Endgame Corner

Bishop vs Knight
Part II
IN THE SECOND PART of my analysis of knight vs bishop I want to deal with positions, where the knight feels at home. His manoeuvres in the first example are quite common in a position with many of the defender's pawns blocked on squares of the bishop's colour: 6.01 J.Gdanski (2435) - A.Volzhin (2370), Oakham 1992

Endgame Corner
Karsten Mller

First White liquidates the kingside pawns in order to penetrate there with his king: 46.g5 hxg5+ 47.hxg5 fxg5+ 48.Nxg5 Kf6 49.Nf3 Bh5 50.Ne5 Be8

In the next step, White breaks through to the fifth rank as Black's king cannot maintain the opposition because the knight controls g6 51.Kg4! Ke6 52.Kg5 Ke7 53.Kf5! Kd8 54.Ke6 Kc7 55.Ke7 Bh5

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Now White's knight heads for e6 to force Black's king away to penetrate with the king to d6: 56.Nf7 Bg6 57.Ng5 Bh5 58.Ne6+ Kc8 59.Kd6 Be8 (59...Bg4 60.Nf4 Kb7 61.Ng6 Bh5 62.Ne5 Be8 63.Ke7 Bh5 64.Kd7+-) 60.Nc7 Bd7 61.Nxa6 Be8 62.Nc7 Bd7 63.Ne6 Be8 64.Nf4 and Volzhin resigned due to 64...Bd7 (64...Kb7 65.Ke7+-) 65.Nd3 Be8 66.Ne5 Kb7 67.b3+In the next example the attacking king can't penetrate and everything depends on whether the knight can overcome the resistance. 6.02 Z. Peng (2403) - V. Shklovski (2220) Hoogeveen, 2000 Black can't prevent White's knight from reaching c6 or winning the g- or d-pawn: 55.Kd1 Bg5 56.Ne1 Be3 57.Ke2 Bc5 (57...Bc1 58.Nc2 Kd7 59.Nb4 Kc7 60.Nc6+-) 58.Ng2 Kd7 59.Nh4 Ba3

And now White's king hinders the bishop from going back to the kingside with 60.Kd1! Bc5 (60...Ke7 61.Nf5+ Kf6 62.Nh6 Kg5 63.Nf7+ Kf6 64.Nd8+-) 61.Nf5 Bg1 62.Ke2 10 The following position is much easier to win.

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6.03 A.Burn - A.Alekhine, Karlsbad 1911 76.f5+ gxf5 (76...Bxf5 77.Nxf5 Kxf5 78.Kf3 g5 (78...Ke6 79.Kf4 Ke7 80.Kg5 Kf7 81.Kh6+-) 79.hxg5 Kxg5 80.Kg3 Kf5 81.Kh4 Kg6 82.e6+-) 77.Kf4 Bg4 78.Kg5 Bh3 79.Ne8 Kf7 80.Nf6 f4 81.Kxf4 Be6 82.Kg5 10 Alexander Khalifman combined a lot of techniques to win this very complicated position. 6.04 A.Khalifman (2628) - D.Barua (2550) FIDE-Wch k.o. Las Vegas 1999 69.f5!! opening a path for White's king 69...gxf5 (69...Bxf5 70.Nxd5 Kf7 71.Nc7 Bc8 72.Kf4 Ke7 73.Ke5 g5 74.hxg5 h4 75.g6 h3 76.Nd5+ Ke8 77.Kf6 Bf5 78.Kxf5 h2 79.g7 Kf7 80.Nf6 Kxg7 81.Nh5+ Kf7 82.Ng3+-) 70.Kf4 Kf6 71.Nc2 Bd7 72.Ne1 Bc8 73.Nd3 Be6 (73...Bb7 74.Ke3 Kg7 75.Nf4 Kh6 76.Ne2 Kg6 77.Kf4 Kf6 78.Ng3 Bc8 79.Nxh5++-) 74.Kf3 Ke7 (74...Kg7 75.Ke3 Kf6 (75...Kf7 76.Nf4+-) 76.Nc5 Bc8 77.Kf4+- see the game) 75.Kg3 Kf6 76.Nc5 Bc8 77.Kf4 Kg6 78.Ke5 f4 (78...Kf7 79.Nd3+-) 79.Kxf4 Kf6 The next move looks strange at first sight, but White's king has to retreat to win the fight for the opposition as the knight can't lose a tempo 80.Kg3 Kg7 81.Kf3 Kg6 (81...Kf7 82.Nd3 Bg4+ 83.Kf2 Kf6 (83...Ke7 84.Nc5 Bc8 85.Ke3 Kf7 86.Nd3 Kf6 87.Nf4+-) 84.Nf4 Kf5 85.Nxd5 Ke4 86.Nf6+ Kxd4 87.Nxg4 hxg4 (87...Kc3 88.Nf6 Kxb4 89.Nxh5 Kxa5 90.Nf4+-) 88.Kg3+-; 81...Kf6 82.Kf4+- and White has managed to lose the tempo by the triangulation of his King.) 82.Nd3 Bg4+ (82...Bb7 83.Nf4+ Kh6 84.Ke3 Ba8 85.Nd3 Kg6 86.Kf4 Kf6 87.Nc5+-) 83.Ke3! Be6 84.Nf4+ Kf5 85.Nxh5 (Of course not 85.Nxe6?? Kxe6 86.Kf4 Kf6=) 85...Kg4 86.Nf4 Bf7 87.Nd3 Be6 88.Nc5 Bc8 89.h5 10 Very well played by Alexander Khalifman! The last two examples show different themes.

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6.05 K.Mller - Curt Hansen German Bundesliga 6th board, Hamburg-Porz 2001 Curt Hansen breaks through with a nice sacrifice of the knight: 42...Nf3! (42...Ne4? 43.Bxe4 dxe4 44.g5+ Ke7 45.g6 e3 46.g7 e2 47.g8Q e1Q 48.Qg5+=) 43.Bc2 e5 44.g5+ Nxg5 (Of course not 44...Kf7?? 45.g6+ Kg8 46.Bf5+-) 45.dxe5+ Kxe5 46.Kxg5 d4 47.a4 (47.cxd4+ Kxd4 48.Kf4 b4 49.axb4 axb4 50.Kf3 b3 51.Bd1 b2 52.Bc2 Kc3 53.Bf5 Kd2+; 47.Kg4 d3 48.Bb1 Ke4 49.Kg5 b4 50.axb4 axb4 51.cxb4 c3+) 47...d3 48.Bd1 b4 49.cxb4 c3 01 6.06 J.Pelikian (2393) - J.Sunye Neto (2555) Sao Paulo zt 2000 Black can't make progress by normal means, so Sunye Neto takes drastic measures: 68...Nxd4!? 69.exd4 e3 70.Kh6 (70.Bh4 comes into consideration as well e.g. 70...Ke4 71.Kg6 Kxd4 72.Kf6 Kc4 73.Kxe6 d4 74.Kf5 d3 75.e6 d2 76.e7 d1Q 77.e8Q Qf3+ 78.Ke5 Kxb4 79.Kd4=) 70...Ke4 71.Kg6 Kxd4 72.Kf6 Kc4 73.Kxe6?! (73.Kg5! was better e.g. 73...d4 74.Kf4 Kd3 75.Kf3 e2 76.Kf2 Ke4 77.Kxe2 Kxe5 78.Kd3 Kd5 79.Bh4 e5 80.Be7 e4+ 81.Kd2 Kc4 82.Bc5 e3+ 83.Kc2 d3+ 84.Kd1 e2+ 85.Kd2=) 73...d4 74.Kf5 d3 75.e6 d2 76.Bxd2 exd2 77.e7 d1Q 78.e8Q Qd5+ 79.Kg6 Kxb4 80.Qe1+ Kc5 81.Qe3+ Qd4 82.Qc1+ Kb6 This endgame is drawn according to the tablebase, but over the board it is extremely difficult to hold the draw. White shows, that he knows the rule, that his king should be near the north east corner, but unfortunately Black's king march to b6 involved a trick: 83.Kh7? Qd7+ and White resigned as he can't prevent the exchange of queens.

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Exercises (Solutions next month) E6.01 J.H.Blackburne - J.Mason Paris 1878 Can White to move convert his advantage?

E6.02 C.Schlechter - K.Walbrodt Wien 1898 This example is very famous. White can indeed win but how?

E6.03 After Z.Varga - P.Acs Budapest 1999 Black to move and draw

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E6.04 G.Vescovi (2526) - K.Sakaev (2627) Istanbul ol 2000 Black to move and win

E6.05 H.Camilleri (2156) - Nirosh De Silva (2162) Istanbul ol 2000 How to asses the position with White to move?

Solutions to last months exercises S5.01 Gambit Tiger 1.0 - Deep Fritz Computer Chess Match Tournament Cadaques 2001 The position is drawn: 57...Kf7 58.Bxh7 Kg7 59.Bg6 Nc3 60.h5 Ne2 61.h6+ Kh8 62.Bf7 Nd4 63.Bd5 Nxb3 64.Bxb3 and Gambit Tiger made another 68 moves before conceding the draw.

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S5.02 K. van der Weide (2434) J.A.Nilssen (2326) Politiken Cup Copenhagen 1999 Van der Weide saved the game as follows: 48.a4!! closing the path of Black's king via b5-a4 48...Bc2 49.g5 fxg5 50.Kg4 Bxa4 51.Nb1! the point: the knight goes to a3, where it locks the queenside. 51...Bd1 52.Na3 Kd6 53.Kxg5 Bxf3 54.Kxf4

S5.03 V.Potkin (2470) - V.Milov (2604) Linares Anibal op 2001 White managed to storm Black's castle: 57.Bd7 Na8 58.Kd5 Nc7+ (58...Nb6+ 59.Ke4 Nxd7 60.cxd7 Kxd7 61.Kf5 Ke7 62.Kg6+-) 59.Ke4 Kf8 60.Kf5 Kf7 61.Bc8 Nb5 62.Be6+ Ke7 (62...Kg7 63.Bd5 Nc7 64.Bc4+-) 63.Bd5 Nd4+ 64.Kg6 Ne2 65.Kxh6 Nf4 66.Be4 Kd6 67.Bg6 10 Sources: ChessBase MEGABASE 2001 The Week in Chess Awerbach, Endspiele Lufer gegen Springer und Turm gegen Leichtfigur, Sportverlag Berlin 1989 Copyright 2001 Karsten Mller. All rights reserved. This column is available in Chess Cafe Reader format. Click here for more information.

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