No Time for Endings (part 1)
One of the biggest challenges of league chess is time management. Many years ago games were adjourned and if necessary finished on a different date. Today we have 75 minutes each for the whole game (with 10 seconds added every move). Inevitably, by the time endgames appear on the board, both players have very little time to manage their intricacies. A common scenario is that you work hard to gain a small advantage which is lost in the lottery of frenzied time scramble.
At the start of the current season, I have already had three games that have reached interesting endings, which are then characterised by many errors as both players navigate the complexities with the clock inexorably ticking down!
I am going to review one of the endings in this article I aim to follow up with two further articles on the same topic.
Pettinger,Martin (2029) - Dalley,Kevin (1845)
Derbyshire League Derbyshire, 08.10.2024
John Tompson also looked at the game and I have also included his comments alongside my own (in blue italic)
Position after White’s 39th move.
After a tough battle the position above has been reached. White has an extra pawn that is close to promotion but the Black rook is in a perfect position to control it. Both players however are now running low on time.
Over the summer I have been studying "Endgame Strategy" my Mikhail Shereshevsky. In that book there are several examples of this type of ending (R v R with a single extra passed pawn on one side of the board). I knew the correct strategy is that White should move his king to support the passed pawn and eventually force the black rook to sacrifice itself for the pawn. Black needs to create a passed pawn of his own on the kingside to then cause White to sacrifice his rook for that pawn. The reason I wasn't confident is that the pawn on e6 is a weakness and will make it hard to achieve creating a passed pawn on the kingside.
39 .... h5 40.Ke3
White though backs away from the correct plan. I felt that I might now hold this.
40...Kg6 41.Kf3 Kh7 42.Ke4 Ra5 43.h4
43...g6?!
43...Kg6 may have been more practical giving me more options going forward.
44.g3 Kg7 45.f3
45...Kh7
The black king has to stay on g7 or h7. This being a consequence of my 43rd move. For example after 45...Kh6? 46.Rh8+ wins, or after 45...Kf7? 46.Rh8 Rxa7 47.Rh7+ wins!
46.Re8?
This should (famous last words) lead to a draw.
46…Rxa7
I knew that 3 v 2 pawns on the same side in a rook ending should be drawn. Perhaps I lifted my guard a bit - also I was not helped by that damn clock ticking down.
47.Rxe6 Rf7 48.f4 Ra7 49.Ke5 Ra3 50.Kf6 Rxg3 51.Re7+
51...Kg8?!
In retrospect, the wrong way. Its not technically lost yet, but this makes it harder.
JT: 51...Kh6 An easy way, but it is possible, when short on time, to get spooked by f5 pin ideas. 52.Rg7 Rg4!
52.Rg7+ Kf8 53.f5
What follows next is classic time trouble woes
53...Rg4?
A losing move - not that I was aware of that at the time! Due to the time issue, I am playing mostly on instinct.
JT: 53...Ra3! This is the best approach. You can actually lose both pawns and still theoretically hold the draw. The principle is checking from the side when the king is on the sixth rank, otherwise check from behind. 54.Rxg6 Ra6+ First the approach of check from the side. 55.Kg5 Ra1 JT: Now we move to the back rank because the king is off the sixth and we have time to check from behind. 56.Rb6 Rg1+ 57.Kf6 Kg8 58.Ke7 Re1+ - a draw!
54.fxg6?
White repays the favour! 54.Rb7! is the way forward 54...Kg8 55.fxg6 Rf4+ 56.Kg5 Rf1 57.Kxh5 and there is no stopping White.
54...Rxh4?
Now it is losing again! I completely missed the relatively obvious (when not flustered by time) 54...Rf4+! which is an easy draw after 55.Kg5 Kxg7 56.Kxf4 Kxg6.
55.Rf7+?
Again a move of the rook along the 7th rank leads to victory, for example 55.Rb7 (see the note to White’s 54th move).
55...Ke8?
The last mistake - and the game!
JT: Yep, you always want to stay closest to the promotion square, so long as you're not walking into mate, which it might have looked like - Rf4+ to f8 is the key.
55...Kg8 56.Rb7 Rf4+ 57.Kg5 Rf8 58.Kxh5 Rf1 this is Philidor's position - a well known draw. 59.Kh6 Rh1+ 60.Kg5 Rg1+ you just keep checking 61.Kf4 and if the king comes for the rook 61...Rf1+ 62.Ke3 Rg1= you simply win the pawn.
56.Ra7 Rf4+ 57.Kg5 Rf2 58.Kh6 Rg2 59.Kh7 h4 60.g7 h3 61.g8Q+ Rxg8 62.Kxg8 1-0
An interesting game, that ended up a lottery in time trouble.
Kevin (and John)