The tragedy of a single tempo

12/27/2010 – Even a simple looking pawn ending can turn out to be a hard nut to crack, and sometimes a single, tiny tempo is the margin between a win and a draw. In this example from the European Rapid Chess Championship Black (to move) is in possession of a trump card - the distant passed pawn. The only question is whether  to play it straight away with 40...b3 or whether it is cleverer to hold back with it. Over the board, Black was obliged to take a quick decision. Fortunately for you, you can spend a bit more time on the analysis. As always, you will find the analysis of our endgame expert Dr. Karsten Müller in ChessBase Magazine Online.