Author: Sune Larsson
Date: 10:16:49 12/28/02
[D]1R6/6k1/1P3p2/6p1/6Pp/1r5P/5PK1/8 b - - 0 1
This position happened in GM Serper-GM Ivanov, New York 1996.
Black has one way to draw it - by playing 1.-Rb2!. King moves
loses since the white king then can sneak to the queenside.
By the way, if white pushes the b-pawn too early to b7, it's drawn.
The premature push takes away a vitale hiding square for the white
king, and leaves him open to checks from behind. Game with comments
below:
Test: Find and play 1.-Rb2!
[Event "New York"]
[Site "New York"]
[Date "1996.??.??"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Serper, Grigory"]
[Black "Ivanov, Alexander"]
[Result "1-0"]
[WhiteElo "2535"]
[BlackElo "2525"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "1R6/6k1/1P3p2/6p1/6Pp/1r5P/5PK1/8 b - - 0 1"]
[PlyCount "32"]
[EventDate "2002.12.27"]
1... Kh7 $4 {It's easy to see that the weak kingside pawns don't leave white
many chances to win, but amazingly this move loses. After the correct} (1...
Rb2 $1 2. Kf1 Rb3 $1 {white wouldn't be able to make any progress without
losing his h3 pawn on the spot.}) 2. f3 $1 {Now the white king is ready to
sneak (f2-e2-de-c2) to the queenside. The loss of the f3 pawn shouldn't bother
him, because black doesn't get a passed pawn.} 2... Kg7 {If} (2... Rb2+ {then}
3. Kf1 {and the white king still gets to the queenside.}) 3. Kf2 Kh7 4. Ke2 Kg7
5. Kd2 $1 Rxf3 {A desperate attempt to create counterplay didn't work:} (5...
f5 6. gxf5 Rxf3 7. b7 Rb3 8. f6+ {and wins.}) 6. Kc2 $1 {
Now black has no time to steal the h3 pawn because of 7.b7.} 6... Rf2+ 7. Kc3
Rf1 8. Rd8 $1 Rb1 9. Rd6 Kf7 (9... f5 10. gxf5 g4 11. hxg4 h3 12. Rg6+ Kh7 13.
g5 {again didn't help.}) 10. Kc4 Ke7 11. Rc6 Rb2 12. Kc5 $1 Rb3 13. Rd6 $1 {
The threat Rd6-d4-b4 finishes the game.} 13... Rxh3 {The pawn ending after} (
13... Rc3+ 14. Kb4 Kxd6 (14... Rc1 15. Rd3 $18) 15. Kxc3 f5 16. gxf5 g4 17. f6
gxh3 18. b7 Kc7 19. b8=Q+ Kxb8 20. f7 {would be lost for black anyway.}) 14. b7
Rc3+ 15. Kb4 Kxd6 16. b8=Q+ Rc7 17. Qd8+ 1-0
/s
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