I finally got a copy of this book by Rashid Ziyatdinov.
So far, I have made it through the King and Pawn endings as well as the Rook and Pawn endings. I thought I knew the Lucena Position (building the bridge) until I ran into the last few frames of the R+P+K vs R+K
The position of the defending King and how far the Rook is can turn this position into a draw ( depending on who's move it is).
A look at position 45 :
White to move, its a straightforward win. 1.Rg1+ Kh8or7 2. Rg4 and on to the Lucena. But with Black to move, Black can draw with Perpetual check on the ranks. 1... Ra8 + 2. Kd7 Ra7+ and the king can't stray too far away from the pawn to go after the Rook.
If Black's rook were over one file, its a win either with white or Black to move. If the Black king were up one square, it makes 2.Rg4 problematic and harder to force the win. ( with the black king at g7, 1.Rg1+ Kh6 2. Re1 allows white to go after the the black rook when checked from the ranks.
I started to look at the middle game positions too. I set up my board and set my clock for 20 minutes and analyze strategies for both white and Black. I try to focus on my thought process I outlined in a previous post .
My goal for this year is simple. I plan to become "BlunderLess" instead of my notorious BlunderProne Moniker.
Enjoy.
5 comments:
If you like that position, and endgames in general, I can't recommend Soltis' Grandmaster Secrets: Endings enough. The "Black to move" theme is discussed there. Black's king went to the short side, like a good little boy, allowing Black's rook to give checks from the long side. Right now it has enough checking distance that the white king can't reach it. One file over, and it doesn't have the checking distance and white's king can reach it.
Actually, White wins this position even if it's Black to move. 1...Ra8+ 2.Kd7 Ra7+ 3.Kd6 Ra6+ 4.Kc5 Re6 5.Rf8+! Kg7 6.e8=Q Rxe8 7.Rxe8 +/-.
The key point is that Black's king is misplaced on g8. Give Black the move with his king on g7 and the position should be a draw.
I just wrote an article about Lucena with Black to move, covering this position and a couple of other interesting ones.
The position is a win for White, with Black to move and his king misplaced on g8, but not by the line given by likesforests - 1... Ra8+ 2. Kd7 Ra7+ 3. Kd6 Ra6+ 4. Kc5? allows Ra8! (instead of Re6??) and there is no longer a win. But, 4. Ke5 Ra8 5. Kf6 Ra6+ 6. Kg5 Ra8 (Re6? 7. Rf8+) 7. Kg6 Ra6+ 8. Rf6 Ra8 9. Re6 Re8 10. Re1 +- This line is not possible with the Black king on g7.
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