White to move. Can you win this game as White?
Nakamura – Gelfand
White continued with:
47.a7 Rxa7 48.Rb4 Rf7 49.Rd4 Rf5 50.b4 Rxg5 51.Rd2 Kf6 52.c4 Ke7 53.c5 Rg6 54.Rg2 Rf6 55.Rd2 Rg6 56.Re2+ Kd8 57.Rg2 Rf6 58.Rd2+ Kc8 59.Ra2 Rg6 60.Rd2 Rg5 61.Rg2 Rd5 62.Ke4 Rd1 63.b5 Re1+ 64.Kd5 f3 65.Rxg3 f2 66.Rg8+ Kb7 67.Rg7+ Kc8 68.Rg8+ Kb7 69.c6+ Kb6 70.Rb8+ Kc7 0-1
What is the best way for White to continue?
Chess Daily News from Susan Polgar
Naka has a big mouth. Gelfand took exceptions to what Naka said. Pay back is great!
Even a 1600 player can win this.
my first guess – after seconds is – b4
my second guess is 1.rf6 … after a minute …
47.Rb7+ followed by 48.a7 was what I expected when watching the game. But maybe it’s not a good idea to allow the black king forward? 47.b4 also look plausible. Will need to set this one up on a chessboard and work it out.
Looks like only a trip to McDonalds for him now!
First advancing the b pawn should be looked at
1. b4 Ra3
2. Rc7 (b5 Rxc3 gets the balck pawns active)
Also simple is
1. Rf6 with the idea of 2. Rxf4.
Trade the a pawn for both of black’s pawns and it’s an easy win. I prefer this because it keeps the Black rook more passive than opening up the 2nd rank.
I like c4. If the black rook tries anything other than staying on the a file, just plop the white rook behind the a pawn and march the a pawn. If the black rook stays put on the a file, march the c pawn.
b4 looked nice but like ellie said why open up the second rank? make black work to get there.
I would have played 47.c4, because Black cannot control a, c, and g pawn simultaneously.
But probably 47.Tf6 with the option of sacrificing the rook is the better way.
The trouble with both lines is 47..Tf1+ 48.Kg2 Tf2+ 39.Kg1 f3 and it’s not clear to me how to avoid perpetuals and how to stop those pawns.
I like c4.
Bartleby, after your line
[47. Rf6] 47..Tf1+ 48.Kg2 Tf2+ 49.Kg1 f3
the a pawn push decides
50. a7 Rxb2 (Black threatens mate for a tempo)
51. Rxf3 Ra2
52. Rxg3 Rxa7
and white’s g pawn lives as well. Still 2 pawns up without any counterplay
@ellie: I’m not convinced.
Instead of 50..Rxb2 Black can go on giving checks with 50..Rg2+. If White wants to avoid repetition he has to play 51.Kf1 Tf2+ 52.Ke1 Te2+ 53.Kd1.
But then 53..g2! and Black gets a queen and White doesn’t.
Maybe that’s what Naka feared when he played a7 immediately.
@bartleby:
Yes I see. I am working this out without a board, so please bear with me.
I didn’t bother to look at running the White King to e1, because the g pawn will queen with mate. I don’t think in any line can White queen and have a spare tempo to stop the mate.
The move 1.rf6 is tempting but doesn’t work.
[FEN “8/6k1/PR6/6P1/5p2/2P2Kp1/1P6/r7 w – – 0 1”]
1. Rf6?! Rf1 2. Kg2 Rf2 3. Kg1 f3 4. a7 Rg2 5. Kf1 Rf2 6. Ke1 Re2 7. Kd1 g2
8. … {White resigns} 0-1
Only the following variant
seems to be winning convincingly:
47.Rb7+ Kg6
48.a7 (tying the black rook)
48… Kxg5
49.c4! Kf6
50.c5 Ke6
51.c6 Kd6
52.c7 Kd7
53.Rb8!
and one pawn is going to queen
Why not look at moving up the pawn to a7. with only one move to go that is a powerful pawn.
1 Rb7+ Kg6
2 a7 Kxg5
now what ????
push the only other pawn that has an open file.
3 c4
now black is obviously in trouble.
Yeah that last one appears to work. But if White can queen right after f3, he has time to mate first.
I’m sure Nak was afraid of …Rf1+; Kg2 Rf2+; Kg1 f3 followed by Rc3 and mate threats, so that’s why he went for the f pawn to try to win without risk. He didn’t particularly care about his own g-pawn. He found out that just the f pawn was more than he could handle, when he could not blockade it!
Hindsight is 20/20
Don’t you think you’re being too simplistic, anonymous? I can assure you that the problem we patzers have in this position is NOT that we cannot find the moves or reasons in your analysis; it’s that other moves appear to do just as well.
In any case, black still has the same idea as bartleby described. The rook is NOT tied to a1 if Black can give perpetual check. The idea is
Rf1+ Kg2 Rf2+ Kg1 f3.
Here White must find a way to defend against perpetual checks (from e2/f2/g2/h2), or escape to d1 and deal with the f3/g3 pawn couple. Can he do that given 1 tempo? With a8=Q, Rb7, I’m sorry, it is by no means a plan that even a patzer can find and follow.
since my first 3 moves were followed up by someone who says my moves were “no brain” moves.
I can assure you that I used my brains on those moves.
LOL
I agree the normal problem is that lots of moves “look good” and I suspect that even white’s move of allowing Rxa7 has some merit.
Gelfand is an extremely good chess player. He has learned how to hang in there tough in the end game to turn things around some times. He succeeded today. That is the mark of the top professional chess players. That ability to hang in there tough in difficult situations and play for some complexity on the board.
[Reply to: “Don’t you think you’re being too simplistic, anonymous?”]
You are no doubt right. Speaking as a patzer myself, I can’t help but be too simplistic. The reason the perpetual doesn’t work (from the formation with Black R on f2, pawns on f3 and g3, White K on g1) is that White’s King simply runs to d1. Now Black has no reasonable checks — at which point the White queen on a8 can jump out of its starting blocks.
You’re right though that the formation bottom-right looks superficially scary from White’s point of view (Black pawns on f3 and g3, R on f2, White K on g1), but it’s easy to see this leads nowhere.
Now I can’t say “easy to see” without justifying it. If you define “easy to see” as “forcing” (ie, the analysis has essentially no branching, more like a “single branch” rather than a “bushy tree”), then checking to see if the perpetual works fits this definition.
For suppose we get to the starting formation:
1 Rb7+ Kg6
2 a7 Kxg5
3 c4 Rf1+
4 Kg2 Rf2+
5 Kg1 f3
6 a8Q
The cost of playing f3 was the white Q. So now black is really under pressure to find a perpetual — right now. Well, the first forced move is the only check which doesn’t drop the rook:
6 … Rg2+
7 Kf1
(White heads left, following the naive “run away from the perpetual” plan.) Again, the next move is forced; again the only check which doesn’t drop the rook:
… Rf2+
8 Ke1
(White sticks to his “run away left” plan.) And again:
… Re2+
9 Kd1
And now black is running on empty. No more gas in the perpetual tank: White is about to enter his Q and R mating net (starting with a check, so visions of playing f2 and g2 are futile).
The lesson for me (a self-professed patzer) is this: things that look scary are only really scary if I can’t calculate them through; and if the variations are essentially unbranching (as here), then I just need to calm down, put my emotions aside, and calculate them through. I miss so many oppurtuties through emotions and panic: things that turn out to be (with 20/20 hindsight) really easy-to-calculate forced varations (just deep, not wide).
Naka has a fair position up to 56 Re2+ is a real error. He allows the black king to get to the white pawns. Much better was 56 b5 continuing to push the pawns.
Why did he not keep the king away and why did he not push the pawn. That is the question.
All this being said, it was still much better to play 47 Rb7+ with 48 a7
The actual continuation Nakamura gave up the 2 extra pawns and still had some pressure.
I had great expectation for Naka in this tournament. It was his chance to prove himself against the top GMs. He had good position in both games.
Was he ever in time trouble?
I had hope he would repeat his FIDE knockout strategy of drawing the rapid games to take it to Blitz.
Well Naka had a winning position in game 2. He was up 2 pawns. Unfortunately he lost. I did not watch the games so dont know what the clocks said. But Gelfand is a very good chess player. Let us not forget that. He is not some patzer like most of us.
I do not think that nakamura has anything to be ashamed of. He has been spending his time on college. The very fact that he was included in this tournament is a feather in his cap. Many top players did not make it into this tournament.
I really wish people had a better understanding of the randomness to the outcome of games. Probability and Statistics control the outcomes. The “best” player does not always win. and technically based on elo, Nakamura was not the best player. But he does have some strong points and with luck he might have won the tournament. But it does not look like today was his lucky day.
I try to go over some of my interesting games with fritz. I am shocked at how often I do not play the “correct” continuation. So big deal Nakamura missed the best move on one move of the game. I wish I could accomplish that in a game.
One of the fun reasons to watch sports is that we never know who will win until the game is over.
i would think Rb7+ puts black in check and allows for the promotion of the white a pawn. black responds f7 to try and stop the white pawn advance. white moves a7 to further his white pawn. black plays Ke7. then white c4. this makes the black rook go after both the a and c pawns. i would move both pawns and make black defend both of them. then centralise my king so black king cant be used effectivly.
wolverine
The prophylactic 1.Kg2 seems to be a good try.
1..Rd1 2. a7 Ra1 3.Rb4 Ra7 4. Rf4
1..Rd1 2. a7 Rd2 3. Kf3 Rf2 3. Ke4
1..Kg8 2. Rb4 Ra7 3.Rf4
1..Ra2 2. Kh3 (3.Rb4 Kg6 4.Rf4 Rb2 5.Kg3 too probably wins) 2..Ra1 3. Rf6
In all these, I see that it is white who is winning.
it amazes me after reading these reponses how people can over complicate an easy end game win. its obvious that after Rb7+ thats this allows the a pawn for white to advance. then anything black does is followed by c4 and there are two pawns going down the board and its impossible for black to do anything to stop a pawn promotion. you can throw in a rook sac to prevent the black king from getting to the pawns then the game is over.
wolverine
Anonymous said:
“I really wish people had a better understanding of the randomness to the outcome of games. Probability and Statistics control the outcomes.”
It sounds like Anonymous was referring more to Poker or Bridge than Chess. The truth is Naka does not get a lot of invitation to play with Super GMs so he wasted his opportunity. I tought this format favored him as the Top blitz internet player. I once ventured Naka’s name in one’s of Susan Top Blitz Player List but it shows that the top players are also the best in blitz play. Over the board blitz play is quite a different animal than internet Blitz play.
Rb7+ … a7 wins the game. I found another line where I thought black may be able to win or at least draw, but fortunately for white, this plan has a tiny hole, too:
1. Rb7+ Kg6
2. a7 Rf1+
3. Kg2 Rf2+
4. Kg1 f3
5. a8=Q Rg2+
6. Kf1 Rf2+
7. Ke1 Re2+
8. Kd1 g2
9. Rb6+ { clears the way for the queen } Kxg5
10. Qxf3!! g1=Q+
11. Kxe2
11. is the tiny hole I’m talking about… after Qxf3 the rook is no longer defended and the white king can flee the queen’s check by capturing it.
Placing the rook closer to the queening square doesn’t work either:
7. Ke1 g2??
8. Kxf2
With only King and Queen vs. King, Queen, Rook and two pawns, black has no winning chance anymore. The next interesting question is whether black can still force a draw with constant check. I haven’t investigated this yet.
wolverine said: “then anything black does is followed by c4”
Obviously, you cannot play c4 after 2. … Rf1+ and playing c4 after 4. … f3 would lose a crucial tempo.
After 5. c4 Rc2, white seems helpless to stop the mate Rc1#.
ok for the moron that posted you cant put c4 after Rb7+.
if you listen to what i wrote i said u advance the a pawn which means after Rb7+ you play a7. then if he plays Rf1+ then u just play Kg2 and black just wasted a move. the check did nothing. then you play c4. obviously if black decides to waste a move with a worthless check ill just side step the check and then play a4. if black trys c1 then ill play Rc7 to protect both pawns. u need to think it through more your analysis is terrible.
wolverine
actually after black Kf1+ whote Kg2
white has to run back to a1 or else im promoting my pawn then c4 and blacks rook has to stay on a1. then i just march my c pawn down the board until black king trys to interced which i just sacrifice my rook and promote the c pawn.
wolverine
Ok, “wolverine”. Let’s see who’s the moron. I challenge you to play this position against me as white. The only condition is that you play c4 at the first opportunity this is possible after
1. Rb7+ Kg6
2. a7
which I think we can agree on. You claim it does not lose the game for white after the moves I pointed out, I claim it does. Whoever wins after c4 was played will thus be vindicated and the other one (that is, you) will be the moron.
I’ll thus begin with Rf1+, the check that does nothing, as you say. It’s your turn, “wolverine”.