Yesterday Mike Splane hosted another chess party that was devoted specifically to endgames. Uyanga Byambaa brought a fascinating game that she played in the recent U.S. Women’s Open in Las Vegas. She was Black against an unrated (!) player named Elena Rodriguez, a ringer who ended up tied for first at 4-1 and got a provisional rating of 2224. Uyanga was upset that she only managed to draw this game, because if she had won she would have been in the tie for first instead.
Here is where all the excitement begins.
FEN: 5rk1/4pp2/3p2p1/p1rPn3/1pP5/1P6/P3B1PP/4RR1K b – – 0 1
Rodriguez has just offered a draw, which Uyanga sensibly declined, because all of her pieces are better than all of White’s pieces. Not only that, Uyanga thought she had a simple route to victory: trade off all the rooks and get into a minor piece endgame, with the better knight versus the bad bishop.
Here Uyanga played 1. … Ra8, a decision that we criticized at first. “Black must play 1. … a4 here,” said Craig Mar. Black’s idea is to either exchange on b3 and create a weakness there, or else exchange on a4 and gang up on all of White’s weak pawns with her rooks.
Uyanga’s omission appeared especially significant after her opponent played 2. a4!, which prevents the pawn break Uyanga could have played the move before. Paulo Santana commented that his coach talks to him about “unique opportunities,” moves that you only get once chance to play.
I thought that this was an excellent concept to talk about, because it is the opposite side of the coin from Mike Splane Chess. As you know, Mike’s philosophy is to be patient, don’t rush into things, first eliminate counterplay and then squeeze your opponent to death. But unique opportunities are moves when, by definition, you can’t be patient.
Was 1. … a4 in fact a unique opportunity? As we looked a little bit deeper, it was not so clear. Uyanga said she didn’t play it because of the variation 2. ba Ra8 3. Bd1!
Position after 3. Bd1. Black to move.
FEN: r5k1/4pp2/3p2p1/2rPn3/PpP5/8/P5PP/3BRR1K b – – 0 3
Here the only move we looked at during the party was 3. … Rxc4? Believe it or not, after 4. Bb3 White is actually just about equal. Several people didn’t believe it at first, pointing to how bad White’s bishop is. But Mihai Suba has a saying, “Bad bishops protect good pawns,” and that is the case here. Also, by playing the pawn break 1. … a4, Black has created a new weakness in her own camp — the pawn at b4. After, say, 4. … Rc5 5. Re4 Rb8 6. g4! (an important move, creating luft and preventing … f5) g5 7. Rd1 the rook comes to d4 and Black’s b-pawn is lost.
This seemed to be a great vindication for Mike Splane Chess: Don’t play a risky move like 1. … a4 and create unnecessary weaknesses!
However, a closer look reveals it’s not so. The problem was Black’s decision to take on c4 with the rook. A better idea is 3. … Ra7! (3. … Kf8 is also good) defending the e-pawn so that the knight can take on c4. Even though White can now trade off her bad bishop with 4. Bb3 Nxc4 5. Bxc4 Rxc4, in my opinion Black is way, way better here. The b4-pawn is now adequately defended and White’s multiple weak pawns cannot be held. There are lots of lines we could look at, but I’ll have to leave them up to you because there is a lot more to cover in this endgame.
Score so far: Opportunity Chess 1, Mike Splane Chess 0.
But, anyway, after 1. … Ra8 2. a4! the game is certainly not over. Black can’t open lines on the queenside any more, but she has created a weakness on b3 and all she needs to do is create another weakness on the kingside, and the Soviet School of Chess says that she should win.
So Uyanga proceeded to shift her forces to the kingside: 2. … Kg7 3. g3 Rh8 4. Kg2 Rc8 5. h4!
Uyanga told us that she was glad to see this move because she thought it was the second weakness that she needed to win the game. She continued with her plan: 5. … Rh6 6. Rh1 R8h8 7. Bd1! g5?!
Position after 7. … g5. White to move.
FEN: 7r/4ppk1/3p3r/p2Pn1p1/PpP4P/1P4P1/6K1/3BR2R w – – 0 7
Do you see the resource that Uyanga missed? It wasn’t just Uyanga. Her opponent missed it too, and so did everyone at our chess party!
The answer is 8. c5! Oops, we forgot about the queenside! Of course Black cannot take because the knight hangs. If 8. … Nd3 then 9. Rxe7 gives White the counterplay she desperately wanted. You can try 9. … dc or you can try 9. … Nxc5, but I think that White is just better. She has a target on f7, she has a target on a5, she has every chance of creating a passed h-pawn, and the position has become the type of position that favors the bishop, with play on both wings.
But can’t Black just win a pawn? She can play (after 8. c5!) 8. … gh 9. Rxh4 Rxh4 10. gh (diagram).
Position after 10. gh. Black to move.
FEN: 7r/4ppk1/3p4/p1PPn3/Pp5P/1P6/6K1/3BR3 b – – 0 10
It looks as if Black can just take off a pawn here with 10. … Rxh4?? But that move loses by force! Can you see why?
The answer is 11. c6! Rh8 (the rook must come back right away, otherwise White would have time for Be2 and Ba6) and now the stunner: 12. Rxe5!! de 13. Bg4! Unbelievably, Black has no way to block the h3-c8 diagonal. 13. … e6 runs into 14. d6! and 13. … Kg6 runs into 14. Bd7!
Wow! By taking the Unique Opportunity to play 8. c5, White has turned a struggling position into a win! Score: Unique Opportunity Chess 2, All Other Forms of Chess 0.
In reality, the story is not quite so simple. In the fourth diagram, Black could also try 10. … Nd3 or 10. … Ng6. However, in all these cases I feel as if Black is scrambling. She may be able to hold a draw, but something has gone seriously, seriously wrong.
Incidentally, there was even a second idea for White in the third diagrammed position. She could have played 8. h5!? I’d bet you dollars to doughnuts that Black would have played 8. … g4, and then 9. c5! is even more of a killer than before. However, the reason I don’t think 8. h5 is the best move is that Black could have realized the danger she was in and played something like 8. … e6 instead, with a complicated ending with chances for both sides.
Okay, we’re still not done with this endgame! There is one other interesting thing we didn’t notice at the chess party. The game continued 8. hg? (Opportunity missed) 8. … Rxh1 9. Rxh1 Rxh1 10. Kxh1 Kg6 11. Kg2 Kxg5 12. Kf2 Nd3+ 13. Ke3 Nc5 14. Kd4 (diagram).
Position after 14. Kd4. Black to move.
FEN: 8/4pp2/3p4/p1nP2k1/PpPK4/1P4P1/8/3B4 b – – 0 14
Here Uyanga played 14. … f5, and the wise old masters (myself included) shook their heads. Uyanga had missed the opportunity to play 14. … Kf5 (zugzwang!) 15. Ke3 Ke5 16. Bc2 f5 (zugzwang!) 17. Bd1 Ne4, which seemingly wins. But does it, really? Let’s go a little bit farther: 18. Kf3 and now what does Black do?
Position after 18. Kf3. Black to move.
FEN: 8/4p3/3p4/p2Pkp2/PpP1n3/1P3KP1/8/3B4 b – – 0 18
Well, if you don’t play 18. … Kd4 then none of those zugzwangs had any point. They were zug-nots (or not-zwangs?). But if you play 18. … Kd4??, you lose! White plays 19. Kf4!, gobbles up the f-pawn and proceeds to munch on e7 and d6 for dessert. (It’s true that there are some subtleties. Black could play 19. … Kc3 20. Kxf5 Nc5, shutting White’s king out of e6, but I think that the outside passed pawn is too strong after 21. g4.)
She zugs me, she zugs me not…
Bottom line: Uyanga should not beat herself up over the failure to win the knight-versus-bishop endgame. It looks as if it was not a win. Earlier, allowing 8. c5 was a definite mistake, even if she didn’t pay for it. It looks as if the idea of going all out for an attack on the h-file was misguided; at best she goes into a drawn endgame, at worst she leaves the queenside unguarded for a White breakthrough. It really does seem as if, after all, her best shot at winning was 1. … a4!
As Tarrasch said, “Before the endgame the gods have placed the middlegame.” It seems as if Uyanga should have listened to him. Instead of trading directly down into an endgame that was not as winning as she thought, she should have tried to increase the advantage she had by using her rooks as well.
