The Bishop's Knightmare
With a knight the play is often tactical, and Van Wely found himself on
the receiving end of Ding Liren's knight pirouettes
[Event "77th Tata Steel GpA"] [Site "Wijk aan Zee NED"] [Date "2015.01.17"] [Round "7"] [White "Ding Liren"] [Black "Van Wely, L."] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "A34"] [WhiteElo "2732"] [BlackElo "2667"] [Annotator "Karsten Mueller"] [SetUp "1"] [FEN "8/8/3k3P/3P4/2K1R1Nr/4b3/8/8 w - - 0 76"] [PlyCount "7"] [EventDate "2015.01.09"] 76. Nf6 $5 {A good solution as the bishop can not be taken:} ({Taking the bishop would be a blunder that would squander the win.} 76. Rxe3 $2 Rxg4+ 77. Kd3 Rh4 78. Re8 Kxd5 79. Rh8 Rh3+ 80. Ke2 Ke6 81. h7 Kf7 $11) (76. Nxe3 $2 { also leads to nothing.} Rxe4+ 77. Kd3 Ke5 (77... Rh4 $2 78. Nf5+ $18) 78. h7 Rh4 $11) 76... Rh3 ({The point of the knight move is that the abandoned pawn on h6 is equally untouchable. After} 76... Rxh6 {White plays} 77. Re6+ (77. Ne8+ Kd7 78. Rxe3 $18 {wins as well.}) 77... Kc7 78. d6+ Kc6 79. d7+ Kc7 80. Re8 Rh4+ 81. Kd3 Rd4+ 82. Kxe3 $18 Rd6 83. Rc8+ Kb7 84. d8=Q {and it is game over.}) (76... Rxe4+ 77. Nxe4+ Ke5 78. h7 $18) 77. Re6+ Kc7 78. d6+ Kb7 79. d7 1-0
Radjabov's Rook
Pure endings with opposite colored bishops have a large drawish tendency,
but when a pair of rooks is still on the board then they usually favor the attacker.
Radjabov's technique here is both exemplary and instructive.
[Event "77th Tata Steel GpA"] [Site "Wijk aan Zee NED"] [Date "2015.01.18"] [Round "8"] [White "Radjabov, T."] [Black "Wojtaszek, R."] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "B90"] [WhiteElo "2734"] [BlackElo "2744"] [Annotator "Karsten Mueller"] [SetUp "1"] [FEN "8/8/P4R1p/2bBK2k/7P/r7/8/8 w - - 0 52"] [PlyCount "15"] [EventDate "2015.01.09"] 52. Rf4 $1 Kg6 {Black's king must escape the mating net immediately. The threat is Bf7 mate.} (52... Re3+ $2 53. Kf6 Be7+ 54. Kf5 $18) (52... Rxa6 $2 53. Bf7+ Rg6 54. Kf5 Be7 55. Bxg6#) 53. Rg4+ Kh7 (53... Kh5 $2 {would be hara-kiri.} 54. Kf5 Rxa6 55. Bf7+ Rg6 56. Bxg6#) 54. Be4+ Kh8 55. Rg6 h5 $6 ( 55... Be3 {is more tenacious, but does not defend in the long run, e.g.} 56. h5 Ra5+ 57. Bd5 Kh7 58. Ke4 Ba7 59. Rd6 Bc5 (59... Bg1 60. Rd7+ Kh8 61. Rd6 Kh7 62. Kf3 Ra3+ 63. Kg4 Be3 64. Kf5 Bc5 65. Rd7+ Kh8 66. Bc4 $18) 60. Rc6 Bg1 61. Rc7+ {Step-by-step the white pieces make progress.} Kh8 62. Rc8+ Kh7 63. Rc6 Bc5 64. Kf3 $1 {The king now joins the fray.} Ra3+ 65. Kg4 Bg1 66. Rd6 Be3 67. Kf5 Bc5 68. Rd7+ Kh8 69. Bc4 Rc3 70. Kg6 Rg3+ 71. Kf6 Rf3+ 72. Ke5 Ra3 73. Bd3 Ra4 74. Rh7+ Kg8 75. Rxh6 $18) 56. Rc6 Bf8 $6 {Now White can close in for a direct mating attack.} (56... Bf2 {makes the win more difficult, e.g.} 57. Kf6 Rg3 (57... Bxh4+ $6 58. Kf7 $18) 58. Bg6 Bd4+ 59. Kf5 Ra3 60. Bxh5 $18) 57. Kf6 Kg8 58. Bd5+ Kh7 59. Kf7 (59. Kf7 Ra5 60. Be4+ Kh8 61. Rc8 $18) 1-0
The miracle breakthrough
Appearances are deceiving. Althought the rook is usually much stronger than the bishop in
a technical endgame, White's three connected passed pawns seem to be an insurmountable
hurdle. Ding Liren's alertness and creativity overcome that.
[Event "77th Tata Steel GpA"] [Site "Wijk aan Zee NED"] [Date "2015.01.23"] [Round "11"] [White "Wojtaszek, R."] [Black "Ding Liren"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "E94"] [WhiteElo "2744"] [BlackElo "2732"] [Annotator "Karsten Mueller"] [SetUp "1"] [FEN "8/p5k1/1p1r4/2pB4/P1P5/5PKP/6P1/8 b - - 0 61"] [PlyCount "9"] [EventDate "2015.01.09"] 61... a5 $3 {This key preparation of the ...b6-b5 breakthrough is the only way to win.} (61... a6 $2 {is met by} 62. Kf4 {for example} b5 63. axb5 axb5 64. Ke5 Rb6 65. cxb5 Rxb5 66. Kd6 Rb2 67. g4 Rh2 68. Kxc5 Rxh3 $11) 62. Bb7 $6 { Now the resulting black passed pawn is too quick.} (62. Be4 $1 {was more tenacious, but does not defend in the long run, e.g.} Rd4 ({The direct} 62... b5 $2 {allows the defence} 63. cxb5 Rd4 64. b6 Rxa4 65. b7 Rb4 66. Bc6 a4 67. Bxa4 Rxb7 68. f4 c4 69. Kf3 Rb4 70. Bc2 Rb2 71. Be4 c3 72. Ke3 Rd2 73. h4 $11) 63. Bd5 Kg6 {Now White is in zugzwang.} 64. h4 (64. Kf2 b5 $19) (64. Be4+ Kf6 65. Bd5 Ke5 66. h4 Kf6 67. h5 Kg5 $19) 64... Kf6 65. h5 Kg5 66. Kf2 (66. Kh3 b5 67. axb5 a4 68. b6 Rh4+ 69. Kg3 Rxh5 70. b7 Rh8 71. Be6 Rb8 72. Bc8 a3 $19) ( 66. Bc6 Rxc4 67. Kf2 Kxh5 68. g3 Kg5 69. Ke3 Kf5 70. Kd3 Rb4 71. Bd7+ Ke5 72. Kc3 c4 $19) 66... b5 {Finally the breakthrough can come.} 67. axb5 a4 68. b6 a3 69. b7 Rd2+ 70. Ke3 Rb2 $19) 62... b5 $1 {The decisive breakthrough.} 63. cxb5 (63. axb5 a4 $19) 63... c4 64. Be4 c3 65. Kf4 Rd2 (65... Rd2 66. Ke5 c2 67. Bxc2 Rxc2 68. Kd6 (68. b6 Rb2 $19) 68... Rc4 69. b6 Rxa4 70. b7 Rb4 $19) 0-1
Karsten Müller in ChessBase Magazine
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