Finding harmony in the endgame

by Karsten Müller
10/11/2020 – Endgame expert Karsten Müller keeps finding interesting endgames at the Altibox Norway Chess Tournament. This time around, he looks at the rook and knight versus bishop and knight ending from the Levon Aronian v Fabiano Caruana game from round 5. Hidden tricks abound in these unbalanced positions! | Photo: Lennart Ootes
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Rook and knight v bishop and knight

Round 5 of the Norway Chess tournament saw tail-ender Jan-Krzysztof Duda defeating former sole leader Magnus Carlsen, thus ending a 125-game undefeated streak in classical chess that lasted over two years. In the meantime, Levon Aronian and Alireza Firouzja also collected 3 points each by winning their classical games — Aronian inflicted Caruana’s second straight loss while Firouzja defeated Tari with the white pieces. [Read the full Round 5 report.]

 
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1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.f3 c5 5.d5 b5 6.e4 d6 7.Bd2 Bxc3 8.Bxc3 b4 9.Bd2 0-0 10.Ne2 Nh5 11.Be3 f5 12.dxe6 Bxe6 13.exf5 Rxf5 14.Qd2 Nd7 15.0-0-0 Qa5 16.Kb1 Bxc4 17.Nc1 Bf7 18.Qxd6 Nhf6 19.Qc6 Re8 20.Bf2 Nb8 21.Qb5 c4 22.Qxa5 Rxa5 23.Rd4 Rc8 24.b3 Nc6 25.Rxc4 Bxc4 26.Bxc4+ Kh8 27.Rd1 Re5 28.Rd6 Ne8 29.Rd2 Nc7 30.Ne2 Nb5 31.Kb2 Na3 32.Ba6 Rd8 33.Rxd8+ Nxd8 34.Kc1 Ne6 35.Bd3 Nc5 36.Kd2 Nxd3 37.Kxd3 Rd5+ 38.Nd4 Rd7 39.g4 a5 40.Bg3 Kg8 41.Be5 g5 42.Ke4 Nb1 43.Kf5 Nc3 44.Nc6 Rd3 Bishop and knight knightmare magic. In a pure endgame a rook is usually very strong. Minor pieces often have big problems against it: 45.Ke6!? A tricky attacking try. The alternatives lose as well: 45.Nxa5 Rxf3+ 46.Kxg5 Nxa2-+ 45.Kxg5 Rxf3 46.Nxa5 Nxa2 47.h4 Nc3 48.Kh5 Rd3 49.g5 Kf7 50.Kg4 50.Kh6 Rh3 51.h5 Nd5 52.Nc6 Ne3-+ 50...Ke6 51.Nc6 Re3 52.Bg3 Re4+ 53.Kf3 Kf5 54.Bf2 Nd1 55.Bc5 Rxh4 56.Bxb4 Rh3+ 57.Ke2 Nc3+-+ 45...Nxa2 46.Nxa5 46.Bd6 runs into the deadly zwischenschach. Re3+-+ which destroys the attacking harmony. However, not 46...Rxf3? 47.Ne7+ Kg7 48.Nf5+ Kg6 49.Ne7+ Kg7 50.Nf5+ Kh8 51.Kf7 h5 52.Kg6 hxg4 53.Nh6 Re3 54.Nf7+= 46...Rxf3 47.Bd6 47.Kd5 Kf7 48.Kc5 Re3 49.Kd4 Rc3 50.Kd5 Rh3 51.Kc5 Rh4-+ 47...Rd3 48.Nc6 Re3+ 49.Kf6 Rxb3 50.Nd4 After 50.Ne7+ Black's king escapes with Kf8 as the discovered check does not lead to anything. 50...Kh8? allows the minor pieces to show what they can do: 51.Kf7 Rf3+ 52.Nf5 h5 53.Kg6 hxg4 54.Nh6 Re3! 55.Nf7+ Kg8 56.Nh6+= 51.Nf5+ Ke8 51...Kg8? 52.Nh6+ Kh8 53.Nf7+= 52.Ke6 Kd8-+ and the king escapes for good. 52...Rb1 53.Be7 Re1+-+ wins as well. 50...Rh3 51.Nf5 b3 52.Ba3 Rxh2 52...Rxh2 53.Ne7+ Kf8-+ 0–1
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Caruana,F2828Aronian,L27670–12020E208th Altibox Norway Chess 20205

Endings with rook and minor piece against rook and minor piece occur very frequently, even more often than rook endings, yet there's not much literature on them. This endgame DVD fills this gap. The four different material constellations rook and knight vs rook and knight, rooks and opposite coloured (and same coloured ) bishops and rook and bishop vs rook and knight are dealt with. In view of the different material constellations Karsten Mueller explains many guidelines like e.g. "With knights even a small initiative weighs heavily".

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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