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Wenjun Ju vs Aleksandra Goryachkina
Grand Prix Skolkovo (Women) (2019), Skolkovo RUS, rd 10, Sep-21
English Opening: King's English Variation. General (A20)  ·  1/2-1/2

ANALYSIS [x]

FEN COPIED

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Kibitzer's Corner
Sep-22-19  paulthebox: Incredible how Ju misplays even the most elementary rook endgame - and not for the 1st time. Cutting off the BK across the d-file is a simple win.
Sep-22-19  cro777: All rook endgames are drawn... except for those that aren't!

An instructive rook endgame with two pawns vs one pawn where the attacker has split pawns occurred after 40.Rxb5


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This endgame is a theoretical draw.

41.b4 Rf5+ 42.Ke2 Ke5 43.Rc4 Kd6 44.Ke3 Rf1 45.Ke4 Rf2 46.Rd4+ Kc6 47.Ke5 Kb5 48.Rf4 Rg2 49.Kf6 <Here Goryachkina made a mistake and could have lost the game.>


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49…Rg1? Black is lost now after 50.Rf5+! (the only winning move). 49…Rg4 (or 49…Kb6) save the draw.

50.Rf5+ Kxb4 51.Rxh5 Rh1 52.Rh8 Rf1+ 53.Ke5 Re1+ 54.Kf4 Rf1+ 55.Kg3 Kc5 56.h5 Rh1 <Ju now returns the favor>


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57.Kg4? Missing the win. 57.h6! and 57.Kg2 were winning.

A possible winning line:

57.h6 Kb6 58.Kg4 Kc7 59.Kf5 Rf1+ 60.Kg6 Rg1+ 61.Kh7 Kd7 62.Rg8 Rf1 63.Kg7 Rg1+ 64.Kh8 Rf1 65.h7 Ke7 66.Kg7 Rg1+ 67.Kh6 Rh1+ 68.Kg6 Rg1+ 69.Kf5 etc

Sep-22-19  cro777: <paulthebox: Cutting off the BK across the d-file is a simple win.>

Position after 52…Rf1+


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53.Kg6 <Ju opted for 53.Ke5 which is also winning> Rg1+ 54.Kh6 Rh1 55.h5 Kc5 56.Rd8


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White is winning.

Oct-02-19  Damenlaeuferbauer: When I lied in bed with a cold and watched this game 10 days ago via live transmission on the internet, I was really shocked, that a reigning women world chess champion could not win an elementary, table base-won rook ending with about 25 minutes on the clock (so time pressure was no excuse): 56. Rd8! When you have just a free rook's pawn in a single rook ending, it is very important to cut the black king 4 files off. 56.-,Rh1 57.Kg4,Rg1+ 58.Kf5,Rh1 59.Kg5,Rg1+ 60.Kh6,Rh1 61.h5,Kc6 62.Kg6,Rg1+ 63.Kh7,Kc7 64.Rd2,Rh1 65.h6,Rg1 66.Kh8,Rh1 67.h7,Rg1 68.Rf2,Kd7 69.Rf8! Only move 69.-,Ke6 70.Rg8! Only move 70.-,Ra1 71.Kg7! Only move 71.-,Rg1+ 72.Kf8,Rf1+ 73.Ke8,Ra1 74.Rg6+,Kf5 75.Rf6+,Ke5 76.Rh6,Ra8+ 77.Kf7 +- I guess that Em. Lasker, J. Capablanca, M. Botvinnik, V. Smyslov, T. Petrosian, R. Fischer, A. Karpov, G. Kasparov, V. Kramnik, M. Carlsen, and J. Polgar would have won this ending easily.
Oct-18-19  James J. Henderson: To those criticizing Ju Wenjun for missing a win in a rook-and-pawn endgame: please note that Capablanca missed a similar win against Vera Menchik at Hastings 1929/30.

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