The king's way

1/6/2011 – Bishop endings when both are of the same colour are often extremely drawish, since after all the bishop can only go on to half of the squares on the board. Thus in this game from the Schaakfestival in Groningen a draw would have been unavoidable after  40...b3? 41.Bc1 Bxe5 42.Bb2. But over the board the Dutch grandmaster Sipke Ernst found a much better move, which leads by force to a position in which the choice of the correct route for the king is decisive. Can you also see which liquidation he chose? You will find analysis of the endgame by GM Dr. Karsten Müller at ChessBase Magazine Online.