Lesson 8 by GM Ron Henley

UMBC, room ECS 023, 4-7-99

Notes by David Joyner. (No claim to completeness.)

Theme: Introduction to pawn endgames, part 1.
  1. Opposition
  2. Triangulation
  3. In the square (of the passed pawn)
  4. Rule of the quadrant
  5. Displacing the enemy king (deflection)
  6. Elbowing out
  7. Check and skewer
  8. Queening on the diagonal
  9. Outside passed pawns
  10. Connected passed pawns
  11. Pawn breakthrough
  12. Space advantage
  13. Stalemate
  14. Coordinated squares

Position 8.1: From W. Lombardy-R. Fischer, US Championship (see also lesson 6).

In Forsyth notation: 

8/pp4pp4k3/3rPp2/1Pr4P/2B1KPP1/1P6/4R3








Black to play and win.


1. ... Rxc3! 2. bxc3 Rxe5+ 3. Kd2 Rxe1 4. Kxe1 Kd5 (Black king is better placed and more active.) 5. Kd2 Kc4 6. h5 b6 (Black works on getting an outside passed pawn.) 7. Kc2 g5 8. h6 f4 (Black locks up the kingside.) 9. g4 a5 10. bxa5 bxa5 and Black's outside passed pawn deflects the White king long enough to win the kingside pawn.

Position 8.2: From Topalov-Kasparov

In Forsyth notation: 

1r4r1/8/p3p3/P3PpRp/1BpP1P1P/1kP5/4K3/8








Black to play and win.


1. ... Rxg5 2. fxg5 Rxb4 3. cxb4 c3 4. g6 c2 5. g7 c1=Q 6. g8=Q Qc4+ 7. Ke3 Kc3 8. Qd8 Qd3+ 9. Qf4 Qd2+ 10. Kf3 Qd1+ 11. Ke3 Qg2+ 12. Ke2 Qg2+ 13. Ke3 f4+ 14. Kxf4 Kd3 15. Qg5 Qf2#

Position 8.3: Famous Richard Reti study, 1921

In Forsyth notation: 

7K/8/k1P5/7p/8/8/8/8








White to play and draw.

1. Kg7 h4 2. Kf6 Kb6 3. Ke5 and white draws.

Position 8.4: Kazantsev study

In Forsyth notation: 

8/3pkP2/8/1pP4P/5P1p/7K/6PP/8








White to play and win.

This is an amazing problem at first and second sight! Looks absolutely hopeless for white!

1. Kg4 b4 (... Kxf7 now or the next move allows the white king to reach the square of the passed black b-pawn) 2. Kf5 b3 3. Kg6 b2 4. Kg7 b1=Q 5. f8=Q+ Ke6 6. Qd6+ Kf5 7. Qg6+ and white wins Blacks queen.

Position 8.5: Studenski study 1939

In Forsyth notation: 

8/8/Pk6/1P6/4p2p/8/8/6K1
Rule of Quadrant: If two pawns form a square to back rank then king can't stop both pawns.








Black wins.

Black wins due to the rule of quadrant.

In this following slight variation, Black doesn't win since the rule of the quadrant isn't satisfies.

In Forsyth notation: 

8/8/Pk6/1P2p2p/8/8/8/6K1








White wins.

Position 8.6: Stolz-Nimzovich, 18??

In Forsyth notation: 

8/8/8/1P2kp2/P2p2p1/6P1/3K4/8








Black to play and win.

1 ... f4 2.. gxf4+ Kxf4 and Black loses.

1 ... f4 2 gxf4+ Kd6! and Black wins due to the rule of quadrant.

Position 8.7: Study by Duras, 1905

In Forsyth notation: 

8/6p1/7k/8/1K6/8/1P6/8








White to play and win.

1 Kc5! (better than 1 Kc4 since then Black can try to swing his king over to the b-file with an extra tempo) g5 2 b4 g4 3 Kd4 Kg5 4 b5 g3 5 Ke3 Kg4 6 b6 Kh3 7 b7 g2 8 Kf2 Kh2 9 b8=Q+ and white wins.

Position 8.8: Grigoriev study (one of GM Henley's favorite composers)

In Forsyth notation: 

5k2/8/8/p7/P4p2/1P1K4/8








White to play and win.

1 b4! axb4 2 a5 and white wins the pawn race.

1 b4 Ke7 2 b5 Kd6 3 Ke2 Ke6! 4 Kf3 Ke5 5 Kg4 Ke4 6 b6 f3 7 Kg3 Ke3 8 b7 f2 9 b8=Q f1=Q 10 Qe5+ Kd2 11 Qxa5+ Kd1 12 Qd5+ Kd1 13 Qc5+ Kc1 14 Qd4+ and white trades queens and wins.

Position 8.9: Ivanov study, 1969 In this amazing study, the Black king has no saving moves!

In Forsyth notation: 

8/8/1p4p1/2p5/4p2k/8/K5P1/8








White to play and win.

1. g3+ Kxg3 2. cxb6 and white queens first (with check), winning as we've seen in a previous lesson.

1. g3+ Kg5 2. cxb6 e3 3. b7 e2 4. b8=Q e1=Q 5. Qf4+ Kh5 6. Qh4#

1. g3+ Kh5 2. c6 e3 3. c7 e2 4. c8=Q e1=Q 5. Qh3+ Kg5 Qh4+ Kf5 g4+! and which wins the Black queen by a discovery.

Position 8.10: Dobias study, 1926. "Elbowing out the enemy king."

In Forsyth notation: 

8/8/6p1/1k6/4K3/8/5P2/8








White to play and win.

1. Kf4 Kc5 2. Kg5 Kd5 3. Kxg6 Ke4 and draw.

1. f4 Kc4 2. Ke5 Kc3 3. Kf6 Ke4 and draw.

1. Kd4! Kc6 2. Ke5 Kd7 3. Kf6 and white wins.

1. Kd4! Kc6 2. Ke5 Kc5 3. f4 Kc4 4. Kf6 and white wins.

Position 8.11: Moravec study, 1952. White is worried Black will eat up his d-pawn then promote his c-pawn and win.

In Forsyth notation: 

8/5k1K/8/8/2p5/8/3P4/8








White to play and draw.

1 Kh6? Kf6 2 Kh5 Kf5 3 Kh4 Ke4 and Black wins.

1 Kh8 Ke6 2 Kg7 Ke5 3 Kf6 Ke4 4 Ke6 and white can draw.

Position 8.12: Ademson study, 1915. This study shows the necessity of elbowing out the king and calculating long variations.

In Forsyth notation: 

2K5/k7/7p/8/8/8/6P1/8








White to play and win.

1. Kc7 Ka6 2. Kc6 Ka5 3. Kc5 Ka4 4. Kc4 Ka3 5. Kc3 Ka2 6. Kc2 Ka3 7. g3! (7. g4? draws due to the threat of ... h5! obtaining a rook pawn!) Ka4 (... Kb4 also loses) 8. Kc3 Kb5 9. Kd4 Kc6 10. Ke5 Kd7 (... Kc5 11. g4 and white wins) 11. Kf6 and white wins.

Position 8.13: Grigoriev study. This study illustrates a queen skewer after promotion.

In Forsyth notation: 

8/8/8/1p6/1P6/3P1k2/3K4/8








Black to move and ...

1. ... Kf4 2. Ke2 Ke5 3. Ke3 Kd5 4. d4 Kc4 5. Ke4 Kxb4 6. d5 Kc5 (the only move to gain a tempo, since 6 ... Ka3 or ... Kc3 both lead to a lost white queen vs black pawn on b2 position) 7. Ke5 b4 8. d6 b3 9. d7 b2 10. d8=Q b1=Q 11. Qc8+ Kb4 (or any square on the b-file) 12. Qb8+ and skewers the black queen.

Position 8.14: Grigoriev study. This study also illustrates a queen skewer after promotion.

In Forsyth notation: 

8/1p6/8/k7/8/3K4/5P2/8








White to play and win.

1. f4 doesn't work due to ... Kb5

1. Kd4 b5 2. f4 b4 3. f5 b3 4. Kc3 Ka3 5. f6 b3 6. f7 b1=Q 7. f8=Q+ and white wins!

Position 8.15: Ljubojevic-Browne, 1972

In Forsyth notation: 

8/5p2/2k5/K7/8/1P6/8/8








Black to play and win.

Game went 1. ... f5? 2. Kb4! f4 3. Kc4 f3 4. Kd3 draw.

But as in the last Grigoriev study (with colors reversed), 1. ... Kd5! wins.

Position 8.16: Grigoriev study. An exceptional composition showing check and skewer.

In Forsyth notation: 

8/8/4K3/p4p2/5P2/3P4/8/4k3








White to play and win.

A pawn race leads to a draw: 1. d4 a4 2. d5 a5 etc and both sides queen simultaneously.

1. Kd5 (white moves into the square of the black pased pawn so Black tries to create another one by capturing Whites f-pawn) Kd2 2. Kc4 Ke3 3. d4 Kxf4 4. d5 Ke5 5. Kc5 f4 (... a4 6. d6 Ke6 7. Kc6 a3 8. d7 a2 9. d8=Q a1=Q 10. Qe8+ and skewer!) 6. d6 Ke6 Kc6 f3 d7 f2 d8=Q f1=Q 10. Qe8+ and white wins the black queen due to a skewer.

Position 8.17: Katsnelson study, 1972

(Similar in theme to a study we've seen proviously.)

In Forsyth notation: 

8/2K5/8/8/7p/8/6PP/5k2








White to play and win.

1. g4 Kg2 2. g5 Kxh2 3. g6 h3 4. g7 Kh1 5. Kd6 h2 6. Ke5 Kg1 7. g8=Q+ Kf2 8. Qa2+ Kg1 9. Kf4 h1=Q 10. Kg3 and Black can't avoid being mated next move.

Position 8.18: Tal-Djuresevic, 1958. Tal, known for his tacttical brilliance, shows his endgame mastery in this example.

In Forsyth notation: 

4k3/5pp1/p3p2p/1p6/5P2/P7/1PP3PP/2K5








White to play and win.

1. Kd2 Ke7 2. Kd3 Kd6 3. c4 bxc4 4. Kxc4 e5 5. fxe5 Kxe5 6. b4 f5 7. b5 axb5 8. Kxb5 f4 9. a4 g5 10. a5 g4 11. Kc4! and white wins.

Position 8.19: Larsen-Gligorich, 1956. At this time, Larsen was probably the best non-Russian chess player in the world.

In Forsyth notation: 

R4rk1/5pp1/5q1p/1p1Qp3/8/1B6/1PP2bPP/5K2








White to play and win.

1. Qxf7+! Qxf7 2. Bxf7+ Kxf7 3. Rxf8+ Kxf8 4. Kxf2 Ke7 5. Ke3 Kd6 6. Ke4 b4 7. c3 b3! 8. c4 g6 9. g4 h5 (9. g5 h4! is not as good...) 10. gxh5 gxh5 11. h4 Kc6! 12. Kxe5 Kc5 13. Kf5! Kd4 14. Kf4! Kxc4 15. Ke4! and white queens first and wins.

 

Homework

From Summerscale-Young, National Open 1999, Las Vegas.

Solve the following problem.

In Forsyth notation: 

2k5/6pp/pp6/2p5/1pR4P/P7/5PPK/3r4








Black to move.

The game went 29. ... Rd5 30. Bxc5 bxc5 31. Kg3 Rd3+? 32. Kf4 Rxa3 33. Rxc5+ and white eventually one due to his more active position.

What if, after Black played 29. ... Rd5, play continued 30. bxc5 Rxc5 31. Rxc5 bxc5? Analyze this position. Idea: Does Black play to d6 or to b5?

In Forsyth notation: 

2k5/6pp/p7/2p5/7P/P7/5PPK/8








White to move.

solution below
Homework solutions:

IMHO, Black should play to d6 or e6 and hold his position. It looks drawn to me.

HTML by David Joyner. Last modified 4-12-99. Used freeware recorder by Jack Woodbury (woodbury@escape.ca) for diagrams.