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ANNOTATED GAME
A Titanic Endgame Fight! (R+B vs. R)
ethansiegel (1723) vs. clarinetref (1746)
Annotated by: ethansiegel
(1986)
Chess opening: Pirc defence (B07)
ethansiegel (1723) vs. clarinetref (1746)
Annotated by: ethansiegel
(1986)
Chess opening: Pirc defence (B07)
 Interactive |
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35... Rc3+ |
A good move, forcing the white king away from the defense of the g-pawn. Remember your endgame principles: When you're down on material, exchange pawns, not pieces! | |||||||||
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36. Kg2 |
Kf2 or Kh2 allows black to take the pawn on g4 with check. | |||||||||
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36... Rxa3 |
Black correctly understands that he must get rid of white's pawns to hold the position. | |||||||||
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37. Rxb6 |
And white knows his best chance of winning is with passed pawns on the queenside! | |||||||||
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37... Kxg4 |
Now that the king no longer defends the g6 pawn, it's time to take it. | |||||||||
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38. Bxg6 |
Obviously taking with the bishop is better than the rook! | |||||||||
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38... Kg5 |
Another interesting way to play is Nxg6, where the endgame is rook b-pawn vs. rook, but the black king may have trouble getting there in time to help out! | |||||||||
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39. Bh7 |
Denying black an exchange while still defending c2. Black now has no good way to avoid the loss of the pawn on b7. | |||||||||
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39... Nc4 |
Harassing the rook, although perhaps black has already hatched his drawing scheme at this point. | |||||||||
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40. Rxb7 |
With two passed pawns, I am very optimistic now. I feel that I've maximized my slight advantage and now have good hopes of winning; can black draw? | |||||||||
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40... Kf4 |
His king is certainly well-positioned! | |||||||||
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41. Rc7 |
Preparing to advance the queenside pawns. | |||||||||
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41... Ne3+ 42. Kf2 Nd5 |
Forking rook and pawn. | |||||||||
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43. Rc4+ |
But that's easily parried. | |||||||||
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43... Ke5 44. Ke2 |
I know I've got to get my king involved if I want to win! | |||||||||
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44... Ra4 |
Threatening to win the b-pawn; the only way to defend it is for white to play c3. | |||||||||
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45. c3 |
Of course I don't want to lose my pawn... | |||||||||
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45... Nxc3+ |
! Theoretically, this gives black a draw. After Rxc3 Rxb4, Rook Bishop vs. Rook is a draw. | |||||||||
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46. Rxc3 Rxb4 |
In practice, however, this endgame is very difficult for both sides. Even in games on chessgames.com, the strong side wins 35% of the time; Karpov defeated Van Wely with it as recently as 2003! I have 50 moves to either exchange his rook for my bishop, win his rook outright, or mate his king -- otherwise it's a draw. | |||||||||
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47. Ke3 |
So first things first -- I need a strategy. I decide that what I have to do is force his king back to the back rank, and then, if I can do that, I should be able to either mate him or force him to drop material. It's going to be tough because he's so well-centralized, and I only have 50 moves to do it in! | |||||||||
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