An Endgame Lesson and the Consolation Begins

Although this game went on for 51 moves, it was really essentially over in one-half that length. The Class A player, Lack, uses his endgame skill to make the win look easy.

Alowitz, Arthur - Lack, Jonathan [C01]
AACC Championship Guilderland, NY, 26.01.2012

1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.exd5 exd5

The Exchange French is not sharp opening by any means. One place that either side can get into trouble is the e-file. They’d both like use a d-file square (d3/d6)for their King’s Bishop - it is the most active spot for that cleric. It is, however, more important not to fall in to an annoying pin along the e-file. That might interfere with castling: active piece posting is important, King safety critical.

4.Nf3 c6

More popular are 4..., Nf6; and 4..., Bd6. With either alternative Black is getting on with making way for early castling. The text slows accomplishment of that important goal and is played far less frequently.

5.Bd3 Nf6 6.0–0 Be7

Black does not care for 6..., Bd6 7 Re1+ Be6 8 Ng5, and the light squared Bishop goes off for the Knight. This is not really terrible. Black’s light squared Bishop is his less useful one, and he can recapture with the f-pawn potentially strengthening his center while getting an open f-file on which to work. Along with those facts, White would have used a tempo or two to do the work. Black can possibly enforce an eventual .., e6-e5; obtaining more say in the center. But as with most practical things chess players encounter, there are aspects of the position that favor White; he does have the Bishop pair, and if there is enough time to prevent .., e6-e5; the Black e-pawn can be a target. Also, the area around the Black King is not quite as strong as it is with three pawns guarding those points.

7.Re1 0–0 8.Nbd2,..

Going slow. Faster is 8 Bf4, while leaving open the choice between the Knight going to c3 or d2. I think it was in my last post I mentioned Korchnoi’s observation; unless you have a good reason, Knights belong on c3/f3. The slowness of the idea unfolding is good reason listen to Korchnoi.

8..., Bg4 9.Nf1 Re8

Another somewhat ambiguous moment; where should this Rook go? If behind the e-pawn that may appear on e6, there is a good chance Black can force ..,e6-e5; if he stays at home on the f-file, and the e-pawn comes into being, there may be some kind of attack that can be made down the f-file.

10.Ne3,..

Continuing in the leisurely manner. Perhaps White left the Bc1 at home out of concern about b2. There are tactical reasons that the attack on b2/d4 is not particularly fearsome. Here is a sample line; 10 Bf4 Qb6 11 h3 Bxf3 12 Qxf3, and if 12..., Qxd4?! 13 Ng3 Nbd7? 14 Rxe7 Rxe7 15 Nf5 Qb4 16 c3 Qxb2 17 Ne7+ Kh8 18 Rb1, and even though White may have invested three pawns, his chances are not bad. He has attacking possibilities.

10..., Be6

There is abroad in our local chess community a prejudice about Bishops. I had a warm discussion with Akhil Kamma before he left the area illustrative of this attitude; Bishops are always the superior of Knights. There is probably more written in technical chess books about BxN transaction than almost anything else. Soltis devoted a chapter in his 2004 book Rethinking the Chess Pieces, Batford, London offering a condensation of the varying wisdom of the Grandmasters over the last two centuries. He summed up the modern view as; Bishops have the potential to dominate Knights, but two concrete factors have to be considered; strong central squares for the Knights, and can one of the Bishop pair be traded off?

With those specific factors in mind, it was likely better for Black to try; 10..., Bxf3 11 Qxf3 Bf8 12 Bd2 Nbd7 13 c4 Ne5 14 Bc3 Ndf6; and Black has what he needs; a grip on e4 and the opportunity of trading the Bc3. The text move appears motivated by wish to keep his Bishop that is more or less doomed to fail.

11.Ng5 Nbd7

And so, the upshot is Black gives up the light squared Bishop anyway, but now his Rook is not on the file. Not certain if that is a plus or a minus.

12.Nxe6 fxe6 13.Ng4 Bd6 14.Bg5 Qc7 15.g3 Nxg4 16.Qxg4 e5 17.dxe5?,..

Black got to do what he wanted, and up to this move White has played well enough to maintain the advantage of the first move. Mr. Alowitz now tries to play simply and gets into trouble. Justification for his preceding moves lies in keeping the Bishop pair. The way he goes results in the better of his Bishops being removed letting the advantage swing over to Black. The testing line is; 17 c4 e4 18 Bc2 Bb4 19 Re2 Nb6 20 cxd5 cxd5 21 f3, threatening to open up the position to the benefit of the Bishops. The text costs a vital pawn and weakens the White pawn formation and his King. All that together means the game is won for Black, if he has the technique and the patience to carry out what is necessary. One characteristic difference between those Class B and down, when compares to Class A/Experts is endgame technique. Subsequent play in this game demonstrates this difference.

17..., Nxe5 18.Qh5 g6 19.Qd1 Qf7 20.Bf4 Nxd3 21.Rxe8+ Rxe8 22.Qxd3 Bxf4 23.gxf4 Qxf4

Black has secured the advantage; a sound extra pawn, control of the e-file with holes around the White King to exploit. Making a successful defense will be hugely difficult for White unless Mr. Lack is tempted into some kind of tactical interlude.

24.Rd1 Re5 25.Rf1,..

White can’t seem to find anything useful to try. Possibly because he sees the bad situation and is waiting for a mistake when he can strike back. The question is raised will Lack’s technique hold? I had no doubt. Mr. Lack made a serious effort to improve his score after a poor start, and this is too much of a textbook example for someone of his rating not to be able to solve the exercise.

25..., Qe4?!

After just saying his technique should hold, Mr. Lack takes not quite the optimal line. Simplest is; 25..., Rg5+ 26 Kh1 Qg4 27 Qg3 Qe2; and either all the pieces come off leaving the bare pawn endgame won for Black, or 28 Qh3 Rf5; ties down the White pieces and the problems grow worse for White. The Q-side pawns may be captured. The point f2 needs guarding. The White King is in danger if the Queen goes on a sortie. Something will give soon. Instead he forces a Rook and pawn endgame that is still won but several more moves must be played. With the Rooks on the board, White has some hopes of a draw in the far reaches of the ending if he can just avoid further loss.

26.Qxe4 Rxe4 27.c3 Re2 28.Rb1 Kf7 29.Kg2 Kf6 30.Kf3 Re5 31.Rd1 Re4 32.Rd2 Kf5 33.Rd1 Rf4+ 34.Kg3 Ke5 35.f3 Rf7 36.Re1+ Kd6

Black well knows the standard prescription in the sort of position; trade Rooks, make a passed pawn to drag the White King away, then use this distraction to create an unstoppable “passer”. He has not put jeopardy the winning formula in any way.


37.Re8 Re7 38.Rd8+ Kc5

White will not agree to Rook trade, and Black uses that as the opportunity to threaten the least defended of the White pawn islands. Black has positioned his Rook so there are limited opportunities for White to seek counter-play behind the Black pawns.

39.Kf2?,..

Discouragement creeps into Mr. Alowitz’s defense. Holding up the penetration of the Black King with 39 b3, is necessary. Now the White Q-side falls. Maybe he was worried about the Black Rook going to the 2nd rank. Not likely Jonathan would do that. It permits too much in the way of counter threats to the Black pawns. A key principle of good technique is to prevent all counter-play, so there is no reason to do that. Black still has resources with which to work on the Q-side after 39 b3. He can continue with; 39..., b5 40 Rc8 a5 41 a3 a4 42 bxa4 bxa4 43 Ra8 Kb5 44 Kf4 Re2!; the Black Rook coming to the 2nd rank only when all is prepared to make a passed a-pawn that will be much faster than anything White can create on the opposite side of the board.

39..., Kc4 40.Rd6 Kd3 41.Rd8 Kc2 42.c4 dxc4 43.Rd4 c3 44.bxc3 Kxc3 45.Ra4 a6 46.a3 c5

The death knell for White’s hopes. The c-pawn is unstoppable and the White King is cut off by the Black Rook so no reinforcement is possible. A very nice demonstration of the endgame technique for exploiting a one pawn advantage.

47.Ra5 c4 48.f4 Kb2 49.Re5 Rd7 50.f5 gxf5 51.Rxf5 c3 0–1

The win pushed Mr. Lack up to a 5-3 score along with Gordon Magat, Peter Henner and Dean Howard. Howard and Henner in the playoffs on tie breaks, but getting up to equal their scores was no doubt some consolation for Jonathan Lack.

The loss makes Mr. Alowitz dependant on luck and other’s results for a chance to play for the under 1800 prize. Cory Northrup must lose to Henner to allow Arthur in. A draw with Henner for Northrup would tie him and Alowitz on the score. I don’t know what the tie breaks would do about placement. A guess is Cory goes through if he draws with Peter, but that is only a guess. We will know this week.

I was unable to attend the round played at Schenectady last Thursday. Bill Townsend helpfully passed the following information:

The Consolation Tournament has gotten underway. Usually it is a Swiss System event. Turnout was fairly small this year, seven entrants. Mr. Townsend decided to make the event a round robin, all-play-all. I will have an update on the standings in a day or two. Top rated in the Consolation is Dilip Aaron, with many of the usual suspects; Connors, Northrup, etc. Anyone looking for a rated event? Mr. Townsend just may be able to fit you in, there is a bye round scheduled and room for one more player. Drop by and sign up this Thursday before too many rounds are gone.

Good news from the Finals. Carlos Varela is not to be away until February. He played last week against John Phillips, but lost in a fight. Phillips has gotten off to a very fast start, three out of three and will be hard to overtake. Philip Sells won from Richard Chu and is in second place at 2-1. Illness I believe I was told kept Zack Calderone from his game with Alan Le Cours last week. Alan has two of his games delayed and stands at 1-0. Can he slow down Mr. Phillips is one burning question, but it won’t be answered until the last round on February 9th . Another is can Mr. Chu bring up his giant killer mode to slow down John this week? Stayed tuned for the news.

More soon.