Endgame Methods
GM Nikolai Krogius wrote a short (50 pages) book “Endgame Laws” and, with limitation in space, he tried to introduce his method of endings classification. First, he says that all tipycal positions can be divided in two groups: exact and problem endings. Exact endings (we can also say “basic”) are deeply analysed and we can learn best methods to achieve expected results (for example, Lucena method).
Problem endings, the larger group, are more common in practice. Because chess is exponential, it is impossible to learn them like openings and exact endings. Therefore, our task would be to bring those positions in within exact endings, or at least the ednings we are familiar with. GM Krogius suggests that there are three methods for doing so: create zugzwang, use the power of passed pawns and/or use the position (activity) of the king(s). Of course, this sounds simplified and the large field requires further exploration.
GM Nikolai Krogius also wrote the masterpiece “Psychology in Chess”.
All methods suggested by GM Krogius will be topics in extended lessons I promised for registered users in February. For now, a short example from Fischer’s game.
Fischer - Finegold
New York, 1963
Let’s look at the position before we decide how to proceed. This is an same-colored bishops ending with equal material. White has one weakness to defend - d5 pawn, black has two - e4 and h7 pawns. We can notice difference in pieces activity. Black king is attacking white’s weakness, while white king is protecting d5 pawn and, at the same time, attacking black’s weakness on e4. Black bishop is tied for e4-pawn defence and its mobility is limited to f5-g6 only. White bishop is free to wander. Since black king is also covering entry squares c5 and e5, an idea presents itself - bring black into zugzwang. Direct attack 1. Bb1 with idea to capture e4 pawn is not working, you should find why and discuss in comments.
1. Bb3!
White starts maneuvering his bishop while black is limited to holding status quo.
1…Bg6 2. Ba4 Bf5
Question for you: How should white play after 2…Ke7?
3. Be8! Ke7 4. Ke5 Bg4
Question: What happens after 4…Kxe8?
5. Bg6!
Finally, white wins one of the pawns, because 5…hxg6 6. h7 promotes. Possible, but slower was 5. Ba4 Bf3 6. Bc2 and black bishop is on “wrong” diagonal.
5…Bd7 6. Bh7 and black resigned soon. Good example of combined play on zugzwang and king’s activity.
Eric from France said,
Wrote on February 4, 2007 @ 12:48 am
I think 1.Bb1 doesn’t work because of
1… e3 and White can’t take the black Bishop because of
2… e2.
admin said,
Wrote on February 5, 2007 @ 12:51 pm
Very good
Eric from France said,
Wrote on February 5, 2007 @ 8:42 pm
Thank you.
After 2… Ke7, I think White wins the black pawn on e4 with 3.Ke5 and 4.Bc2.
After 4… Kxe8 5.Kxf5, the black pawn on e4 falls and White remains with a pawn up. Afterwards it will be hard for the black King to stop all the white pawns.
admin said,
Wrote on February 6, 2007 @ 12:30 am
And what happens if Black goes for 4…e3 after 4.Bc2?
Eric from France said,
Wrote on February 6, 2007 @ 4:19 pm
You are right! Then we arrive in the same position as after 1.Bb1? which is rather bad for White.
After Black’s answer 3… Kf7 or 3… a5, White should maybe bring its bishop on f5 through d1 and g4, intending to trade both light pieces and to leave the pawn e4 without any protection.
admin said,
Wrote on February 7, 2007 @ 1:22 am
That’s a good idea to play Bd1-g4-f5. I would even place it on e6 instead of f5, to take away some important squares from black king (Another form of zugzwang).
But we can notice that after 2…Ke7 3.Ke5 black has nothing better than 3…Kf7 (3…Kf8 4.Kf6), and now white is able to play Bc2! The main point is that Bxg6 will be check.
2…Ke7 3.Ke5 Kf7 4.Bc2 e3 5.Bg6 Kg6 (5…hg6 6.fe3 is hopeless) 6.fe3 Kh6 7.Kf6! is the key move which wins crucial tempo. White king is cleaning e-file for his pawn and at the same time blocking black king on h-file. Now black has to lose 2 moves (instead of only one shouldn’t white play Kf6) to clean the path for his pawn. You will see that white promotes on time thanks to this tempo
This is good example of another method mentioned by GM Krogius - use the position (activity) of the king(s)
Eric from France said,
Wrote on February 7, 2007 @ 12:50 pm
Once again thank you very much for the nice demonstration.
Best reguards.
Hello world! « Chess Strategy said,
Wrote on February 7, 2007 @ 1:22 pm
[…] Weakness Coming Soon Endgame Methods Complex of Squares II Kasparov in action EMail This Post | Print This Post | 13Views […]