Black to move. Can black save this endgame? How should black proceed?
Daily Chess Improvement: Must Know R & P Endgame!
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Black to move. Can black save this endgame? How should black proceed?
… Ra8
And eventually Kh7 and g8
Obvous move is 1…. Rg1. The climax of the puzzle is to avoid pitfalls later.
…Ra8, e6 Kf6, could be better? Followed by Kh7 and eventually … Rg8. Prevents White’s eventual Rf8….
1… Rf1+ 2.Ke3 Rg1 3.Kd4 is bad for Black so Rg1 looks correct. I’ll bite and provide some light entertainment for people with vastly superior endgame skill to me.
1…. Rg1
2.e5+ Ke6
3.Rb6+ Ke7
4.e6 Rxg7
5.Rb7+ Kf8
6.Rxg7 Kxg7
7.Ke5 Kf8
8.Kd6 Ke8
9.e7 wins. Which is obviously wrong conventionally and psychologically since Black plays first indicating the possibility of a draw and is two pawns down so almost certainly a draw or there wouldn’t be any point in posting it.
3.Rb6+ Kf7
4.Rb7+ Ke6 just repeats
3.Ke4 Rxg7
4.Rxg7 stalemate
2.Ke3 Ke5 looks drawn
2.Rb6+ Kxg7
3.Ke5 Kf7
4.Rb7+ Ke8
5.Ke6 Kd8 (6.Kf7 Rf1+ looks repetitive)
6.Rb8+ Kc7 and I’m giving up there.
In the hypothetical line, 3. …..Ke7 was the losing move- black must play 3. …Kf7 at that juncture. However, in the hypothetical, 4.e6 is a drawing move for white while 4.Kf5 is the only winning move:
1. …………Rg1
2. e5 Ke6
3. Rb6 Ke7?? (Kf7=)
4. Kf5!
And now the threats white has in the arsenal should be easier to envision. The 6th rank is closed off to the black king by the king and pawn combo. This indirectly protects the g-pawn against the black rook because 4. ….Rxg7 allows 5.Rb7+ exchanging the rooks at g7, and the K+P vs K ending is easily won for white with just the e-pawn. In addition, black no longer has the time to play 4.Kf7 putting an actual threat on the g-pawn because white just queens at g8 and the rooks again are exchanged off by either 4. …..Kf7 5.g8Q Kg8 6.Rg6+, or by 5.g8Q Rg8 6.Rb7+ Kf8 7.Rb8+ again giving the winning K+P vs K ending.
So, let’s back up to black’s 3rd move from the top:
1. …………Rg1
2. e5 Ke6
3. Rb6 Kf7!
Now, I am not going to go through all of the variations here- they are simply too numerous for me to deal with right now, but lets talk about 4.Kf5 for white here:
4. Kf5 Kg7
Here, black can harass the white king with Rf1 because the g-pawn is again under threat by the black king, but black can just take the pawn right now because exchanging the rooks off by force no longer works, and the resulting K+R+P vs K+R ending is drawn:
5. e6
I will cover Rb7 later, below, but obviously 5.Ke6 loses instantly to the skewer from g6 by the black rook. Continuing:
5. …………Rf1
Also, moves like Re1, Rd1, Rc1, and Ra1 should also draw, as should Rg2 and Rg3 (though not Rg6 which loses to Rb7+). Also, Kf8 can be played here because Rb8 isn’t a threat yet (see below). To my own eye, Rf1 is just obvious and easiest to see through. Continuing:
6. Ke5
Here, Kg5 won’t help.
6. …………Re1
7. Kd6
In my opinion, this is the critical juncture. While I think black could play Kf8 at move 5 safely, it is now a losing move because white plays 8.Rb8+ to win easily. I think black has exactly 3 moves here to draw- Kf6 (double attacking the e-pawn, Ra1, and Rd1. I will just cover the last one since it covers the critical points:
7. ………….Rd1
8. Ke7 Ra1!
The only move that draws now:
9. Rc6
This gets the rook close enough to shield the white king from harassment when that king is on the d-file (he obviously can’t stay on the e-file):
9. ………..Ra7 (Ra8 draws too)
10.Kd8
Preparing to guard the new queen:
10. ……….Kf8!
Double guarding the key d7 square to stop the pawn from advancing. Kf8 is the only way to draw now. White can’t interpose the rook at c7 because black just exhanges at c7 and then plays Ke7 winning the pawn. White might try to trick black by playing 11.Ra6 Rxa6 12.e7+ Kf7?? 13.e8Q+, but if black plays 12. ….Kg7 instead of 12. …..Kf7??, black can play 13. ….Ra8+ to again draw the game. However, white has no time for driving the black king away from the f-file, and no time to put the rook behind the e-pawn productively:
11.Rc5 Ra8!
12.Kd7 Ra7
13.Kd6
Again, 13.Rc7 Rxc7 14.Kc7 Ke7 wins the e-pawn.
13. ………Ra6 (or Ra8)
14. Ke5
And black can return the rook to a1 planning harassement from the first rank, or can just play Ke7 double attacking the e-pawn again.
Now, before closing this comment, I want to discuss one more line I mentioned above:
1. ………Rg1
2. e5 Ke6
3. Rb6 Kf7
4. Kf5 Kg7
Now, above, I covered 5. e6, but I want to show that white does no better with 5.Rb7:
5. Rb7 Kf8 (Kg8 is ok, too, black has plenty of time)
6. Ke6
Here, 6.e6 is just a transposition to what we saw above. Continuing:
6. …………Rg6
7. Kf5 Rc6
And now the white king is cut off from the 6th rank while the black king is in good control of the squares in front of the enemy pawn. Also, at move 6 above, black probably had time for moves like Ra1, Rh1, and Rc1, but a move like 6. ….Rd1 could be problematic:
6. …………Rd1?
7. Rf7! Ke8 (Kg8 8.Rd7)
8. Ra7
And now the rook can’t leave the d-file. Black must move the king to either f8 or d8 since Rd2 etc allows Ra8 followed by Rxd8 and Kf7 queening the pawn successfully. Continuing:
8. …………Kd8
9. Ra8 Kc7
10.Ke7 Rd7 (what else better?)
11.Ke8
And it should be clear this is won for white.
This is by no means exhaustive. I could spend a month on this rook ending, and not cover all the options, but I think 1. ….Rg1 is the only draw for black. It is positions like this that gave rise to the old chess saying that all rook and pawn endings are drawn with perfect play. If I have time later tonight, I might discuss why I think 1. …Rg1 is the only draw and why a move like 1. …Rf1+ doesn’t work for black because it loses a critical tempo.
Very interesting, thank-you. I’m feeling a lot more confident about R+P endings now. Quite an intricate dance of pieces 🙂
1… Rf1+ 2.Ke3 Rg1 3.Kd4 black just checks till white returns!
1… Rg1 loses
I’m sorry if you read my comment and got confused because of it, it’s easy to think about king journeys with just the king moving by itself and the king could maybe go on a journey to somewhere after going to a7.
No you’re right, that wouldn’t work, because the white king would leave the e pawn unprotected after black played Rg1 with the white king was too far away. So the king can’t do anything on the queen side as simply as that.
No, my mistake! I reckon now 1… Rf1+ would lose, the white king isn’t too far away. Yancey is right!
1. … Rg1 looks promising, as it seems to grant black a draw.
Now for the loose ends:
1. ………..Ra8??
2. e5
Probably a lot of ways to win this, but the pawn advance pretty much has to be in all of them anyway, so I don’t see any need to delay:
2. ………..Ke6 (if Kg6 3.e6 Ra4 4.Ke5 Ra5 5.Kd6 Ra6 6.Kd7+-)
3. Kg5
I don’t know if this is shortest- probably a competition between this and moving the white rook down to or below the 3rd rank to put it behind the g-pawn. However, the king advance is so obviously winning to me that I don’t care for shortest or not- the e-pawn can’t be taken yet since the white king will just run up through g6 to either f7 or h7 and queen the g-pawn. Continuing:
3. ………..Rg8 (of course, if Ra1 then 4.g8Q is played with check)
Also, as I wrote above, 3. ….Ke5 4.Kg6+-)
4. Kg6 and black won’t be able to stop the g-pawn.
I guess the biggest remaining thread is what happens if black plays the check from f1 before putting the rook behind the g-pawn? Does the extra move matter? I think it does.
1. ………….Rf1??
2. Ke3!
Why this is the only winning move should be obvious in just a second. Continuing:
2. …………..Rg1
Well, there are no other plausible moves now! The g-pawn is ready to queen, and if black plays another check from e1, white’s king will guard the g1 square and the g-pawn will queen safely. However, the time it took black to get the rook there gave white the march up the d-file…..
3. Kd4!
This is the only winning move, but you have to know your king and pawn endings to realize this. Obviously, the g-pawn can now be taken:
3. …………..Rg7 (alternatives later)
4. Rg7 Kg7
5. Ke5
This is the shortest and most direct move, but white retains a decisive edge with Kd5, Kc5, and Kc4, but will allow black to draw with all the other moves, including the tempting e5. With Ke5, the white king takes what I and others call the diagonal opposition. There is nothing black can do now- give ground or resist on the 7th rank are futile:
5. …………..Kf7
6. Kd6
Again, the shortest route. White doesn’t care where the black king goes now:
6. …………..Kf8 (if Ke8 7.e5 Kd8 8.e6 Ke8 9.e7+-)
7. Kd7 and the pawn marches to e8 guarded by the king.
So, let’s back up to black’s third move in the line above and see if black can draw by not taking at g7:
1. …………Rf1
2. Ke3 Rg1
3. Kd4 Rd1 (harass the white king)
4. Kc5
Here, I think the other king moves will win, too, but the white king has to go the same place in all them, so no reason to delay:
4. …………Rc1
5. Kb6
Now we have reached the critical juncture. The black rook can return to g1 to guard g8 along the file, or can play to c8 to guard g8 along the rank. Or black can play more harassing checks. Let’s look the last of these first:
5. …………Rb1
6. Kc7
The shortest win, surely. Even though the white king interrupts the protection of the g-pawn by playing to c7, the pawn can’t be taken without losing the rook at b1. Now, again, you have to know your king and pawn endings because black can take at b7 with check, and then take the g-pawn, but the result is a lost ending for black:
6. …………Rb7
7. Kb7 Kg7
8. Kc7 Kf6 (if Kf7 9.Kd7 was a position seen earlier)
9. Kd6!+-and I will leave the rest of this variation to the curious.
Now, at move 6 black can’t draw with Rg1:
6. …………Rg1
7. Kd8
Again, white offers the exchanges at g7. Again, you have to know that the result is winning ending for white anyway (7. …Rg7 8.Rg7 Kg7 9.Kd7 Kf6 10.Kd6+-) . Additionally, white is threatening a sequence like Ke8 and Kf8 to queen the g-pawn since the black king can’t access f7 yet. There really isn’t anything black can plausibly imagine to draw. All I really see here is to hope for a mistake:
7. ………….Ke6
8. Ke8 Rg2 (Ra1 9.Rb6 Kany 10.g8Q)
9. Re7
Now, if the black king goes to f6, white just checks with e5 and the g-pawn queens and wins the rook at g2, as well. And if black plays Kd6, white plays Kf8 and blocks the check from f2 with Rf7 to queen the g-pawn.
And finally, at move 5 above, Rc8 won’t save black, though it seems more tenacious to me:
5. ………….Rc8
6. Rc7 Ra8 (maximum flexibility)
7. Kc5 Ra5
8. Kc6
And now, if black continues the harassment with Ra6, white puts the king on b7 and the g-pawn can no longer be stopped. Putting the rook on g5 is no better than the lines with 5. ……Rg1 above, so…
8. …………Ra8
9. Rd7
This move isn’t as odd as it looks. Again, black can’t check from a6 with the rook since 10.Kb7 is decisive. If black checks from c8, white just puts the king on d6 to threaten the push of the e-pawn. This leaves Ke6 and Re8 for black:
9. ………….Re8
10.Kd6
Again, the black rook can’t leave the 8th rank without allowing the g-pawn to queen, and black can’t play Rg8 followed by Rxg7 because the resulting ending is clearly lost for black.
10. …………Re6
11. Kc7 Re8
And now, with the white rook covering g8, the rook on the e-file under attack by the white king prevents Kxg7, and black can’t find a productive way to extract the rook and will run out of checks and must try the line starting at move 13 below:
12. Rd8 Re7 (of course Rd8 13.Kd8 Kg7 14.Kd7+-)
13. Kd6 Rg7 (or Re6 14.Kd5 Re5 15.Kd4+-)
However, white now wins with the e-pawn…
14. e5 Kf5 (Kf7 15.Rd7 Kf8 16.Rg7+-)
15. Rf8 Ke4
16. e6 and this is clearly lost for black- his king is out of play.
Since I have to go, I will leave 9. ……Ke6 for the curious.