Queen vs. Two Rooks

White sees an opportunity to force an exchange of Black’s queen.

White to move

21.Ra8??

This forcing sequence of exchanges was the losing idea. Until then, White was doing well against a much higher opponent.

21.Nb5 would have been sensible.

21...Qxa8 22.Rxa8 Rxa8-+ 23.f4

23.Nd1 seems more stubborn but still loses after 23...Ra1 24.Kf1 Rbb1 25.Ke2 Rxd1 26.Qxd1 Rxd1 27.Kxd1 and Black has a bishop with both sides having an equal number of pawns.

23.Bxc3 24.Qxc3 Raa2

White to move

White spent a few minutes on the next move, apparently sensing how desperate the position had become.

25.e4 Rxg2+ 26.Kh1 Rgb2 27.e5 Ra1+ 0-1

I have never agreed with the statement that a bad plan is better than no plan. A bad plan was White's undoing in this game.

Decisions

I had Black and the sense that I was winning.

Black to move

48...Rxg3??=

This failure threw away the win. 

48...f4! was the key move. Black also could have played 48...Kg7 with a later f5-f4.

49.Kf6 Kh7 50.Rc7+ Kh6 51.Rc8 Kh7 52.Rc7+ Kg8

To avoid the repetition, Black's king must go on a journey. Black still believes that he is winning.

53.Kxg6

Black to move

White has a passed pawn and threatens checkmate. Black has three passed pawns. Are they enough?

53...Kf8=

Only move

54.h5 Rh3 55.h6 g3 56.Rf7+

Only move

56...Ke8

Only move

57.Rxf5 g2

White to move

58.Rg5

58.Re5+ was the other possibility, but then Rg5 would be necessary.

58...Rh2 59.h7 b4 60.Kg7

Now, I had the suspicion that I was about to lose. After some thought and feelings of desperation, I reasoned that two pawns on the seventh rank would be a lot of trouble for White's rook and I saw that the b-pawn was close enough.

60...b3

A draw could be had with 60...Kd7 61.h8Q Rxh8 62.Kxh8 Kc6 63.Rxg2 Kb5 and White's king is too far away to help the rook against Black's last pawn.

61.h8Q+ Rxh8 62.Kxh8 b2

White to move

Two connected passed pawns one square from promotion are more than a rook can handle, but these pawns are separated.

63.Rg8+??

63.Re5+ Kd7 64.Re1 and White holds

63...Kf7-+ 64.Rg7+ Kf6 65.Rxg2 b1Q

White to move

66.Kg8?!

White steps into an elementary checkmate in four.

66.Rf2+ makes a game of it. Queen vs. rook is a technical win, but often a very difficult win.

66...Qb3+ 67.Kh7 Qh3+ 68.Kg8 Qxg2+ 69.Kh8 Qg7#

There are some lessons here for both sides.

Queen vs. Advanced Pawn

White played an excellent game to reach a simple win and then made two consecutive moves that made it appear that everything prior to that was a fluke. Time was not a factor with 4:19 remaining in a 10-minute game.

White to move

53.b4??=

53.g6 wins quickly.

53...Kxg5 54.Kb5??

Now, Black is winning. Perhaps White saw that both players would promote and failed to anticipate who would have the first check for if Black did, the check would lead to a skewer. Otherwise, this move looks like an effort to lose.

54...h4 55.Ka6 h3 56.b5 h2 57.b6 h1Q 58.b7

Black to move

The technique here is simple, but Black's execution was a bit clumsy. The simple idea that every student should learn is to drive the White king in front of its pawn, then step the king closer. Eventually, there will be an opportunity for checkmate.

With the advanced pawn on the b-file (or g-file), checkmate opportunities come sooner. Black was oblivious to this fact.

58...Qa1+ 59.Kb6 Qb2+

59...Qe5 is better, controlling the promotion square, another element of the basic technique of battling a pawn one square from promotion. To prevent Black from occupying b8 with the queen, 60.Ka7 is forced. Now, 60...Qa5 61.Kb8 Kf6 brings checkmate closer.

60.Kc7 Qg7+ 61.Kb8 Kf6

61.Kf5 was better, stepping closer without restricting the queen's mobility.

62.Ka7 Qg1+

62...Qc7 lead to a more rapid checkmate. Pinning the pawn is a third element of the basic technique.

63.Ka8

Black to move

63...Qg2

Although this move works towards eventual checkmate, less clumsy would have been the simple checkmate in five. 63...Qa1 64.Kb8 Qc3 65.Ka7 Qa5+ 66.Kb8 Ke7 67.Kc8 Qd8#

64.Ka7 Qa2+ 65.Kb6 Qb3+ 66.Kc7 Qc4+ 67.Kd7 Qb5+ 68.Kc7 Qc5+ 69Kd7 Qb6 70.Kc8 Qc6+ 71.Kb8

Black to move

71...Ke7

Black, who has spent many hours teaching the elementary checking technique to young students, could show more finesse and attention to opportunities in the position.

Here, for example, 71...Qc5! forces 72.Ka8 and a mate in three identical to that found in the mate in five above at move 63.

72.Ka7 Qa4+

Better was 72...Qc5+ 73.Ka6 Qb4 (controlling the promotion square via X-Ray) 74.Ka7 and again mate in three.

73.Kb6 Qb4+ 74.Kc7 Qc5+ 75.Kb8

Black to move

75...Kd7

Black knows this checkmate well, but should know also the pattern of mate in two that has presented itself several times earlier in the game. 75...Qa5 76.Kc8 Qd8#

76.Ka8 Qa5+ 77.Kb8 Kc6 78.Kc8 Qc7#

Black was relieved that his opponent threw the game through two consecutive blunders, converting a win to a draw, and then a draw to a loss.

Black showed a simple winning technique, but missed opportunities to end matters more quickly offer some learning opportunities and some positions that might be beneficial teaching young students this fall.

The basic element of this endgame is simple: check until there is an opportunity to move the king closer without allowing the advanced pawn to promote. Prevention includes checks, pins, and controlling the promotion square. Be alert to possible checkmates to show better technique.

Rook vs. Two Minor Pieces

An unexpected win this morning motivated some study of rook and pawns vs. knight, bishop, and pawns. Errors characterized the game, but the ending interests me.

I was slightly better early in the middle game when I blundered into a slightly worse position, and then blundered again into a lost position, but I played on. My opponent blundered away the win to reach an ending that had strong drawing chances despite a dynamic imbalance. He missed an idea that gave him a slight advantage at one point, and then dropped a piece to give me a winning advantage.

White to move

33.Rxh7+??

Had White played 33.Rxb7, I might have decided that it was time to respect my opponent's superior position (as well as a rating 300 higher than mine) and gracefully resign.

33...Qxh7 34.Rxh7+ Kxh7

The position is equal. ChessBase's "Report" feature is useful for studying this sort of ending. A quick glance through the nearly 300 games that are found in MegaDatabase seem to indicate that the minor pieces prevail more often than the rook. Searching my personal database for this material turns up three previous games and I'm always the side with the rook. I have a win, draw, and loss in the three games.

Later in the game, after a pair of pawns are exchanged, the same search mechanism turns up 22 games, most of which were decided by such tactical errors as the rook and king walking into a fork by the bishop or the knight.

We continued.

35.h4 Kg6 36.hxg5 fxg5

White to move

With mobile pawns and each side having a majority, anything is possible. The rook's greater mobility seems promising, but White also could develop an advantage to play for a win. More than likely, good play on both sides should lead to a draw.

37.Ne5 Kf5 38.Nf7 Re7 39.Nd6+ Kg6 40.Nc8

A fork!

Black to move

40...Rh7+ 41.Kg1 a6

Both pieces escape.

42.Nd6 Rd7 43.Kf1 Kf6?!

43...Rc7 44.Ke2 Rc3 45.Nxb7 Rxa3=

The position is easier to draw, but Black was oblivious to the dangers.

44.Ke2 Ke6 45Ne4 Kf5 46.Nd6+ Ke6 47.Ne4 Kf5

Black is anticipating a repetition.

White to move

48.Ke3!?

Activating the king is the right idea, but there is a better way.

48.Nc5! Rh7 49.Kd3 and we see that White intends to dispose of Black's pawn majority. White missed an opportunity to gain a clear advantage. Even so, White is better.

48...Re7 49.f3 g4 50.Bh4

50.Kd4 was the right idea.

50...Re6 51.Bg3 gxf3 52.gxf3 Rb6

Black activates his rook for counterplay.

White to move

53.Nd6+ Kg6?

53...Ke6 was needed.

54.Nc4?

54.Ke4 and White again has a clear advantage. In this case, the f-pawn will work its way up the board with the help of the two minor pieces and the king until Black is forced to give up the rook.

54...Rb3+ 55.Ke4 b5 56.Ne5+ Kg7

White to move

57.f4??

Inexplicable.

Play might have continued 57.Nc6 Rxa3 58.Bd6 Ra2 59.Nd4 and neither Black pawn can advance.

57...Rxg3-+ 58.Nd3 Kf7 59.f5 Rg4+ 60.Ke5 Ra4 61.Kd5 Rxa3 62.Ne5= Kf6 63.Nc6 Kf6 63.Nc6 Kxf5 64.Kc5 Rc3+ 65.Kb6 Rxc6 and White resigned.

After the game, I spent some time looking through endgame books to see who had written about this material imbalance. Dvoretsky's Endgame Manual has four pages.

This position from Beliavsky,A. -- Dolmatov,S., Minsk 1979 shows a creative idea worth remembering.

Black to move

38...c4!! 39.Bxc4 Rc8 40.Bd3 a3! and the game continued another 16 moves. Both the game and Dvorersky's analysis are worthy of study.