Connected pawns on the move

by Karsten Müller
10/10/2020 – Round 4 of the Altibox Norway Chess tournament in Stavanger saw Levon Aronian and Alireza Firouzja playing an Armageddon tiebreaker after drawing their classical game. Karsten Müller assessed the final phase of the encounter as a “fascinating knight endgame”. The endgame specialist examined the sequence in detail and now shares it with all ChessBase readers. | Photo: Lennart Ootes
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Endgame analysis by Karsten Müller

Magnus Carlsen climbed to the top of the standings in the Norway Chess Tournament by beating former co-leader Fabiano Caruana with white in their classical encounter. Meanwhile, Alireza Firouzja and Aryan Tari won in Armageddon, defeating Levon Aronian and Jan-Krzysztof Duda respectively. A misunderstanding with the arbiter meant Firouzja arrived a couple of minutes late to his sudden-death game. [Read the full report on Round 4.]

 
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1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.Nd2 dxe4 4.Nxe4 Bf5 5.Ng3 Bg6 6.h4 h6 7.Nf3 Nd7 8.Bd3 Bxd3 9.Qxd3 e6 10.Bf4 Ngf6 11.0-0-0 Be7 12.Nf1 Qa5 13.Kb1 Rd8 14.Bc1 Nc5 15.Qe2 Na4 16.c4 0-0 17.Qc2 c5 18.Bd2 Qa6 19.b3 Nb6 20.Bc3 cxd4 21.Nxd4 Nbd7 22.Ne3 Nc5 23.g4 Nfe4 24.Bb2 Nd6 25.g5 h5 26.Qe2 Nce4 27.Rhg1 Qa5 28.Rd3 Nc5 29.Rd2 Nce4 30.Rc2 Rfe8 31.Qxh5 Nd2+ 32.Kc1 N6e4 33.c5 g6 34.Qh8+ Kxh8 35.Nc6+ Kg8 36.Nxa5 Nf3 37.Rd1 Nxc5 38.Rxd8 Rxd8 39.Bf6 Bxf6 40.gxf6 b6 41.Nc6 Rd7 42.Rc4 Kh7 43.Kb2 Nd2 44.Rd4 Rxd4 45.Nxd4 Nde4 46.Ng4 Nd3+ 47.Kc2 Ndxf2 48.Nxf2 Nxf2 49.Nc6 Ne4 50.Nxa7 Nxf6 51.a4 Nd5 52.Nc6 Endgames with connected pawn chains and knights on the board are very concrete and tricky. Furthermore, it is an Armageddon game, so White has to win, and both players have very little time on the clock. f6? This is too slow, because the black pawn mass now falls apart after ...g5. The direct 52...Kh6 wins. For example: 53.Nd8 53.b4 Kh5 54.Kb3 f6 55.a5 Nxb4-+ 53...Kh5 54.Nxf7 Kxh4 55.Nd8 Nc7 56.Kd3 g5 57.Ke2 Kg3 58.Nc6 g4 59.Ne5 Nd5 60.Kf1 Kf4 61.Nd3+ Ke4 62.Nc1 Ke3 63.Ne2 e5-+ 53.b4? Now the white knight must guard the pawn on b4. Surprisingly 53.Kd3 draws. For example: Kh6 54.Nd4 Nc7 55.Ne2 e5 55...Kh5 56.Nf4+ Kxh4 57.Nxg6+ Kg3 58.Ke4 b5 59.axb5 Nxb5 60.b4= 56.Ke4 Kh5 57.Nc3 Kxh4 58.b4 Kg4 58...g5 59.Kf5 g4 60.Kxf6 g3 61.Kxe5 g2 62.Ne2= 59.a5 b5 60.Nd5 f5+ 61.Kxe5 Nxd5 62.Kxd5 f4 63.a6 f3 64.a7 f2 65.a8Q f1Q= 53...g5? The black pawn mass is broken and cannot roll unhindered to the first rank. On the other hand, 53...Kh6 54.Kb3 54.a5 Nxb4+ 55.Nxb4 bxa5 56.Nc6 a4 57.Nd4 Kh5 58.Nxe6 Kxh4-+ 54...Kh5 55.a5 Nxb4 56.Kxb4 bxa5+ 57.Kxa5 Kxh4-+ the connected passed pawns cannot be stopped. 54.hxg5 fxg5 55.Kd3 g4 56.a5 Nxb4+ and Aronian cannot win anymore. 56...Nxb4+ 57.Nxb4 bxa5 58.Nc6! After 58.Na6? Kg6 59.Nc5 Kf5 60.Ke2 e5 Black’s pawns win the day. For example: 61.Ke3 Kg5 62.Kf2 Kf4 63.Ne6+ Ke4 64.Nc5+ Kd5 65.Na4 Kc4 66.Kg3 Kb4 67.Nb6 Kb5 68.Nd5 e4 69.Kxg4 Kc4 70.Nb6+ Kd3 71.Na4 e3 72.Kf3 Kd2 73.Nb6 e2 74.Nc4+ Ke1 75.Ke3 a4 76.Kf3 Kd1 77.Ne3+ Kd2 78.Nc4+ Kd3 79.Nb2+ Kc2 80.Kxe2 Kxb2-+ 58...a4 58...g3 59.Ke3 a4 60.Kf3 a3 61.Nb4= 59.Ne5 The correct division of labour: the knight takes care of the kingside and the king takes care of the a-pawn. But not 59.Ke4? a3 60.Nb4 e5-+ 59...g3 60.Kc3 Kh6 61.Nf3! Kh5 62.Kb4 Kg4 63.Ng1 g2 64.Kxa4 Kg3 65.Kb4 Kf2 66.Nh3+ Kf1 67.Kc3 g1Q 68.Nxg1 Kxg1 69.Kd4= 0–1
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Aronian,L2767Firouzja,A27280–120208th Altibox Norway Chess 20204

All endgame DVDs by Karsten Müller in one package! More than 70 hours of instruction! from "Basic knowledge for beginners" (volume 1) to "Practical Rook Endgames" (volume 8) to the ever-popular "Golden Guidelines of Endgame Play" (volume 14).

Karsten Müller is considered to be one of the greatest endgame experts in the world. His books on the endgame - among them "Fundamentals of Chess Endings", co-authored with Frank Lamprecht, that helped to improve Magnus Carlsen's endgame knowledge - and his endgame columns for the ChessCafe website and the ChessBase Magazine helped to establish and to confirm this reputation. Karsten's Fritztrainer DVDs on the endgame are bestsellers. The mathematician with a PhD lives in Hamburg, and for more than 25 years he has been scoring points for the Hamburger Schachklub (HSK) in the Bundesliga.

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