Practical Bishop Endings

Home , Bishop (chess), Compensation (chess), Edmar Mednis, Indian chess, Isolated pawn

PrrACTICAL BTSsHOP ^ENDII\TGS

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GM EE;dmor Nlednis I Practical Bishop Endings

Grandmaster EdmarMednis

1,990

Coraopolis,Pennsylvania

ChessEnterprises Preface oCopywritelgg0byEdmarMednis.Allrightsreserved. As a resultof my trainingand teachingwork I have rsBN0-945470-04-5 learnedthat lessexperienced players tend to gre-atryunderrate the Bishop,.It apparentJyseem.s such a simpl-epiele as it jusi Editor:B. G.DudleY movesback and forth alonga diagonal. CKnight forks! As a matter of fact, many tend to jump at y6t Typographyand Diagrams:Bob Dudley any chanceto exchangeoff a Biihop for a Knigtrt. niore experiencedplayers rEalize the inhbrentpoweis of a Bishop. Proofreading:Frank Cunliffe However,.to propcrly.handle a Bishop a rirgchmore sophisti- catedunderstanding is requiredthan for the Knight. this is SecondCorrected Printing particularlytrue for pure Bishopendgames. . For qgi_tesome time I have been wanting to write a treatiseon Bishopendgames so that I couldpreseint the principles clearly eriough-to.enable everyoneto significintly lnprove their play of suchendings. Recentlynavid McKay Co. allowed rj, fiist endgamebo-ok, Practicil EndgameLei- so.ns,.togo out of print. For aboutten yearsit wasthe', book which dealt with understandingthe whole field of endgame play. The fact that the material in this book againbecame availableto me was the impetusfor doing PracticalBishop Endingsnow. Of course,everything has Seen substantially redoneto make it cleareranci bettEr. Other sourceshav6 beenmV endgame writinss. mostlv from mv svndicatedcolumn The Practicil Endgameias welias fresh"niaterial from my extensivefiles. As appropriate,direct credit is given in the text. Of course,any erron remain my responsibility.I would appreciateyour callingthem to my atti:ntioh.

The book consistsof two parts:pure samecolor Bishop endingsand pureopposite color Bistrof endings.The veryladt cnaptersummarizes all the previouschapters aqq compares samecolor Bishop endgamesto oppositecolor Bishopend- qames. The obiective of this book is the same as for Practical Contents kook Endings:to presentmaterial sufficientlyclearly so that the reader will have at least 95Voof the knowledgerequired to Preface 2 play suchendgames successfully. Introduction 5 To ensurethat the reader and the author are on the samewavelength regarding the meaningof the questionand Part I: SameColor BishopEndgames 8 exclamation marks as they are used in the characterizationof moves,these are the presentlyaccepted meanings: Chapter1: MaterialAdvantage- 8 Section1. Introduction 8 ! : astrongmove Section2. Material Advantageof One Pawn !! = & V€Ustrong move; a fantasticmove - Pawnson One SideOnlv 8 ? = a bad move; a weak move Section3. Material Advantageof Onti Pawn ?? : a horrible move;ablunder - Pawnson Both Sides 19 !? : an enterprisingmove; a move worthy of consideration Chapter 2: PositionalAdvantages 38 ?! : a dubiousmove, for theoreticalor practi- Section1. Introduction 38 cal reasons Section2. Better King 39 Section3. Better Bishop 43 This is mv fourth book for B. G. Dudlet's ChessEnter- Section4. Better Pawns 50 prises. I am graiified that the earlier Practicdl RookEn/ings, Section5. SmallAdvantagesin BishopEndgames 60 Questionsand Answen on PracticalEndgame Play, and Strate- gicThemes in Endgameshave been well receivedby the public. Part II: OppositeColor BishopEndgames 75 I am very happy to be associatedwith Bob Dudley. I am hopeful of a good public receptionfor this book also. Chapter 3: Characteristicsof OppositeColor Bishop Positions 75 Edmar Mednis Chapter4: Material Advantage- Normal Positions80 Section1: One PawnAdvantage 80 NewYork, 1990 Section2: Two PawnAdvantage 89 Chapter5: Material Advantage- ComplexPositions - ComplexPositions 100 Chapter6: PositionalAdvantages 120 Section1: Better Bishop 120 Section2: Better Pawns 120 Section3: Better King 125

Chapter7: Summaryand Comparisonof SameColor vs.Opposite Color BishopEndgames 133 and forth and can choosethe momentthat it returnsto the kev square. This is a very important strategyin zugrwangtypi: Introduction posltlons. The play from Diagram 1 can be consideredto Characteristicsof the BishoP be an elementarycase of this principle. A more advancedapplica- "losing is frorn The most importantcharacteristics of the Bishopin tion of the value of a move" shown Diagram 2, Black on move. White has a decisiveadvantage because: endgameplay are: with I ) he has the superior King and, 2) his Bishop can menace (1) The Bishop is particularlygood in open positions Black'sb- and f-pawns.Best play is: where there are pawnson both sidesof the board. % %t (2) The Bishop is effectivein copingwith far advanced passedpawns becauseit can stop the pawn even from far % %'%% away. % E{'A%t' Diagram2 t"/h, White wins %t%%^Ex (3) If the Bishop's'Job" is to attacka specificpoint, it lruw 1tut can do this from anywherealong its diagonal. This allows % %%% maximumflexibility asfar asdetermining where to placeit. ,%% %a-%t %%% % % %t,/ru%% 1 .... % A% White protected,while_ 1...4c6? allows Diagram 1 % % wr% captures The b-pawn must be % % v& Black's the decisivepdnetration by White'sKing with 2 Ke5. f-pawn % %A%% Bd3 h5 % % % 2 % %% The King and Bishop- have no satisfacto-rymoves and therefore the text is forced. However, now the h-pawn is also rulnerableto White'sBishop. Notice that if Blackagain would Look at Diagram 1. ClearlyBlack's vulnerable point is appropri- the pawn is neededto cap- be on move,he would lose. Therefore,White with f5 and the help of White'sBishop "give to Black". ture it. With White on move,there is no brute force way of ate Bishopmaneuvers wants to the move capturinsthe pawn. Yet White wins with either 1 Bc2! or I Bc8 861!. Tle Bishop then still attacksf5 and irrespectiveof 3 Bbl! Black'sresponse, White capturesthe f-pawn. If 3...8e6 4 Bc2l Bc8 (4--.8d7 5 Bd3! establishesthe move)5 (a) "lose positionafter Black's2nd moie with Black againon The Bishopcan a move". What this meansis game. that the Bishop can draneuveron its importantdiagonal back Bdl and White winsthe h-pawnand the 4 BaZl PART I White threatens5 8fl7winning the h-pawn. SameColor BishopEndgames 4 .... Bb7 5 Bb3! Chapter1: Material Advantage

Threatens6 Bdl winningthe h-pawn. Section1: Introduction

5.... Bc6 Material advantageobviously refers to an advantagein pawn(s). A three-pawnadvantage is routinely sufficienl for Or 5...Bf3 6 Bc2 Bg4 7 Bd3 Kc6 8 Ke5 and White the win and so is a two-pawnadvantage in all normal cases. wins. The winning metho!_gen'erallyconsists-of creating and queening passedpawns. Thus only the significantcase in which one 6Bc2l Bd7 sidehas the materialadvantage of one pawn is consideredin 7 Bd3! White wins. this chapter. Basically,a playerneeds to know when a onepawn.advantageis sufficientfor a win and what the proper The position after Black's2nd move has been estab- techniqueis for achievingit, or if he is a pawndown, wh-en and lishedwith Black on move. Black must now lose either the f- how he can draw. His approachwill dependon whetherthere or b-pawnand thereforethe game. are pawnson one or both sides,topics discussedin the next two sectrons.

The generalexchanging principles also applyto same color Bishopendgames:

-- the side up materialwantsto exchangeBishops.

-- the side down materialwants to achieveroutine exchanges of pawns.

Section2: Material Advantageof One Pavyn

- Pavyns0n One SideOnly

A. Bishop& Pawnvs. Bishop

As far as general defensivestrategy is concerned,the defendercan feeisatisfied if he has achieVedthe abovesitua- tion. He doesnot haveto worry abouttosing any pawns and there is only one enemypawn to be concerneiiabbrit. He can readilvafford to sacrificehis Bishopfor this last pawn. The kev pilnciplesin knowingwhether ihe resultingposition is a ,0.',''' win br a dfaw are as follows: ,4tn'' u ' L. Centurini (1) If the defendingKing is alreadyin front of the pawn and Diagram4 $t:: *u 1856 caniot be chasedawcly, or if it cdn get to sucha squdre,the game ,/,i' ,& Draw is hopelesslydrawn. ::r^ A typical examplefrom practicalplay is^shownin Diasram 3; E. Medni's- F. Ghborghiu,Graz 1987,after % % WhiTe's97th move. Black offered a draw here, becausehe cannotDrevent White's King from reaching92 andonce there rBn Bez the Kinl is unassailable. 07...g3 98 KR followedby 99 Kg2; 2 8196 Bc4 97...Ke{ 98 Kf2 followedby 99kg2; 97...Bg398 Kfl followed by 99 Kg2.) Black can alwavsstav on oneof two diagonalsto pre- ventf7. %%%'',.,& 3 Bh7 Bd5 % % E. Mednis- 4 Bg8 Bxg8 %%% F. Gheorghiu 5 KxgS Kxf6 Draw Diagram3 % %s% Graz1987 %%Nt After White's The above se_qugnceshows the importanceof Black's %%% 97th move King location on 95, becauseWhite cairnotchase Black,s '% %g% Bishopoff the a2-SEdiagonal by playinga Bg8. If Black is on move in Diagram4, he drawswith either 1...896or 1...8e8.He dare not giv-eup his idealKing location. (2) If the defendingKing cannotget in of-thepawn, the front (3\Because itiaiing chdncesire not good, To be s,ure..ofthe draw, his it is so dfficult in real life to reach thefavorable defensive of Bishop-mustbe mobile oi both diago.n-a.ls;-(have access to dt formation -Diagrgm4, theTefendelsBkh6p must try leastiwo squareson eachdiagonal) and hisKng must be attack- t,o.preventthe. pawn fro.m bging advanceduntil the-defending Ktng,cdn get close ing the pafin from the rear wliile havingveftical opposition. enoughto it. The above favorable defensiveformation allows the The followingtwo examplesfrom practicalplay will demonstrate defenderto alwap achievethe draw, eveg it is by just a hair. the corr-ectdefensivb approach. Diagrani 5 ihows i[ th.eposition from E. Mednis- One suchexampie is shownin Diagram! (L' Centurini 1856). F. Cheorghiu,GrIz 1987after (See 4 on the followingpage). Irrespectiveof who is ElaCk's89th move. (SeeDiagram " 5 on"the-followingpage). Diagram The on moueihe positionis drawn. ,A,logical sequence with White thematicgame course is: on moveis:

10 Now White's King getsback. But if 95...Ke4,96 Be7 %""N% stopsthe pawn. ,,A E. Mednis- 't% F. Gheorghiu /t 96 Kd3! 94 5 Graz1987 Diagram e%fu,% Black's After After 96...K94,97Be7 followed by 98 Bxg5 ****', 89th move draws. %%% 97 Ke2 Draw We havereached Diagram 3, discussedearlier.

90 Kc4 Diagram 6 showsthe position after Black's 53rd move in K. Regan - P. Benko, 1978USA Championship.After AtthemomentWhite,sBishopstandswellenoughq'd Blackwill capturewhite's pawn,the pawnsituation will be the sameas in Diagram 5. What sincethereisnowaythatWhitecanhopeto.preventtnehelp is different is that here the ;'1fi";;;romotion oiBiack's pawnwithout'the defensive Bishopsare on light squares.Play continued as follows: of tn. Kiirg, it startsheading back' Bf6 90 t, "'%, 9l Ba5! 'ZrA7,% % K. Regan- Z P. Benko White'sBishop must get access to thec1-nQ.dlqgpnal as Diagram6 ,%p"ru, Bb6?Ke4 do 1978USA quicktyas iJ.iiui". t\either"glBc7+? Ke4 or 91 '/zu Championshio thejob. % Z" After Black's A%2,7.r, 7M 53rd move 91 "" Ke4 2 t "%"' After 91...g5,Whlqe-ge-t9 pgck in time with 92 Kd3 (92...Kii i3 Bd2 +";'iz. - scr s {l rcezKg4 9 4 Bd2)' 54 Kb2!

92 Bdz Be5 As from Diagram 5, here too the King has to try to get 93 Bg5! asclose to the queeningsquare as quickly as possible. TheBishopneedsaccesstofwodiagonals,cl-h6and 54 .... Kd4 h4-d8,to prevent the g-pawnfrom advancing' 55 Kcl Ke3 56 Be6! 93 .... Kfs * 94 Bh6 Bf4 t E Getting in positionto preventthe advanceof Black's 95 Bf8 95 fl Passedpawn-t-o-be.

11 L2 56.... BB nal. The gamecourse is: 57 Bd7 7'ry"% The g-pawncannot be savedin anycase (57 94 Kf4 and /'2,". , A. Matanovic 58...Bxg4will comewith gain of time), so that White keepsthe '/;72 - statusquo. P. Benko 7 74 /2 Portoroz Diagram ,rg 57.... Kfz %s% ffig Interzonal s8 Kd2! IGg3 %%% 1958 59 Kel B{2 After Black's %t%".rr,W'r,& % 69th move 60 Be6 Kh2 % Instead60...8h3 ilBn Kh2 is parriedby 62 Bh5. 70 Ke3 Kc3 After the text move the theme of the position is very 7l Ke2 Bh4 clear:if Blackcan get in ...g4,he will alsoget in ...g3and will 72 KfL win. To draw, White must prevent...g4. Therefore,quite "normal" wrong is, for instance,61 Bfs? (the tournamentbulletin erro- A move born in frustration. After the more neouily givesthis move as actuallyhaving been played). Black moves,Black wins as follows: a)72B,a3Bg5 73 Kel Kb3 then wins as follows:61...8h3 628e4 94 63 Bd5 93 64 Be4 Bg2 65 Bd3 BB 66 Bfl (White has accessto only one square b\ 72 Bf4 K62 73 Be5+ Kbl 74 Bf4 Bf6 75 Kd3 Bb2 76 Bg5 on the short f1-h3diagonal and is easilychased off) 66...894! Bcl 77 Be7 Bf4 78 Ba3 Bd6! 67 Kdz Bh3 and Black wins. 72 .... Kd3 6l Bg4l Draw. Here too Black could executethe plan shownunder b) The game was adjournedafter Black's 60th move and above:Kb3-t-bl, followedby Bf6-b2-c1,etc. White had sealedthis, the only correctmove. Now White can preventthe advanceof the g-pawn- 61...Bh3 62 Bh5, etc. - 74 Bh6 Bg3 and the gamewas called a drawwithout resumptionof play. The immediate73...8f6 would save a move. (4) If the defendercannot achieveconditions (1) or (2) and cdnnotsuccessfully qecute (3), then he generallywill lose. 74 BgS Be5 75 Bcl A typical lost position is shown in Diagram 7, A. Matanovic- P. Benko,Portoroz Interzonal1958, after Black's If 75Kel Bc3+ 76Kf2Bd2. 69th move. BecauseBlack's pawn is alreadyonly one square from queening,White's Bishop only has one long diagonal. 75 .... Bd4 Black'swinning method is to first chaseWhite's Bishop off the 76 Kel Be3 c1-h6diagonal and then to chaseit off the short c1-a3diago- 77 Ba3 Kc3

L4 L3 78 Ke2 Bg5 Whiteresigns. Er r G. Stahlbers - give guard- AI R. Fine After 79 Kel Kb3 White'sBishop must up 8 //,ftz ingc1. Diagram Kemeri1937 ffi,%/M After White's B.2Pvs. P;3P vs.2P 38th move Whenthe defensive King is backand the pawn formation healthy(i.e. the "normal"situation), the abovecases Normalgood moves are all that are shouldbe readilydrawn. Offering a routine exchange pawns required.The defending side should nor: of in caseWhite plays39 ef6+. Also the pawn is no longerunder attackby Whjte'sBishop. allow the opponent'sKing to penetrate 39 Kcs Bd7 weakenown pawn formation 40 Bg8 h6 put pawnson samecolor as own Bishop And not 40...h5?which seriouslyweakens the g- and h- Bishop (This pawncombination by puttingthe pawnson the samecolor as put pawnson samecolor as opponent's White'sBishop. euidblindworks out to be the sameas the previousone, but I its importance.) Im addingit for emphasisbecause of 41 Kds Ba4 42 Kd4 Bd7 C.4Pvs.3P pawns in- Black is satisfied to keep the statusquo by playing As the numberof remaininqon the board simple,healthy moves. creases,so do the winning'chancesof the st-rongerside. It can trv more thingswhile the defenderhas more to defend. The 43 pawns side is both frequent Bc4 Ba4 4P vs.3P case-withall on the same 4 Bd3 Be8! Drawagreed and important. As long as the defenderpays close attention to will noi haveserious difficul- the guibelinesunder Blabove, he Black shouldnot play 44...f5?which seriously weakens tiesln drawing. A model demonstrationis shownfrom Dia- - the f- andg-pawn comblnation while turning White's e-pawn sram 8. G. Stahlbere R. Fine, Kemeri 1937,after White's a protectedpassed pawn, play which allows Bishopand pawn forma- l!!o nor 44...Kn? 38th move. White hls the superior White'sKing to p'enetratbwith 45 K^d5. tion, but Black'sKing is well placedfor defenseand his pawn formation is fundam6ntallysound. GM Fine gainedthe draw 44...95;but since it page). However,playable is an immediate asfollows: (See Diagram 8 on the following c-annotbe prevehted anyway,Black can wait and see how White plandto make pr%"res{.-A possiblecontinuation could 38 .... t6l DC:

L6 15 g5! Still drawn. 45 h4 fxg4Bd3 10g5 jxgS+. 1I Kxg5Bxe_4! and Blackdraws. This line revealsa detenslveresource Black has in Diagram9: NowthatWhitehascommittedhisKingsidepawns,it-is white's Bishopis the.wrongcolor for his h-pawnand tfierefore logical ror stact to stop potential play-there. Notice the Black.has.opportunities for the draw by sa-crificinghis Bishop i,-rhonious placementof filack's forces:the King and Bishop for White'snext-to-last pawn. iir."."l-p*Etration by White's King and,-by being on dark Squares,the pawnsdeprive White's Bishop of opportunltres. 4 Kn Bbs "my 5 e4 Be8 Yet, if the defenderignores gyidelines",then an 6 Ke3 Ke5?! unwelcombloss is quite posfible. That this can befall very of play from DiqgIaT ttionl plivio it shownbv the course ?' TtrSSilg has.nothingto go here. The correcrset-up V. H6ti f'M. gertok,Zagreb 1969,White 6n move' Black is for Blackis 6...Ke7 followed bv...f6. somewhathandicappbO trEre because his h-pawnis alreadyon h5 and blocked. Ttius,together with the g-pawn,lt can even- 7 Bb3 tuallv becomean obje6tfdr anack by Whfte'sBishop. Other- 8 Ba2 wise-Black'sposition is soundand there is no oblectlvereason why - with bestplay - he shouldnot draw. A waiting move,giving Black an opportunityto blunder.

% 8 .... f5?? i, / '%f%t%.9 V. Hort - M. Bertok /,2 % ^ _. _Criminallyhorr.ible. Required is 8...Kd6followed by Diagram9 A% % %t Zagreb 1969 9...Ke7and Black'sposition remains defensible. 2%%:ft White on 2., ';ftA,ft move 9 f4+ Kf6 10 e5+ Ke7 i,%,ft€ lt Kd4

The differencebetween this positionand the final one 1 Bds l<97 from Diagram8 is like night and day. Here White hasthe 2W Be2 better King, better Bishop,6etterpawis and the extrapawn as a.protected passed one. Thereforeit shouldnot be surprising Starting here, out gf carelessnessor ignorance'Black that White h'asa forcedwin. unOertitcesa"series'of inferior, time-wastinfmove,s. Black Jh*td piuv 2...Kf6,followed by -..Ke7,.'.f6 an-d -..Be8, thereby 11 .... Ba4 establishin-ga stable, drawn formatlql. 12 Kcs Be8 3R Kf6 13 Kb6 Ba4 14 Kc7 Bb5 GM Hort givesthe followjn-ginte^res-ting variation: 15 Bb3! Blackresigns. 3...f6! 4 Kr2 Bb5 5 e4 Kf8 6 Ke3 KeI t Kf4 Kf8 t ga hxga 9

L7 18 -- Be careful. %wg,''% V. Hort - '%r% Never be in a hurry, either with respectto time or "%A%:"%'% M. Bertok numberof moves. Diagram10 ,fut%t'",&';,,M Zagreb 7969 % % 7fu,r,& After White's -- Hold on to materialadvantage. %a% % ,tu 15Bb3! '%%%% -- When aheadin material,exchange pieces (here Bishops), %'%"%% not pawns. -- Aim for the basicpositions known as theoreticalwins. Black'schoices are to either losehis Kingsideor to - The allow a lost K + P endgame which is no choiceat all. To the aboveprinciples must be addedthe specific two main variationsare: te.chniquesapplicable to samecolor BishopendgameS. The ( 1) 15...8e216 Bg8 Kf8 17Bh7 Kg7 18e6 KxhT 19e7 Bb5 winningstrateg] consists of thesesteps: 20 Kd8 Kg7 21e8:Q BxeS 221fte8 Kf6 23 Kf8. (1) Centralizethe King. (2) 15...Be817 Bg8 Ba4 17 e6l Be8 (17...8b518 Bf7 Kf6 19 Kd8 Ba4 20 Be8!) 18 Bf7! Bf7 19 edT ICdT 20Kd7lKf6 21 (2) Put the Bishopon a usefuldiagonal. Ke8 Kg7 22Ke7 Kh8 23 Kf8 Kh7 24Kf7 Kh6 25 Kg8. (3) Create a passedpawn on the sidewith the pawn advantage. Section3: Material Advantageof OnePawn' Pawnson Both Sides (4) Advancethe pawnas far as possible.This will tie down the opponent'sBishop or King. With pawns on both sides,under normal conditions,a onepawn advantageis sufficientto win. This is a strong state- S). tf ttr.e^Bishopis the blockader,offer to exchangeBishops. ment,yet is borne out by practicalexperience. All the exam- Thiswill freethe queeningsquare or win the Bishopl plesin this sectionare theoreticalwins. They maylook quite "normal" different from eachother, yet are sufficiently to fit (6) If the King is the blockader,march your King to the other the aboveconclusion. sideof the board and pick up enoughpawns to wi"n. with a won endgame,it is impor- Sincewe are dealing Alwavs-You remember that won endgamesiust don't win tant to first becomefamiliar with the generalprinciples of how themselves. needlots of careand discipline. tf a player- to win a won endgame.These are: no matter how strong - startsdisregarding the principles enumerated -- above,the win can vanishquickly. I will start off Establishand follow a clearplan. withsuch an example.Diagram 1l showsthe positionfrom K. - -- l.*gl S. Gligoric, Hastingi lg73-74,after White's23rd move. Don't allowcounterplay. White hadjult beiore errdneouslyailowed the exchangeof all Rooks -- and"becauseof Black'sniore activeKing, Wh-itenow Avoid unclearor unnecessarycomplications. finds himself in a lostB * P endgame:

l-9 20 30 Bfl Kg4?! "'re,"T - ".f,r,,4%'f%"ru ''*i'tt K. PWel Pointless.The correctplan is still 30...h6followed bv S.Giigoric 31...g5. Diagram11 %%fr%% Hastings ,,.& 1973174 31 Ke3 %t% After White's %%A%% 23rdmove This voluntaryde-activation of the King is incompre- fr7,&% %r hensible.With 31...8a2 or 31...h6Black could still achieve %%9,% winningpositions. 23 .... 32 Be2 Kf6 u Bfl 33 h4! h5

The K + P endgameafter 24Kd2?lBxd3 25 Kxd3Kfs Undesirable,but allowing34 94 would be equally 26Ke3Kg4t!27 Ke4 f5+! 28 Ke3 is evenmove lost because undesirable. assoon as White runs out of pawnmoves on the Queenside, he mustlose a Kingsidepawn. 34 g3 Bf5 35 Kd4 Bd7 24 .... Bbl 36 Bd3 25 Kd2l? What a differencea few movescan make! lt isWhite Worseis 25 a3?!Kf5 26 93 Ke4 followedby ...Kd4 who now hasthe activeKing and the superiorKingside pawn and...Ba2. formation. These factors are sufficient - with correct play - to 25.... Kf5! neutralizeBlack's extra Queenside pawn. 26 Ke3 Bxa2 27 Bd3+ Kg4! 36 .... c5+ 28 Be2+ Kh4! 37 dxc6 e.p. Black haswon an importantpawnr has the activeKing It is in the interestof the defendingside to exchange and no deficiencieswhatever. It shbuldbe duck'ssoup for I pawns,not to mentionretaining his King oh d4. Blackwould famous GM, yet strangethings start to happennow. win afier 37 Kc3? a6 38 b3 b5-39 8c264+ 40Kbz a5,with Black then moving his King to a6 and breakingdecisively 29 Kd4 Bbl?! with ...a4(Pytel). 37 .... Bxcf The Bishopstood well enoush. Accuratewas to start 38 Bc2 BB mobilizingthe Kingsidewith 29:.h6and if then 30 Ke3, 39 Bd3 Ke6 30...b5!is decisive. 4 Bcz a5 41 Bd3 f5

2L 22 to preventa potentialf5 White qnd.pa4 "rnarch Blackwants !y your King to the other side o.ftle board and pick up the cleir costof creafinga weakg-pawn. The superiorityof eqougf pawns,.towin." After 28...Kh4!Black factor in "the had his ft,ng on Wt ii.tr Kingsidepawn f6rmation i-sh very important other side",but then unaccountablymarched back! his achievingthe draw. I will start the demonstration upure" of the^properw_inning 42 Bcz Bc6 techniquewith a position,as shown in Diagram "only'Y 12. ThE 43 Bdl d5 position.isessentially symmetrica.l; Wh.ite's advantageii a clear,healthy extra pawn. With White on move,this is-how All pawn exchangesare in White's interest,though to achievethe win: Black hasno other way ib try to makeprogress. It would be wrons now for White tb be greedyand play 44-Bl3?!because ift.r"44...Kd6 45 cxd5Bd7-followed bi 46...b5'Black would s.t u mobile Queensidepawn majority,while White'sd-pawn A won frouldonly be an impotentfigurehead. position for Diagram 72 '/1 '1, White Bxd' White is on xlffif.' tv'/,.,7 move /' ,, fr White's Bishopnow is active,can get to Black'sg-pawn ftft A tft/ and keepback Black'sb-pawn. White alsohas retained the more aciive King. Black ian't hope to make progressand the positionis drawn. 1 Bc3

45 .... Baz Puttingthe Bishopon a usefuldiagonal: it bearsdown 46 Be8 Kf6 on Black'sKingside and prevents ...Bes. At the moment1 Be3 47 Kc3 Be6 rsratner potnfless. won K + 47...Blf7??48 B>d7l

After managingto stalematehis Bishop on the least The King is centralizedon an active,useful square. activesquare on thEbbard, Black offered a draw. He canjust hold on'after50 Kc4 Ke7 51 Bc6 Kd6 52 Kb5 Kc7 53 Bd5 5 .... Kc6 Kd6 54 Bf7 Kc7. 6b4 Bb6 "forgot"_ 7B Bc7 Black'ssingle greatest error wasthat he that to 8a4 Bb6 win he needsthe"he"lp of his King. Our last priniiple said: 9 Bd4

23 24 The Bishop controlstwo importantdiagonals from The type of positionshown in Diagram 12 doesoccur here. frequentlYfrequenttyeno.ugh..9no.ugn.. However, thetne practlcalicalplayer must learn to cope with situationswhich are lessroutine. An excellent 9 .... Bc7 cxampl^e,isshown from. D.iagram 13, H. Donner - A. Bisguier, 10 b5+ axbS 1961,after Black's48th move. As will Bled "how be seen,Wf,ite'd 11 axbS+ play makes.useof all the key to win a won Bishop cndgamePrlnclPles. A passedpa\,yn has been created.

11 .... Kb7 A /,2%i H. Donner- If Black plays 11...Kd7,so as to blockadethe pawnwith p%% A. Bisguier the Bishop,White winsafter 12b6 Bg3 13 Kd5 Bf4 14 b7 Bb8 Diagram13 %t:rtZtZ Bled1961 15Be5. E ftt,4z After Black's g' 48thmove 12 Kds Bb8 fr. fu. 13 b6 /,AftJ Advancingthe pawn as far as possibleto tie down Black'sKing. White is a pawn up in Diagram 13. At the moment both Kings are rather active. BecauseWhite's pawnsare safe 13 .... BM from attack by Black's Bishop, whereasBlack's pawnsare 14 Be5 Bg1 potentiallyvulnerable to White'sBishop, White hassome 15 Kd6 longer term prospectsthereby. However, at this point White's only significantadvantage is the extra pawn, which gives The King penetrates. White a 2P vs.P Queensidemajority. White'sfirst objective, therefore,is to createa passedQueenside pawn: 15 .... Kxb6 16 Ke7 Kcs 49 Bd1! 17t

He will alsocapture the h-pawn.The positionwould be 51 axb5is alsofine. But 51 a5+?! is dubiousbecause won evenwithout that. White may not be able to penetratethe resultingrather block- adedposiiion.

25 26 51 Bf7 bestthat Black has. 52 axb5 Be8 53 g4l 60 Kd2 h4 6l KeZ Be6 Preparingto placethe Bishop on a usefuldiagonal. 62 R! Black'sres'ponsd is forced since 53...96? 54 gxfs gxf5 saddles Blackwith hnotherlong term pawn weakness - the f5 pawn. This breakstarts clearing the wayfor White'sKing. 53 .... Bxg4 62 .... erf3+ 54 Bu44 Kxb5 63 IGtr3 Kb6 55 Kb3 64 e4'!,

Preventingpotential counterplay from 55...Kc4.White, l '//%t of course,wants"td leave his Bishof aitive ratherthan retreat itto e2. ,,fu% %% H. Donner- A%'%A% '"ru, A. Bisguier 55 .... Bf7 Diagram14 %* %t Bled1961 56 Bd7+ Kb6 % l&t% After 64 e4l 57 b5 % %s% Advancing the passedpawn as far as possibleto tie % % % down Black'sKing. %%

57 .... 95 And this break continuesthe clearingprocess. Do note 58 Kc3 that all of this is worthwhileonly becauseBlack's King - chainedto White'sb-pawn - will not be able to help in defend- The King now movesto the Kingsideto seewhat ing his pawns. damageit can do there. 64 ... g4+ 58 .... 65 Kf4 dxe4 59 Bc6 66 Kxe4 Bc4 67 Kf4 Be2 An ideal location for the Bishopsince it continues defenseof theO-OtU".:tth attack "ilr,.|,. d-pawn. - TheK + P endgameafter 67...e3 68 hxg3 hxg_3 _6! Kxg3Bxb5 70 Bxb5xius is losrby onEtempo ifter 7t rcr+ Kc6 l2 Ke5Kd7 73Kd5. In unpleasantpositions, pawn pushes com.e easily, but senerallvshbuld be fesisted.Here alsothis makesit easier 68 Bd7! Kc7 Ior Whiie's King to get at Black'sKingside. Keepingthe 69 Bxg4 Bxb5 statusquo with 59...BE6followed by ...Kb6,...Kc7 etc. is the 70 Kgs Kd6

27 28 %% A two-paw::.ffie winshere too. Black decides to ''Ng%%%% E. Paoli- go after the d-pawn,but this leaveshim without defense 'ft, %t H. Liebert againstthe h-pawn. Diagram15 % %tr,ffi Debrecen t%fr% % 1968 7l .... Kd5 .rzMg% White on 72 Kgs Kxd4 % move 73 h4 %%%r

As we already learned in Section2, Part A, if the defendingKing cannotget back veryquickly, he will lose. This Thoughapparently unprotected, the pawn is immuneto If now_l...Bxc5?! 2 Bxa5and the impotent exampleshows the bleaknessof the situation againsta Rook capture."transformed" c-pawn pawnstill on the 4th rank. ha'sbeen into an outsidepassed a-pawn, enablingthe White King to sooninfiltrate the Kingside. If 73 .... Be8 l...Kxc5?,Black landsin a lost K + P endgamebecause after 2 74 Bfs! Kes Bd4+ Kc6 3 Bxb6 Kxb6 4 Kc4! Kc6 5 93 White has the 75 B196 Bbs opposition.Also 1...Bd8is nothingsince White has2B,t6. 76 h5 Bc4 77 h6 Bg8 1 .... Bc7 78 Bfs! Black resigns. 2 Kc4

There is no defenseto the coming79Kg6 followedby Thanksto tacticsWhite's King and c-pawnhave been 80 Kg7. able to move one step forward. White's next step is to prepare the invasionof his King into Black'sKingside. Often enough the passedpawn that we have been able to create (or inherit from previousplay) looks too sickly to be 2 .... Bd8 able to offer real prospectsfor progress. No matter. A passed 3 Bf6 Bc7 pawn is a passedpawn and it is up to us to use our creativity to 4 Bc3 Bd8 mobilize it so as to transform it into a power. 5 Bd2 Bc7 6 Kd4t Bd8 A marvelousexample of the successof such an attitude 7 Bf4t Be7 is shownfrom Diagram 15 (on the next page),E. Paoli - H. 8 Ke5! Kxd Liebert, Debrecen1968, with White on move. White'spassed This losesthe Bishop,but 8...Bxc59 Kf6 allowsWhite's c-pawn looks like a non-starter,while the doubled g-pawnsare King no beautiesand the forward one is vulnerableto Black's to devourthe pawns. Bishop. Routine play will not be enough,e.g. after 1 Bd4, 1...8d8!is adequate.Yet there is a creativeway: 9 Ke6 Bd8 10 Kd7! I c5!!

30 29 The fine tacticalpoint of White'sprevious maneuvers. 47 BB The Bishopis trapped,since 10...Bb6 fails to 11Be3+. Before the King headsfor the.eu.eenside, the g_pawn" 10 Bxg5 mustbe protected.The principle:don't allow.outit..pliyi- 11Bxg5 Kb4 t2 Ke6 Blackresigns. 47 .... Bg8 48 Kd3 Ba2 There also are times when the passedpawn looks very 49 Be2 Bd5 nice. It may be, for instance,already a well advancedprotect- 50 Bdl ed passedpawn. But if the defender can readily prevent its further advance,the win may be difficult to achieve.This is This and the following - six to sevenmoves are a holding the situationin Diagram 16,-M.Tal Giterman,USSR 1951, operationto- gain time on fhe clockto preparethe wrnnrns after White's 4Lst move. White's protectedpassed f-pawn is mane.uver.In practical.p.layit is.always-agbod idea to havE stopped and the g-pawn is vulnerable to Black's Bishop. sufticienttime whendeciding crucial strategy-. Obviously,without the a-pawnsthe position is a dead draw. Thanks to the presenceof these pawns,White, if he can get 50 .... Bg8 into Black'sQueenside, will win. The job is far from easy,but 51 Kc3 Bf7 the 14 year old Tal gets it done thanksto somefine Bishop maneuvers: Black is forcedto moveonly the Bishop,since if the Kingleaves its ideallocation on e5,White's King will quickly %% penetrate. %,,%Afu, %'% M. Tal - 52 Bb3 Be8 "4r,t % Giterman 53 Bdl Bn Diagram 16 % %fr'"&, USSR1951 54 BR Ba2 ,%% %%r After White's 55 Bcf Bg8 %%$, 41stmove 56 Bbs Bds * 57 Be2 Bf7 % %a% 58 Bc4! Be8 59 Kb3!

4l .... Ke5 White has finally set up the optimum King and Bishop 42 Bc8 Bc4 placement.The Kine sbtsreaiJv to sd to either a{or c4. Sinc'e 43 a3 a5 Black'sBishop caqn6iguard both if tnosesquares simultane- ously,nor can the King-helpout, White'sKing is sureto get at Black'sBishop cannotremainon the actived1-94 tnea-pawn. diagonarbecauseH]ffi*'44Bb7la5 White has 45 BB. BN 59 Bctr Bg8 60 Be2l a4+?! BN

31 32 Totallyhopeless.-T!t. qtllypractical try is 60"'Kd4 6l f6 Bd5l- Akiqk.S- OSKxas IAd6 though aiter 64.a4 White - sinceBlack's King cannotguard both sides trg E. Mednis Jin"Jearifyenough /'A i t A. Lein of the board. Diagram 17 '/,^t1 New York 1977 61 Kb4 Kf6 t2, i. g 62 Kcs Be8 ft,a7 After Black's tft '/ 34th move for nothing' '/, t: If 61...8b7,62Kb5wins the pawn / resigns. 63 Bbs Black the time control at move40. The aboveexample illustrates so well the needfor the "clear penetrateinto the Black must immediatelydecide on his winning stronsei iiO.'r King to 6e able to effectively He weiker side'sKing. plan". must recognizethat in integralpart of it must be t5 ;i|;|i;il; bo.rO 'ioiO.fended by the .lf into Whitevs (AI "normal,' chancesare excellentthat the ienetrate Queenside. is true for the iitir Cunnotbe achieved,the cases,so here too White's King can first of my generalprinciples.stated: copewith the e>rtrapassed iu*.ir-Oi"*n. The very pawnon the Kingside.)How-can Black get into the PleriiUf clear plari.". In samecolor Bishop Queen- irtr ind follow a side? The chancesare poor that he will bt able to usethe c4 "nOg"r.*, a cardinalpart of any plan mustbe to ensurethat position.This impor- squarebecaus-e White's Bishop_can control that readily thekine canpenetrat'e into the ehemy enough. Thereforethe guid.in_glight whenthere ls a spingboariifor the invasionrru$t be thb tant rea-lizatibnshould be the d4 square.Black's_^clgq plan mustensure that his King more poTentialpaths.This-concept is can get choicebetween fwo or - to that square._If Blaik usesthis logicaldecisiorimaki-ng *.filif urtraredby rhe playfrbm Diagrhm77,E. Mednis A. after Black's ploggsl: he will cgrye up with the colrect recapture. Is it f;i;;N;; Vork (nl1atdt"it) Internati-onal.197.7, 35...Kff6or 35...ef6? S+ttt'*ou.. e qdick look Showsthat White is.missinghis f- for it. Therefore, ou*n and hasnd discerniblecompensation A) 3s .... K}f6? Wt ii-. *"rii*p..t that the likelih|od of beingin a theoretical- lv lost position is very high. White'sonly advantageat present The chancesare This is the gamecontinuation and is wrong. The cor- ii that'hisKing is m6re activethan Black's. rect35...ef6 will bEdiscussed under B). iffi;hiJ t6*fif pJo. I didnot see a defensiveplan that I had confidencein and thereforeplayed: The text movemust havelooked attractive to Black becausehe can quicklyactivate his King to e5. Yet next there is no (SeeDiagram on the Page) wln,because the King can't get further. In a momentwe shall seewhy. 35 exf6+!? g5+ makes 36 93 From a theoreticalstandpoint a move that 37 Ke3 Ke5 Black'stask easier,but I felt that most likely I wouldiave to playingit 38 Be4 h6 plttii G;.i o. iti.t. Yet my overridingreison for 39 Bc6 hofi *as to force Black to makea verymajor decisionbefore

34 33 Already now we see the problem with 35...Kxf6?. 36 h4 h6 White'sKing on e3 fulfills two defensivefunctions: stops the 37 g3 Kf/! passede-pawn and, most importantly,denies access to d4 for Blaqk'gKing, And, like the Rock of Gibraltar,the King cannot Before advancingthe Kingsidepawns and therebv Fp {.rlodged from e3. All that White needsto do islo keep creatingsome holeson the light squares,Black centralizesth6 his Bishopactive and this is easyenough. King. 38 Ke4 Ke6 39 Be8 f5+ 13;;, 5ou 40 Kf4 Kf6 4t 86 g5+ Since the prospectsare so poor for a King invasionvia 42 hry5 hxgs+ this square, Rlack gets ready to use the pawn for a 43 Ke3 Ke5 potential ...c3break. Yet this break never offers the chance 4 Bb7 f4+ for an advantage. 4s sfi4 gd4+ 6 Kez Bd5 41 Bbs Kcs 47 Ba6 Kd4! 42 Be8 e5 43 Ke4 Kd6 Compare this position with those after 35...Kxf6?: 44 Ke3 Kd5 Black'sKing is readyto infiltrate and there is nothingWhite 45 Bfl+ Kc5 cando about it. 46 Be8 Bc2 47 Bd7 e4 /t8 Kfz 48 Kd2 Bb3 49 Ke3 Or 48 Kd2 B! followedbv 49...Bc4. Draw 48 .... Bc4 49 Bb7 Kd3 Offered by Black. There is no way to progressby 50 Bctr Bb3 normal meansand the ...c3break just neverworks. For in- 51 KB Kc2 stance,49...c3 50 bxc3 Kc4 51 Kxe4 Bc2+ 52 Ke5! Kb3 53 52 t

35 36 And so, despiteWhite's best defense and Black'shandi- Rook pawnfor his Bishop,after the Chapter2: PositionalAdvantages cap of triving'ttrewrong "routine". coi'rect35...eff6t Black's win is Section1: Introduction A more active King, a potentiallymore productive Bishop,an over-allsuperior pawn formation or a specifically \ery powerfulpawn - theseare the specificsof what is called 'positionaladvantage". Often it is a combinationof these t'hctorsthat allowsthe positionaladvantage to be a meaning- fulone. In making a judgmentabout a positiona two step processis required: firstly, who is better, and, secondly,how iargeis the advantage.Though seemingly obvious, it must be emphasizedthat the first step is an absoluteprerequisite for a successfulresult. If you evaluateyour positionto be superior, when in fact you stand worse, and proceed to play to win when you should be scratchingfor a draw, is it any surprise that you lose? Once we havethe correctqualitative evalua- tion, then we need to considerthe quantitativeside. In a superiorposition, do we have good,some or no practical winningchances? The defenderneeds to askthe sameques- tions in reverse. The theoretician alwavswants to know whethera position is a forcedwin or draw. But in real life often only a lot of postgameanalysis can help to answerthat. What the practicalplayer needsto know is the relative "goodness"br "badness"oi the positionthat he finds himselfin andthe correctstrategy in aimingfor the mostthat he can expectto get. It is thesetechniques that I will be presenting in the sectionsthat follow.

.N_ormallya positionaladvantage is e.xpeltedto yield a materialadvantag-e -- in our casepawn(s). Once material advantageis achfuvedthe win is usuallysimple, since the attributesof positionaladvantage generally remain. The examplesthat-follow deal only with positionswith pawnson both lides becauseonly this situationgives meaningful winningchances.

37 38 Better King Section2: and Karpov immediatelystarts to prove that White has a won The examplesin Chapter 1, Section3, havealreadv demonstratedthe power and destructivecapability of the King in Bishopendgames. The sourceof this poweris three- fold: (1) the Bishop is, after all, only a minof piece;(2) the %%%%t A. Karpov - Bishopcannot protect pawnsnot of his color; and (3) if the t,t gA t V. Hort [ing occrrpiesan important.postnot of the Bishop'scolor, Diagram18 7zt%t/z t Budapest then the Bishopcannot chase him away. '% t973 v& ,.ru After Black's We can makg the followingimportant generalizations %%%e% 37th move regardingKing location: fr"%% %n

(1) If the Kng is on thefourth rank and cannot be chased awcty,thk is a tangibleadvantage. 38 Ke3!

(2) If the King is on the fifth rank and cannot be chased White is nowsure to havethe activeKing. awa.y,this givesgood winningchances. Only whenthe opponenfs p,ositionshows no fundamental weaknessescan he be sureof a 38 .... Bg4 draw. 39 Bd3 Be6 40 Kd4 Let us now add meaningto the aboveprinciples by lookingat actualpositions. White's King now has a secureposition on the fourth rank and thereby a "tangible"advantage. This when added to A. King on Fourth Rank the followingfactors gives White a won position:

That a King on the four rank is the activeKing "on is easy -- Black'sKing not only is relegatedto its third rank but to see graphically:put a King on the fourth rank your cannotmove, because White's King would then infiltrate via board. You will see that the oppositeKing is therebyreli:gat- c5or e5. ed to his third rank. Thereforeit makeslense that-anunas- sailableKing on_thefourth rank is a tangibleadvantage. -- All of Black'spawns are on the samecolor as White's However,by itself, this advantageis insufficientfor the iin. Bishop,and becadsethey are stuckon that color they are You must also be able to successfullyattack the enemypawns readilyvulnerable. The piimary target is the d-pawn;second- with your Rishop. These factorswer6 alreadydemonst?aled in ary targetsare a6 and h7. the evaluationof Diagram2 andthe play thereof. -- White will be able to createa passedpaw! on-the f-file. Most examplesfrom practical play are of somewhat Note that White'sdoubled g-pawns'are no liandicaphere, since more complicatednature. Characteristicis Diagram 18,A. theyhold back Black'sg- inb h-pawns,the_r_eby ensuring that Karpov - V. Hort, Budapest7973, after Black's-37thmove. the-f-pawnis an effectiv6extra pawn on the Kingside. Black had just before wronglyexchanged a pair of knights

39 40 40 .... Bg4 4l Bczl Be6 t"%,,g"Nt%i f-pawnshows its powerwith 42 f5!, lf 4t...8e2,White's 19 %%%% winning. Diagram t%e%ft%fr Drawn %%% 42 Bb3! %',.,N% %%% Forcingthe Bishopto remainon the e6-g8diagonal. %%% 42 .... Bn 43 Bdl! Be6 But a slight worseningof this positionand chancesare excellentthat Black is lost. Considernow Diagram?n. White Forced threatof 44B,94. on the move wins rather effortlesslvafter: T:Xthe '% %@ry%t Black now is in zugzwangand must allow either % %'"'/P''% King Bishopto penetrate.Notice how efficiently White's or Diagram20 %t%e% %t White wins Karpov set up this position,,withouthaving to utilize the two %%/&% existingtempo moves,a3 andg3. fr% "",,w% 4.... Bf7 % %'% 45 Bg4 Black resigns %%% 47 White threatens46 Bc8 and 45...Be6 46Bxe6Y,'xe6 1 Bcs! 94 Kd6 48 f5 leads to an easily won K & P endgamefor White. Firstthe Bishopis chasedback. B. King on Fifth Rank I .... Bd8 2 f5! A King on the fifth rank is a verysubstantial advan- tagebecause"this relegates the opponenl'sKing to its second ThenBlack's f-pawn is fixedon the colorof White's rafik. The defensivesi6e must havba troublefret positionnot Bishop. to be lost. One suchposition is shownin Diagram 19. It is drawn becauseWhitd's Bishopcannot attacklnything and ) penetrationby White's Bc7 Black'sKing can preventany further 3 Bd4 Bd8 King. (SeeDiagram 19 on the followingpage.) And now White wins Black'sb-pawn and the game

42 4I with... itself and must be able to attackthe vulnerablepoints (pawns!)by itself. 4 Kcs With the abovebackground, we can now formulate the White wins. followingtwo key principles: "good' The plav from Diagram 20 demonstrateshow cramped (l) !" normal simationsthe Bishopwins againstthe,,bad, the defender'sjlieces are 6n the last two rank. Moreover,all BishoP. suchK & P enciingsare invariablylost for the defensiveside. A typical examplefrom practicalplay is shownin Section3: Better Bishop Diagram12, H. N. Pillsbury- Billecard,Munilh 1900,after Black's46th move. All of Black'spawns are on the samecolor qualitv a Bishop,the first needto In evaluatinethe of "good" ashis Bishopand moreover,the Bishopis caughtbehind his know is what is a'6ad" gishoi and what i-sa Bishop. own lines. On the other hand, Whitets_Bishop is obviously The "bad"Bishop is one which is lockedin by his own.pawns good. With his next move White makeshis Bishopeven ',bet1 and has therefor'elittle scopeto maneuver. Of necessity,-this ter",thereby driving the lastnail into Black'scoffin: wlnerable to definition also sals that suchBishop's pawns are "bad" an attackby the 6nemyBishop. An-e>itremecase of the Bishopis dhownin DiagramZt. White'sextra piece - his Bishop- is like a pawnan-d there is no win in the position. 4 ," ,Kt H. Pillsburv- 4t'@r,,t, Billecard Diagram 22 Munich1900 %%% t7t,ft % After Black's %%%'tfu.t'"1f, ft €r 46thmove %',rru. .,rm,fr.,rut Diagram21 Draw "%veD%%% "1ft.n%fr%fr% % ,z fr%A%'2e% % 47 g5! Be8 ft% 48 Bfi Bf7 qame "good", This is the main line. In the Black alloweda For a Bishop to be two factors must be present: ftgpelessK & P endgameafter 48...Bd7-49Bh3+ Ke7 50 BxdT (1) the Bishopmay not be Encumberedby his pawns,-and(2) 5*97 and lost quiEkly after 51 Ke3 Ke6 52 Kd4 Kf5 53 ini: nisnop must aiso be able to attack the eremy pawns,i.e. Kc5. the pawnsmust be on the samecolor as the Bishop. In open- ins'andmiddlegame play the first part of the definitionis 49 Bh3+ Ke7 sulficientsince i-f the Bisliophas a gieat opendiagonal it can 50 Ke3 Be8 combinewith another-colorpiece'(in particular the Queen)to wreak 51 Kd4 Kd8 havoc. But in a same Bishopendgame, the Bishopis by 52 KcS Kc7

43 44 14 b7+ Kb8 Jd:q^il:ffi:. andB,ack,s King 15 Kb6 White wins mustallow Jh. Kd6r1b?e,, with decisive effect. The moral of thesetwo examplesis simply:beware of acceptingthe truly bad Bishop. It almost always "bad" t,oluntarily If the Bishopis Qgdenough, even being at the loses' a payn qp may be insufficientto prevent the loss. Itart "perfect'i, In Diagram 23, White's Bishop is Black'sworse than e) The betterBishop alway givessome winningchances. bad. Even with Black on moveheloses: To be clearlv sufficient for a win, however,additional A% advantages-A are reqdired. Thesecan be a better King or better Dawns. combinationof all three usuallygives a sure win, %%t *1, %t *e alreadysaw from Diagram2. t% %t%i hr Diagram23 %trffi.,'&t& v& Whitewins White's advantagesin Diagram 24, B. Pytel -. Hojdaro- Tru A% va, Hungary 1969,White on move,are the better Bishop an_d 'rr,r.M pawns. Black hasthe better King, bul the d5 % % betterQuetinside % Dawnis weak anil the a6 pawnpotentially so. His Bishop, % % % tfrouehinferior to White's,has good scopeand the Kingside %% % pawn-formationis healthy. White hassome winning chances, but Black shoulddraw with correctplay. But soon Black goes 1 Kd8 astray: 2 Bb7 Kc7 3 Bxa6 Kcf 4 a4l bxa4 - 5 b5+ Kc7 %%a%% B. Pytel 6 b6+ Kctr t%%%'" Hoidarova 7 Bbs+! Kb7 Diagram24 %t"%,t.fu,,% 4 Huhgary1969 8 Bxa4 vM. % White on TMB%A7ru move White hashis pawnback and the open Queensidewill allow his King to penetrate. Black'sBisho:p must continueits %%% "modest"role.

8 .... Ka6 1 Bhs Bfs+ 9 Kc3 Kb7 2 Ke3 Bd7 10 Kb4 Ka6 3 h4! 94?? 11 Bbs+ Kb7 12 KaS Kb8 A mammothstrategic error. Better is 3"'gxh4 which 13 Ka6 Ka8 exchangesoff a pawn at th"ecost of weakeningthe f4 square.

45 46 However,best is leavingthe Kingsidepawns- llone- and Pl.ay- 18Bfs! BF/ i,in S...gdOl.lf q Be8 Bi8 5 ec6-fOOiand White's.position 19 Bh7 Be8 iii36"i.i, but I don't seewhere he canpene^trate- After the 20 Bg8 Blackresigns 1!*1;Wirlfi'i nirhop becomesvery good and Black'svery.bad. bV ,."ni of by-now-familiartem-po maneuvers, White wins a To protectthe d-pawnwith 20...Bc6means losing the h- pawnand the game. pawnafter 21B,n. - In samecolor Bishop endings, never, neuer,,never voluntai- Diagram 25 showsthe positionfrom V. Smyslov L. there Zurich Candidates1953, after Black's24th move. ly put Wur pcwns on the iame color as pur Bishopunless Szabo, dr-eveiy, very, very good reasons for it. Whitehas the better Bishop,since Black's d- throughh-pawns are on the samecolor as his Bishop. Yet Black has no funda- 4 B196 Kf6 mentalweaknesses and with carefulplay Szaboensures the 5 Bc2 Kes draw: 6 Bd3 Be8 7 BeZ Bd7 Be6 'z '2t,M 8 Bd1! - 9 a4l V. Sm'slov L, 12t%t L. Sza6o Starting to undermine Black's Queenside' If .Pl.ackex- Diagram25 ,/l-, 'r,t,& % Zurich Can- ctranseJ.his"a-pawn will be weak; if he allows White to ft. didates1953 excha"nge,then the b-pawnwill be vulnerable' ft%%/& After Black's % %ft%^4, 24th move 9 .... Bd7 %"% 10 axb5 axb5 11 Be2! 25 Kn Ba6 Black again is in zugzwang.Since Black's King must 26 K8 keephis grounii,a secondweak Kingside pawn gets createcl. FirstWhite centralizeshis King. 11 h5 12ilil Bcf 26 .... h6 13 Bd3 Be8 27 BR f5 t4 Bc2 Bf7 28 erf6+ e.p. ICd6 15Bh7! Be8 29 Kd4 g5! t6 Bd3! Ke6 The weaker side tries to exchangeas many pawnsas t7 Kd4 Kd6 possible. If Black'sKineside pawns would still be on 95 and h6' the positionwould bddrawn. Now it is totally lost' 30 ft95+ hxgs 31 e4

47 48 -

OtherwiseWhite canmake no plogress.If 31 h4 gxh4 Section4: Better PavYns 32 grh4Bb7! followed by 33...e5(+) and Black has no worries. Havingthe superiorpawn formation - or more simply, - 31 .... dxe4 "berterpawns" can mean in a positivesense, having effective 32 l{xe4 Bbs nassedpawn(s) or in a non-negativesense, not beingsaddled irirh weakpawn(s). In this sectionboth of theseimportant And not 32...F,b7+?l 33 Ke3 Bf3?? 34 Kxf3 as the categorieswill be covered. outsidepassed pawn is usuallydecisive in K & P endings' A. PassedPawns 33 h4 g*t4 34 gxh4 a5! As the number of pieceson the board decreases,the relative importance of pawnsincreases. It therefore follows Black alsoaims to exchangeas manyQueenside pawns that in an endgamewhere eachside only has one Bishop,a aspossible. viable passedpawn is a significantfavorable factor. Most import-antly,it may queenbut evenif it doesnot the King 35 Kd4?! usuallymust blockadeit (a blockadingBishop can often be chasedoff by an offer to exchange- see Diagram 29), which with thisand the following move, white underestimates allowsthe opponent'sKing to wreak mqyh.elnon the rest of In orderis 35 a3,to parry the board. Therefore - as will be recalledfrom Chapter 1, Black'spotential for counterplay. - 35...a4?tbv 36 b4. Section3 the key principle in positionswith a pawn advan- tageand pawnson tioth sides,is to createa passeclpawn. The 35 .... a4 four typesof desirablepassed pawns are: 36 b4?! a3! 37 Be4 Be8 1.Outside Passed Pawn 38 Bb1 Bfl 39 Kc3 e5 The outsideoassed Dawrl is alwaw a simificant advan- 40 bi- Bds tagebecause it ties down ihe defendeilfing-or Bishop).far ariayfrom the rest of the board,enabling thE offensiveKing Now Blackhas the betterBishop. Recognizingthis, to penetratethere. In mostcases the outsidepassed pawn is Smplovhurries to forcethe draw. sufTicientto win. The exceptionsoccur when the defensive side'spawns are few, healthyand thereforereadily defensible - - 41 Kb4 e4 asin Smlslov Szabo,Zurich 1953in the previoussection. O l(xa3 e3 A thematicdemonstration of the valueof the outside 4} Bd3 BB - 4 1ft4 e2 passedpawn is shownfrom Diagram26,M. TchigoriJt H. N. 45 Bxe2 Bxe2 Pillsbuiv,London 1899,after White's33rd move. From his 6 a4 Draw Q.ueensidepawn majority Pillsbury createsa passeda-pawn whichties down Wh"ite'sBishop and Black'sKing can then start 47 a5 will exchangeoff Black'slast pawn. botherinsWhite's Dawns: (See"thediagrim at the top of the nextpage)

49 50 1sd exploitWhite's pawn weaknesses. "'e,"e %g'%''&,'%' M. Tchigorin N Bal! %t'%:, - H. Pillsburv 4l Bcl f5 Diagram 26 ;%,",&"t London1899 42 Ba3 Kes! %tr.fu- After White's 43 erfS Krfs %%fr%% 33rdmove 4 Ke3 Ke5 ./f€t"/w% /fut 45 f4+ The threat was45...8d4+ 46KeZKd5 and there is no defenseto that. If 45 f3, then also45...Bd4+ 46KeZ gd3+ 33 .... a5! 47 K{3 Kd5 is sufficient. Ensuringthat after ...a4Black will obtainan outside 45 Kd5 assedba*n. Elack mustnot tarry asotherwise 34 b4l makes 6 t5 Be5! is task-alot moredifficult. 47 Kn Ke4 Whiteresigns 34 KR Ke6 35 Ke3? As a starter he will lose both Bishoppawns. NowWhite is definitelylost, as Black's Bishop will be 2. ProtectedPassed Pawn abletomenace White's Kingside pawns. Mandatory-is 3q.91! .niuiing tttat White'sKings'ide piwns canbe placedon light A protectedpassed pawn is usuallydecisive. Because squares. neitherthe King nor Bishop is requiredto protect it, they havefree handsin trying to penetratethe other side of the 35 .... g4l board. Diagram27 is quite won for White. Black'spawns and Bishoparebasically O.K., but the protectedf-pawn'ties down FixingWhite's pawnson the samecolor as Black's the King so that White gainsentry on the Queenside.With Bishop. tslackto more the play could continue: 36 hxg4 hxg4 '%%% 37 Kd3 a4 38 bxa4 bxa4 t%t"&g%'4 39 Bb4 Be5 tl /l 40 Ba3 Diagram27 Whitewins tl A ', fti, In a senseWhite has a favorable defensiveset-up t%%% becausehis Bishopcan successfullyblockade the pass:gP?g: '%%% Ho*eu.., White is still lost becalsethe absenceof White's biittop atio*r Black'sKing plus Bishopto dominatethe center

51- 52 1 .... Bf8 andthus Black cannotc{ggtg a passedpawn on that side. yet 2 Bcs! Bg7 for winning purposes,White must successfullyanswer the question:llo.* tg progrerss!The dS.pawncan b6 readilycon- All K & P endingsfrom this positionare lost for rbined-andthe chancesfor penetratingthe Kingsideare. poor. Black. Now Whiteprotects his Bishop so that he canplay White'scorrect method is to createunder favbrable crcum- Kd6. snncesconnected passed pawns using a characteristictactical motif: 3 b4! Bf6 4 Kd6 Ke8 / 'g/ 5 Kc7 d5 ./7 A .t', B. Gurgenidze The play after 5...b5 6 a5 d5 7 Kb6 is similar to the tt 2t - A. Zaitsev main line. Diagram28 "'1 fr/ u 1969USSR fr'rft'' t t Championship 6 KxbT d4 A €T Whiteto 7 l{xa6 d3 'f, move 8 Be3 Bc3 , Z, 9b5 d2 10Bxd2 Bxd2 11 b6 Kd7 1 Bd4! l2b7 Kc7 13 Ka7 White wins White first improveshis positionall around:Bishop centralization,King centralization,Kingside pawn structure. 3. ConnectedPassed Pawns In the gameWhite jumped the gun with 1 a5?bxa5 2 Connectedpassed pawns are better than disconnected Bxa5,but after 2...f51White's King wasout of play and passedpawns in Bishop eq9games.Because connected passed Black's a-pawn (lfte outside passed-pawn)gave dufficient pawnssupported Uy tlre Bishop and/or King can be readily counterplayto draw. advanced,they.usually win. For-the defenderto hope tir draw, he must either be able to effect a blockade(verv'diffi- 1 .... Bd8 cult to achieve)or obtain counterplaywith a far'advanced passedpawn. This passiveretreat is forcedsince after 1...Bc5?2Bfzl Blackonly has the choicebefween the lost K & P endgames . . The p.r.opermethod ^of creating connectedpassed pawns after2...Fif2 3 Kylz or after 2...g5 3 Bxc5 bxc5 4 fxgSfxg5 and then utilizing them will be dembnstratedfrom Diasram 5 Ke4. - ?.Q,.B.Gurgenidzf A. Zaitsev, 1969USSR Champion-ship, White on move. Just a quick look is enoughto seettiat White 2 Ke4l Kd7 must be clearly better. His Queensidepawn majority is in the form of a valuableprotected passed pawn. On the oiher hand, Black cannotafford 2...a5?because after 3 c5! bxc5 4 Black'sKingside majority is hampeiedby the doubledpawn Bxc5the a-pawnis vulnerableto White'sBishop and White's

53 54 ,7

King hasaccess to b5. cjefendersufficiently so that he could not protect the rest of lrisProPertY. 3 f5! g5 4. AdvancedPassed Pawn Worseis 3...9d5+4 #5 becausethen Black's h-pawn is unprotectable. The further advanceda passedpawn is, the greater its tbrce. The most importantguideline to rememberin positions 4 a5! * ith passedpawns is: passedpawns must be pushed! A basic 5c5 demdnstratlonof this is shownin Diagram29. Here both sideshave advancedpassed pawns, but White's is further Well supportedby White'spieces, the connectedpassed advancedand he wins easilyafter Bg3 - even if Black is on pawnsmust in-due coursewin. Yet note how White through- move. In normal situations- and unlessthe King can catch but combinesdefense against the a-pawnwith the determina- rhepassed pawn - the followingprinciple applies: when both tion to advancehis passedpawns. side'shave ilassedpawns, the further advancedpassed pawn lvins. 5 .... a4 6 Kd3 Bas 7 Kc4 Bel ry%% 8 Bc3! Bg3 %fr% %@% 9 Bb4! Be5 %'%% 10 Ba3! Kc7 Diagram29 % %'"ru, White wins 11 c6! Bf4 %%%fr% 12 BfB Bc1 % %e%fr 13 BxgT Bbz %%'M% BecauseBlack's King had to watch the passedpawns, White's Bishop was able to penetrateBlack's Kingside. Now White's Kingdoes its job of makingthe forward a-pawn B. Weak Pawns harmless. Weak pawnscan be consideredto be thosewhich are in 14 Kb4! a3 dangerof imminentcapture by the King or Bishop.Yet such 15 Kb3 Kb6 a difinition will not help us in learnlngabout.pawn play 16 BfB Be5 involvinginherentlV inferior pawnStructures. I nereloreIn 17 Bxa3 Kbs thissecti"ionI witl onlVbe coniernedwith the inherentlyweak 18 Be7! a5 isolatedpawn and the inferior doublepawn structure' 19 Brf6! White wins l. IsolatedPawn After 19...a4+ 2OKa2Bf4 21 Bxg5!Bg3 22Bxh4 White has five passedpawns. Also this exampleshowed a Theiso|atedpawnisonewhichhasnopa.wn-ofthe commonoccurrence: the viable passedpawns paralyzed the samecolor on an adjoiningfile. It is weakbecause it doesnot

55 56 - haveanother pawn supportingit and becausethe absenceof ^,..__J,f-:]g:ilqmomenr. We haveatready learned nor to adjoiningpawns makes it more accessibleto the enemyKing. votuntantyput pawnson the colorwhere they can be-ittacked When both sideshave isolated pawns, both haveopportunities pVtne enemyB.iqhop aldLhis^p_os{igl no exception. game $ Abso_ for counterplayand the most likely resultis a draw. If lutely.req.uiredis 2...K.c6! 3-Bg7 Kd7 a Kdaket andar- only one side has isolatedpawn(s), the strongerside hasgood t.hgug!White hasmade progrels, I havenot fou;da win. winning chancesbecause the protectionof isolatedpawns Afteithe straresicblunder'2. ..(4 +??, Blachhas ; ..dd p;;; requiresthe help of either the King or Bishop,and this gives accessibleto white'sBishop ald goesunder. G;i,r" 3 on the the strongerside's King or Bishopthe opportunityto try to lsltsl nighqpl'demonstraledhow whire shourdtrandle this. penetrateon the other side. If this can be done,the game GM Matulovic'sexecution is flawless. generallyis won; otherwiseit is a draw. 3 Kd3 Kc6 This point is well illustratedby the play from Diagram 4 Bg7 Bcs 30, M. Matulovic- M. Cebalo,Yugoslavia 1970, White to move. 5 Bh6! Be3 Black has four isolatedpawns, of which the b- and d-pawns are the most vulnerableones and require continuedattention After 5...8d6?! 6 Kd4 Black is alreadyin zugzwang. by Black'sforces. On the other handWhite's Queenside pawns are perfect and the Kingside pawnssafe from any attack by 6 Bf8! Kbs Black. ThereforeWhite hassome advantage, but to win White 7 Bd6 Kas will haveto penetrateinto Black'sKingside. Can it be done? 8 Be5 Kbs 9 Bd4! Bcl 10 Ba7 Kcf 7////Z rl Bn Bb2 ,% 12 Bel! Kcs % %% Matulovic- 13 c3! %g'N % Cebalo Diagram30 '"m.%%t%t%t Yugoslavia The creationof_an outside passed pawn at this moment % % r970 leadsto a forcedwin of Black'sf-pawn. {%e%t%* Whiteon ,7\ move 13 .... bxc3 %ft% l4 %%.% 14 Bxc3 Ba3 Black has no choice,since the outsidepassed pawn 1 Bd4 Kbs?! createsa won K & P endingafter 14...Bc115 Bd2! gxd2 16 Kxd2Kd4 17 h4l. Black completelymisreads the sceneof action. Correct is 1...Kd7 2 Ke3 Ke6 and it is doubtful whether White can 15 Bd2 Bb2 make any progress. 16 B,fr4 Bf6 l7 Bd2! Kd6 2 Ke3 f4+?? 18 Be3 Kc:6 19 f4

57 58 Passedpawns must be pushed! If white tries 1 Ke4, Bracks_iryrply forces the Kingback with 1...f5+and then reavesthe Kirigiidepawns as is] over_att, 19 .... Be7 Btack'spawns are safe and with T.arofriur;;ilfiir.]Lsition 20 f5 Kd6 is drawn. 2l Bf4+ Kcf 22 BeSl Bc5 23 B(7 Ba3 ,% 24 Kc3 Bd6 '', t 25 Kd4 Ba3 t tAgt), ,1,% .% + 26 Ke3 Bcl* Diagram31 % Draw 27 KB Bd2 * +, %;, tul!t 28 f6 Bc3 // 29 Bh8! €t % *,, The threat of 30 f7! forcesBlack's response. 1z ,

29 BM The otherside of the coin is illustratedin Diaeram 32. 30 Kf4! Bd6+ Againwhite's Kingsidemajority is staticand inciiable 31 KI5 Blackresigns of cratinga passedpawn. on tfie otherhand, gtait<'s e[iensioe malontyis a normalone andwith 1...b5!Black ireates a After 31...Kd7 32897 White'sf-pawn is readyto roll; vlablepassed pawn and thereby good winning chances. 31...d4 32Ke4 is the end of Black'scounterplay 2. Doubled Pawns i,'tz . iZ t Good Except for the caseof isolateddoubled pawns,double I rAs % winning pawnsas part of a pawn structure are not inherentlyweak Diagram32 t chancesfor defensively. Rather, the problem with double pawnsis their ftl fr tt % Black lack of ofiensive punchi It is difficult to crdate a passed * pawnfrom a pawn majoritycontaining a doublepawn. Even &ft., then a dynamic(non-symmetrical) formation is iequired. If A: the double pawn is part of a syrnmetricalformation,-then it is impossibleto create by force a passedpawn just from pawn play alone. We saw alreadyin Diagram 28 how Black'spawn Section5. SmatlAdvantages in BishopEndgames majorityon the Kingsidewas made impotent by the presence of ilou6le pawns. Two additional eiamples"ares^hown in The singlemost characteristicfeature of the contempo- Diagrams31 and 32. rary tournamentscene is the needto win the gamethat you are.playing.This is equallytrue both for the grandmasrer In Diagram31 White'sextra pawn is of very limited and the amateur. Obviouslywhen you are playinga match value sincehd cannotforce a passedpawn on the l(ingside. for the Wortd Championship(a;d dlsoof cciurietle earlier

59 60 Candidatesmatches) the stakesare high. Yet the adventof able. Therefore,obviously there can be no talk that the sFtgm tournamentswhere first place"is the_Swiss "nothing" everything" rrawnis a significantweakness. Black's isolated d-pawn is t and lowerprizes hasplaced a hugepremium on iheadvantage thatWhite ftas. When I analyzedthis endgame winning.This is true for the GM ("Open")Group and also for rJepthshortly after it wasplayed, I referredto Diagram33 the lowergroups. This is particularlyso for the tournaments ;r "deaddraw". But now - older andwiser - I know better. in the United States. the first place,if a very stronginternational master can lo "dead There "almost "lots', it, how can it be a draw"? are three importa To win all" gamesor at the veryleast of reasonswhy White not only shouldplay it out but is-entitl, games,a certainamount of risk taking is reqiired. yet this to do that:(1) White hasno riskof losing,(2) Blackwill al must be at a measuredlevel, since foblish risks iust lead to haveto move and can make error(s),and (3) becauseBla, losses. Therefore, more and more, experiencedblavers'advantagesare will alwayshave to spendsome energy in guardingthe turningto the technique^oftrying to exploitsmall pawn,this could give White somechances of openingup al into a win. The risk of losingsuch tindgames is slim; ihe infiltratinginto the Kingside.Much to gain,nothing to lo prosp€ctsof a win can be br-ightif yofhave the needed is the situationfor White. White doeswin, asfollows: knowledgeand determination-.A "[ongtime" aso it was thoughtpoor manners "dead to keepplaying ouisuperioriyet theo- retically drawn"endgamei. Yo[ weresupposeo to trust %A%%1'fu,t"ru, your opponent'sability_ to alwaysdefend coriectly. Such ,'"ru,%%t % W. Browne times are long past and the practiial tournamentprav6r better J. Grefe be awareof that. You nust-want to play out your slishtly*pr- Diagram33 1975USA ior endgameswith greatenthusiasm ahd deteniinatioi: v6u^utt , %t'% % Championsl be ready to defend slightly infertor endgameswith greatcare %7M%' After Black and patience.The worstthing that you can do in a-ninferior fr%A% % 22nd move i?{gi3: ,1.^lgq:,-uP^l:l lt,your oppongnt fo^r playing it our. ft/ z ftt Inrs wllt lead to nothtng.bg!a loweringof yourguard in tryingto scorethe valuablehalf point. 23 Kfl To discussthis importantsubject I haveselected two endgames:one where the ilefenderis iarelessand rosesdeserv- Centralizingthe King is a logicalfirst step. Black h edly and the other wherethe defenseis up to the iob. I alreadyaccomplished this. decidedto usesame color Bishopendgames bbcause th"e diffi- culty of correctlyplaying such endgailes is often underrated 23 .... Bd7 Dyress expenenced players. 24 a3!

Our first startingpoint is Diagram33, W. Browne- J. At our startingpoint Black hasthe temporarilys-t1p,.e Gr_efe,1975 USA Cham-pionship, Wh after"Black's'22ndmove. The or QueensG ["*n fSrination. With the perceftivetext only significantpermanbnt iterir is that Black'so-pawn ian be ensiresthat tliis situationcan not be mabepe'rmanent. Aft Bishop,whereas White's d-irawn is safe g 24...b5,fol lowedby 'M, there trom|jl1.k5g QV.{!iqe's i...Pidl, lact< threitened T tslack'sBishop. _yefwhite can only attackBlack's d- il;;i"i in"t t iJ Or.iniioe pawns-willalwa* be on theda pawnby the Bishop,whereas Black hastio defe;d;rs avail- rq"ii*lwriittr diGh;;il"?*. Ao*eu.., arter24 a3!, wh

61 62 is able - at his convenience- to continuewith b4, thus also 31 h3 Bd7 placingboth of his pawnson the dark squares. 32 KR KA 33 Ks3 l<97 24 .... Kf6 34 Bhs Bc6 E Ke2 Ke7 35 h4! 26 Ke3 b5?? White tries to loosenBlack's Kingside pawn formation This major strategicblunder does not yet losethe game in the hope_of cre.ating.aninvas.ion route for his King. but is as wrong as can be: Black needlesslyputs anotherpawn llandicappedas he is by his wlnerable b- and d-pawns,Black on a light squarewhere it canbe attackedby White'sBiihop. - rnustdefend very accuratelyand purposefullyto preventthis. But how can an experiencedIM commit suchan error? I \'et he neverseems to fully graspthe seriousnessof his condi- think that the explanationinvolves letting down one'sguard. tion. "dead The position appears drawn" and the text helps to 35 .... Bd7 blockadethe Queenside.Yet the damagedone is permanent. 36 BB Be6 37 Be2 Bd7 26 b4t 38 Bhs! Using the characteristicBishop tempo maneuvers, The refutationof Black'slast moveand the point of "lose White's 24th. Black might aswell capture,as after 27...a4?lthe rvherebythe Bishopcan a move",White hasbrought a-pawncould go lost in casethe b-pawnis gone. aboutthe sameposition as after Black's35th move,but with Black on move now. Yet havingto move is unpleasantfor 27 axb4 Black. For instance,his Bishophas no good moves:38...Be6? 28 axb4 g5 39 Be8 wins the b-pawnor 38...Bc6?allows 39 Bg4! followed 29 t4t by Bc8and Kg4 (similarto the actualgame).

White now hasthe obviouslysuperior Bishop, but Black 38 .... KI8?? can just prevent damagefrom that source. So Wtrite must try to get his King into Black'scamp. There are no routesopen Sincethe Bishopcan't move,Black movesthe King. In on the Queenside,so White'sKing will haveto headfor-the critical positionsa lot-moreperceptivness is required. After Kingsideto look for chancesthere. 'fhethe text White's King has a iree ioad into Black'sKingside' only correctdefense is 38...gxh4+! 39 I&h4 f5!, aspointed 29 .... t6 out by GM Robert Byrne. Wh-ite'sKing then hasno infiltration route and Black'JBishop can just pr-otecthis pawns.A 94 Black wantsto be in the positionthat after a fxg5 he breakby White is neverfea'sible is after ...fxg4the net result can recapturewith the f-pawnand keep a symmetricalpawn would 6e that Black's h-pawnbecomes an-outside passed formation. If Black would recapturewith the h-pawn,-then pawn. White has excellentchances for creatinga viable outside passedh-pawn by g3 and h4. 39 hxgs!

30 896 Bg4 Justat the right momentwhen Black's King is away

53 64 from his g-pawn. rruwfland it is not clearwhat White can achieveon the King- iiA.. Wtlite'sadvantage, of course,is hugeand yet the win is 39 .... hxg5 tot 1007ocertain. After the text move,it is. 40 ft95 ft95 41 BB 45 Bg4!

Moreaccurate is 41Bg4! (seemove 45). Finallythe right idea. Becausethe exchangeof Bish- opsis not feaiible, BTack'sBishop must allow White-'sto pene- 4t .... Be6 trate. 42 Be2 Bd7? 45 .... Bcf The only chanceis 42...Ke7! (See note after Black's 45 Bc8! Kg7 44th). 47 Kg4 Kg6 a8 93! 4} BB PuttingBlack in zugrwang.If now48...Be8 White can Again correctis 43 Bg4!. Whitewanted to playthe text rrina pawn6v a9 Bb7,e.[. 49..-sal+ 50 Kf3 Be6 51 Bc6. movequickly, so as to forceBlack to sealthenext move. However,most likely strdnger is - similarto the game- 49 Bf5+!Kf6 (49...Kh6-50se6Bc6 50Kf5) 50 Bdt! Bd7+51 € .... Kh5. 4 BeZ 48 Kf6 ",%, 49 Khs! Be8+ , &), 50 Kh6 t%%% W. Browne - %'%a%'' J. Grefe White's penetrationroute is unusualbut effective. Diagram34 ?t%t% ,, 1975U.S. Thanksto rugziang, White's King getsfurther and further in. ,&;,ft%% Champion- %"%%w ship 50 .... Bc6 % %A%fr'% After 44B,e2 51 Kh7 Be8 %%%% 52 Bg4l Enablingthe King to reachg8, since 52,.8n fails to 53 Bd7and 52...Knto 53 Bh5+. Black's,,.r1-""" "r,., "ollL?nmentleads to a defi- 52 .... 896+ nite losssince there is now no way to preventWhite's King 53 Kg8 Bf5 from penetrating^pl-ack'sKingside. A full night of analpis 54 BeZ Bd7 had convincedGM Browne that Black'sonlv chanceis 55 Kf8! 94 44...Ke7145 Bxb5 Kd6!. Black'sKing can then stop the b- Obviouslyundesirable, but no desirablemoves exist,

65 66 e.g.55...Bc656 Bg4!Bb7 57 Ke8,etc. - Orrrsrarting point !s p^iggrlm36,3. {"rpgy G. Kasparov, world Championship1985, Game 20, aftei Black's46th move. 56 Bfl! .T-hcchess enthusiast who yearnsfor the romanticera is no dogbt-disappointed that suchpositions exist and are played Preparingthe final plan for z\grwang. our. Yet this is verymuch part of the breadand buttei of iontemPorarY tournament chess. 56 .... Bc6 57 Bg,2! Bb7 '%,, A. Karpov- After 57...Ke6,White gets to Black'sg-pawn starting %t'U G. Kasbarov with 58 Kg7l. .M.tag'% i 1985World Diagram36 % %t Championship 58 Ke8 Ke6 %'w,% % Game20 59 Kd8! Kd6 After Black's 60 Bfl! Bc6 itu%%/tuft 46th move 61 Bd3! Black resigns /& %Artu,% %%%

% w,'T,% White must play out this positionbecause he hastwo %%"%%"'z W. Browne - clearadvantages: (1) the better King, sinceby being on the %a9,.% J. Grefe fourthrank it relegatesBlack's King to the third rank, and Diagram35 itt 1975U.S. (2) the superiorBishop because it canmenace Black's Kingside ft fr t; Championship pawns. The abovefactors are not enoughto win, but more /& After 61 Bd3! than enoughto attempt to do so. Kasparov'squalitative '%%A'% T, evaluationof the situationis perfect:"The endingis unpleas- %,% , ant,but it is tenable,a storeof patiencebeing all that is % required." Therefore,Black clearlyhas the proper attitude, and"all" that is requiredis to find the proper moves- some- The end of this most classicalendgame deserves a thingwhich requireseternal vigilance. diagram. Though at this moment materiafis still even,be- gqus_eof zugrwangBlack will now start losinghis pawns:(1) 47 Bc4 Be8 61...Ke662 Kc7 followedby 63 Kb6, (2) 61.:.8d7'62 Be2n, 48 h4 f6 givingBlack a Hobson'striple choice:lose the b-pawn,lose the g-pawnor lose the K & P endgameafrer 62...Kc663 Bxb5+ Both necessaryand good: Black safeguardsthe impor- Kxb5 64Y\xd7Kxb4 65 Kd6 Kc4 66 Ke5. tant e5 square,enablix a pdtential ...g5adva-nce, while__remov- ing one of tne Kingside^pawnsfroir the vision of White's Now let us turn to an exampleof perfect defense Biihop. againstthe then reigningWorld Champion,i patientmaneu- 49 Bg8! verer who continuouslytests his oppbnent's-skill.Yet the Champion-to-beshows-why he des6rvesto wear his mantle. Already forcingBlack to start seriousthinking' The

67 68 7

attemptto activatethe Bishopwith 49...Bd7?50 Bf7 Bf5 leaCs Lessflexible is 59 f4 sinceafter 59...Bf7 60 Bdi Beg tg plgbpqsglter.s! R!:_(1) !!..Ke7 52Bds Kd6 53Be4, oi rrl f5 Black has 61...g5,and with the improvementof his (z),lt...pc]-s?g4.Ke7 53 Bds Bdl 54Be4 f5 (or54...Kfi'55 lingside pxw.nformation, Black has appioximateequality gxh5gxh5 .56 Kd5) 55 gxf5 gxf5 56Bxf5 Bxf3 57 Ke5- ii it.utpou + Zaitsev)- eachcae with a substantialadvantage for White (analpisby GM YuriAverbach) 59 .... hxg4 60 Bxg4 49 .... Kc6! 50 Ba2 Kd6 Here againis anothermoment of truth for Black and 51 Bds Ke7 Kasparovtook 30 minutesfor his move,before correctly 52 Bg8 Kd6 deciitingthat keepingthe statusquo is the right defense. 53 Bb3! A Wlite, with his apparentlyaimless Bishop 'Formaneuvers, "t4,%%% A. Karpov - kee.psgiving Black the-op-p^ortuniiy to go wrong. instance, G. Kasparov a blunder now is 53...Kc6??becau-se after 54 g-a++b5 55 Bci i g rr 1985World Black'sb5 pawn is a new fundamentalweakness. Diagram37 P,'%'%% Championship Game20 53 .... Ke7 €A After 54 Bdl Kd6 &%%% 60 Bxg4 55 Be2 Bd7 ,&%"/M% 56 Bd3 Be8! %% 57 Bc4 Ke7 58 Be2 The active 60...95? 61 h5 f5 is refuted by 62 h6l B.96 63 Bhs! Bh7 64 Kc4!. Xasparov is satisfiedto end the analy- Becauseof Black's steadfastdefense, it has become sis here with "White musf win". Karpov + Zaitsevtake it clear to white that the valueof Bishopmaneuvers has been further: 64...94(The passive64...Kc6 65 BeS+ Kd6 66 Kb5 exhausted. Thereforg, it-is tim-eto prepare a pawn advance. Kc7 leads to-zuirwaris and trouble after 67 Ka6 94 68 Bh5! The-place.to d9 this is where the otriponenthab weaknesses - Kc6 69 b4 axb{ 70 alb4 Kc7 71 b5.) 65 Kb5 Ke5 (65...Kc7 the K.ingside.Less obvious is howio do it. Kasparovpoints 66 Ka6! will transposeinto the aboveline.) out !0__ne!t-(p.l3c!-ge^tl that a routine paw.l advan_ceby 58 f3 Kd6 59 94 is strongcounterpliLy after 66 Kxb6?!Kf4 67 K*u{ Kf3)-66...f4 191!i"g !ec.au1e.of.59-.95!, with the.reiulting pawn exchinges (Nor,rithereis no fime for 66...Ke4?! 67 Bc6+ ! Kd3 68 Kxb6 berngonly in Black'sfavor. He pointsourTdrther that even and White will come first) 67 Bc6 93 68 fxg3 f-gl -9.9Kxb6 delayingthe f3, 94 advanceuntil white's Kins is on f4 and Be4 60 Bxe4Kxe4 7lh7'g2 72 h8-=Qgl:Q+ 73 Kb5! and on d3 will Hfrrqp ".2' also not"3'lg5 be sufficient to winiecause after thereis no reasonwhv ultir[atelv White shouldn't win' "1_g,1jlg1 f"g4ryfl Ke7there is no apparenrway Ior whtte to improvehis position. 60 .... BfTl 6l f4 58 .... white now threatens62 f5!, creatinga winningoutside 59 94

70 69 passedpawn, thus forcing Black'sresponse. White could have l)awnretain control of b4 or c5? fried first a few more BiJhopmaneuvers with, e.g.6l Be2 Bd5 62 Bd3 Bt7 63 Bc4 Be8, yet ultimately 64 f4 needsto be 68 .... Ke7! plavedand after 64...f51wewould have the samepawn forma- tioir as in the game. White can improvehis King position The key againis that White cannotput Black into after 65 Bg8! Ke7 (forced) 66 Kd5 or 66 Ke5, but Black's lugzwangby force on the Kingsideand the-reforeBlack's hold. Still this approachseems position is stableenough to to Kingwill Qgqble.to hold.his gror.rnd on d6 and therebypro- give White better practicalchances than the gamecontinua- iect c5 sufficiently.Losing is 68...axb4+?69 Kxb4 srnce tion. White'sKing can then infiltrate as follows:69...Kc6 70 Be8+ Kcz 71Kc4! Kd6 72Kb5Kc7 73Ka6Be2+ 74Ka7 Bh5 75 6l .... f5! tlfT Kc6 76 Kb8! (Kasparov). Notice how similar this win- 62 Bdl Bd5 ningmaneuver is to that of the previousgame. There White 63 Ba4 BR! wonby gettinghis King to g8 via the Kingside;here to b8 via theQueenside. Black wants to keep his Bishop active, becauseafter 63...8f7 64 Bb5! he would be forced to play 64...Ke7and 69 Bc4 Kd6! acquiesceto the passiveposition discussed after White's61st 70 bxaS bxa5 move. 7t Kd4 BR

After the text it is worthwhileto examinewhat White's Now, in Kasparov'swords, Black's Bishop is "evicted" pawn advanceshave led to. Both of Black'sKingside pawns fromthe d1-h5diagonal. He considers71...Bd7 72BflBB! as are vulnerableto White's Bishop,with the g-pawnbeing the mostaccurate move order. fundamentallyweak. Yet White also has absorbedsome demerits:one pawn has been exchangedoff, White'ssplit 72 Bfl Bd5 pawnsare vulnerableto an incursionby Black'sKing and, most importantly,White hasa h-pawn- the RP which is the The Bishop must head back as after 72...B,94?73 Kc4l wrongcolor for his Bishop! Kc6 74 Bg2+ Kb6 75 Bd5 White'sKing will penetratedeci- sivelyinto Black'sKingside. 64 Bb3 Be2 65 Bf7 Bh5 73 Be2 Bb7 66 Kc4l Be2+ 74 Bdt Bds 67 Kc3 Bh5 75 Ke3!? 68 b4 (SeeDiagram 38 on the followingpage) Black can never be put into zugzwangon the Kingside becausea 68 Be8 is alwaysanswered by 68...Ke7with an A surprising,creative move. White wantsto attackthe attack on the Bishop. Therefore,White must now try to 96 pawnwith a B!8 or Bf7 without allowingBlack's ...Bh5 progresson the Queenside.The text doeshave the disadvan- tlefense.Bv guardingthe f3 square,White's King prevents tagdof causinga Queensidepawn to be exchangedoff, yet it lllack'sBisfiob from iettins to li5. Of course,the text allows againforces Black to makethe correctchoice. Should Black's Black'sKing to be aciivatedand this factor will be enoughto

7I 72 obtain a draw. 79 Bbs Kds! 80 Kd3 Kc5 - 81 Kc3 Kd6! A. Karpov 82 Kd4 '24,7KG. Kasilarov Bb3! 1985World - - Diagram38 White'sa-pawnis worth for Black both of his t2 %A%t%A t, Championship pawns.In a momentwe'll whv. ft& Game20 Kingside see After 75 rg Ke3 83 Be8 Ke7 u Bxg6 Bxa4 85 Blds Kf6 Draw! 75 .... Kc5 76 Ba4 Bf7 BecauseWhite's h-pawn is the wrong color for his 77 Bd7 [3ishop,Black has a sure draw if he sacrificeshis Bishopfor the f-pawnand his King can reachh8. It is not that difficult Whitecannor put Blackin to realizethat Black can achievethis. Kasparovgives the zuszwans,bv77 Kd3!?Bc4+ followinginstructive variation: 86 Bd3 Be8 87 Kc5 a4 88 78 Kdz Bf7? 79 Kc3,_becaueBlack-has t-hebetter 7g...Kd4!, taki n g^adupg}age^ Kb4 Ke6 89 Bc2 Kf6! 90 Bxa4 Kf5! 91 Bxe8 Krd4 92 Bd7 gf_Wlr i_te's sp I it pawnsto reach equal ity Ke5 followedby...Kf6, Kg7,Kh8. after79 Be8 Ke4 80Bxg6 Krf4 8t n5fg5 (Averbach). 77 .... 78 a4

Unavoidable,but with the disadvantagethat the pawn now is on the samecolor as Black'sBishop.-yet Karpciv,by playinga4 immediately,again forcesKasiarov to be on'hii toes. The active 78...Kb4-?loses after 79 Kd4 Bb3 g0 Beg Bxa4 81 Bxg6,e.g.81...BcZ 82 Be8!a4 83 Bxa4Bxa4 g4 h5 PSA__AS^ItQ896 QbKe5 Kc5 8T Kf6 (Averbach). The active 78.-.Kc3?loses after 79 Bbs! whenBiack has nothins better than enteringthe aboveline with 79...Kb480 Kd4 8b3." 78 .... Kes!

Kasparov'sperceptive solution: the King will be used lq prev.en^tthe.queenilg of White'sKingside pd-wns while the Bishop'sfunction will be to obtaincounlerpldy against the a4 pawn.

74 73 ,,ndthese can create an attack,then the defender'sjob is Part II ,,iuchmore difficult, becausethere is nothingthat he can put ,ip to n.utralize the strengthof the enemyBishop. OppositeColor Bishop Endgames Often in such positions,the most effective method of increasingone's advantageis to exchangeQueen's so that the chapter3: characteristicsof oppositecolor Bishoppositions ,jefender-'sbest piece'can ii removed from the board and the ,'irackineBishop do its iob with little inteference.This is play from Dlqgram39, J. Sp€man - J' As soonas there^are opposite coror Bishops on the ri.tt ittuitrated'inthe board,alwap be awareof thefcitibwing t*o priniipi.5," t'..tosueiras,Barcelona Woitd Cup 1989,after Black's21st move. Wtrlt.'r R6oks doubled on the 7th rank are a fantasticpower, gtack's is doing double duty as both an (1) If trtouaye QowT materiar, took for drawingchances in a pure ,ef active Queen oppositecolor Bishop endgame. httacker and defender. Therefore: mostuniqye ^^,^- J::9lblf_rhe gndgaTg-isthe pure opposite -T "Etgz J. Speelman- c.o.rol.tsishop one. Here eachof thE Bishopsdoes "tiii o*n 'N "r,rt. thing",comfletely oblivious %t",,ru J. Nogueiras of the e*ist.niJ6i tn. otn.r one. Barcelona In.alto:fer endgame,sthe piece(s)can and do attackeach t %%%t orner. r nestrategy of exchanging Diagram39 World Cup is oftenthe keyconcept in % %t%A.1,&,rrr,r&" 1989 playingto.win suptrior endgailrei. euiiuc-h miii.iJ6..or. %'g , rrrerevantl.n pure opposite color Bishop After Black's endgames.Therefore %'r,&% %w% 21stmove Lt:qj:t]ylrl_y:ry muchincreases in importance.However, + % /M,frt, :l:t3p:r,t?1.:,9f faving an.activeKiirg is gene.aity*iii '% recognrzedrn ail endgames.The concept that is sospeiial in % #, lppositecolor.Bishof endgames is that'ort[i elbtkADe. Becausethere is no riay ro"chaseawa.y t[e. pirfitbi;fferi"g 22 Qc3!! Qxc3 an,elghqnge, blockades-in opposite colbr gisnot i;d;ai,o "r. Forcedsince 22..-Qdl +?? 23 Rel d4 droPsthe Queen :?i1rlt:'I::1y lo achieveand very difficutt to bre-ak.Very orren,aone. pawn advantage is insufficientto win: oftefi after24 Qc4+. enougnIo gry^gcomtbrt to the defender,a two pawnadvan_ tageis insufficient;and periodically'even;ih;;. 23 bxc3 Rae8 advantage pawn Kh8 is nor elgugf. Ttreieaion'.1*.y, -*- I i't.-J"r., u 7!W+ blockadewhich can't be"broten. z5 h3! the n?ajo:.pieces(euegn Of course,White's immediateneed is-to prevent 9)_W.:tn qnd/oqRgok(s))on' the-"- board, played25 h4?l and won oppositecolor Bishops favor theside with the oitiit . back rank mate. f n i'tti-g"*. W1tit. 25 afrerpoor oerense'uy'bi;'il.- tig;;"'%'much strongeris However. ttli"Jt.iottenoti6v cM spititun afterthe gamg'' white's there.is a paradoxregarding the valueof is noiparticipating opposite cof Bi!["p;l; Rooksstand f.nt"lJilif iV, ir"i ttiJnitnop tnereIl"i-':g^ -tl. qr an"in fe.i8r'po,ition. rf theBishop to d4'then the aremajor pieces (eueen andTor R;kciiof i[.'uo.to, in theattack. If wilil'A;ld'g;i

76 75

L- for Black would be immediate. ThereforeWhite needs end a fr)ping' with White'sBishop! route for the Bishopfrom 95 to d4. That route is Bh4-f2-d4 Still, most of the examplesof the advantageof the and thereforethe Bishopneeds access to both the h4 and f2 rrr:positecolor Bishopin the an'ackoccur with Quee"nson the squares. t,bhrd.Witness the playfrom Diagram40, E. Mednis- J. Gore, N{arshallChess Club Championship,New York 1955,after A likelycontinuation now would be: Black's39th move. At first glanceit may appearthat Black lrasa strong attack,yet the truth is otherwise. Black'sBishop 25 .... 8g6 is both irrelevant for an attack againstWhite's King and irnpotentas a defenderof the dark-squaresaround his own After 25...f3,simplest is 26 gxf3followed by Be3; after h ing. White wonquickly as follows: 25...b5,decisive is 26 Bf4 followedby Be3. 26 B! '%A% % %t E. Mednis- If 26...Rg8,27RyhT + ! BxhT 28 Bf6+ Rg7 29 BxgT+ rtr J. Gore Kg8 30 Bd4 is killing. Diagram40 rg ft, New York t 1955 27 P,g:dT tr t After Black's + Zl n 't\1, . 39th move The immediate27 Bh4 can be met by 27...Rc8;now I-LJ*E\ 27...Rc8?is refutedby 28 Bf6+!

27 .... Rel+ 40 Kg3 Qe4 41 Kh4! Qe7 After 27...Rf5,White plays 28 Bh4 and 29 BfZ; after 27...K98,28Rxds is goodenough. Black has no viable plan for either defendingthe chronicdark squareweaknesses around his King nor for 28 l

d6 44 31 Bd4 R&6 gxf6wins. After 42...8e4White wins a secondpawn with 43 32 Rg7+ Kf8 R.xa6while retainingall his attackingchances. 33 Bcs+ Ke8 34 Rg8 mate 43 Qd6 Qds 4 QcTl Rd8 Pleaserecall how irrelevantBlack's Bishop was in 45 96l
77 78 The start of the decisiveattack. Notice how the rock- like positionof White's Bishopon d2 both blockadedthe d- Chapter4: Material Advantage-- Normal positions pawri,prevented checks on e1, while still being readyto jump into the attackat a moment'snotice. Section1: One PawnAdvantage
A onepawn advantage,without other significant advan- fr&,* Pfl3 tages,is insufficientto win. This is the principlewhich sets pure oppositecolor Bishop endgameapait from After 46...Kg7,simplestis47 rhE "good all the Qe5. eithers.In other endgames,a extra pawn" is sufficient. us return for a momentto Diagram 12. This f7 Rf8+ Blackresigns [-et was a the- maticroutine win. Yet, if we changethe color of Black's Bishopto get Diagram 41, the positionthen is a certaindraw. A likely continuationwould be:
"h, % %{T t%a% '% Diagram41 /2, Draw '% z "% "ry %n t/& "',,e/efr"'% %%%w 1 Bc3 t6 2 B KT7 3 Kn Ke6 4 Ke3 Kds 5 Bb4 96 6 Bf8 h5 7 Be7 f5 8 Bd8 Bbs 9 h4 Bfl 1093 Bbs 11b3 Ke5 t2 Bc7* Kds 13Kf4 Ke6 l4 Kgs Kfl Draw
79 80 ClearlyWhite cannothope to progres.s.Even.if Black 'ry,%E% %@.z misolavsDiaeram 41 from the starf an-dallows White the % %t/fr,t ictiie King an-da passedpawn on the Queenside,ch{tces are "ry,'%t%%%% R. Fischer- itiat ttre p5sition is still drawn. Let us now look at Diagram %8% H. J. Donner +2. wttite on move wins with 1 Kc6! followed by the advance Diagram43 '&%tfl%% SantaMonica of the b-pawn. But Black on movecan still draw: %A% ,& 1966after t,'H t ft White's3fth %%"o%, %'%,% tt % White on % %wtrj w%g %t% movewins Diagram 42 ,fr'%,%t%t Black on 30 .... kc2! '/,& l.&, movedraws 31 B)ds Rc1 %'%",.,WA 32 Qxcl Bxcl , % /M 33 Kfl %%%'% % If 33 d5, 33...8a3stops the pawn 1 .... 34 .... h6 2 Kcs 35 Ke2 Kf8 Draw Or 2 Ka5 Bd3 3 b6 Be4 4 Ka6 Kc8 5 Kb5 Kd7 5 Kc5Ke6, etc. Even as great a fighter as Fischer decided that there wasnothing better than to offer a draw. Black readily stops t Be4 the d-pawn and White has no hope for progressanywhere else 3b6 Bb7 either. 4 Bel Ke6 5 Bf2 Kd7 The play from Diagram 44 (on the next page),A. 6 Kd4 Ke6 Matanovic- M. Udovic, Zagreb 1965,after Black's34th move, Draw showsthat the extra pawn in the form of a far advanced protectedpassed pawn also may be insufficientto win. White's King cannotget into the Kingsideand the b- White'sextia pawn'isthe c-pawnand Blackis readyto para- pawnremains securelY blockaded. Itzethat with 1...Bb4.Therefore, White tries: Now let us take a quick look at some examplesfrom 35 c5! tournamentplay which fuither prove the correctnessof the oiinciotestaied'at tne Ueeinningof this section. Diagram43 If now 35...dxc5?,then 36 d6 and 37 Kd5; White'sKing I- i{. iifriilj. ft. DonnEr,San"ta Monica 1966,after-White's then is well placed,whereas Black's King is cut off from the 3fth move(30 Bc4-d3). The Dutgh GM jumpsat the chanceto _tl-pawn.Thus White hasreasonable winning chances. Black establisha ilrawn oppositecolor Bishopendgame. lltereforebases his defense on the principleof blockade.
82 8t_ "ry. '4. '% "%% '/z& % %9"4r, '%% //t % M %t.&,t "& A. Matanovic - % 2t'22t% - r%t%tt % % E. Mednis %A%frt2,'%ft%e%, 7t M. Udovic %%'%% F. Damm Diagram44 % Zagreb 7965 Diagram45 Lugano1978 '/Z ''&. After Black's rt '%t% After Black's %"'ry, N 34th move % 7.&, 26th move 7t'',2 % '% I t: h. 7t 35 .... Ke7! Obviously forced, but now White's chancesfor the only - 16 6 Bas thematicbreak on the Queenside- b5 havevanished. 37 Be2 Bb6 38 Bg4 Kf6 28 Bd3 3e #6 h6 29 Ke3 Bfl 30 93 Kt8 As a precautionBlack removesthe h-pawnfrom the 31 Kd4 Ke7 color of White'sBishop. 32 Kcs Kd7 33 Bd6 96 ,m Kff Bc7 34 Be5 Be2 4l Kc4 Ke7 35 f4 h5 36 BE Bfl When White's King movesto the Queenside,so does 37 Bh6 Be2 Black's. 38 Bg5 Bfl 39 f5!? 42 Kbs Kd8 Draw Hooins for 39...exf5?!when Black'ssplit Kingside pawnscouid g-iveWhite'I tcing somesmall chancesof success After 43 Ka6 Bb8 44 Kb7 Bc7 there is no way for there. Black'sresponse ends those dreams. White to break the blockade. 39 Bd3! The kind of frustrationsthe side up a pawn can feel 4 ft96 ft96 are well exemplifiedfrom Diagram45 (on'the'nextpage), E. 4l Kd4 Bfl Mednis - F. Damm, Lugano 1987,after Black's26th move. 42 Ke5 Bd3 White hassix normal pawnsand a samecolor Bishopendgame 43 Be3 Bfl would be a routine win. Yet here there are no reasonable 4 Bcs Bd3 winningchances, no matterhow hard White tries. 45 Kf6 8f5 4 Be3 Bd3 27 Kn Bc2! 47 c4 8f5! Draw 28 a5
84 83 7
49 Bcl Bdl drawnl!;:3#.il:'i:i'#3l"'131,,fl;;i,f;:i,:r'"y,-r:R,._?,i. of makingany further ryinningitptq. rt i" i;i;;1'17 The crux of Black'sdefense was the last two moves. realize how handicappedWhit6 was by his "do nottrT,;oppo_ \&hite'splan wasBe3, followed by Kb4-a5,followed by b4, b5. sitecolor Bishop. 50 Be3 Kcf t,, 51 Kc4 Be2+! gr 52 Kb4 Bdl! D. Barlov- 53 Ka3 ti:/ E. Mednis Diagram46 A i,z Graz1987 There is no time for 53 Ka5 becauseBlack's Bishop fttft After White's capturesboth QueensidePawns. 4fth move tAA /&: lftz 53 Kd5 t z 54 ;; Be2 Draw
Black alsohas eyery right to expect_to.draw White has been convincedthat there is no way to - Diagram Black sets up 46,D.Barlov E. Mednis,Gr# 1gg7,a{tii Wt it.', iott move, Drogress.After the obvious55 b5 axb5 56 a5, thoughsome more care is n..."ry than il1h.;;;vious hn unbreakableblockade with 56...b4+!!57lkb4 Ba6. example: All the previousexamples have shownhow difficult it 40 .... Ke6 mustbe to winwith a one pawnadvantage. To be successful 4r Kd2 Bc4 there truly must be significantpositionll.advantages. The 42 Ke3 Bfl! kind of positionthat can be won is shownin_Diag^ram 47'B- Larsen-^ R. Hubner, LeningradInterzonal 1973,after Black's 43rd The characteristicsare: A key part of Black'sdefense: by closinsoff the move. Kings-id.e,Btack onty has to o.ryiilil.Jp;;\ifi?.",s King out of the Queensid-e. '% - 43h4 %a%@'% B. Larsen h5! R. Hubner u Kd2 Kd5 %'%"%tw %t Diagram47 %'ry Leningrad 45 b3 Bd3 (i^) 46 a4 1973 Bfl %tt%,"/& % After Black's % %ft% 43rdmove . Black'sposition seems rock sorid,but white finds a ft%%%t nrcemaneuver to untanglehis pieces. 47 Bbz! Bd3 pawn' which is 48 Kc3! Bezl On the Queensideeach has a passed
86 85 blockadedby the Bishop. White hasthe 3{v.an1ag9.ofhSviltg lllwn. Howeve_r,.White'sBishop is the |fiili" ourisidepassed'pawn. 49 IGCS c3! rone .oior for ihe a-plwn and thus White must be careful the Bishop + a-pawncombination ;ii;-fi. ir-nor left with Black resignedafter 49 Kf5. The text is King canget to the queeningsquare' In the same hen Black's glack'sbest t"rysince otherwiseWhite playsKg5 and Kxhs is uP three -- White hasthe activeKing. lrnd PassedPawns. 50 Bxc3 -- Black's g-pawnis a fundamentalweakness' 51 93 potential break with this. White has the h5 Plqn ga??hxga with a draw asdiscussed in fbllowed by Kg5 and Kxh.S'.Black's Of coursenot 51 after ...ehS'Kxf5, to Black's48th move. giihop 5n d7 preventsthis plan,-bufcan be pulted awayby thenote the acivanceof the a-Pawn- 51 .... Be2 up to a win becausewhite will win a 52 t4 Ke7 These factors add 53 Ke5 Whitewins secondDawn under circuhstanceswhere his King remains the instructivegame course is: active. BecauseWhite also is left with a g-pawn'Black's to sacrificeitself for the f-pawn' 4 a3'! Bishopcannot afford White\ two widelyseparated passed pawns' supporte.d by ?l placedKing are a suie win.-The nextsection will Already puttingBlack in zugzwang:if theBithoP,l1t-ry actively showhow to play suchendgames. on the c8-e6diagonal, the a-pawnadvances; tf tne blsnop itup on the a4-e$diaSonal,the-ht is decisive' B:?O 6 a4 Bd7 6 aS Bc8 47 Bbz
Another zugzwangposition and Black'sBishop must giveup hiswatch over f5. 47 .... Ba6 48 h5! gxhS
White must be carefulabout how to capture' W.tgngl! rs 49 Kxh5?because after 49...c3! 50 Bxc3Ke6 the position dran, sinceto ptogtesWhlt-g will haveto exchangea King- .G t;;; and then"Black'sKing q.uicklyruns to.the-C)ueen- sideivh ile theBishop"siiiiri.' i?rii 6;'whii.'i-tutt Kingside
88 87 winningtechnique consists.of bringing the King over to the Kingsideand then advancingthe e-pawn. WIth White on Section2: T\voPawn Advantage move:
Becausea one pawn advantageusually is insufficient 1 Bb5 Bf6 to win, the important questionsbecome: when doesa two 2 Ke4 Bg5 pawn advantag'ewin and whendespite a fwo pawndisadvan- 3 Kfs Bh4 tage is the pos-itiondrawn. As alw'ays,the coirect technique 4 Kg6 White wins foi the strohgerside is to first obtain passedpawns and then to try to quednthem. The two categoriesof phssedpawns are White doesnot evenneed to play 5 Kf7; after 4...Bg3or conriectedpassed pawns and disconnectedpassed pawns. In 4...Kc8the e-pawncan be advancedimmediately. this sectionwill beconsideredthe basicprinciples pertaining to each category. Chapters5 and 6 will considermore ad- 3) If the pawns arefunher back, then the key questionis wheth' vancedcases. er theycan be successfullyadvanced to the sixthrank. If the answeris yes,then thereis a win; otherwiseit is a draw. A. ConnectedPassed Pawns The two key situationsare shownin Diagrams49 and We can formulate the following four important princi- 50. Diagram 49 is drawn irrespectiveof who is on move. ples: With White on move,play can pr6ceedas shown on the follow- ing page: () fhe defendingKng must be in front of the pdwns to have "%a% any hopefor a draw. % (2) When both pawnsare on the sirth rank, the glme is usually %,ffi,% won. The only uceptionsare afew RP + NP positions. % %'% Diagram 49 % ,rut% Draw A typicalwon positionis shownin Diagram48. %%e%, %%% %.'%7t %%%% '.,/ | tt '7r. Diagram48 "'%rg%"4 Whitewins 1 Bh4+ KN %'%e% 2 Kf4 Bd7 % 7 %'"&'% 3 Kgs Bc8! | %Aa7, 4 Bel Bd7 '% Dravvn 2 "1t "////r.,, Black drawsbv simplymoving his Bishopback and because It is won irrespectiveof who is on move. White's forth betweend7 and 68; Whiie can makeno progress
89 90 Bes! his King mustcontinue to protectthe f-pawn. We can now 10 Kg8 formulaTethe followingrequirement for the positioningof the pretty defender'sBishop to b€ able to draw: it must be in front of the The lt?lgmqte try-10...Bf7!?is parried by the pr€ttier 11 Bd4! Bxe6 12f7 mate. After-thetext 'veingpdwns, must attaik one of them and musthave sufficient maneu- r:v€fl White spaceto be able to remainon that diagonal. setsup zugrwangwith a thematictempo movewith his Bish- r:p,thus allowinghis King to finally reachthe key97 square. ''h, 11 Bd4! Kf8 % g' % White on 12 t
92 9L (a) The correct way = Make and keepthe King active 56 .... Ka7 57 Kc4 54 b4! Kc7 55 Ka5! Kb8 There is nothing in 57 Ka4 Bc7 58 b5 Bd8 because 56 b5 illackmeets 59 b6+ with 59...Bxb6!. White is readv for b6 irrespectiveof Black's response. 57 .... Bg3! ThereforeBlack has nothingbetteir than to temporarilyblock- of White's ade the a-pawn.'the Note the-powerful placeme.lq Black could alsodraw with 57...Bc7by then sraying b7 from Black's "short" on Bishopon central diagon-al:it takesaway rhe a5-d8diagonal, yet that is a diagonalanO Tt ls King and is the rightcolor for the a-pawn. saferto be on the longgl-a7 diagonal. 56 .... Ba3 58 b5 BN 57M Kc8 59 Be2 Be3 58 Ka6! Kb8 60 Kb3 Bd2 59 Be4! To me 60...Bf2seems a lot simpler. Putting Black in zugrwang,because after 59...Kc8'60 Ka7 is decisivE.Therefore t-trenis-trop must free the a-pawn' 61 b6+ Kb7 62 Ka4 Kc6! 59 .... Bc5 63 BbS+ Kcs! 60 a4 Bd4 Draw 61 a5 Bc3 62 Kbs! Bd4 It is Black who now hasthe activeKing! White can 63 a6 Whitewins make no progress:if 64 b7 Bf4 65 a6 Kb6 and the blockade is still complete. Thus by being ignorantof Principle(4) did IM Both pawns are now on the sixth rank and there is Walthermiss his chancefor immortaliw. nothinsBlaik can do aboutthe coming64a7+. Properly done,White's win seemseasy, yes? Now we will seehow not B. DisconnectedPassed Pavyns to do it. The followingfwo generalprinciples and four specific (b) The lwong way = Gamecontinuation principlessummarizt ourknowleclgeof disconnectedpassed pawns. 54 a4? Kc7 55 b4 Kb8! CeneralPrinciples 56 a5 fne apaft thepawns, the greater the winningchances. not be able to help his pawns' ll fiafther White's King now will the onti exceptionis the two RPsiflhe defendingKn-g is,Yfely Yet it is too late foi 56 Ka5 because,as a resultof the tempo tttfront-of the'RP whosequeening iquare is not controlledby the lostwith 54 a4?.Blackhas time for 56...Ka757 b5 Bc5. qttqckelsBishop.
93 94 Q\ The closertogether the pawns,the more easilythe weaker OtherwiseWhite will penetrateand win after 2Ke6. iidt's Kng can helpachieve a ruccessfulblockade- 2 Bg4 Bg3! SpecificPrinciPles But not 2...Ke7?when White will win after 3 Ke4! Kd6 (3) Pawnsone file aqdrtonlY draw. t Bd7 followed bY5 f4. Bc7! (4) Pawnstwo filesdpart (especiallythe c- andf'pawn combina- 3 Kcs tion) givegood winningchances. 4 Kb5 Ke7 5 Ka6 Kd8 (5) Pawnsmore than two files apart give excellentwinning 6 Kb7 Bf4 chances. Draw (6) To win, the strongerside's Kng must be able to-penetrqte There is no waythat White canbreak Black's blockade' inio the ene)myterritory and assistin the advanceof his.pawns. of a centerpawn and a sidepawn, Whetherpeneiration is possiblewill be determinedPy^tne.bcation For the combination pdwns and how activea location the defendelsKng the correct defensivetechnique is: blockadethe centerP(w-n of is owi the has. iiln int kng and usethe Bishopto preventthe advanceof sidepawn. The next three exampleswill help to explainthe truth principles.Diagram 52 is a 1950study by For aopreciatingthe problemsin breakinga blockade, behindthe above - A. Averbacli. If White'sf-pawn would alreadybe on f5 there is no b'etterillust-ration than Diagram53,1t{. Miller GM Yuri Black'spayns White would win, but this positiohis drawn. BecauseWhite's Saidv.American Open 1977,White on move' pawn King can help his ii. 6p"rated bv thiee files, the g-pawnis alreadyon the sixth f3 cannotbe mobilized,Black's is the c-pawn. With White on move play i""t-i"O u.it-ti.r. is no win foiillack! The main reason Bishop to blockade that he couldcontinue: ih;i-Whir6t fing hassuch a powerfulactive location iin L."o Blackt King from'penetratingeither si9e of the Uoird. duE.niiO. penitration ieemsinherently hopeless, so let %%% canget into the Kingside: t, /NA% % ussee whether Blalk %ft%"% '% % '&, Averbach Diagram52 7 1950 - %&% Draw %:@%% N. Miller % '%rfr% %%"%'/,&rg% A. Saidy % "ry,, Diagram53 , % American % % Open1971 Whiteon move I Kds Kf6!
95 96 __--- 7
1 Bh3+ Ke7 lundamentaldecision whether.to opt for disconnectedpawns 2B,9 Kf6 ;s far apart as possible(by playing39...Bxb2) or to irefer 3 Bh3 Kgs i,avinga further advancedpassed pawn (by playing39...c3). 4B,9 Kf4 \nd tne Oeclslonwas: 5 Kc4! 39 .... c3! Black is clearly aiming to get to e3 and therefore White'sKing headsback. My reasonfor choosingthis way was that it immediate- {l'immobilizesWhite's Bishop and thereforeallows my King 5 ... Bd4 to be the first one to reachan activecentral location. By nofr 6 Kd3 Bg1 it shouldbe obviousthat Black'sKing must penetratedeci- 7 86 l<94 sivelyto win. 8 Bg2! Bf2' 9 Kc4! Kf4 40 bxc3 bxc3 10 Kd3 Ke5 41 Bb3 Kf6! 11 Kc4 Draw 42 KB Ke5! 43 Ke2 f5! Clearly there is no way for Black to break the block- ade. Yet, as a postscript,I shouldmention that Black won the Only after Black hasensured an activelocation for his g?me. How? B.gcqggeWhite resignedthe gamewhen Diagram King doeshe start mobilizinghis other passedpawn. Because 53 was reached! Why? Becaus6he tho[ghr that it mult be he will get the pawnto the 5th rank the win is assured. lost, becauseof a rule in Fine's BasicChess Endings (I will havemore to sayabout this "rule"in Chapter5.) M h4 Ke4 45 Ba4 Finally I will discussa positionwhere the defenderis not able to blockade. Diagram54 is S. Bernstein- E. Mednis, The game was adjournedhere and White sealedthe U. S.Championship 1961162, after White's3fth move. text. He resignedwithout resumingthe game. I hqd worked out the followTng- what I considered"tobe the main-line: 4s .... Bgl ts S. Bernstein 46 Be8 Bh6! i - E. Mednis 4t Kdl Kd3 Diagram54 A U. S.Ch. 48 Ba4 BgI iia 1961t62 49 Bbs+ Ke3 '% "%. Aftei White's % %n 39th move Black's King is excellentlyplaced to assistthe f-pawn's ftg queening. ,/, 50 Be8 f{l Two movesbefore the time controlI had to makethe
97 98 BecauseBlack's Bishop can simultaneouslyprotect the c-pawn and stop White's h-pawn,the g-pawn is not important Chapter5: Material Advantage- ComplexPositions foi Black. What is importantis to havehis King assistthe f- pawn. Here I will be discussingposit.ions which are inherently complexor where the necessaryplay requiresa very high 51 Bxg6 Kfz! of sophisticationand creativity.In all casesone sidehas 52 Be4 B icvef i to pawh advantage,yet the landscapeof each position is 53 h5 Ke3! different- 54 Bcf p, entirelY ss Bs2 Kf4 56 Ke2 Bh6! %%% 57 Kd3 Kg3 .1,' Z '/ A t, 58 Bn Bg7 7 fri Klimenkov 59 h6 Bh8 %%%n Kabanov 60 Ke2 KM! Diagram55 "ru USSR1969 6t h7 Bg7! ffi, vru{% White on 62 Kd3 Kgl % %e% move Blackwms %%% Black's King is in and White's lights are out after 63 Ke2 c2. Note how the far advancedc-pawn was used as a "decoy''to assistBlack's King in penetratingthe Kingside. The first position,Diagram 55, Klimenkov - Kabanov, USSR 1969,White on move, may on the surfaceappear rather simole.but will be shownto be full of hiddensurprises' Though White is two pawns up, the following factors make thewih problematical: - de- all -topawns are on one side,making it easierfor the fender blockade.
- the h-pawnis the wrongcolor for White'sBishop'
- the e-pawnis securelyblockaded by the Bishop' - White'sBishop has no offensivepunch-
- white's King is contained,while Black'sis activelyplaced. There is anotherside of the coin for the_last item ho.u.i' Bi"if.;r fing is not well placed for defending,
99 100 Y becausehe doesn'thave access to the e5 square,nor can [s ,// afford to step onto c5 or d5. It shouldbe clear that White 7 t AAt, Klimenkov- cannot afford to tarry in starting his attack: Kabanov % %t%e% USSR1969 1g5 l)iagram56 %%%%r"%%9,%Variation after 2...Ke4 The threat of 2 h6 forcesBlack's reply. Of course,I %.%%%%%% Positionafter f5?? is a horrible blunder becauseafter 1...Ke5Black has %%% 4...Kf4 establisheda successfulblockade. I ft95 2 Ks4!! There are now two instructivewars for White to win:
The whole conceptof this endingis to activateyour (l) 5 Be8 own King, keep the opponent'sKing as far awayas possible while at Ihe saine time preventinga-blockade. Therefore the The idea behindthis move is for White to delaycaptur- obvious 2 txg57 is insufficient becauseafter 2...Ke5Black's ing on 97 until the Bishop has been placedon an optimum Kins hasa stions defensiveposition. Model play then would location.I will nowonly give the mainline. be:3 tcg4Bf8 4'h6! p
LO2 l-01 l Only this ideaof Dutch IM van Wijgerdenworks 3 .... gxf4 There is no progresswith the routine8 896 Bf6 9 Be8Bai ge8 js 10Bd7 Bf6 1l Bc8Kh5!,-etc. Thg gc.e tgTpopl"V I Bie This !!g ga.mecontinuation 3nd hasthe disadvantage 9 8g_6.q98_^10 Kg7 Bf6+ 11.Kf7is. foiled by tlq nicii rSarWhite's King hq! " .clgaIroad into Black'sKingsid?. ll...Kxh6! 12lstalemate. 4 I()d4 B) 2 .... Headingback with the King will not ryo{; keepingthe Black preventsthe threatened3 Kxg5 and hopesfor 3 Kingactive wil-l lose as in the variationsafter 2...Ke4. fxg5?Ke5 when White's King cannotpenetrate and the play would develop as after 2 fvgi?. 5 Kfs Kd6 6 Kg6 Bf8 3 Kfs!! If 6...Bf6,7 h6 wins. % /N 7 KhTl Ke7 % A%ft resigns * 8 Kg8 Black %%% Klimenkov- Diagram57 % %e,fl Kabanov A completetriumph for White'sKing activity! After %'% tffi' v& USSR1969 8...g5t hxg6Bh6 10Kh7! Bf8 l1 97White wins. % % After 3 Kf5!! %%% As far as positionsgo, Diagram 58 seemsnormal '/////// cnough,'biagramyet extreme sophistiiation w-ill be requiredfor Black to wifi. 58 is the adjournmentposition fro93, jul9l lournament"heldin coniunctionwith the'Biel Open 1986'GM that Now White's King is active and the obviousthreat PatrickWolff became"fascinatedwith the possibilities"for becomes4 fxg5. Black hastwo legal wap of preventingit. couldirise and spentthe betterpart of a nighton it his
103 104 Y own pleasure". The analpis that follows is partly basedon 2 Bb2 Kc6 GM Wolffs work. 3 Bal Kb5 4 Kc3 "rfr@%rAt . ^ T\g King.cannotstand his ground, as afrer 4 Bb2Kb4 % ,ir 4 Bc3Ka4! followed py 5r59.1,-w.hite'sring wiliatsotrave '% "%.r% Biel Open rohead back to preventBlack's King from geftdg b cZ. Diagram58 (Junion)1986 %e,%%s Whiteto 4 .... Kcs! '1,/ft'ft move 5 Kd3 Kds ta ,/ ./ 2, Black'sKitg is.nowwell centralizedand readyto infiltrate via e4. Black shouldnever consider a moveiike 5...d5??since thenthtt_key square is no longeravailable to his A quick count of materialshows that Black is up tw_o King and most likely White canset up a succ-essfulblockade. pawns. One of theseis a far advancedpassed pawn on a2. Yet at the momentboth this pawn and Black'sother extra 6 Bb2 Be8! pawn- the d-pawn- are verywell blockaded.As a matterof lact, if we cah visualizethd completeexchange of all King- With Black'sKlqg 9l its optimumsquare it is time to side pawns(i.e. White's e-, g- and h-pawnsfor Black'sf-, g- activate-theBishop. Black'simmediate obj'ective is to chase and h-pawns),the positionbecomes a l00Vocertain draw. White'sKing awayfrom d3. There 6ven are two reasonsfor this. Firstly,Black will not be able to break the blockadeand secondly,White's King can 7 Bd4 Ba4! head for al and the Bishopsacrifice itself for Black'sd-pawn. Therefore,it is far from certain if Black can win from Dia- "chess A sophisti.{..9 rempo move which purs White in gram 58. And even if a god" would say that there is a zugzwang:White's Bishop must moveand thdt leavesthe e- win, it is necessaryto actuallyfind it. Pawqwithout sufficientprotection for the comingKing rnvaslon. In Diasram 58 it is White'smove. White can usetwo "do approaches:(t) a passive, nothing"one, or (2) play e4. I 8 Bal Bbs+ will look at thesein turn. 9 Kc3
I White doesnothing : passivedefense Equally hopelessis 9 Kd2 Ke4 followedby 10...K8 and I l...Kxg3. 1 Bc3 Kd7! 9 .... Ke4! The Bishopstands well enough,both protectingthe a" Dawnand coverinethe importantd5 and c4 centralsquares' There is protect as no way that Black can both the a- Thereforeit is ldgicalfor the King to headas quickly pawnand infiltratewith his King on the Kingside. But possibleto whereBlack's strength is: the Queenside.
l-06 t_05
-L Y
The questionnow simply achievingthe secondobjective is all that'snecessary to win. KingSide. is: canBlack do this? 10 Kb3 Kxe3 Black hastwo fundamentalchoices from Diagram59: 11 Kxa2 KR to take on e4 or not to take. I will analyzethese in turi. Blackwins A) 1 .... fire4? After 12 Kb3 Kxg3 Black is up 3 pawnsand will queenthe f-pawnafter 13Bf6 f4, etc. The gamecontinuation which definitely is the wrons practicalchoice. At this momentit is far from clearwhethei II Active PlayWith 1 e4! Black can win from Diagram59. Yet it is necessaryto keeo the position as unbalancedas possibleto increasethe chancis for the win. The routine text violatesthis principle. The %%'%% positionnow is drawn and in fact the gamewas soon aban- % %'/qfr"@'%t% %a%t ijonedas a draw. % Biel Open A thematicline play is: Diagram59 %%%t% (Juniors)1986 of now After 1 e4! % wt% 2 l{xe4 Kd7 %%%/& 3 Kd4 Kcf t/&t/,& % % 4 Bal Kb5 %%'%2 5 Kc3 Kc5 6 Kd3 Bc4+ This move/planmust be theright one for a numberof 7 Kdzt reasons. In the first place a routineexchange oI pawnsls aii1" the correct gendral strategyfor the side-down-material '% //, '%,t becalseit removes-onepotentialEhemy Queen from the board. % % Mot.ouer, comparedto the previo_usvariation, White will not % 7f,,%t havean elpawrithat cango iost. However,in this casethere %9,%% stiategicbenefit from the text move: Diagram60 Variation IIA also is a sophisticated A After 7 Kdzl White's Kirig gets accessto the_importante3 central sqy?r9 %a% %"r",e. and this sign"ifTcantlyincreases Whlte's-PrgsPg9.ts for setting % % % up a btocka?eto preient penetrationof Black'sKing. 'w%%%rs It is also importantto realizethat White achievesall of "nothing". discussedearlier, the the abovefor As already to preventBlack King-sidepawns leads to a drawn The kev to White's defensemust be exchanseof all of the fromgetting it White'sKingside. To penetrateBlack will oositionl We shouldbe ablelo realizethat if wejust remove that White haveto do this via d5 ande4 and White wantsto ensurethat Wt iii;i .-pan anOblack's f-pawn from the board, he prevent Blackcan power- passeda-- and d-pawns. can this. Bad is 7 Kc3? because can securdlyblockade Black's -.There- iutty and8...d4. foi;; t" ;iir eiu.[t Ki;; t"ii u. aut. to cdptureWhite's mobilizehis d-pawn with 7...d5!
t-08 L07 7 nlternativeaPProach. 8 Ke3! lr) 1 .... Be8! This is the kev difference betweenWhite's passiveplay from Diagram58 and the play from Diagram59: White'sKing Because...fxe4 is not goingto work, Black needsto is able to gain the unassailableposition on eJ' I'orceWhite to captureon f5. Then the positionbecomes more unbalancedand that increasesBlack's opportunities. 8 .... Ba6 9 Bf6 Bc8 2 Bal Bc6 10 Bb2 Kc4 3 erf5+ gd5! 11 Bal Kb3 t2 Kdzl '%%%%t%%%% Black'sKing cannotbe allowed accessto c2. %alft,s% t2 .... Bf5 Diagram61 '%ffi,%v,% %t% Variation IIB 13 Bf6 Kc4 %ffi,% After 3...gf5! 14 Ba1 Kd5 15 Ke3! Bbl %%%,&. 16 Bb2 Kc4 t%%%2 17 Bal
White'sBishop is ideally-Whiteplaced to preventboth the a- Of course, not 3...Kxf5? 4 Ke3 Kg4 5 Kt2 when and d-pawnsfrom aclvancing. is sdtisfiedto keep the White'sKingside pawns are safefrom Black'sKing, while statusquo. White'sBishop keeps blockading the a- and d- pawns. It is not at all yet obvioushow Black can progressfrom Diagram61, r7 .... d5 yet it is the only try. A lasttry. 4 Ke3! 18 Be5 Bf5 White's King must watchboth sidesof the board. Thus 19 Bal Kb3 afterthe temporizing4Bb2?l'(See Black could -startingperhaps immediately 20 Kdzt! Draw Pla.y4...f4!!. 'Clearlytfi'egame continuation with Black's iOth move.) ilrong is 4 h5? becauseaTter 4...h6! 5 The a- and d-pawnsare stoppedand Black'sKing can't Kc4 Bf3 6 Kb3 exh5 7 Kxa2 Bf7! White's pieceson the penetratethe Queensidenor the-Kingside.A total triumpn Queensidehave no chanceof coping'l}nxf4with Bldck'sKingside ior Whire'sBLOCI(ADE. power.e.e. 8 Be7 h5 9 Kb2 f4l h4 I I Bd4 h3 l2 IlgI Kf5 is rcios t4 Bh2 Ke4 15fT Kf3! 16 Kd4 Kg2 11 Let us now return to Diagram 59 to analyzeBlack's rrf4h2 18Bxh2 roT..t tt'ir'
t_09 1_L0 Preventsboth a potential h5 Qy Wltitg.as well as a Black'sKing is in andthe a-pawnwill costWhite his Bishop. counteraffackby white's'King againstBlack's Kingside Plwns becauseBlack-can now routinelyprotect them w.ltn...tt94. ll 9fr4 Moreover,the text has no disadvantages.I he onlyPosslDle nesativeis that Black'sKing cannotnow usetne.nJ.square infiltration i#I;iiiffiitu, uut that wou-ldnot be a realistic t,%%% route under ai'y conceivablesituation' % /ft, '% 5 Bb2 Ba4 Diagram 62 ,1,1t VariationIIB 6 Bc3 Bd1 ,rg, ftA After 119fr4 7 Bal Bg4 %%e% 8 Bb2 t ', ,/, AfterSKd4Blackcanimmediatelyexecutethe-key A /.' Z strategii concepr9...f4!! g 9{J4Kf5 since10 Kd5 is too slow: ii)_:K"-14-ii-Koo r.s tlrccqraz 13Kb4 Kc2 14Ka3 If Black now routinely headsback with his King with kUf inO the a-pawncosts White his Bishopwhile the h-pawn 11...Kd5?,White hasthe perceptive12fslt,thereby permanent- remainingis thd right color for the Bishop' ly gainingaccess to the f4 squarefor his King. White can then prevent Black from infiltrating the Kingside. White As it turns out, White can only delaythe "'f4 break' draws becausefrom f4 he can keep Black's King out of the Still that is how the practicalplayer should behave' Kingsideand from e3 he can keep Black'sKing out of the Queenside.White hasachieved the ultimatedefensive weapon: 8 .... Kds blockade. 9 Bf6 11 .... Bfs!! The King standbest on e3. After 9 Kfz? Black's^King infiltrates-ttt. OleentiOiitn either9...Ke4 or 9"'Kc4;after 9 This important refinementof the Wolff conceptwas Kd;i eii.k infifttat.sit e Kingsidewith 9...Ke4;after 9Kd3?! suggestedby CM John Nunn. Blackprevents White from ii6&i"" immediiGlybreak"with 9...f4!! (see the mainline sacrificingback the pawn until Black can capturewith the l"'r.,:;i.-lft"r ttre iet, 9---f4+??jusl dropsth.e.f;P$.vn since King and therebydeny access to f4 to White'sKing. whiie canplay 10 Kd:4 and get back in timewith hrsKrng. t2 Kdz 9 .... Kc4! 13 Ke3 10 Bal f4+!! A valid alternativeis to head to the Queensidewith This fantasticconcept was discovered by GM Wolff' 13Kc1 Ke4 148f6 Kxf4 15 Kb2. But then the d-pawn that Blacksacrifices u pin io 6reakup White'sKirigside so becomestoo stronq,-Ke{e.s. 15...8e616 Be7 Ke5 18 Bg5 Bc4 18 fri -"-"ftimarety.Srd;;"6ifr of VVnite'spawns t-here.. White Bh6 d5 19 Bs7+ 20 Bf6 d4 21 Be5 Kf3 22 Bf6 d3 23 cannotcapture ;iih ih; Ki'g tin.. ;ft;; il kxr+z rd3 tlg5 Ke2, foll5wed by 24...d2.The probi-emfor White in such an approachis that-hisKing cann6thelp in the stoppingof
1-11 LL2 -
pawn.for the Bishop,and (2) the separation the d-pawnbecause he is tied downto stoppingthe a-pawn' befweenthe a- and d-pawns.isonly two squares,whereas the separation 13 .... Ke6 betweenthe d- and h-pawns.isthree sq.uares..The lirger the Bc2 separatjo.nbefween pawns, the more difficult it is to sEtup a 14 Kl3 successfulblockade. never14...d5? since then White can protect Definitely 25 Bxal Kxh4 the f-pawnwith a Be5. 15 Kg3 Kfs 16 KI3 Bdl+ 17 Ke3 "'mKrru%Tr%',ry, '7 VariationIIB Diagram63 , ,'t Inferior is 17 Kg3? Bg4 followed by 18...Ke4and After 2..'g7.: 25...Kxh4 Black'sKing infiltrates. : t7 .... Kg4 ;; 18 Bf6 % 19Ke3 Bc6 20Bf6 Bd5. No betteris 18Ke4 Bf3+ A position zugzwangand must give up thef-pawn. thematicallyimportant basic in opposite Whiteis in color Rishopendgamt: th^e stronger sidehas two discoirirected passedpawns 18 .... Ba4 separatedby three files. For sucha caseit would seemthat Reuben Fine's rule in Basic Endings(p. 19 Ke4 Bc6+ "lf Chess 179)applies: the pawnsare two or more files apart,ttrey 20 Ke3 Bd5 win." (BCE 21 f5 The passageof time waspublished in 1941)has shownthis rule to not be universallytrue. There are positions where the defenderis giveback the f-pawn. able to set up a successfulbiockade. The minor evil is to Suchposition generally have the defendingKing sufficiently activelyplaced to preventthe strongerside's King from deci- 2t .... rads sivelypenetrating words, Kg4 into the defender'scamp. In other 22 Bal. the defendercan Ichieve an airtightblockacie. 23 Bf6 Bc6! whereby However,in Diagram63 Black'sKing is alreadyactive- Putting White in another kind of zugz\ang, ly placed logicals6quence the f4 square. and the win if routine enough. A White'sKingfrrust move further awayfrom nowcould be:
24 KfZ al=Q! 26 Bf6+ l<94 27 Be7 d5 The last major strategicdecision that Black must make' h- 28 Bf6 h4 He is happy to trade his pa$ed l-Pawn to achievea passed Rook 29 BeS i;il f;;'t';.."iont' (t; ttre h:pawnis the corr6ct
LL4 1-t_3 -__---...... - Y
29 Ke3?l Kg3 with 30...h3an-d Black's task is easier' tion and standswhere Black's.King once stood. Black'sKing 29 .... Kfs! is coopedup on his back rank. Moreover,White has a tw6 pawn advantageon the Queenside.Yet if Black plals well he It is important for Black'sKing to help both pawns will draw. The reasonswhy Diagram 64 is clrawnagain advance. revolvearound the matterof a successfulblockade: 30 Bd6 Ke4 31 Be7 h3 White's Bishophas no offensivepunch since all Black 32 Bd6 d4 pawnsare on the opposite-colorsquares. 33 Bcs Kd3! White's King, though activelyplaced, also can do no It is alwaysgood practice to activatethe King when damage,because Black's only vulnerablepawn - the f-pawn- trying to queen Pawns. can be readilyprotected by the Bishop. 34 Kg3 Bd7 -- Black'sKing, thoughpassive, is exactlywhere he should 35 Kfz Kc3 be for defensivepurposes. White cannot dislodgethe Black 36 Bd6 d3 King from his defensive,pawn-blockading duties. 37 Bt4 Kc2 38 Kel d2+ Even though the position is a theoreticaldraw, White is obviouslyjustified in making some attemptsto win. The Or 38...h239Bxh2d2+. gamecontinued as follows: 39 Bxd2 lr2 1 .... Kb8! Blackwins. The Black King'sjob is to blockadeWhite's Queenside The last examplealready looks complexat the starting pawnsso it is important for the King to makesure that it is - R. point. Diagram 64 showsthe positionof Bradvarevic ilroperly placedfor that. Black must-nottarry sinceotherwise Maric, Yugo-slavia7970,Black on move. 2 Be5 cutsthe King off from the a-file. 2 Kd8 Ka8 1i t : 3 Be5 Bd3 K At Bardvarevic 4 Ke7 Bc4 - R. Maric 5 Kf6 Diagram64 ft'/:ftt Yugoslavia ftA ft T 1970 White realizesthat his onlv chancefor successis a ./,,//fu Blackon breakthroughon the Kingsideand ihus positions his Kingfor %% move a potentialF5. The Kinglas no futuredn the Queenside;e.g. %%% ptisitionhim on c7 and-youwill seethat there is no way of makingprogress there. White's King has infiltrated totally into Black'sposi- 5 ....
l_L5 LL6 What a shockand rude awakeningfor Black who had 6 Bd6 only-expectq f:g9 fTgq.121396 when 12-.B,e2 7b5 lt still keeps the Kingsideblockaded. Now, however,White getsa passed force wins on the pawn th_ereby and becauseBlack's King ii stuck White starts a small demonstration Queenside However,White's exact course,7"'Bxb5?? 8 bn the Queenside. executionis most which Black can and must ignore. Of impressive. frCZ ins quickly for White s-incethe Pary$.p{n.that White his Bishop.Black ill obtainbn the Kingside-Queensidewill cost Black 11 .... hxg4 n".o noi fear white's play because^oneg,f white's Whlte can extra Queensidepawns is doubled and theretbre No better are 11...Bd3 12 KxfT 13 there. Black's King is positioned exf5 sxh5 or onty oU]iin one pisseOpawn 11...8e2 12l 12...gfs 2//,7 9 Be5 ,l 10 f5! p{ogress,but Black Whiteis tryingvery hard to make What White has to start worrying about now is a stale- cankeep the Kinfsid'ebkickade intact re?gr-ly gtgug! by 14e to 11K'6'7 B>d5 and in mate draw by Black and consider-abii:care is.required ,i''.'pi.-fO.,.e63.Tf then 11fxg6 fxg6 or preventit. Fbr instance,Black can draw after 13 h5 f4! 14 caseBlack is 1007osafe. eith'er ilxf4 Bxa6 16 h6 Bd3 16 Kg7-Black's 93! L7 h7 BxhT 18 KxhT 92 oscillatesbefween Bxb5?? 19 BhZ 91:Q 20 Bxgl Kb8. King 10 .... b8 and 68, when Wh-itecan stalemateBlack in severalways but cannotwin. Thereis no rationalchess explanation for sucha horri- worryabout the blv carelessmove. Blackhas no needto 13 Bf4!! becausethe King safgguardseverything there; eireensiOe Yet iirtliO he musrlook out for-possifileKingsidq breaks. saw that if Black has gl".k of the position. From the abovevariation we rornentarilyforgets about the theme time to both olav ...Bxa6and sacrificethe Bishopfor White's thatfuhite still hadnothing on the King- AJo"r.nitv ttefeti "prove" h-pawnthe g'ameis drawn. The blockading("interference") sideand th-e to,lt would this. 11 g4!!
L 1-8 LL7 Y text is able to just Preventthat. Chapter6: positionalAdvantages 13 .... g3 As before for "better"same color Bishops,a positionaladvan- Now 13...8xa6is too slow:14 h5 93 15h6 92 16Bh2! tqge may be pawns,Bishop, Kin! - br a combination (Not 16h7?? Bc4+ with a draw) 16...f4l7 h7 andwins. of these.
14 h5 g2 Section1: Better Bishop 15 Bh2 f4 16 h6 Bd3 Theconcept of thebetter Bishop is easv to understand: it.isthe 9rffr.gpwhich can successfully attack enemy pawns. OtherwiseL7 h7 wins immediatelY. Diagram66 illustratesthis perfectly. 17 axb7+! KxbT 18 Bg1 Black resigns . _$9 White will win Black'sBishop with 19 Kg7 and 20 h7. €. ar Then White'sKing can first chooseto- capjure Black's paw{tl Diagram66 it Blackon or head immediatElyfor the Queenside.There the King will tt move help the b-pawnqueen. ThroughoutBlack's Kilg has the worst of both worlds: '7,7>.ry he is tied ddwn to stop the b--pawnyet cannot hope for a stalemate. The pawn_ "active", formation is symmetrical,White's King is yet-Blag!on movecan i:aptureall of White'spawns as foflows: 1...8!1,.2...8f2, 3...8xg3, 4...8fr4, 5...893, 6...Sxh+ - trulythe betterBishop!
Section2: Better Pawns
Sincewe alreadylearned in Chapter4 that a one pawn a.dvantagein normal positionsis insufficientto win, it is clear lhat theremust be somethingquite special about having the superiorpqwn formation to bE aUleto win startingwith dqual material. The kind of positionthat illustratesthis is shownin Diagram 67, B. Kurajica - A. Karpov,Skopje 1976,after White's33rd move. Blackhas a passeda-pawn, yet it is se- curelyblockaded by White's Bishop. Moreover,White's dou- bled-d3pawn per?ormsa valua6ledefensive function: it
t-19 L20
-4, 7
preventsBlack's King from penetratinginto the Queensidevia Black'sKing of potentialinfiltration squares. b5 and c4 and in the centervia d5 and c4. Thereforeto win [1,!l,9.pr_iyingwnr.r.e'sposrtron Black will haveto be able to breakthrough on the Kingside. doesremain passive, but I havenot bednable Can this be done? I9,.gls9ouer.?ny waythat Black candecisively break into wh,rte'sposi.tigrl. In_certain positions Black can sacrifice his Trsnop'Dut wnrte always has enough defensive resources to "re oraw. %'"ru,% B. Kurajica %t% lf, - A. Karpov 34 .... Kf7! Diagram 67 % 7,&A%%%t Skopje1976 After White's , - pnly;o] -lnstead34...hxg3 + ? Ieadsto a deaddraw, as t%lru%% lru%'% 33rd move does34...951. ll €xh4since Bra].k in eithercase racks break- %t%t% rnrougnposstbt ttttes. % % #,tzfi 35 Ke3
33 .... h4! L_ _ -. Hgl. and,g.enerlffy so in the furure,worse is 35 gxh4 becauseBlack's King will recaptur.ethe pawnand be actively GM Karpov realizes p-t_qqe{for imminent-penetration. (yet seethe commentaftei very well where the battlefield White's will be. Therefore,he activateithe h-pawnand, also quite 37thmove!) importantly,tempts White to challengeit. 35 .... f5 34 g3? 36 Kf4 Kg6 37 Ke3? Hindsighttells us that at leastin the practicalsense this is the losingmove. (Seethe discussionsafter White's37th Apparentlyworth little criticismsince Black can force and 44th movesfor the "theoretical" this retreatwith ...Ba2and ...Bb1. However,KarDov has side.) The text seriously pointed weakensthe Kingside pawn formation and leaves White out that at exactlythis momentthe paradoxical 37 without a satisfactoryway of preventingBlack's eventual ...g4 #4!? ryay-be fully playable. The justificatiadjournment play ...g4. At this momentWhite mustbe able to respondwith so that the winningmaneuver can be preparedin the quiet of the home taboratory.
T2I L22 With three excellentpawns for White'simpotent Bishop, Black 40 Ba3 shouldwin. 4l Ke2 42 BcI 4.... cxd5 $Kn 45 d4 t4tl
Black must open up the Kingside. Insread45...94?? 46 %r,7'1, B. Kurajica :f4 is a certaindraw. ,2t ?. - A. Karpov 2 t6 N4 Diagram68 (/, Skopje1976 fu'fr, %tt After Black's t% % 43rdmove Black was threatening46...fxg3+ 47 W h3! followed '2, 2' t /4t'ru by ...g4, The h-pawnties ddwn White'sKing ind Black infil- %,'2€ tratesvia the centeror the Queenside. A"ru "risk" lf 46 94+, Black hasno needto 46...8Xg4and can win positional go to attackthe d3 p?.yn' by strictly meansas follows: 46...Kg61,followed Sothat the Bishopcan to a6 by placingthe Bishop on d3 and runningthe Kin[ over to the if the needever arises. The ei-world champion.always likes possrDre' Queensideand infiltrating there via b5 and c4. It is the lack to haveas many at hisside as of the d3 pawnthat makesthis possiblefor Black. Tt:::"ptions 6 .... g4l Throwingawaythispaynensurestheloss,andaccord- unsatisfactory The point of Black'sprevious move. White's light ins to fa.pou i3to U6blanied on nerves.Also squaresare weak and Black'sKing will infiltrate alongthem. il?4 K;T f4;; 4i iifi iqt with Black infiltratingand winningsimilarlY to thegame. 47Kg2 Bf5 I K]t2 9d3 ThereforeWhitemustplay44Ke2|.Whatthen?After 49 Krf3 Be4+ aa...Ba6"aSebzZ K;td;;i"'..2S...ttg3 46 hxg3 '!: rg.4 qb foLlowedbv 4e"flff!, 50 Kfz to'i71-sq+Kh4 rc(zKh3! BbZ lt "l-e?a,'...il;'6'"no...egi.f it -g.tt+Q pcJ.r 95 .4e Black'sKins has finallv penetratedinto White's half of ii'i+r"i;O(fi B"os;nO in-H;Gver, duticoutie Black's Silg will infil- the positionappears tenable. Karpoyftq$ th-atwith the board. At theinoment White's trateon the QueJnt;. 46 However,because of zugrwangWhite's pieceswill have to correct45 Ke3! wiilt.;ilOiiw ue'cauiJirt"i45...f4+ 9fi4 giveway. 94 he has47 f5!. 51 Bb2 Kxf4 The questiontherefore is _whether-ii Black has anvthing Kg4 that the 52 Bcl+ berter than aa...e"a6rli.i ++ feZt. se.i to me 53 Bb2 c6! ptotising (45 pda ga!)' After 4) immediateaa...fa!isi.iv + K44' 94+ BI ack sacr irices i rr. iii Jn""p'i"iiii?S'..."s Tsai Zo t"s4
L24 L23 7 Y
A good practicalmove. Black preventsforever any White counterplaybased on c6 and an attack on Black's c- t
pawnby White'sBishop. t t%A% &t7., J. Bellon- 54 Bcl lft3! "%,tL&.@%.& D. Minic Diagram69 ",,,fu.'/.. SiegenOlym- The start of the final phase. Black'sactual goal is to /& % piad 1970 get his King into White's Queenside. With the paradoxical %%2 After White's text he is able to deflectWhite's King so that the primarygoal tr'",r@t':. 39th move is achieved. - 55 Kgl 896! . The g;pawnsare eguivalent:both are on the color oppo- 56 Khl Bh5! sitethat of the enemyBishop and readily defensible. -- Black tries to get White'sBishop to move,which then Each side hasa soundpassed pawn. would enableeither Black'sa-pawn to advanceor Black's King to reachf4. The Bishopsare alsoequivalent: neither can do any damage. 57 Kgl Bdl -- White resigns Black'sKing is obviouslythe activeone.
GM Kurajica saw what was coming - becauseof This later factor together with the weaknessof White's a-pawn(as zugzwangBlack's King gets to the Queenside- and didn't will be seenthere is no way to defendit) should want to be shown. The probablycontinuation would have giveBlack wonderful winning chances. But howto go about been:58 Khl Kg4 59 Kg2 Kf5! 60Kn (equallyhopeless is it? Thereare threecontinuations worth discussion: 60 Kh3 Ke4 etc) 60...Ke4 61 Ke1 Bg4 62 Bb2 K&i. Black's King is in and the a-pawnwill costWhite his Bishop. 1) Direct Defensewith 39...Kc4
Section3: Better King White hasthree wavsto defend. The critical defense point is ultimatelythe b-pawn- as we will see the a-pawn goes Becauseof the inherentlimitations of the Bishopin a lost very quickly. pure oppositecolor Bishopendgame, the importanceof the (a) King increases.If the King is activeand hasthe potentialof Direct Attack with 40 Bb2 doing real damage,it can becomea hugepower. The potential q Bbz Kb3 for King power is alreadypresent in Diagram69, (seediagram B on the nextpage), J. Bellon - D. Minic,Siegen Olympiad 1970, 41 Bcl after White's39th move. Hold on to material,where possible! A thorough evaluationof the position leadsto the 42 Kn Kc2 followingconclusions: 43 Bt4 a5!
L25 L26 This is unquestionablythe fastestway becausethe srraiehrforward43...Kb2 allows White to blockadewith M BcTl rc"3 45 Ba5. The Soviet IM Mark Dvoretzky has ## ffii. demonstratedthat here too Black can get White into zugzwang Blackwins ittt +S...fb3 46 Ke3 Kc4 47 KfZKd3 48 Bd8 Ke4 49 Bc7 Kf5 50 Bd8 Kf4! and Black either wins the g-pawnor gets BecauseBlack's_f-pa-wn is still on f4, this preventsa in ...a5. In due courseBlack should win. blockadeby White on the-h2-b8diasonal and makesBlack's tqs[ c_onlderably.easier than in the position after 40 Be5 f3 After the text White must capture as otherwiseBlack 41Bc7. Black'swinning method is: plays44...a4. (-t).His King walks over to f5 to attack the g-pawnwhich 4 bxas Kb2 White mustdefend with Bd8. 45 a6 Kxa3 45a7 b4 (2) Black then plap ...a5.White hasrwo choices: Black wins [{ bp5,, Black's passedb-pawn assistedby the King will The b-pawnwill costWhite his BishgP:-.Ye.anwhile costWhite his Bishopand the game. Black'sBishotri is ideallyplaced to stopboth of-white's passed pawns. _ . If Bxa5,Black capturesthe g-pawnand wins on the Kingsideby leavinglhe f4 pawnwhtie it is, advancingthe g- (b)Brockao. u"T;:.-'"t:fth 40Be5: pawnto 93, then playingKg4 and finally the decisiveB.- 2) Elegancewith 39...a5
Black cannot afford to give up the f-pawn.because The point of this move order is to preventthe varia- tion 39...Kc440 Be5!B 4l Bc7. The main line White'sKing plus'428d2 passed pawns gain h draw after 40...Kb3? after39...a5 is 418fr4 Kx# a5 43 bxaib4 44 Bcl +l KaZ 45 Ke2 as in the variationafter 39...Kc4 40Bb2: b3 46 Kd3 b2 47 Bxb2 Kxb2 48 Kd4 Kb3 49 Ke5 Kb4 50 Kf6 Be4 51 c6 Kxa5 52c7 Bf5 53 c8:Q. 39 .... a5 40 bxa5 Kc4! 4l Be7 Kb3 42 Kn Kxa3 But never40...I3c5? because after 41 Be7+ the a3 pawn 43 Bas Kb3 is safe.
The sameposition has been reachedas in the note to 4l Bbz Kb3 Black's43rd mov'ein the 40 Bbz variation,with Black win- 42 Bcl A ;i"g;ft.i++ r.s r.+ +sKf2 Kd3 46Bd8.Ke4 47 Bcz KfS 43 Kel Kc2 48 Bd8 Kf4, etc. 4 Bf4 Kb2 (c) Blockadefrom the back starting with 40 Bd8: Black winsthe a3 pawnand the game.
L27 L28 7
3) The gamecontinuation 39....Ke4? EVERYTHING. After 41...8xc6Whire's Bishop has much nlorg scopeand can plote_ctthe b4 pawn from the front and With two movesto go before the time control Black alsohas access to theg.l-a7 "play diagonalTrome.g. c5 and can help apparentlydecided to it safe"by protectingthe f4 pawn to stop the,f-parvn.Very exhiustiveanaly"sis by Dvoretzky solhat it doesn'tneed to be advancedto B. Yet the question hasshown that Whitecan just defend. raisedby the move is: what is the King doing on the King- side? The eKraordinaryimpo.rtance of the more active King is driven homeby the-resultingplay from - Diagram71, R: 39 .... Ke4? Calvo D. Byrne,Palma de Malldria t'gOS.Biaitdn moue. 40Kn Bd5 Draw
"%%% gz R. Calvo- - _t D. Byrne %%% J. Bellon Diagram71 ft%t'N /fr. Palmade t % %"/&t D. Minic tAMallorca'68 Diagram70 rfA r SiegenOlym- Blackon r gr piad 1970 move %%% After %%i 40...Bd5 z %%% Each side has connectedpassed pawns and Black even ax extra pawn in the form of the pas'sedg-pawn, yet it is The gamewas adjournedhere with White sealinghis White who hasa forcedwin! The factorsreJpbnsibie for this 41st move. The Yugoslavsoffered a draw in the nnorning are: becauseafter a full night of analysisthey had not found a win. They consideredthe followingto be the main line: 4l -. White's King is directly able to assistthe passedpawns to Bd8 Bc6 42 Bc7 Kf5 43 Bd8 Kg4 44 BeTl a5 (This correct advance. break now comestoo late) 45 bxa5 Kf5 46 a6 Ke4 47 a7 Kd4 48 a8:Q! Bxa8 49 c6l Bxc6 50 Bd6. The positionis drawn -- White'spassed pawns are farther advancedthan Black's. sinceBlack cannotwin White's a-pawnor g-pawnand White's King securelyblockades the f-pawn. -- In the immediatefuture White's Bishop is ableto block- ade Black'spawns. Not surprisinglythe passageof time has punctureda few holes in the above variation. Thus IM Dvoretzky has Even though it is his move,Black has no satisfactory shownthat insteadof 42...Kf5?,Black can play 42...Rand win defense: by walkingover and capturingthe a-pawn,as given in two of the earlier variations. On the other hand,White can draw by 1 ..... Kd6 playingthe immediate41 c6!!. The c-pawnis not important for White'sprospects; the chancefor a successfulblockade is The gamecontinuation whereby Black aims to immedi-
1,29 130 7
atelyactivate his King. Alternativesare no better: 9 Bdl!
( l) l...Bd4 2Ka6 Kd6 3 a5 c5 4 Kb7! (Keepingthe King in Forcing the Black King to abandonthe attackon the a- fr6nt of the pawnsboth givesWhite's King maximummobility pawnsince Black hasno reasdnablewaiting moves. and restrictsthe Black King's defensiveopportunities.) 4...Kc5 5 Be2! (Not only protectingthe b-pawnbut also 9 .... Kd denyingBlack's King the irirfortant bS-square.i5...ga 6 a6 93 10 Ka7 Kbs 7 a792 8 a8:Q 91=Q 9 Qa3Mate. 11 a6 Ka5 t2 b8=e! (2) 1...Kc7 2Ka6l d4 3 b6+ Kb8 4 a5 followedby Kb5, a6, a7+. SinceWhite hasthe right Bishopfor the a-pawn,Black The only way to win. Instead12 Be2 Bd6 13 Ka8? lacksthe defensiveresource ...Bxb6 after White'sa6. leadsto nothingafter 13...d1:Q 14Bxdl ltua6. 2 Ka6l Kd t2 .... 3a5 d4 13 Kb7 4 Bxe6 Black'sBishop is stuckon b8 to preventa7. As soon as There is no reasonnot to take off this pawn. Then the Black King can be deflectedfrom the attackon the a- White no longerhas to worry aboutconnected passed pawns pawnWhite will win. and the Bishop can blockadethe d- and g-pawncombination. However,the immediate4 b6 alsowins. 13 .... Kb5 14 Bg4l Ka5 4 .... d3 15 Be2! Blackresigns s b6! Passedpawns must be pushed! Zugrwangis here! Neither Black'sKing nor Bishophas a reasonablemove, while giving up the d- and g-pawnsonly 5 .... postponesthe inevitable. 6 Bfs!
A very fine strategic move: White forces the d-pawn forward so ihat the f1-a6 diagonalis openedup for the Bishop(see move 15!). 6 .... d2 7 Bg4 Bt4 8b7 Bc7!
If instead8...8b8, 9 Kb6 followedby the advanceof the a-pawnleads to an elementarywin. The text requires White to comeup with somesophisticated moves.
L3r. 1,32 7
pawnsto win the game. Chapter7: Summary-andComparison of SameColor Bishop vs. OppositeColor BishopEndgames D. DefensiveStrategr With Material Disadvantage
Here I presenta summaryof the precedingsix chap- t. Try for as manyroutine pawn exchanges as possible. ters. 2. Try to havepawns on only oneside of the board. A. Bishopand Pawnvs. Bishop 3. With oppositecolor Bishopsaim for a blockade. SameColor E. PositionalAdvantages If the defendingKing is in front of the pawn and cannotbe chasedawayrthe g-me is drawn. If the defending A more activeKing (one that is at leaston the fourth King is not in front_oithe_pawn or can be chasedaway, thE rank or can get there),a better Bighop(able to attackenemy game is generallylost. The winningstrategv consiits of pawns),and better pawns(have viable passed pawn(s) and a deflectingthe defendingBishop (the only deTenderin the flexible,sound formation; avoid doubled/isolated/backward absenceof the King) away from the pawn by offering to pawns)are the three typesof positionaladvantages. To have exchangeBishops. winningchances in positionswith evenpawns, at leasttwo of the above advantagesare usually required. Always try to OppositeColor keep the enemy Bishop as impotent as possible. Therefore never, never, never voluntaily put your pawnson the same As long as either the defendingKing or Bishopcon- color as the enemyBishop. trols anysquare in front of the pawn,the gameis drawn.
B. Material AdvantageGenerally Necessary To Win SameColor
1.Pawns on one sideonly: two pawns 2. Pawnson both sides:one pawn OppositeColor: two pawns
C. Winning StrategyWithMaterial Advantage
Make a passedpawn(s) on the sidewith the extra pawn(s)..Remember: passed pawns must be pushed! If the enemyBishop tries to stop if, deflect it bv 6fferinq to ex- changeBishops. If the enbmyKing stops it, infiltri-tewith own Krng lnto the other sideof the boardandcapture enough
133 L34 $7.95
Preeminentendgame specialist and author Grandmaster Edmar Mednispresents a conciseguide to properplay in bishopendings. Correct play with a bishoprequires more preciseknowledge than rook or queen,and manyplayers fail to appreciatethe subtletiesinvolved. Mednis follous the pattern set in his bestsellingPractical RookEndings to provide a useful and understandableguide to how to get the most from bishop,palvn, and king endings.This book is a mustfor playersof all strengths.
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