Anand – Giri, Tata Steel 2011
Black to move. Can Black win this game? What is Black’s best plan?
8/3R4/6kp/4r3/6pP/2p1P1P1/1r6/5RK1 b – – 0 49
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I seem to remember that Rb6 gave Black an advantage
yes black can win because of his free c-pawn but also he needs to prevent his king from check on the sixth rank . By playing Rb6! he does both.
I was a wittness yesterdag.
Of course black has to occupy the 6rank to prevent white giving perpetual !
1…, Rb6!!
Erik Fokke,
Amsterdam, Netherlands
I might as well give you the whole story.
Here Giri played 49…Rd2 and after 50.Rc7 the players agreed to a draw because White will give perpetual check with his c-rook, and the black king cannot go to h5 because of Rff6. Instead, 49…Rb6! should have been tried. Anand had been calculating 50.Rd4 h5 51.e4 Rc5 52.Rdd1 c2 53.Rc1 hoping to get the other rook to f2, which is a positional draw. However, after 53…Rc3 54.Kg2 Rf6! shows that White is a tempo too late, e.g. 55.Rf4 Kf7 56. Kf2 Ke6 and Black wins. Giri thought it was a draw “even if White plays passively,” and he mentioned a line Anand probably meant to play: 50.Kg2!? Rxe3 51.Rf2Rc6 52.Rd5! h5 53. Rc2 and this might be a draw.
Erik Fokke
Amsterdam, Netherlands
I watched this game yesterday on Chessbomb. Giri played Rd2 and the draw is forced by Rc7:
49. …..Rd2?
50. Rc7!
And, now, black can’t play Re3 to protect the advanced c-pawn due to the perpetual check that starts with Rc6 (the black king has no hiding place at h5 without the rook at e5). On playing 2. …c2
50. …..c2
51. Rc6 Kh5 (has to eventually)
52. Rff6
I might take a guess this is what Giri missed- he may have planned to play 52. …Rd1+ followed by 53. ….c1(Q), but, of course, there is no time for this as white now gets a perpetual check starting with 54.Rh6+. A painful draw for the young grandmaster against the World Champion.
i guess, i´d play Re2 and capture the pawn on e3 next move. don´t know, if that´s good enough for a win, though. greets, jan
The proper plan to try for a win was to play Rb6 to protect the sixth rank:
49. …..Rb6
And, now, white has a choice of most likely losing moves (but I have not looked at all of them in exhaustive detail) like Rc7, Rd3, Re1, Rc1:
50. Rc7 Re3
51. Rf4
Waiting for it passively with moves like Kh2, Kg2, or Rc5 is pointless:
51. …..h5
52. Kf2
The point of Rf4- the king can come to f2 behind his rook. Continuing:
52. …..Rd3
Now black is threatening Rb2+. There isn’t much white can do about it:
53. Rc5 Rb2
54. Kg1
Here, white will get mated if he doesn’t get the king into a position where the rook can block a check at f1: [54.Ke1 Rb1 55.Ke2/f2 Rd2 56.Ke3 Re1#] or [54.Kf1 Rd1#]. Continuing:
54. …..Rg3
55. Kf1
On 55.Kh1, black should probably play the same move below and win. Continuing:
55. …..Rb6
Here, c2 is still a draw starting with Rg5+ followed by unstoppable checks along the f-file. As before, Rb6 protects black’s king from harrassment. Continuing:
56. Rg5
On 56.Rff5 black plays Rd3 and wins: [56.Rff5 Rd3 57.Rg5 (57.Rh5 no better) Kf6 58.Rgf5 (Rcf5 no better) Ke6 59.Rfe5 Kd6 60.Ke2 (here, Rh5 loses quickly to Rb1+) Rf3 (need rook to stop check at f5!) 61.Red5 Ke6 62.Re5 Kf6 and, on any move other than 63.Rb5, black is going to play Rb2 and will win the game regardless]. Continuing:
56. …..Kh6
57. Rff5
On 57. Rf8 (threatening Rh8) black can win with Rg6: [57.Rf8 Rg6 58.Rh8 Kg7 59.Rhh5 Rg5 60.Rg5 Kf6 61.Ke2 c2 62.Kd2 (62.Rc5 Rg1! 63.Rc2 Rg2 64.Kd3 Rc2 65.Kc2 g3 wins for black) Rc3! 63.Kc1 (63.Kc3 c1Q 64.Kd3 (nothing holds, I looked every line from here up on the Nalimov tablebase to be certain)Qf1 and no matter what white does, a check from f2 or e1 will bag the h-pawn and win the game outright].
Now, I spent a long time yesterday working on this position after 57. Rff5 and could not find a convincingly proven win for black. I thought that 57. …Rf3 might win with a properly pushed c2, but I am not sure:
57. …..Rf3
58. Rf3
Only move for white. Continuing:
58. …..gf3
What is best for black on move 58? I simply don’t know. c2, and Rb1 were also playable here. Continuing:
59. Rc5
A must, I think. Any other move and I think the c-pawn can’t be stopped after a variety of lines that start with either 59. …Rc6, c2 or Rb1 depending on what other move white plays. Continuing:
59. …..Rb1
Here, is there anything decisively better for black? I have no clue any longer. Continuing:
60. Kf2 Rb2
61. Kf3 c2
62. Kf4
And how does black make progress? Unfortunately, with seven actors here, the Nalimov tablebases are of no benefit here. If there is a win for black, I am almost certainly overlooking something earlier in the line above. The Chessbomb computer analysis really doesn’t offer me anything deep enough to be of help in unraveling this mess for me.
49 … Rd2 was played in the game, and it’s horrendous. I see a lot of grandmasters today who don’t understand some of the basics of endgame play.
I don’t have the time to analyze the game right now, but Black has to play 49 … Rb6! That move stops the various perpetual and mate possibilities for White, allows Black to capture the pawn at e3, threatens to put a Rook behind the c-pawn, and also threatens to advance the pawn to c2.