Norway Chess: Another instructive endgame

by Karsten Müller
10/9/2020 – The first four rounds of the Altibox Norway Chess Tournament saw a number of instructive and interesting endgames. Karsten Müller is happy and took a close look at the textbook-endgame between Jan-Krzysztof Duda and Levon Aronian in round 3, which shows why it is sometimes better to have less.
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An instructive rook endgame

Knowing basic rook endgame theory is good, knowing the exceptions is even better! 

 
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1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.Bb5 Nd4 5.Nxd4 exd4 6.e5 dxc3 7.exf6 Qxf6 8.dxc3 Qe5+ 9.Qe2 Qxe2+ 10.Kxe2 c6 11.Bd3 d5 12.Re1 Bd6 13.Bf4 Ke7 14.Kf3+ Be6 15.c4 dxc4 16.Bxc4 Bxf4 17.Kxf4 Rad8 18.Bxe6 fxe6 19.Re2 Rd4+ 20.Kg3 Rhd8 21.Rae1 R8d6 22.f4 Kf6 23.Kf3 h5 24.Re3 Rd2 25.R1e2 Rd1 26.g3 g6 27.Re5 b6 28.b3 c5 29.c4 a5 30.Kf2 R1d3 31.R5e3 Rxe3 32.Rxe3 Rd2+ 33.Re2 Rd1 34.Kf3 a4 35.bxa4 Rc1 36.Re3 Rxc4 37.Ra3 Kf5 38.a5 bxa5 39.Rxa5 Rc3+ 40.Ke2 h4 41.gxh4 Kxf4 42.Kd2 Rh3 43.Rxc5 Rxh2+ 44.Ke1 e5 45.Rc4+ e4 46.Rc6 Kf3 47.Rf6+! An important check. The direct 47.Rxg6? fails after Rh1+ 48.Kd2 e3+ 49.Kd3 Rd1+ 50.Kc4 e2 51.Re6 e1Q 52.Rxe1 Rxe1 53.a4 Ke4 54.a5 Ke5 55.Kc5 Rc1+ 56.Kb6 Kd6-+ 47...Ke3 48.Kf1? The wrong side! It is true that in a pure endgame rook+e-pawn the king has to go to the short side to secure the draw, but here White's a-pawn turns out to be fatal for White. 48.Kd1 Rxh4 49.Rxg6 Rh1+ 50.Kc2 would be a draw because White has the pawn on a2 (without the pawn the position would be lost because Black's rook is on the h-file), e.g. Kf2 51.Rf6+ Ke2 52.Kc3 e3 53.a4 Rh4 54.a5 The a-pawn shows its potential. Kd1 55.a6 e2 56.Rd6+ Ke1 57.Kb3 Rf4 58.a7 Rf8 59.Kb4 Ra8 60.Rd7= 48...Rh1+! A deadly in-between-check. Capturing the h- or the a-pawn immediately yields nothing: 48...Rxh4? 49.Rxg6 Rh1+ 50.Kg2 Ra1 51.Re6 leads to a typical Karstedt draw: Rxa2+ 52.Kf1 Ra1+ 53.Kg2 Re1 54.Ra6 Rd1 55.Re6 Kd3 56.Kf2= 48...Rxa2? 49.Rxg6 Ra1+ 50.Kg2 Ke2 51.Kh3 e3 52.Re6 Kf2 53.Kg4 e2 54.h5 Ra3 55.Rxe2+ Kxe2 56.h6= 49.Kg2 Rxh4 50.Rxg6 Ke2 51.Kg3 Rh7? This allows White a-pawn to push too far ahead. The study-like way to win starts with 51...Rh5‼ 52.Rb6 52.a4 e3 53.Rb6 After 53.a5 Rxa5 Black's rook is on the a-file and the distance between the white rook and the black king is not big enough for White to draw: 54.Rb6 Ra1 55.Rb2+ Kd3 56.Rb3+ Kd2 57.Rb2+ Kc3 58.Re2 Kd3-+ 53...Re5! The rook has to go behind the passed pawn. 54.Kf4 Re8 55.Kg3 Rg8+ 56.Kh2 Kf2 57.Rf6+ Ke1 58.a5 Rd8!? 59.a6 e2 60.a7 Kd2 61.Rd6+ Rxd6 62.a8Q e1Q 63.Qa5+ Ke2 64.Qh5+ Kd3 65.Qb5+ Kd4! 66.Qa4+ Ke3 67.Qa3+ Rd3 68.Qc5+ Ke2 69.Qe5+ Kf1-+ 52...e3 53.Rb2+ Kd1 54.Rb1+ Kc2 55.Rb3 Re5! 56.Kf4 e2 57.Kxe5 e1Q+ 58.Kf4 Qh4+ 59.Ke5 Qg5+ 60.Kd4 Qg4+ 61.Ke5 Kd2 62.a3 Qg7+ 63.Ke4 Qe7+ 64.Kd4 Qd6+ 65.Kc4 Qc6+ 66.Kd4 Qa4+ 67.Rb4 Qxa3-+ 52.Rb6? Now White's a-pawn will be White's downfall. The a-pawn had to get going immediately: 52.a4 losrennen: e3 53.a5 Ke1 54.a6 e2 55.Rd6 Rg7+ 56.Kh2 Kf2 57.Rf6+ Ke3 58.Re6+ Kd2 59.Rd6+= 52...e3 53.Rb2+ Kd1 54.Rb1+ 54.Kf3 e2 55.Rb1+ 55.Rxe2 Rf7+ 56.Ke3 Re7+ 57.Kd3 Rxe2 58.a4 Ra2-+ 55...Kc2 56.Re1 Kd3 57.Rb1 Rf7+ 58.Kg2 Kc2 59.Ra1 Kd2-+ 54...Kc2 55.Ra1 Rf7 56.a4 Without the a-pawn White could now start to rain checks on White's king and the position would be a draw because White's king is indeed on the short side of the passed e-pawn - where it should be in such positions. e2 57.Kg2 Rf5?! 57...Kd2 is more precise: 58.Ra2+ Ke3 59.Ra3+ Ke4 60.Ra1 Rd7-+ 58.Ra2+?! 58.a5!? forces Black to win the endgame queen vs rook after Rxa5 59.Rxa5 e1Q 58...Kd3 59.Ra1 Ke3 60.Ra3+ Ke4 Now White has no check on a4 and loses. 61.Ra1 Rd5 61...Rd5 62.a5 62.Re1 Ke3 63.a5 Rd1-+ 62...Rd1 63.Ra4+ Kd5-+ 0–1
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Duda,J2757Aronian,L27670–12020C488th Altibox Norway Chess 20203

Rules of thumb are the key to everything when you are having to set the correct course in a complex endgame. In this final DVD of his series on the endgame, our endgame specialist introduces you to the most important of these rules of thumb.

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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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