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Dimitri Komarov vs Rustam Kasimdzhanov
FRA-chT Top 16 GpA (2010), France, rd 1, Mar-26
Semi-Slav Defense: Botvinnik System. Lilienthal Variation (D44)  ·  0-1

ANALYSIS [x]

FEN COPIED

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Kibitzer's Corner
Oct-17-12  David2009: D Komarov vs Kasimdzhanov, 2010: Chess endgame: NN versus Pawn. Outstanding play by Rustam Kasimdzhanov to win this theortically drawn ending starting from


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(drawn but difficult to defend). The defence is difficult because the BK and BN conspire to confine White to the left-hand side of the board and, as the game shows, a single mistake by White can be fatal. Compare Smyslov vs Lilienthal, 1941

Here's the position at move 79 with Black to play:


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White's last move, verty sensibly, was Kc2-c1. White draws easily if only he can reach the right-hand side of the board (the safe corners are h8 and h1 but anywhere on the g and h files would do). But Black has cut him off systematically. The ending is still drawn but Black plays a devilish trap discovered by Botvinnik in 1941 (in his analysis of the mirror-image ending, see Smyslov vs Lilienthal, 1941). 79...Nf2!!. Now White has to discover the counter-intuitive 80.Kb2!! to hold the draw: after 80...Nf2-d1+ 81.Kc2! it is Black's move - and Black cannot lose a tempo:


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This is a mutual zugzwang: Black to play draws, White to play loses.

There is a delicious irony in the name of the opening: "Semi-Slav Defense: Botvinnik System. Lilienthal Variation".

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