White to move
Whenever an occurrence of a bishop on the wrong color squares in a pawn ending occurs, I recall a game I played in 1996. It was the first round of my second USCF rated tournament and I nearly beat one of the strongest players in my local chess club.* In the end, I had four pawns to two and opposite colored bishops. I was looking at this game anew a few weeks ago because I wanted to use it in the first of a series of lessons for some of the chess classes I'm teaching this month. These classes are organized by other people who supply me with students. They create a different theme each month, but I am at liberty to develop the theme as I see fit.
The February theme mentioned pawn structure and "lesser pieces", which I opted to make bishop and knights. I began with some elementary positions, such as one finds in Dvoretsky's Endgame Manual (2003).
During the first session, I invited students to think through the plans for White from positions that arose in my 1996 game with Gary Younker. I make the point that I pursued a faulty plan because whatever the state of my understanding of the elementary position above, I failed to understand it well enough to deter me from futile efforts to promote my a-pawn.
From the diagram at the top of the post play continued:
55.Kg3 Bc6
After explaining to one group what White's plans should have been and demonstrating what seemed a plausible win, I tried against Stockfish. Here the silicon beast demonstrated that Black's resources were adequate after 55...Kd7
56.Kf4 Kb7?
57.g3?
Today, I would play 57.Kg5 with nary a thought. But, in 1996 I was obsessed with promoting my a-pawn.
57...b4 58.Ke5 Kc7 59.Ke6
59.Kf6 seems better.
59...b3 60.h4 b2 61.Bxb2 d4?
Gary was pleased with this move. After the game, he taught me some important lessons, criticizing my early c4-c5 in the opening because it "released the tension" and explaining that he sacked this pawn to create the fortress that ensued.
The February theme mentioned pawn structure and "lesser pieces", which I opted to make bishop and knights. I began with some elementary positions, such as one finds in Dvoretsky's Endgame Manual (2003).
Black to move
During the first session, I invited students to think through the plans for White from positions that arose in my 1996 game with Gary Younker. I make the point that I pursued a faulty plan because whatever the state of my understanding of the elementary position above, I failed to understand it well enough to deter me from futile efforts to promote my a-pawn.
From the diagram at the top of the post play continued:
55.Kg3 Bc6
After explaining to one group what White's plans should have been and demonstrating what seemed a plausible win, I tried against Stockfish. Here the silicon beast demonstrated that Black's resources were adequate after 55...Kd7
56.Kf4 Kb7?
White to move
Today, I would play 57.Kg5 with nary a thought. But, in 1996 I was obsessed with promoting my a-pawn.
57...b4 58.Ke5 Kc7 59.Ke6
59.Kf6 seems better.
59...b3 60.h4 b2 61.Bxb2 d4?
Gary was pleased with this move. After the game, he taught me some important lessons, criticizing my early c4-c5 in the opening because it "released the tension" and explaining that he sacked this pawn to create the fortress that ensued.
White to move
62.Bxd4??
Remarkably, I still had a winning position until this error. About half of my students who have seen this position have suggested 62.exd4, which creates a more useful passed pawn.
62...Bxf3=
The game went on another 14 moves with an exchange of my e-pawn for Black's f-pawn and my futile and even silly efforts to trap Black's king on a8.
I finally replied to a draw offer from many moves earlier with assent after 76...Bg4.
Remarkably, I still had a winning position until this error. About half of my students who have seen this position have suggested 62.exd4, which creates a more useful passed pawn.
62...Bxf3=
The game went on another 14 moves with an exchange of my e-pawn for Black's f-pawn and my futile and even silly efforts to trap Black's king on a8.
I finally replied to a draw offer from many moves earlier with assent after 76...Bg4.
White to move
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| The Game's Final Position |
*Although I began playing chess with some seriousness in the 1970s, played some high school matches and at the Spokane Chess Club, and entered a couple of USCF correspondence events, I did not have a USCF OTB rating until I returned to active play in the mid-1990s following completion of graduate school.
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