This is the game between Aronian and Carlsen. It is Black (Carlsen) to move. One move draws the game. He chose 73…Ra7+ and resigned after 74.Ke8. Can you find the drawing move? This is a very painful loss for the young phenom. This is why endgame is so important. But I am sure he will learn from this and bounce back much stronger. Magnus is the real deal.
Chess Daily News from Susan Polgar
Kg6
Kg6 is a book draw. How could a GM miss this?
How does Kg6 draw…? maybe its a silly question, but obviously Carlsen missed it too!
I just played this out with a Master friend of mine who was also on my 2005 US National Amatuer Team Champion Tim Hanks and we came up with these moves with assistance from Rybka:
1……. Kg6
2. Rd8 Ra7+
3. Rd7 Here Kd6 got nowhere
3……. Ra8
4. Rc7 Tim’s try to win!
4……. Ra6
5. Kd7 Ra8
6. e7 Kf7
7. Rb7 Re8
8. Kd6 Ra8 and White cannot make progress!
As they say “Every Russian Schoolboy would know this!” problem is Carlsen and most of us did not learn this in 1st Grade at school! I am sure Carlsen will be reading Capablanca’s endgame lessons after this debacle.
Not everone is like R.J. Fischer.!
Dear Susan,
Dad and I thought about this a lot, and first, we got Rf8,but then we realized Kg6 was better. Thank you for your autographed card. You are my hero, so I was overjoyed when Emi Stuart gave it to me at a chess tournament! THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!
Sincerely, Crystal
Unbelievable blunder in a text book position. This is no ordinary GM either. Carlsen has a Super GM rating of 2698!
Susan
Whats the “BIG” deal, Magnus does like this sometimes (play like a child), but I tell you all; WE LOVE HIM! This year has showed us all that he really is a super grandmaster. At the moment he is very hard, even for “top ten”, to win against. Soon he starts beating them (and if he don`t, who cares, we love him anyway (giving us chesslessons, and good time with our “prog”, waiting for the next moove (think we are some ten tousends only in Norway looking at his game every time he play). So all you, asking how he could miss Kg6 drawing, whats your problem? He is 15 years old!
I wonder: Could Magnus have played something else than 59… f7-f6 that seemed unecessarily risky ?
Hmm methinks I need to work on my endgames if this is a brainless draw.
Super GMs have been known to miss endgames which are more elementary than this. It happens. Nothing to feel bad about
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The interesting thing about this position is that it yields up its secrets fairly easily if you ask the right questions. Here’s how I explained it to my daughter (who is a big Magnus fan, BTW):
Black’s Rook is optimally placed in two respects: it keeps White’s King from coming to the 8th rank (clearing the way for the pawn to advance), and it is as far from the pawn — on the “long” side — as it can get.
First, suppose that it is White’s move. How can White make progress? Only by challenging the placement of Black’s Rook with 1.Rd8. But then the e-pawn is defended only by the White King, so Black can play 1…Ra7+. If White blocks the check with his Rook, Black simply plays 2…Ra8 with a repetition of a position already seen. If White plays 2.Ke8, Black has 2…Kf6 winning the pawn and drawing easily.
Back to reality now, where it is Black’s turn to move. How can Black keep everything well-balanced like this? Only with 1…Kg6, where Black’s King still has access to the f6 square. Black’s Rook is still working as hard as it can on a8, literally doing everything that one could ask of it. White cannot improve his position.
What won’t work is for Black to play 1…Ra7+, because after 2.Ke8 — and this is the critical point — White’s e-pawn is still defended. That is the genius of Aronian’s move: the position looks very similar to the position with White’s Rook on d8, but that little detail about the e-pawn makes all the difference. After 1…Ra7+?? 2.Ke8 Kf6 White has 3.e7+ — significantly, with check — and Black must move his King. After 3…Kg7 4.Re6, White walks his King back up the d-file and then zig-zags his way over to Black’s Rook. It takes a bit of time, but conceptually it is utterly straightforward.
A painful lesson to learn over the board!
Tim
Thank you for the clear and interesting description!
I think 1…Rb8 also draws, though 1…Kg6 is “better”.
anonymous: Due to tablebases 1. … Rb8 loses, it is mate in 24 starting with 2. Rd8. The only drawing move is 1. … Kg6
… and 1…Rb8 loses because then the rook is getting too close to the enemy king! Play goes 2.Rd8 Rb7+ 3.Kd6 Rb6+ 4.Kd7 Rb7+ 5.Kc6! Re7 6.Kd6! and white is winning
This exact position has been covered even in Seirawan’s Winning Chess Endings (section Short Side vs. Long Side just after Lucena and Philidor). And this book is really elementary 🙂
i though maybe it was taking the rook to the 8th rank and check to stop the pawn from getting to Q.
but now ive read its Kg6; uyou need a lot of time to analyze properly specially if u end game is not good, actually the endgame i think is my strongest, of course in an amateur leve.
gooodnight.
p.d. good for u susan that u meet Delilah!, its great when u meet someone u admire!!!
great like always,especial tnc to Tim.
>>Not everone is like R.J. Fischer.!
>>
Carlsen is currently much stronger than Fischer, but what has that got to do with anything?
Implying Carlsen can’t handle such a basic endgame is absurd. There’s but one thing to soak up here; Don’t get careless if your opponent insists on playing for tricks.
To put links in your comments type:
<a href=”http://URL”>TEXT</a>
where “URL” is the address and “TEXT” is how the link will be displayed.
BTW Susan, would you mind fixing this dead link: A Lion and a Lioness ?
After all, you would’nt want a nice blog to show signs of poor page maintainance right? :o)