Pawn and Two: <psmith> 65.Rg4! is actually a good move, giving White very good drawing chances. Looking at the position after 64...Kc7, it is clear that White has a difficult position to defend.  click for larger viewIn the ending that followed, Black obtained a winning position after he was able to advance his kingside pawns. After 65.Rg4!, White has a good chance to draw by setting up a blockade on the 4th rank, 65...Qxh5 66.Rxg7+ Kd6 67.Rg4. Also, after 65.Rg4!, if Black plays 65...Qf7, White can return his rook by 66.Rh4. 65.Rg4! appears to give White an excellent chance to draw. I could not prove a win for Black after either 65...Qxh5 or 65...Qf7. In the actual game, Fritz verified that White was clearly lost after 69.Kh3? d4! 70.Rxd4 Qxh5+. The connected pawns, with the queen's support are too powerful. While 69.Kh3? was an error, even after the best move 69.Kf2, Fritz indicates Black has good winning chances. Interestingly, the tournament book also noted that White should have played 65.Rg4! and that 69.Kf2 was a better move than 69.Kh3?. In the tournament book, a separate section was devoted to the analysis of this ending titled, "Eine Endspielstudie" by Prof. Josef Halumbirek. Prof. Halumbirek's analysis indicated that Black could still win after 65.Rg4! by 65...Qf7 66.Nd4 Kb7 67.Nf3 Ka6 68.Kh4 Qe8.... However, there appears to be an error in his later analysis for this line, and I could not prove a win for Black in this line. Prof. Halumbirek agreed that 69.Kf2 was a better move than 69.Kh3, and after 69.Kf2, he stated that Black could win by 69...Qe8 70.Kg3 d4 71.Rxd4 Qxh5 72.Kf2 g5. Fritz agrees that Black is winning is this line: (-3.56) (22 ply) 73.Re4 (better than 73.g4 Qh3!, as given by Prof. Halumbirek) 73...Qg6 74.Ke3 g4 75.Ne5 Qg5+ 76.Kd3 h5 77.Nc4+, (-4.71) (22 ply) 77...Kxa4 78.Nxb6+ Kb3 79.Nc4 Qd5+ 80.Ke3 h4 81.Rxg4 Kc3 82.Nb6 Qc5+ 83.Kf3 Qc6+ 84.Ke2 Qe6+ 85.Kf3 Kd3 86.Rxh4 Qe3+ 87.Kg4 Qxb6, and Black is winning. In the position after 87...Qxb6, the Nalimov tables show that Black has a winning position. White's best move is 88.Rh3. Dr. Treybal played this extraordinarily difficult ending very well. |