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Later Kibitzing> |
| Dec-08-06 | | TheBB: <sataranj>
39. f3 g2 40. f4 gxf4 41. e5 Kg3 42. e6 f3 47. e7 f2# Or 41. Kf2 Kh2 and black queens first. |
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| Dec-08-06 | | TopaLove: I GOT IT!! |
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| Dec-08-06 | | Simplification: <princeofdragons> Where did that white pawn on a7 come from?? |
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| Dec-08-06 | | Rubenus: <Simplification> It should be a black pawn, indeed. |
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| Dec-08-06 | | Mateo: Well, as the King and pawn ending is lost, I guess 24.Rc1? is a losing move. After 24.f4 or 24.Rg1, the Rook ending should be a draw. |
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| Dec-08-06 | | greensfield: Hey I found a way for White to win
after the first move!
34...a5??
Any other first move Black can win |
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Dec-08-06
 | | Peligroso Patzer: The puzzle position (after 34. Kh1) seems to be one from which pretty much any sort of reasonable play by Black is winning. Apparently the only plan that won't work (other than something involving a really gross blunder like 34. ... a5??) is the one I tried out first, i.e., to force White to play a4 by creating a "local stalemate" on the King-side (for example, by playing [after due preparation]: 1. ... g2+ 2. Kg1 and then some tempo move [e.g., ... a6] with a White pawn still on f2 blocked from moving). There does not seem to be any way to force such a position. Nevertheless, Black can win routinely by advancing his K-side pawns and either getting a pawn through, or (if White prevents that) gaining mobility for his King along the 3rd rank (Black's sixth rank), after which Black can win one or more of White's pawns and promote at least one of his own easily. |
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Dec-08-06
 | | beenthere240: Isn't there a saying to the effect that "all rook endgames are drawn?" (Obviously false, but with a kernel of truth.)
24.Rc1 turns a draw into a loss. |
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| Dec-08-06 | | Rajiv Herman Kramer: g4 is the best move because it brings the useless h pawn into active play. |
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| Dec-08-06 | | RookFile: Well, I knew from memory that Rubinstein played ...g4 and won. Something that not enough people talk about is 24. Rc1. That was a mistake. The moral of the story is: if you want a draw, keep the rooks on the board. It's by far the safest way to draw. |
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Dec-08-06
 | | YouRang: I figured out (or guessed) that the trick would be to put White in a zugzwang situation, where he would be forced to make a losing pawn move. If necessary, Black has the extra resource of ...a6, to use up a tempo if needed. With this in mind, I tried 34...e4, and satisfied myself that it boils down to exactly that. After a few pawn trades, White can no longer shuffle his king, and he has to make the suicidal pawn move. Later, I realized that Black had multiple winning moves. It's just a case where having further advanced pawns and a dominant king wins the endgame. |
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Dec-08-06
 | | kevin86: I missed this one-it was a bit deep for me. I now realize that black had to either gain a passed pawn or force white to move his king from g1/h1-and give up a pawn at h2. Black then gains the opposition and the rest is child's play. |
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| Dec-08-06 | | Kruglov: Too many solutions for a puzzle. I found all variations for e4 and f4 (blindfold, didn't have a board or computer at that time), than suspected g4 or h4 would work too. What's the point of the puzzle? All work was done before move 34. Anyway, 30.Kh1 was a blunder - 30.a4 or 30.b5 was in order. Also, after 30.Kh1 b5, 31.e4 makes it more difficult for Black, but still loses. a) 32... g6 33.Kg1 f5 34. f4  .
b) 32... g5 33.Kg1 g4 34.fxg4 Kxg4 35.Kg2 f5 36.exf5 Kxf5 37.Kf3 e4+ 38. Ke3 Ke5 (38...a6 39. f3 exf3 40.Kxf3 =draw) 39. h4 a6 40. f3 exf3 41.Kxf3 Kf5 =draw (if 41... Kd4 42.Kf4 White promotes h-pawn before Black's a-pawn). c) 32... h5 33.Kg1 g5 34.Kh1 h4 35.Kg1 g4 36.fxg4 Kxg4 37.Kg2 h3+ 38.Kf1 Kf4  |
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Dec-08-06
 | | RandomVisitor: The only move that loses is a5. The rest of the moves, including a6 and Kh4, win for Black. |
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Dec-08-06
 | | jahhaj: Maybe the point of this puzzle is to find the plan not the precise moves. Anyone who said to themselves 'I'm going to swap off the pawns on the f, g and h files and then march my king over and take his e pawn' was on the right track. |
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Dec-08-06
 | | playground player: After bombing out Tuesday-Wednesday-Thursday, finally got one. But by move 34, the really smart moves have already been made. I doubt I would have gotten to where Black was by move 34. |
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Dec-08-06
 | | cu8sfan: I found 34...g4 because I thought that the pawn on f3 is the only thing preventing the black king to find an entry route. 36...h4 surprised me and I don't think I've solved the puzzle because of that. |
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May-16-09
 | | Gypsy: <Anyway, 30.Kh1 was a blunder - 30.a4 or 30.b5 was in order.> I don't think so, the configuration of the Q-side pawns should not decide this end-game. Yours is the point of view that seems to originate with Jonathan Speelman and Andrew Jonathan Mestel in 'Analysing the Endgame'. (If I understand the writeup in 'Abiba Rubinstein: Uncrowned King', by John Walter Donaldson and Nikolay Minev correctly, Mestel was the one who found the lines, Speelman wrote the book.) My point is this: While the Mestel lines are perceptive and correct, they became relevant only because Rubinstein sort of misplayed the endgame when he played the <34...g4(?)>. This move brought the position into a realm of study-like, tempo-based drawing resources and study-like tempo wins. In contrast, Black win is relatively simple after <34...e4(!)>. In fact, after the <34...e4>, the configuration of pawns on the Q-side is not relevant! 
click for larger viewBlack wins regardless of who has the turn to move; for instance, 1.Kh1 e4
I. 2.fxe4 fxe4 3.Kg1 h4 4.Kh1 g4 5.Kg1 g3 6.hxg3 hxg3 7.fxg3 Kxg3 ... II. 2.f4 gxf4 3.exf4 Kg4 ...
III. (or, fishing for a stalemate) 2.Kg1 exf3 3.Kh1 h4 4.Kg1 g4 5.Kh1 g3 6.Kg1 g2 7.e4 Kg4 ... (say, ... 8.e5 Kg5 9.e6 Kf6 10.e7 Kxe7 11.h3 Kd6 12.Kh2 Kd5 13.Kg1 Kd4 14.Kh2 Kd3 15.Kg1 Ke2 16.Kh2 g1Q+ 17.Kxg1 Ke1 18.Kh2 Kxf2 19.Kh1 Ke2 20.Kg1 f2+ 21.Kh2 Kf3 22.Kh1 f1Q+ 23.Kh2 Qg2#.) |
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May-16-09
| | Gypsy: I should add that the pawn configuration on the Q-side can become of utmost importance in the continuation that Rubinstein did use: <34...g4> If now ...35.fxg4! hxg4 36.Kg1 f4 37.exf4 exf4 38.Kh1... we get the position M1:
click for larger viewMestel shows that, after some study-like play, the 'natural' <1...g3?> only draws, while the 'contra-intuitive' <1...f3!> wins. Consider, however, also the related (twin) position M2: 
click for larger viewIn M2, unless I am severely missing something, it is the rather 'natural' <1...g3!> that wins, while the contra-intuitive <1...f3?> draws! |
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May-16-09
| | Gypsy: The key variations from those diagrams are:
M1:
(A) 1...<g3>? 2.hxg3 fxg3 3.fxg3 Kxg3 4.Kg1 Kf3 5.Kf1 Ke3 6.Ke1 Kd3 7.a4! (the save) .... (7...a6 8.axb5 axb5 9.Kd1 Kc3 10.Kc1 Kxb4 11.Kb2... =; 7...Kc3 8.axb5 Kxb4 9.Kd2 Kxb5 10.Kc3... 11.Kb2... =) M2:
(A') 1...<g3>! 2.hxg3 fxg3 3.fxg3 Kxg3 4.Kg1 Kf3 5.Kf1 Ke3 6.Ke1 Kd3 7.a4... (not here) 7...Kc3 8.axb5 axb5 9.Kd1 Kxb4 10.Kc2 Ka3 ... 0-1. ---
M1:
(B1) 1...<f3>! 2.Kg1 Kh4 3.<Kf1> Kh5! ... (important tempo work) ... 4.Ke1 Kg4 5.Kf1 Kf4 (5.Kd2? Kh4) 6.Ke1 Ke4 7.Kd2 Kd4 8.Kc2 Kc4 9.Kd2 Kb3 10.Ke3 Kxa3 11.Kf4 Kxb4 12.Kxg4 a5... 0-1 (B2) ... 3.<Kh1> Kg5 4.h3(!) gxh3 5.Kh2 Kg4 6.Kg1 Kf4 7.Kh2 Ke4! 8.Kxh3 Kd3 (8.Kg3 h2 9.Kxh2 Kd3) 9.Kg4 Ke2 10.Kg3 a6 (tempo and zugzwang) ... 0-1 M2:
(B2') 1...<f3>? 2.Kg1 Kh4 3.<Kh1!> Kg5 4.h3! gxh3 5.Kh2 Kg4 6.Kg1 Kf4 7.Kh2 Kg4 ... = 7...<Ke4>? 8.Kxf3 Kd3 9.Kg4 Kc3 (9...Ke2 10.Kg3...zugzwang) 10.Kxf3 Kb3 11.Ke4 Kxa3 12.f4 Kxb4 13.f5 Kc3 14.f6... (White queens just in time to win) |
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Jan-24-11
 | | Once: Hmmm - gxf3 is either:
(a) a strong attacking move in the opening and early middlegame because it gives you a half open g file to play with; (b) a weak move in the opening and early middlegame because it gives your opponent a half open g file and weak h pawn to play with; or (c) a weakness in the late middlegame/ ending because the isolated h pawn is very hard to defend. Discuss. |
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| Jan-24-11 | | Oceanlake: Cohn loses tempi, and Rubinstein can count. |
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Jan-24-11
| | Gypsy: Looking again at the position
click for larger viewI suddenly had a bit of a trouble to reconstruct Black win after 1.Kh1 e4 2.fxe4 fxe4 <3.f3!? exf3 4.Kg1 h4 5.e4...> My problem was that after 5...Kg4? 5.Kf2 Kf4 7.e5 Kxe5 8.Kxf3 Kf5 9.h3..., the endgame would end in a draw. But Black still has a win if he simply ignores the passed e-pawn. After <5....g4!>
Black pawn-avalanche slams into White king and wins the footrace in the process (e.g., 6.e5 g3 7.hxg3 hxg3 8.e6 g2 -- 8...f2+ 9.Kf1 Kh2 10.e7 g2+ 11.Kxf2 g1Q+ 12.Kf3 Qe1... also works -- 9.e7 Kg3 10.e1Q f3#). |
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| Jan-24-11 | | amateur05: I love this game. It is so simple and beautiful. Thanks to cg for making it a game of the day. |
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Jan-24-11
| | kevin86: This was an old puzzle-in totality,the game is a good lesson tool. Black is able to exchange off pawns to get the upper hand with the remainder. White's king is pinned on the first row,while black clips off the remainder of the pawns. Another kind of Ruberstein masterpiece! |
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