Oct-15-20
 | | HeMateMe: terrific endgame themes here, very instructive, how to box out the opposing King. you would think that GMs can draw this opening as white. Somewhere, the Dude went wrong. |
|
Oct-15-20
 | | beatgiant: <HeMateMe>
Agreed, but there were instructive inaccuracies too.48. Kf1 (48. Kd1 was correct and looks drawn)
51...Rh7 (51...Rh5 was correct and is a tablebase win) 52. Rb6 (52. a4 was correct and is a tablebase draw) I'll have to study this ending! |
|
Oct-15-20
 | | Sally Simpson: ***
Normally when I see a post kicking off with 'terrific endgame themes here' I give it a miss. But glad I decided to give it a peep. 
click for larger viewThat a-pawn is more of a hindrance than a help. Without it White's drawing chances increase. Whilst on a2 White cannot give horizontal checks on the longside. (see I do know a wee bit about endings. ) Strange choice of opening. That 5.Nxd4 and 6.e5 line in the Rubinstein is usually a quick handshake. https://www.chessgames.com/perl/che... Provided of course that Black does not try to steal a pawn with 7...cxd2+ and then 8...Qxf6. White gets a raging attack. It appears this is one of them cases where a player tries too hard in a drawn Rook ending and it goes all wonky. (which is my term for <'Somewhere, the Dude went wrong.'> Aronian deliberately left the a-pawn on the board, he had 4 or 5 chances to take it. So he saw the no longside checks idea a long time before I ever did. Note that twice Aronian uses the sham pawn sac trick with the rook pawns to break up White's pawns structure. Yes some terrific...no wrong word HeMAteMe, some 'instructive' endgame themes here. But there again, if I had seen 'instructive endgames' I would definitely have given it a miss. Good game, good tournament. (Thanks HeMateMe).
*** |
|
Oct-15-20
| | HeMateMe: I'm honored to garner attention from the esteemed Mr. Simpson... |
|
Oct-15-20
| | beatgiant: <Sally Simpson>
Great point about the horizontal checks from the long side. This may explain why White played 48. Kf1 instead of 48. Kd1. If the a-pawn weren't there, 48. Kf1 would indeed be right, with the idea of moving the king to the short side so there will be more room for checks from the long side. Unfortunately, as you pointed out, White can't play the drawing 56. Ra2+ because the pawn is there! |
|
Oct-15-20
| | HeMateMe: Doesn't 34.R-e1 just draw the game? What was white looking at? |
|
Oct-15-20
| | beatgiant: <HeMateMe>
Black's king breaks in after 34. Re1 <Rxe1> 35. Kxe1 Kf5, followed by ...Ke4, and it seems like great winning chances for Black. White's actual move looks much safer. |
|
Oct-16-20
| | HeMateMe: After exchanging rooks cant white keep the king opposition? I don't see a pawn move that allows black to 'lose' a move, forcing white to give up more ground. If white's king is forced to g1 i still dont see where black breaks in, unless im missing some sort of pawn finesse. |
|
Oct-18-20
| | beatgiant: <HeMateMe>
34. Re1 Rxe1 35. Kxe1 Kf5 36. Kf2 Ke4 37. Ke2
click for larger viewI saw that White cannot hold the opposition because of Black's pawn breaks, for example 37...h4 38. a4 h3, or 37...a4 38. h4 a3. But you might be right about holding it, because on second look, I see White can give way and then lock Black's king in a corner. I haven't managed to find a win for Black. 37...h4 38. a4 h3 39. Kd2 Kf3 40. Kd3 Kg2 41. Ke2 Kxh2 42. Kf2 
click for larger viewor 37...a4 38. h4 a3 39. Kf2 Kd3 40. Kf3 Kc2 41. Ke2 Kb2 42. Kd2 Kxa2 43. Kc2 
click for larger view |
|
Oct-18-20
| | HeMateMe: you seem to have covered all angles, well done! In the actual game perhaps The Dude thought it unmanly to play such a passive draw and wanted to exchange some more wood first. Or, He actually thought he had winning chances, though seemingly unlikely. |
|
Oct-19-20
| | beatgiant: <HeMateMe>
In general, you don't want to go into an inferior pawn ending unless you are 100% sure you can hold it. Even if Duda saw the king-in-corner idea above, he would be justified in thinking a rook ending is a much safer path to a draw. What if he missed some other nuance? |
|
Oct-19-20
| | beatgiant: Now let's look at the difference the extra a-pawn makes in the rook ending. After move 47, we have:
click for larger viewIn the game line we saw the problem with 48. Kf1, the a-pawn gets in the way of the horizontal checks. So how does 48. Kd1 help? The point is, if Black plays to advance the e-pawn and win White's rook, White can also advance the a-pawn and win Black's rook back. For that plan, White wants the king near the a-pawn. For example, 48. Kd1 Rxh4 49. Rxg6 Rh1+ 50. Kc2 Ke2 <51. a4> shows that plan working. |
|
Oct-20-20
| | beatgiant: Now let's look at one of those "mysterious" inaccuracies near the end. 
click for larger viewFor those who have followed the discussion above, it's not rocket science to realize that White should have played 52. a4. That would accomplish two things: clear space for the horizontal checks, and threaten to create counterplay with the further advance of the pawn. If Black goes after the a-pawn, we get 52. a4 Ra7 53. Rb6 Rxa4 54. Rb2+ Ke1 55. Rb1+ Kd2 56. Rb2+ Kc1 <57. Rb8>, now threatening to bring his king in front of the pawn while also launching checks from the rear. It's a standard book draw that professional players like these would know inside and out. |
|
Oct-21-20
 | | fredthebear: It's always a pleasure to consider your posts <beatgiant>! |
|
| Dec-26-21 | | ndg2: No wonder Levon won: he played the Rubinstein variation and treated the endgame like Rubinstein. |
|
Dec-26-21
 | | perfidious: For someone who, by his own admission, is not keen on endings, <Geoff> does a fine job of elucidating the underlying themes of this endgame. |
|
Dec-26-21
 | | Retireborn: A belated thanks to <beatgiant> for the interesting analysis. I must say I'd never seen 10.Kxe2 played before.
It does not seem very natural. I gather Carlsen had a go with it in 2018. |
|
| Jul-14-22 | | DouglasGomes: White missed a chance to block the position with 30. a4 |
|
| Dec-14-23 | | NimzoWitch: Jacob Aagaard analyzes the game in his book "A Matter of Endgame Technique" and shows that 51...Rh7? throws away the win and 52. Rb6? throws away the draw. Correct are 51...Rh5 and , after 51 ... Rh7, it is 52.a4 that draws.
Apparently Alex Yarmolinsky's video series "Every Russian Schoolboy Knows" includes this endgame. |
|
Kibitzing
