Speelman's Agony: And the winner is...

by Jonathan Speelman
11/3/2019 – We announce the winner of the autographed Fritz DVD, and Jon throws in two professional games feature Gawain Jones and David Howell to illustrate endgame concepts. | Send in your own games! Jon welcomes submissions from readers. If your games are selected for the Agony column, not only will you get free detailed commentary of your games by one of chess’s great authors and instructors, and former world no. 4 player, but you also win a free three-month ChessBase Premium Account!
Rook endings are amongst the most frequently encountered endgames there are, and so your training effort will be quickly repaid in the form of half and full points. Knowing even a few rules of thumb and key methods makes life a great deal easier and provides a guiding light even in complex positions. This DVD focuses on the important themes which are to be found in common rook endings.

Agony & Ecstasy #109

Thanks to all those that participated in our recent survey about Speelman's column. You're feedback and ideas are much appreciated. Congratulations to ChessBase reader and Account-holder "novo" who was selected in a random drawing for a DVD autographed by World Champions and other elite GMs like these!

Signed DVDs

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  1. Fabiano Caruana
  2. Wesley So
  3. Viswanathan Anand
  4. Magnus Carlsen
  5. Hikaru Nakamura
  6. Levon Aronian
  7. Hou Yifan
  8. Judit Polgar
  9. Anatoly Karpov
  10. Jan Timman

Now on to this week's column...

Michael JonesThis week I'm going to my “back catalogue” for a couple of endings by Michael Jones an Englishman whose games I used here back in February 2017. Michael sent three games then, and I discarded an interesting minor piece endgame which appears below.

At that time, seven piece tablebases weren't as widely available as now and I'm able to confirm definitely some analysis of one of his other games, which I strongly suspected but wasn't absolutely certain of at the time.

Michael, who is now 33, loves travelling and bridges possible language gaps by playing chess. He wrote two years ago about how, “I've played everywhere from the balcony of a youth hostel in Frankfurt and a thermal bath in Budapest, to a park in Kutaisi during Georgia's Independence Day celebrations and a bazaar in Kyrgyzstan.” He recently moved to Walsall but hasn't yet had time to join the chess club. He sent copious notes, which I've added to as JS.

In addition, there are two English games from the European Team Championships which by a huge coincidence ended up in almost exactly the same rook ending.

I was streaming during the first of them David Shengalia v Gawain Jones  and was asked to check my endgame books. Somewhat to my surprise I found the exact (generic) position in "Basic Endgames" by Yuri Blashov and Eduard Prandstetter where they noted that with the king defending on the right square (g7/g2) it's a draw. Two days later, David Howell had the same ending but his opponent put his king on the right square and held. 

 
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1.Nf3 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.g3 d5 4.cxd5 exd5 5.d4 Be7 6.Bg2 0-0 7.0-0 c6 8.Nc3 Bf5 9.Bg5 h6 10.Bf4 Nbd7 11.Rc1 Ne4 12.Nxe4 Bxe4 13.Qb3 Qb6 14.Qxb6 Nxb6 15.Nd2 Bxg2 16.Kxg2 g5 17.Bc7 Rfc8 18.Bxb6 axb6 19.a3 f5 20.f4 20.h3 was better here, since the text move allows Black to gain space. 20...g4 21.Rfd1 Bf6 22.Nb3 Re8 23.Kf2 Re4 24.e3 Rae8 25.Rd3 R4e7 26.Rc2 h5 27.Nd2 Kf7 28.Nf1 Rh8 29.Rb3 b5 30.Rd3
Here White offered a draw, on which I said I'd get back to him after checking how the other games were progressing. Two were fairly even while the captain looked to be losing pretty badly, so I played on in the expectation that I'd be required to win in order to level the match. White is certainly on the defensive here, but there's no clear winning line for Black. JS Michael was quite right to play on, whatever the match situation. Black is clearly better with a space advantage on both wings and good pieces. 30...Ke6 Reaching the time control with about 40 minutes to spare, as was my habit until relatively recently when I started forcing myself to think more. As was not my habit, I then put the accumulated time to good use by actually thinking about the endgame, and by the end of the game I was down to my last few minutes. 31.Rb3 Reh7 32.Kg1 h4 33.Rg2 Ra8 34.Rc2 Ra4 35.Kg2 Rc4 36.Rbc3 b6 37.Nd2 Rxc3 38.bxc3 38.Rxc3 JS looks better since White can try to block up the queenside. h3+ 38...c5 39.b4 c4 40.Nf1 39.Kf1 c5 40.b4 38...h3+ 39.Kf2 Ra7 40.Nb1 Be7 41.Ke2 Ra4 42.Ra2 c5 I (JS) wondered about Kd7 followed by b4 but what Michael did is very good anyway. 42...Kd7 43.Kd2 b4 44.Kc2 bxa3 45.Kb3 Ra5 46.Nxa3 43.Rb2 b4 Forcing the creation of a passed pawn. 44.axb4 cxb4 45.Kd3 Kd7
46.c4 JS This should lose quickly but 46.Kc2 b5 should also be lost. 46...Kc6 46...dxc4+! 47.Kxc4 b3+ JS takes advantage of the knight's absence from the kingside to set up Bh4. 48.Kd5 48.Kc3 Ra2 49.Nd2 Bb4+! 48.Kd3 Ra2 48.Kxb3 Rb4+ 49.Kc2 Rxb2+ 50.Kxb2 Bh4! 48...Ra5+ 49.Kc4 Ra2 50.Rxb3 Rxh2 51.Rxb6 Rg2 52.Rh6 Rxg3 and the kingside pawns must win as long as Black is careful e.g.: 53.Nc3 53.Kd3 Rg2 54.Nd2 Rf2! 54...h2?? 55.Nf1 g3 56.Nxg3 55.e4 h2 56.Ke3 Rxd2 57.Kxd2 g3 53...Rxe3 54.Nd5 Re1 47.cxd5+ Kxd5 48.Nd2 Ra1 49.Nb1 b5 50.Rb3 Ra2 51.Nd2 Ra3 52.Kc2 Ra2+ 53.Kd3 Ra3 54.Kc2
I thought I still had the better of the position, but since White can just shuffle his rook between b1, b2 and b3 to block mine from getting through to attack the kingside pawns, I need to exchange rooks to make any progress. 54...Rxb3? JS Exchanging on the wrong square. Instead he could have done so on b1 when White isn't in time to get organised: 54...Bh4 55.Rxb4 Bxg3 56.Rxb5+ Kc6 57.Rxf5 Bxh2 sets off a pawn race: 58.Nc4 Ra2+ 59.Kb3 Rg2 60.e4 Bg1 which is probably a theoretical draw, but the type of position in which it's easy for either side to go wrong. JS It may well be drawn in theory but could, as Michael says, easily go either way. 54...Ra1 55.Rb1 Rxb1 56.Kxb1 b3 JS was winning 55.Kxb3 Bf8 I thought for a long time here about 55...Bh4 threatening 56...Bxg3 57.hxg3 h2. Thus 56.Nf1 is forced, but what next? Now the knight is defending against the promotion threat, the bishop has to retreat, but where to? 56... Be7 just repeats move, while 56... Bf6 threatens a sacrifice on d4 which may or may not work. I chickened out, influenced in part by the memory of the last time I'd tried a flashy sacrifice in a league game, when I'd miscalculated it and lost. I missed the deeper theme - having to retreat the knight to f1 costs White a tempo, which Black can exploit to transfer the bishop to the opposite side of the board and set up a fatal zugzwang: Clearly 56.gxh4 g3 57.hxg3 Or 57.Nf3 Ke4 58.Ng5+ Kxe3 59.Nxh3 gxh2 57...h2 loses for White 56...Bd8 56...Bf6 JS leads to the game 57.Nd2 Bxd4 58.exd4 Kxd4 59.Kxb4 Ke3 60.Kc3 Kf2 61.Kd3 Kg2 62.Ke2 Kxh2 63.Kf2 b4= 57.Nd2 Necessary to keep the Black king out. 57.Kxb4 Ke4 58.Kxb5 Kf3 59.d5 Kg2 60.Nd2 Kxh2 61.Nf1+ Kg2 and the h-pawn promotes 57...Ba5 58.Kc2 b3+ 59.Kd1 59.Nxb3 Be1 60.Nd2 Bxg3 61.Nf1 61.hxg3 h2 61...Bxh2 62.Nxh2 g3 63.Nf3 h2 59...b2 60.Nb1 Ke4 61.Ke2 Bb4 Zugzwang! 62.Kf2 62.Kd1 Kxe3 63.Kc2 Kf2 64.Kxb2 Kg2 65.Kb3 Kxh2 66.Kxb4 Kxg3 67.d5 h2 68.d6 h1Q 62.Nd2+ Bxd2 63.Kxd2 b1Q 62.d5 Kxd5 63.Kd3 Be1 64.Ke2 Bxg3 62...Kd3 63.d5 Kc2 wins the house 56.Kc2 Bg7 57.Kd3 Bf6 58.Kc2
Draw offered again. By this time we were 2-1 up (the two expected draws had materialised, while the captain had somehow turned things around and won), so I could just have accepted the offer and ensured the match win, but I thought I'd make things a bit more interesting. My team-mates would probably have disagreed with the decision. 58...Bxd4 A piece sac in the endgame always looks flashy; I went for this one partly out of frustration at not playing it a few moves earlier. It doesn't lead to a certain win but does force White to play accurately to ensure the draw. JS It was my first thought too earlier on before I (fairly qickly) realised that White can draw by meeting Kxh2 with Kf2. 58...Bh4 is still playable, but no longer gives a forced win since Black doesn't have the zugzwang: 59.Nf1 Bd8 60.Nd2 Ba5 61.Kb3! JS 61 Nb3 draws as well. 59.exd4 Kxd4 60.Nf1 b3+ 61.Kd2! 61.Kc1 Kd3 62.Nd2 b2+ 63.Kd1 Ke3 64.Ke1 also draws. The pawn cannot be taken, since after 61.Kxb3?? Kd3 62.Kb2 Ke2 Black is easily winning. 61...b2 62.Kc2 b1Q+ Deflecting the white king, to allow my own king through to attack the kingside pawns. 63.Kxb1 Kd3 64.Kc1 Ke2 65.Nd2 Kf2 I still thought I was winning here, since White cannot prevent the h-pawn falling. 66.Kd1 Kg2 67.Ke2
It was only after this move that I realised I wasn't: as soon as my king reaches the h-file, White's will be able to trap it there. 67...Kxh2 68.Kf2 Kh1 69.Nb3 b4 70.Nd4 70.Kf1 JS Kh2 Of course not 70...h2?? 71.Nc5 b3 72.Nd3 b2 73.Nf2# 71.Kf2 Kh1= 70...h2 The practical choice - 70...b3 71.Nxb3 h2 leads to a stone dead stalemate, but this gives White one last chance to err. 71.Nb3 Wisely steering clear of 71.Nxf5?? b3-+ , and instead delivering stalemate. Match won, but not without worrying my team-mates that I was going to throw it away. They were more surprised that the game had lasted almost the full three hours: I have a reputation for finishng early and this was the first time I could remember my game being the last one still in progress. David finished the season as the fifth highest graded player in the league, so a draw with Black wasn't a bad result even if I did miss a win. JS Michael played well in the endgame but was perhaps slightly unlucky that the obvious sacrifice led only to a draw. ½–½
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Kearney,D-Jones,M-½–½2010A13Coventry League
Paterson,A-Jones,M-0–12010B03Divisional Cup
Shengelia,D2531Jones,G26881–02019D78Batumi GEO1.3
Blomqvist,E2523Howell,D2694½–½2019B1322nd European Teams3.3

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The 7th volume of this endgame series deals with many different aspects of endgame play: the art of pawn play, weaknesses, converting an advantage, stalemate, fortresses, the art of defence and typical mistakes. Learn how to convert an extra piece or an exchange or how to exploit space advantage and better mobility. The themes the art or defence, fortress and stalemate are also intertwined. If your position has a solid fundament then you may surprisingly reach a fortress which might even be based on a stalemate.

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Jonathan Speelman, born in 1956, studied mathematics but became a professional chess player in 1977. He was a member of the English Olympic team from 1980–2006 and three times British Champion. He played twice in Candidates Tournaments, reaching the semi-final in 1989. He twice seconded a World Championship challenger: Nigel Short and then Viswanathan Anand against Garry Kasparov in London 1993 and New York 1995.

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