Chess Calculation Training Volume 2 Endgames.Pdf
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CHESS CALCULATION TRAINING Volume 2 Endgames by Romain Edouard www.thinkerspublishing.com Managing Editor Romain Edouard Assistant Editor Daniël Vanheirzeele Software Hub van de Laar Proofreading Adam Emerson, Roger Emerson Graphic Artist Philippe Tonnard Cover design Iwan Kerkhof Back cover photo Ana Matnadze Typesetting i-Press ‹www.i-press.pl› First edition 2017 by Thinkers Publishing Chess calculation training. Volume 2: Endgames Copyright © 2017 Romain Edouard All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission from the publisher. ISBN 978-94-9251-015-0 D/2017/13730/10 All sales or enquiries should be directed to Thinkers Publishing, 9000 Gent, Belgium. e-mail: [email protected] website: www.thinkerspublishing.com KEY TO SYMBOLS ! a good move ? a weak move !! an excellent move ?? a blunder !? an interesting move ?! a dubious move ☐ only move = equality unclear position with compensation for the sacrificed material White stands slightly better Black stands slightly better White has a serious advantage Black has a serious advantage +- White has a decisive advantage -+ Black has a decisive advantage with an attack with initiative with counterplay with the idea of better is worse is N novelty + check # mate Contents Title page Key to symbols Preface Chapter 1: Warm up Chapter 2: Test your reflexes! Part 1 Part 2 Chapter 3: Find the technical win! Chapter 4: Unexpected blows! Chapter 5: Find the draw! Chapter 6: Make the right choice! Chapter 7: In seconds! Chapter 8: Find the missed move! Chapter 9: Evaluate the position! Chapter 10: A sixth sense for endgames? Chapter 11: Special section Help Section PREFACE Welcome to the 2nd volume of my “Chess Calculation Training” series! This book focuses on endgames. There are a lot of things to learn “by heart” about them — but they are often diffi cult to apply at the board, unless you get exactly the same position as you studied. This is why I believe it is an in- teresting approach to present an endgames book as a series of exercises, with instructive but practical positions. As in Volume 1, a lot of calculation will be required. The major diff erence be- tween middlegame and endgame training is, of course, the limited material on the board. This means the patterns you discover in training are much more likely to appear in your games — so you should try to imprint them somewhere in your memory! With ordinary tactics, the purpose of exercises is almost solely to improve your calculation skills. Solving the exercises of this book will help the reader improve on his endgame knowledge and understanding as well. There is a lot to learn from studying each solution, even if you failed to fi nd it your- self; this is why answers here are even more detailed than in Volume One. Nevertheless, the solutions are always concrete. This book contains 10 chapters. The fi rst, as in Volume 1, is a warm-up. Then we will work on endings from all possible angles: technical wins, tactical wins, drawing moves, and so on. Another very important chapter is “Test your refl exes!”. I believe refl exes are a key element in becoming a good end- game player. The more good refl exes you develop, the more other things become refl exes too! To prepare this book, I looked at a huge number of games and pre-selected around 800 positions. By analyzing them more deeply than I would normally do just watching a game online, I discovered an incredible number of new ideas. These I pass on to you! Throughout the book, the most challenging exercises are marked with a (*). The theoretical positions, which it is essential to memorise, are marked with a (T). You will find a help section at the end of the book, giving guidance (if needed) for any exercise marked with an asterisk. I hope this book will be an excellent complement to the pure knowledge you may gain from other more general endgame books! Romain Edouard September 2017 Chapter 1 Warm up As the title indicates, this part of the book is a training exercise. In each position you must find the winning move, or the drawing move if you see an equals sign (=) underneath the diagram. If there seems to be more than one solution, choose the clearest or the quickest. This chapter contains exercises of all types, which could have been used in several other chapters. They appear here because they are easier to solve and will help to prepare you for the rest of the book! I advise you to solve a few problems (a page, for example) as a warm-up before attempting a more complicated chapter. Beware: a few positions are more challenging than the others. 1. Bukic, Enver - Marovic, Drazen [E94] Yugoslavia Yugoslavia (1), 1968 □ 59.? +– 59.Rf6! Kxd7 60.Rf8 1-0 Bukic,E-Marovic,D Yugoslavia 1968. Black resigned in view of: 60.Rf8 Rxa7 61.Rf7++- 2. Tal, Mihail (2660) - Averkin, Orest N (2460) [B18] URS-ch41 Moscow (17), 1973.10.26 □ 70.? +– 70.Nd5! 1-0 Tal,M (2660)-Averkin,O (2460) Moscow 1973. Black resigned in view of: 70.Nd5 Rxa4 71.Ne7# 3. Salov, Valery (2655) - Seirawan, Yasser (2600) [D21] Hoogovens Wijk aan Zee (13), 199201 □ 35.? +– 35.Rc8+! Rg8 36.Rc4 1-0 Salov,V (2655)-Seirawan,Y (2600) Wijk aan Zee 1992 Black resigned because of the double threat Rxb4/Rh4#. 4. Topalov, Veselin (2645) - Leko, Peter (2555) [C80] Cap d'Agde op Cap d'Agde (6.3), 1994 □ 25.? ± 25.Bxc7! Bxc7 26.Rb7 Ne5?! 26...Bxg3 27.Rbxd7+ Rxd7 28.Rxd7+ Kf6 29.hxg3± 27.Rxd8 Rxd8 28.Rxc7+ Kg6 29.Ne4+- 1-0 (59) Topalov,V (2645) - Leko,P (2555) Cap d'Agde 1994. 5. Karpov, Anatoly (2780) - Ljubojevic, Ljubomir (2580) [D72] Amber-rapid 4th Monte Carlo (6), 1995 □ 37.? +– 37.Bg8! fxg4 38.hxg4 Rxf4 39.Nf7+ Rxf7 40.Rxf7+- 1-0 (74) Karpov,A (2780)-Ljubojevic,L (2580) Monte Carlo 1995. 6. Gelashvili, Tamaz (2531) - Antoniou, Antonis (2232) [C65] Chania op 9th Chania (7), 1999.08.09 □ 39.? +– 39.e7+! 1-0 Gelashvili,T (2531)-Antoniou,A (2232) Chania 1999. Black resigned in view of: 39.e7+ Nxe7 40.Rd8# 7. Grischuk, Alexander (2671) - Timman, Jan H (2605) [B12] Corus Wijk aan Zee (7), 2002.01.20 □ 26.? +– 26.g6+! Bxg6 27.Re7+ Kxe7 28.Nxg6++- 1-0 (36) Grischuk,A (2671)-Timman, J (2605) Wijk aan Zee 2002. 8. Timman, Jan H (2594) - Kosashvili, Yona (2543) [A13] Curacao 40th anniv op Curacao (8), 2002.11.26 □ 41.? +– 41.Qxg7+! Kxg7 42.Nxh5+ Kf7 43.Nxf4+- 1-0 Timman,J (2594)-Kosashvili,Y (2543) Curacao 2002. 9. Kramnik, Vladimir (2743) - Topalov, Veselin (2813) [D47] WCh Playoffs Elista RUS (4), 2006.10.13 □ 45.? +– 45.Rb7+! 1-0 Kramnik,V (2743)-Topalov,V (2813) Elista 2006. Black resigned as he is losing a Rook: 45.Rb7+ Rxb7 46.Rxc5+ Kb6 47.axb7+- 10. Carlsen, Magnus (2765) - Shirov, Alexei (2740) [D43] Aerosvit Foros UKR (5), 2008.06.12 □ 62.? +– 62.Kg3! Black cannot prevent Bg6+ followed by f4+ (or h4+) and h4# (or f4#) . 62...Ra5 63.Bg6+ 1-0 Carlsen,M (2765)-Shirov,A (2740) Foros 2008. 11.Kotronias, Vasilios (2603) - Vallejo Pons, Francisco (2702) [B19] 10th European Individual Championship Budva MNE (5), 2009.03.10 □ 42.? +– 42.Rh7+! 1-0 Kotronias,V (2603)-Vallejo Pons,F (2702) Budva 2009. Black resigned due to: 42.Rh7+ Kxh7 43.Nf6+ Kh8 44.Rg8# 12. (T) Kramnik, Vladimir (2772) - Ponomariov, Ruslan (2739) [D38] Mem Tal Moscow RUS (6), 2009.11.11 □ 81.? +– 81.Re4! Keeping the black King in the box! Black is in zugzwang: 1-0 Kramnik,V (2772)-Ponomariov,R (2739) Moscow 2009. 13. Giri, Anish (2701) - Meier, Georg (2656) [E00] Dortmund-39th GM GER (3), 2011.07.23 □ 71.? +– 71.d5! Kxd5 72.Rxc6 Kxc6 73.Nd4+ Kd5 74.Nxb3 e3 75.Nc1 1-0 Giri,A (2701)-Meier,G (2656) Dortmund 2011. 14. Rozentalis, Eduardas (2586) - Lindberg, Bengt (2415) [B22] Rilton Cup Stockholm SWE (9), 2012.01.05 □ 55.? +– 55. Qe7+! Kg6 55...Kxe7 56.Nxf5++- 56. Qg7+! 1-0 Rozentalis,E (2586) -Lindberg,B (2415) Stockholm 2012. Black resigned in view of: 56.Qg7+ Kxg7 57.Nxf5++- 15. Radjabov, Teimour (2773) - Karjakin, Sergey (2769) [E15] Wijk aan Zee-74th Tata Steel GM A NED (6), 2012.01.20 □ 62.? +– 62.Rc4+! 1-0 Radjabov,T (2773)-Karjakin,S (2769) Wijk aan Zee 2012. Black resigned in view of: 62.Rc4+ Bxc4 63.Nc2++- 16. Leko, Peter (2737) - Ivanchuk, Vassily (2769) [C11] FIDE GP London ENG (2), 2012.09.22 □ 33.? +– 33.g5! Simple and strong: …g6+, Rg8. 33...hxg5 33...b3 34.c3+- 34.Nxg5+ Ke7 35.Rg8 Nxe5 36.Rxg7+ Kd6 37.Rxc7 Kxc7 38.Nxe6+ Kd6 39.Nf4+- 1-0 (42) Leko,P (2737)- Ivanchuk,V (2769) London 2012. 17. Timman, Jan (2566) - Ipatov, Alexander (2587) [D94] Tata Steel Group B Wijk aan Zee NED (8), 2013.01.20 □ 35.? +– 35.f4+! Kxf4 36.c6+- Black can fight a bit with two pawns for a piece, but the position is lost: 1-0 (49) Timman,J (2566)-Ipatov,A (2587) Wijk aan Zee 2013. 18. Dimitrov, Radoslav (2445) - Bacrot, Etienne (2730) [A16] Corsican Circuit 8?me Final FRA (1.2), 2013.10.20 ■ 83...? –+ 83...Nf2! 84.Ke5 Kg2 85.Kf4 Nh3+ 0-1 Dimitrov,R (2445)-Bacrot,E (2730) Bastia 2013. 19. Giri, Anish (2734) - Leko, Peter (2730) [C65] SportAccord Basque Men Beijing CHN (2.2), 2013.12.17 □ 77.? +– 77.a7! Qxa7 78.Qb2 fxe4 79.Qxe5+ Kh7 80.Nf6+ Kh6 81.Nxe4 1-0 (88) Giri, A (2734)-Leko,P (2730) Beijing CHN 2013 20.