Adams – Kramnik (London Chess Classic 2014)
White to move. What is the best plan for white to proceed?
Chess Daily News from Susan Polgar
R & P endgame improvement
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P-k6+ pxp, pxp+ K-k2, K-K5 ..winning pawn..?
1.f6! is winning
1.f6 this looks like the best to reduce options for black pieces.Back rank mate will be looming around.
1….Rf1 I am working on assumption that black K will not retreat to bank rank unless forced.
2.Rh3 Rf2
3.Rh7 Kc8
3…. Ke8 protecting the P leads to mate after 4.Kc6
4.Kc6 Kb8
5.Rxf7 d3 Now black is lost.What I am writing further may just be fanciful variation with improvement possible for both sides.
6.e6 Rf4
7.e7 Rxc4+
8.Kd5 Rc5+
9.Ke4 d2
10.e8=Q+ Ka7
11.Qc8 Rc4+
12.Kf5 Rc5+
13.Kg6 d1=Q
14.Qa6+ Kb8
15.Rf8+ Qd8
16.Rxd8#
f6 wins
The right move, 1.f6, is hard (impossible??) to see, and even harder to understand, and I have the benefit of the chess engine analysis provided by Chessarena’s site. I have to think about this a bit longer. I spent a good while with 1.e6 here, and while I think it better than Adams’ choice of 1.c5, I was still unconvinced it won, and I had even missed black’s best defense at one point, so my evaluation was surely still overrating 1.e6.
1.f6 may look antipositional for the endgame (weak e P) but the midgame character has not ended still because of large number of pawns and constricted position of black.