King roads
Choosing how to activate one’s king is critical in most endgames, especially while trying to convert a small advantage into a win. Precision is key.
In round 2, Italy’s Daniel Vocaturo chose the incorrect king road in a critical position, but luckily for him, his opponent failed to find the refutation which led to a draw.
Rohl vs. Vocaturo - Round 2
Both kings are very active in this position. In order to keep his winning chances alive, Black needed to continue with 52...Kd3 here, instead of 52...Kf3 as seen in the game. After the text, White could have, surprisingly, held a draw with the retreating 53.Kd4. However, Venezuela’s Juan Rohl opted for 53.Bxc6 and went on to lose the game.
In a match-defining game from round 3 in the women’s section, Czechia’s fourth board Anna Marie Koubova missed a win with black in a rook ending against Georgia’s Meri Arabidze. Had Koubova converted the advantage, her team would have obtained a surprising draw against the tournament’s third seeds.
Fortunately for the Georgians, Arabidze had no trouble finding the good-looking refutation.
46...g5 was the decisive mistake, when, for example, 46...c4 47.Rc7 Rf4 was winning for Black. Remarkably, White holds the draw by making the symmetrical push 47.g4, and after 47...hxg4 48.h5 her passed h-pawn provides enough counterplay to keep the balance.
Find analyses for these two positions and two more endgames in the replayer below.
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1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.Nd2 dxe4 4.Nxe4 Nf6 5.Nxf6+ exf6 6.Be3 Nd7 7.Bd3 f5 8.Ne2 Nf6 9.h3 Bd6 10.0-0 0-0 11.c4 Re8 12.Qc2 Ne4 13.Rae1 g6 14.Qc1 Be6 15.b3 Rc8 16.Bf4 Bxf4 17.Qxf4 Nf6 18.Rd1 Rc7 19.Rd2 Nh5 20.Qf3 Qg5 21.Rc2 Rce7 22.Kh2 Bd7 23.Rd1 Qf6 24.Rcd2 a5 25.Bc2 Qd6+ 26.Kg1 Nf6 27.Qf4 Qxf4 28.Nxf4 g5 29.Nd3 Ne4 30.Re2 Nc3 31.Rxe7 Rxe7 32.Rd2 Re2 33.Rxe2 Nxe2+ 34.Kf1 Nxd4 35.Nc5 Bc8 36.Bd3 f4 37.Ke1 Kg7 38.Ne4 Bf5 39.Nc5 b6 40.Bxf5 bxc5 41.Bd3 h6 42.Kd2 Kf6 43.Kc3 Ke5 44.a3 f6 45.Bg6 f5 46.Bh5 Ke4 47.b4 axb4+ 48.axb4 cxb4+ 49.Kxb4 f3 50.gxf3+ Nxf3 51.Be8 Ne5 52.Kc5 Kf3? 52...Kd3 53.Bxc6 Nxc6 54.Kxc6 Kxc4 55.Kd6 Kd4 56.Ke6 Ke4 57.Kf6 f4 58.Kg6 Kf3 59.Kxh6 Kxf2 60.Kxg5 Kg3 61.h4 f3 62.h5 f2 63.h6 f1Q-+ 53.Bxc6+? 53.Kd4‼ Nxc4 53...Kf4 54.c5 g4 55.h4 Nf3+ 56.Kc4 Nxh4 57.Bxc6 Ke5 58.Bd7 h5 59.c6 Kd6 60.Kd3 f4 61.Ke4= 54.Bxc6+ Kxf2 55.Kxc4 g4 56.hxg4 fxg4 57.Kd4 g3 58.Ke5 h5 59.Kf4 g2 60.Bxg2 Kxg2 61.Kg5= 53...Kxf2!? 53...Nxc6?! 54.Kxc6 Kxf2 55.c5 f4 56.Kd5 f3 57.c6 Kg3 58.c7 f2 59.c8Q f1Q-+ 54.Bd5 g4 55.Kd4 55.Kd4 Nf3+ 56.Bxf3 56.Kc3 gxh3 57.Bxf3 Kxf3 58.c5 h2 59.c6 h1Q 60.c7 Qc1+-+ 56...Kxf3 57.hxg4 fxg4 58.c5 g3 59.c6 g2 60.c7 g1Q+-+ 55.hxg4 fxg4 56.Kd6 Nxc4+ 57.Bxc4 g3 58.Bd5 h5-+ 0–1
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| Rohl Montes,J | 2382 | Vocaturo,D | 2616 | 0–1 | 2022 | B15 | 44th Chess Olympiad Open 2022 | 2.26 |
| Arabidze,M | 2426 | Koubova,A | 2115 | ½–½ | 2022 | E49 | | 3.4 |
| Hernandez Guerrero,G | 2560 | Ganguly,S | 2608 | ½–½ | 2022 | C11 | 44th Chess Olympiad Open 2022 | 2.16 |
| Hoang,T | 2376 | Castrillon Gomez,M | 2230 | 1–0 | 2022 | A93 | 44th Chess Olympiad Women 2022 | 3.12 |
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In over 4 hours in front of the camera, Karsten Müller presents to you sensations from the world of endgames - partly reaching far beyond standard techniques and rules of thumb - and rounds off with some cases of with own examples.
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