Working through Dvoretsky

Dvoretsky's Endgame Manual by Mark Dvoretsky, and now revised by Karsten Mūller, is reputed to be too difficult for most players below master. I was a C-Class player (~1500 USCF) when I bought and started studying the first edition of Dvoretsky's Endgame Manual (2003) the year after it came out. Several years later, perhaps about the time that I became A-Class (above 1800), I created cards for reviewing and training pawn endings--all of the blue diagrams in the first chapter. I would be lying if I claimed that I can instantly play correctly all 48 positions despite many hours with these cards, the print copy of the first edition, and the e-book edition of the second edition. However, I do know well at least 75% of these positions and this knowledge has served me well in many games.

I also created similar cards for the first 24 blue diagrams in the rook endgame chapter. These cards served as prompts for some endgame lessons with some young chess students during the spring break chess camp earlier this month (see "Stockfish's Curve Ball"). My difficulty with some of the positions convinced me that it was time to revisit the rook chapter of Dvoretsky's Endgamne Manual. 

I do not disagree with those who opine that the book is not aimed at players of my strength. However, I must insist that it depends on how you read. It might take me a month or longer to get through the 24 blue diagrams (now gray in the fifth edition [2020], the one revised by Mūller after Dvortsky's death). Some of my lessons with a student the past year had us working thorough all of the rook endings in Jesus de la Villa, 100 Endgames You Must Know, 4th ed. (2015) and then I worked through all the positions in Thomas Engqvist, 300 Most Important Chess Positions (2018)., which included a fair number of challenging rook endings. I believe that I'm ready for the advanced work in Dvoretsky.

I do not expect to get through the entire chapter on rook endgames. For the time being, however, I am pushing through carefully and slowly. Some days I study one or two positions. I read Dvoretsky's analysis and then practice many of the positions against Stockfish. 

Tuesday, I worked on exercise 9/4. First, I studied the diagram. Then, I set it up on my iPad and studied it longer. The clock started when I made my first move.

Playing against an engine usually presents information that play against humans never reveals. The engine presents its evaluation of the position. 

Black to move

I first considered 1...Ra6, but saw that White would force an exchange of rooks or win my pawn for no cost and leave me in a hopeless position of passive defense against a passed f-pawn.

Then, I considered putting my rook behind the king or the pawn, but saw that would fail.

The key was understanding that my king needed to move to the short side.

1...Kf8!

At first Stockfish on the iPad gave the evaluation as 2.6, but that quickly dropped and after several seconds, settled at 0.1. I knew my move was correct.

2.Rb6 Ra1 3.Rxf6 Kg8

Short side is the only move that holds.

4.Re6 Kf8

Rg1+ is also okay. Occupation of the promotion square should be sought when possible, moving to the short side when forced by checks or mate threats.

5.Rb6 Rf1

Alternately, Black can play 5...Rg1+ 6.Kf6 Kg8

6.Rb8+ Ke7 7.Rb7+

The point of 5...Rf1 was that f6+ would be met with Rxf6+.

8.Rb2

Black to move

Matters remain critical: Black must hold the rook on the f-file, move the king to e7 again, or throw in a check that leads to a mate threat and then retreat to the short side.

8...Rf3 9.Rb8+ Kf8 10.Rb7+ Kf8 11.Rf7+ Kg8 12.Rg7+

Black to move

12...Kh8

This move holds, but the defense might be easier after 12...Kf8. For instance, 13.Rh7 Rg3+ 14.Kf6 Kg8

13.Re7 Rg3+

Only move.

14.Kf7 Ra3

Now, I was forced to return the rook to the long side.

15.Rc7 Ra1 16.Kg6

Black to move

16...Rg1+

Again, there was only one move that held.

17.Kf6 Ra1 18.Kf7

The pawn's advance can no longer be prevented, but it cannot yet advance far enough for victory.

18...Ra2 19.f6

Black to move

19...Kh7

This move was necessary with an important idea that is revealed in the next few moves.

20.Re7 Ra3 21.Rd7 Ra2 22.Ke6+

Black to move

22...Kg6

This move--a vital defensive resource--was only possible because of 19...Kh7. 22...Kh6 also holds, but I did not consider it as threatening the pawn should the king step away seems best.

22...Kg8 loses to a technique that is easy to learn. 23.Rd8+ Kh7 24.f7. With the rook controlling the promotion square, White's king deals with checks from the rear by marching towards Black's rook. When the checks run out, the pawn promotes.

23.Rd6 Re2 24.Kd5 Kf7

24...Rd2+ seems simpler.

25.Rd7+ Kxf6=

Exercise 9/5 proved more difficult. I needed quite a few take backs to find my way.

White to move

The position appears at least twice in ChessBase's Mega 2024. Dvoretsky references Rohde,M. -- Cramling,D., Innsbruck 1977, where Rohde was not successful in winning. 

Dvoretsky also mentions analysis of the position by Nikolay Kopaev. I am able to find this analysis in Harold van der Heijden's Endgame Study Database VI (2020), but not volume 5 of Comprehensive Chess Endings by Yuri Averbakh and Kopaev.

"White wins, but with some hard work," Dvoretsky writes (398).

Dvoretsky's Endgame Manual is indeed challenging, but it is not out of reach for a class player looking for instructive practice against the silicon beasts.

Building a Lesson

A Partial DVD Review

I was stunned at seeing the number of instructive themes that Karsten Müller was able to extract from a short endgame played by Jose R. Capablanca as part of a simul. The lesson appears as part of the Fritz Trainer DVD, Master Class 04: Jose Raul Capablanca (2015). Then tracking down Müller's reference to Edward Winter revealed a fascinating history of the position as well, including some debate within Chess Notes that spanned more than a decade (see Edward Winter, "Capablanca v. Kalantarov", Chess Notes [updated 17 December 2019]).

Winter's story begins in 1988 with Chess Notes 1715. Ken Neat brought to Winter's attention a position that appeared in Isaak Linder, and Vladimir Linder, Kapablanka v Rossii (1988).* Linder and Linder reference an account by Peter Romanovsky that was published in Shakhmaty v SSSR (1959). Winter published Neat's translation. One of the later additions to Winter's notes present Romanovsky's entire article in three images. Those who read Russian might enjoy it.

Note 1715 inspired Rene Olthof to use the position in one of his training sessions, and he then sent in a note, which Winter published. Olthof found the position "nothing special". The first two notes were republished in Winter, Chess Explorations (1996) under the title, "Knight Ending" (25-26).

Twelve years later, Müller offered a refutation of Olthof's idea (Chess Notes 2402). As noted in the sequence of notes published by Winter over several decades and collated in the article, "Capablanca v. Kalantarov", Müller has published his analysis in The Chess Cafe Puzzle Book (2004). Encyclopedia of Chess Endings, vol. 5 (1993) also contains the position and some analysis, but not a key refutation of an error. Pal Benko also analyzed the ending in two issues of Chess Life.

The analysis begins with this position. We know from Winter that Capablanca's opponent was Kalantarov, about whom little is known, and that it was part of a thirty board simul in St. Petersburg in 1913. Capablanca scored +26-3=3. Romanovsky's story suggests that he and others were assisting Kalantarov.

White to move

The game concluded 46.Kf7 Ng5+ 47.Nxg5 fxg5 48.g4 Kh7 49.h4 Kh6 50.Kf6 Kh7 51.h5 a5 52.Ke5.

White wins because he has a protected passed pawn and his king is in the square of Black's passed pawn.

Müller's Diagram, Black to Move

Müller carries the analysis another twelve moves to show how White employs triangulation (although he omits this term) to regain the opposition and reach the point where outflanking will win Black's g-pawn.

Along the way, he presents several unplayed variations that lead to checkmate, even in one case allowing Black to promote first, but white plays a check, promotes with check, and then has the option of skewering the king to pick up Black's queen, or checkmate (the better option, of course).

White to move

After the move that Encyclopedia of Chess Endings missed, White also gets a supported passed pawn and stops Black's a-pawn. However, in this case, Black is able to maintain the distant opposition to keep the White king on the queenside, while at the same time staying in the square of the passed h-pawn.

Müller's Diagram, White to Move

Had Capablanca missed 48.g4, he could have lost the game because Black's outside passed pawn takes his king too far away and Black has time to round up White's pawns.

White to move

The DVD contains Müller's brief historical background, the note that with correct play Black should have drawn the game, and then finding 48.g4 is the first exercise. I made the same error as Olthof because I underestimated the complexity of the position. Following that error, however, I was able to play through the lesson and choose the correct answers. Capablanca's entire idea beginning with the surprising 46.Kf7 is an instructive breakthrough idea.

Inn addition to video lessons on the endgame by Müller, the DVD includes video lessons on strategy by Mihail Marin, tactics by Oliver Reeh, and openings by Niclas Huschenbeth. In addition to the videos, there are 103 games with training questions, and 14 endgames analyzed by Marin. The collection is enhanced by a biography of Capablanca with links to important games, and a database of 1223 Capablanca games. There are also opening trees for White and Black based on Capablanca's play.

*An English edition was published in 2009 under the title, Jose Raul Capablanca: Third World Chess Champion.