Author: Josh Strayhorn
Date: 03:44:18 04/13/01
Go up one level in this thread
On April 13, 2001 at 05:03:23, Dann Corbit wrote: >On April 13, 2001 at 04:40:05, Gian-Carlo Pascutto wrote: > >>Here are his annotations: >> >>On April 13, 2001 at 04:24:58, Dann Corbit wrote: >>> >>>Here is the game. >>> >>>[Event "It"] >>>[Site "Bad Niendorf (Germany)"] >>>[Date "1927.??.??"] >>>[Round "?"] >>>[White "Kmoch, Hans"] >>>[Black "Nimzowitsch, Aron I"] >>>[Result "0-1"] >>>[ECO "B00"] >>>[Opening "KP"] >>>[Variation "Nimzovich defence"] >>> >>>50. Kg3 Rb4 >> >>The winning move. >> >>>51. cxb4 >> >>Compulsory, or else R-R5; etc >> >>>a4 52. b5+ Kxb5 53. Ba3 c3 54. Rb1 Kc4 > >I think 54. Rb1 is the question. Alex Szabo provided instead: >54. Re2! Kc4 > >So the question to be answered is : "Is Rb1 inferior to Re2, and is Re2 saving?" After 54. Re2 Kc4 55. f4 we arrive at this position, already posted earlier in the thread. [D]2b5/8/4p1p1/3pP1P1/p1kP1P2/Bpp3K1/4R3/8 b - - 0 1 Here I see no draw for White after the simple 55. ... Kxd4! White has two methods of play, based around the simple tactical fact that the rook cannot ever lose touch with the square b2, or Black will advance ...b2 immediately. First, White can try to create counterplay with the f5 advance, gaining a passed pawn. However, Black wins here by playing ...exf5, and sacrificing his bishop by allowing the passed e-pawn to promote on e8, the idea being that after the rook takes on e8, ...b2 wins. A sample variation starting from the above diagram: 55. ... Kxd4 56. f5 exf5 57. e6 Kd3! 58. e7 Bd7 59. e8Q Bxe8 60. Rxe8 b2 61. Rb8 Kc2 Clearly winning. The key move is 57. ... Kd3!, because the Black king needs access to c2, otherwise the bishop sacrifice is pointless. The other method of play is to try to cut off the Black king's entry by shuffling the White king and rook. I almost thought I had a draw, but found a win for Black in the line. The key is not to play ...d4 until after ...Ba6. Here, from the same starting point: 55. ... Kxd4 56. Kf3 (56. Kf2? Ba6 57. Re1 b2) Kd3 57. Kf2 Ba6 58. Ke1 Kd4! 59. Rh2 Ke4 60. Kd1 d4 61. Bc1 d3 62. Ba6 d2 Winning, as this last move cuts off the defense of b2 by the rook, among other things. You might ask, can White pull Black out of position and then strike with f5 to draw the game? Well, not in any variation I can find. I'll admit the possibility that I've missed something, but Black's king has access to c2 or f5, (from inhabiting either d3 or e4) either of which neutralizes the pawn push. From all I can see, Black wins this after 54. Re2, and 54. Rb1 is even less flexible, and even without doing such extensive analysis I can say pretty confidently that it loses as well.
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