6 88.Kf1 Kg5 89.Kf2 Kh4 90.Bf1 Kxg4 91.Be2+ f3 92.Bd1 Kxh5 93.Bxf3+ Bxf3 94.Kxf3 Kg5 95.Ke4 h5 96.Kd4 h4-+ 85...Kf4 86.Ke2 86.Bf1 Kxf3 87.Be2+ Kf4 88.Bd1 Be6 89.Be2 Bxg4 90.Bxc4 Bxh5-+ 86...Bd5 87.Bg2 87.Kf2 Bxf3 88.Bf1 Bxg4 89.Bxc4 Bxh5-+ 87...Kg3 The king attacks the overgrown pawn g2. 88.Bf1 After 88.Bh1 Kh2 a tragicomical picture arises. The bishop in the corner is a forlorner. 89.f4 Bxh1 90.fxg5 hxg5 91.Ke3 Bd5 92.h6 Bg8 93.Ke4 Kg3 94.Kf5 Kh4 95.Kg6 Kxg4 96.Kg7 Kh5 97.Kxg8 Kxh6-+ 88...Bxf3+ 89.Kd2 89.Ke3 Bxg4 90.Bxc4 Bxh5 91.Bd5 Bg4 92.c4 h5 93.c5 h4 94.c6 h3 95.c7 Bc8 96.Kd4 g4 97.Ke5 h2 98.Be6 h1Q 99.Bxc8 Qc6-+ 89...Bxg4 90.Bxc4 Bxh5 91.Bd5 Be8 92.c4 h5 93.c5 h4 94.c6 h3 95.Ke2 95.c7 Bd7 96.Ke3 g4-+ 95...g4 96.Kf1 Kh2 97.Be6 97.c7 Bd7 98.Bb7 g3 99.c8Q Bxc8 100.Bxc8 g2+-+ 97...g3 98.c7 Bb5+ 99.Ke1 Ba6 99...Ba6 100.c8Q 100.Bc4 Bc8-+ 100...Bxc8 101.Bxc8 g2-+ 0–1
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Edouard,R2587Haimovich,T24190–12011C18Biel MTO Open11

The South Eastern Corner

The rook ending with a and c-pawn is notoriously difficult to defend. Especially the rook must often work wonders:

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1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 e6 6.Be3 Nc6 7.f4 Be7 8.Qf3 e5 9.Nxc6 bxc6 10.fxe5 dxe5 11.Bc4 0-0 12.h3 Rb8 13.0-0 Be6 14.Bb3 c5 15.Nd5 Bxd5 16.exd5 Qd6 17.Rf2 Nd7 18.g4 Bh4 19.Rg2 Qa6 20.Qf1 Qg6 21.Qf5 Qxf5 22.gxf5 Rfc8 23.c4 Nf6 24.Ba4 Nh5 25.b3 Ng3 26.Bf2 Nxf5 27.Bd7 Bxf2+ 28.Rxf2 Nd6 29.Bxc8 Rxc8 30.Re1 e4 31.h4 f5 32.Kg2 Kf7 33.Kg3 Kf6 34.Kf4 Nf7 35.Rd2 Nd6 36.Rg2 g6 37.h5 Nf7 38.hxg6 hxg6 39.Rh1 g5+ 40.Rxg5 Nxg5 41.Rh6+ Kg7 42.Kxg5 Rf8 43.Re6 f4 44.Rxe4 f3 45.Re1 f2 46.Rf1 a5 47.Kg4 a4 48.bxa4 Kg6 49.a5 Rf6 50.a6 Rxa6 51.Rxf2 Ra3 52.Rc2 Kf6 53.Kf4 Rh3 54.Ke4 Ke7 55.Rd2 Kd6 56.Rg2 Rc3 57.Rg6+ Kd7 58.d6 Kc6 59.d7+ Kxd7 60.Kd5 Ra3 61.Rg7+ Kc8 62.Rg2 Kc7 63.Kxc5 Ra5+ 64.Kb4 Rh5 65.a4 Rh1 66.Rg3 Kb7 67.a5 Rb1+ 68.Rb3 Rh1 69.Kb5 Rc1 70.c5 Rc2 71.Rb4 Rc1 72.a6+ Ka7 73.Ra4 Rh1
74.Rc4 Rb1+! 75.Rb4?! Makes it relativly easy for Fier. But Black holds in any case, e.g. 75.Kc6 Rh1 The rook belongs in the south eastern corner to be able to deliver checks from both directions. 75...Kxa6?? 76.Ra4# 76.Rd4 Rg1 76...Rh6+? 77.Kb5 Rh7 78.Rd5 Rh1 79.Rd7+ Kb8 80.c6 Rb1+ 81.Kc5 Rc1+ 82.Kd6 Rd1+ 83.Ke7 Rc1 84.Rd8+ Kc7 85.a7+- 77.Rd8 77.Kc7 Kxa6! 78.c6 Rg7+ 79.Rd7 Rg8= 77...Rh1 The rook just waits in its corner. Black only acts when White's kings has made a decision. 78.Kc7 78.Kb5 Rb1+ 79.Kc6 Rh1= 78...Kxa6! 79.Ra8+ Kb5 80.c6 Rh7+= 75...Rxb4+ 76.Kxb4 Kxa6 77.Kc4 Kb7 78.Kb5 Kc7 The king defends the key squares. 79.c6 Kc8 79...Kc8 80.Kb6 Kb8 81.c7+ Kc8 82.Kc6 stalemate ½–½
  • Start an analysis engine:
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Plump,D2246Fier,A2566½–½2011B8220th ZMDI Open A1.7

Since 1988 grandmaster Dr. Karsten Müller from Hamburg has been playing for the Hamburger Schachklub in the Bundesliga, and in 1996 and 1997 he finished third in the German Championship. As an internationally renowned endgame expert he is the author of the endgame column in the ChessBase Magazine and the author of the Endgame Corner column on ChessCafe.com.

You will find a whole series of his very popular endgame DVD in the ChessBase Shop here.

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