After finding the analysis instructive, I set up the game to play against Stockfish. The engine showed me that had Ljubojevic played the recommended move, there was another defensive resource available to Gligoric. This resource refutes Mednis’s claim that Ljubojevic missed a win when he pushed his g-pawn before playing 68. c4!
Mednis’s analysis begins after 66…Rg4.
White to move
The game concluded 67.g7 Kb7 68.c4 Rg2 69.Kc3 and Gligoric resigned.
According to Mednis, White should have played 67.c4, when White wins after 67…Rg3+ 68.Kc2 Kb7 69.g7 Ka7 (there is a typo in the book giving Kc7, which the prose makes clear is not the intended line, as it loses immediately to 70.Ra8) 70.Kd2.
According to Mednis, White should have played 67.c4, when White wins after 67…Rg3+ 68.Kc2 Kb7 69.g7 Ka7 (there is a typo in the book giving Kc7, which the prose makes clear is not the intended line, as it loses immediately to 70.Ra8) 70.Kd2.
Black to move
 |
| From Mednis's Analysis |
The idea is that White’s king will move towards the rook, up the f-file, and then over to capture Black’s c-pawn. All of this is explained clearly and accurately by Mednis. White’s c-pawn then destroys Black’s defensive fortress with the king safe from skewers by remaining on a7 and b7.
However, Stockfish, which relies on deeper calculation rather than endgame principles, showed that Black can play 68…Kd7!! Playing this position out leads to a drawn pawn ending.
My game against Stockfish from the diagram at the top of this post went thus:
However, Stockfish, which relies on deeper calculation rather than endgame principles, showed that Black can play 68…Kd7!! Playing this position out leads to a drawn pawn ending.
My game against Stockfish from the diagram at the top of this post went thus:
67.c4 Rg3+ 68.Kc2 Kd7! 69.g7 Ke7 (69...Ke6 is also drawing)
White to move
70.Ra8
I might have tried 70.Kd2 Kf7 71.Rf8+ Kxg7 72.Rf5, but exploring this line later showed that all roads lead to a draw. Still, Black must either understand the needs of the position or calculate with the sort of depth employed by Stockfish.
70...Rxg7 71.Ra7+ Kf6 72.Rxg7 Kxg7 73.Kb3
I might have tried 70.Kd2 Kf7 71.Rf8+ Kxg7 72.Rf5, but exploring this line later showed that all roads lead to a draw. Still, Black must either understand the needs of the position or calculate with the sort of depth employed by Stockfish.
70...Rxg7 71.Ra7+ Kf6 72.Rxg7 Kxg7 73.Kb3
Black to move
Black to move
76...Kd7 77.Kxc5 Kc7=
Having played against the computer many of the positions from Mednis, Practical Rook Endings, I have observed that his analysis usually holds up to computer checking. In this particular ending, however, he did not look deep enough into a possible pawn ending had Gligoric opted to ignore the usually prudent movement of the king to the crucial a7 and b7 squares.
While ruminating over this analysis during my morning walk with my dog, it occurred to me that analysis presented by Mednis may not have originated with him. A quick check of the endgames published in Chess Informant confirmed my hunch. All of Mednis's analysis appeared in the endgame section of Informant 27. There it is credited to two of the founding members of CI's editorial team: Borislav Milic and Aleksandar Bozic.
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