8/6pk/P3R3/3K2p1/6P1/2r5/8/8 w – – 0 48
Ivanchuk – Anand (Linares 2009)
This is the actual position after 47…Rc6. It is White to move. Is this a won endgame?
[Site “Linares”]
[Date “2009.02.24”]
[Round “5”]
[White “Ivanchuk, V.”]
[Black “Anand, V.”]
[Result “1/2-1/2”]
[ECO “D19”]
[WhiteElo “2779”]
[BlackElo “2791”]
1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. Nc3 dxc4 5. a4 Bf5 6. e3 e6 7. Bxc4 Bb4 8. O-O O-O 9. Qe2 Nbd7 10. e4 Bg6 11. Bd3 Bh5 12. e5 Nd5 13. Nxd5 cxd5 14. Qe3 Re8 15. Ne1 Bg6 16. Bxg6 hxg6 17. Nd3 Qb6 18. Nxb4 Qxb4 19. b3 Rac8 20. Ba3 Qc3 21. Rac1 Qxe3 22. fxe3 f6 23. Bd6 a5 24. Bc7 fxe5 25. dxe5 b6 26. Rc3 Rf8 27. Rfc1 Rf5 28. g4 Rf7 29. Bd6 Nc5 30. Bxc5 bxc5 31. Rxc5 Rcf8 32. Rxa5 Rf3 33. Ra7 g5 34. Re1 d4 35. exd4 Rxb3 36. Rf1 Rd3 37. Rxf8+ Kxf8 38. a5 Rxd4 39. h3 Kg8 40. a6 Ra4 41. Kf2 Ra5 42. Kf3 Rxe5 43. Re7 Kh7 44. Re8 Ra5 45. Rxe6 Ra3+ 46. Ke4 Rxh3 47. Kd5 Rc3 48. Rb6 g6 49. Kd6 Kh6 50. Rb8 Ra3 51. Ra8 Kg7 52. Kc5 Ra1 53. Kb6 Rb1+ 54. Ka7 Rb4 55. Rb8 Rxg4 56. Rb5 Ra4 57. Rxg5 Rb4 58. Rc5 Kh6 59. Rc6 Kh5 60. Rb6 Rf4 61. Rb5+ g5 62. Kb6 Rf6+ 63. Ka5 Rf7 64. Kb6 Rf6+ 65. Ka5 1/2-1/2
48)Rc6 seems the highway to the full point
After looking the position, I saw that white has two strategies to win. Either Exchanging Rooks in any way or getting the king to b7 with the rook between king and opponents rook.
Rc6 fits both strategies and lead to an easy won. I won easily against the computer, the moves where just natural e.g.
48.Rc6 Rg3 49. Kc5
this endgame is draw – after Rc6 black simply plays Rxg3 and sacs his rook for the a-pawn, white king is too far away to catch g-pawn (supported by black king of course) in time.
Otherwise black goes for the stalemate idea (king to h6, pawn to g6 and take a7 pawn, after recapture with Ra8 it is stalemate).
In fact white’s last move Ke4-Kd5 was a blunder, allowing Rc3!! which cuts of white king – had white played instead Ke4-d4! the endgame would be elementary won, becuase black hasn’t the resource he has in the game.
endgame guru 🙂
rxg3 is questionable since the pawn is at g4
What is wrong with the immediate pawn push 48. a6-a7 ?
That forces the Black Rook to be tied down to the a file, protecting against queening of the pawn. The White Rook retains the 7th rank. Then the White king marches to b7 a8 b8 squares and Black cannot stop this simple plan of queening. Did I miss something? I am quite an amatuer endgame player.
If White pushes the pawn, Black puts his R behind the pawn tying White’s rook to the 7th, then K on h6 & P on g6, & grabs the pawn for a stalemate
The anonymous commenter at 7:38 seems to be correct- Ivanchuk made a mistake not covering the c3 square with the king and allowing black to cut off the white king’s immediate advance to the queenside.
I haven’t done a truly in depth analysis, but it does appear there are stalemate themes involved that prevent an immediate pawn advance, which Downpuppy has noted ties the white rook to the seventh rank indefinitely, and this allows black to advance his king and backward g-pawn creating a stalemate whenever black sacs for the a-pawn on the seventh rank, or simply harrasses the white king with impunity with the rook.