Endgame of the Month 2

TURNING A SEEMINGLY COMPLEX POSITION INTO SOMETHING SIMPLE

A letter from Ken Brown:

I just wanted to let you know how much I like your endgame book. I've been away from the game for many years and upon returning I've focused on working tactics problems and studying endgames using your book. My rating in the past was 1641 so, although I'm probably a bit weaker than that right now, I'm working through part 5 of the book at this point with additional parts to be added later. I wish I had known this stuff before because I think I would have been a (much) better player.

Last night I was playing a game and I could "see" the endgame that the game was heading toward and how to steer it in my favor. I achieved a position that allowed me to trade off all of the pieces and reach a pawn endgame where I could get an outside passed pawn and head for the chicken coup. It was amazing how quickly I spotted my opponent's blunder in the endgame which made winning the position a piece of cake, although I was confident that even with best play I was going to win by a move. However, since he didn't play it right, I have lingering doubts about my calculation. I think I win by (at least) a move, but I'm afraid I might be missing a better move for my opponent that gains him a move, in which case perhaps I lose by a move! Here's the position; what do you think?

WHITE TO MOVE AND KEEP THINGS SIMPLE

I believe I can win material with Rc7, but the plan from there doesn't seem as clear-cut. After 1.Nxe6 Kxe6 2.Bf5+ Kd6 3.Rxd7+ Rxd7 4.Bxd7 Kxd7 5.Kf2 the plan seems clear: get in front of the e-pawn to block it and use the 2-1 advantage on the queenside to create an outside passed pawn, forcing black to deal with it. White beats black back over to the kingside, eats the pawns, queens a pawn, and wins.

Interestingly, in the past I would have avoided this position due to worries about the passed e-pawn for black. However, having a better understanding of the value of the outside passed pawn and the fox in the chicken coup idea provided much needed insight.

Anyway, this book is fantastic, and I'm so thankful that I bought it, even though I've got at least four other endgame books on my shelf. Organizing the material by rating group was, in my opinion, a brilliant idea. I really appreciate your efforts to present this material in a way that makes it easy to understand and fun to work through.

Silman Replies:

VERY impressive! Seeing basic endgame situations from seemingly complex positions is what the book is all about. But doing this kind of thing over the board is impossible without that all-important BASIC FOUNDATION.

In this case Ken made excellent use of the lightly punned term: FOX IN THE CHICKEN COUP. I chose coup over the "correct" (if you are just thinking about chickens) coop since coup denotes "a highly successful, unexpected stroke, act, or move; a clever action or accomplishment." Another hit from our ever-useful dictionary "Coup: A brilliantly executed stratagem." I felt this spelling fit like a glove when coining a new bit of chess lingo!

So what exactly is FOX IN THE CHICKEN COUP? Here's the definition from my book (SILMAN'S COMPLETE ENDGAME COURSE: FROM BEGINNER TO MASTER): Fox in the Chicken Coup refers to a situation where the stronger side's King (the "fox") rushes to the other side of the board to feast on helpless enemy pawns ("chickens") while the defending King is busy dealing with a pawn on the other wing.

MORE THAN ONE WAY TO ROME

This position is indeed won. The immediate mass exchanges should win (thanks to that outside passed pawn -- Though care is always needed in K & P endgames!), but you have other options too. For example, 1.Kf2 when Black can't do anything to improve his position. His pawns can't really move, his Knight can't move, any (reasonable) Bishop move allows Bf5, a King move to e8 or f8 hangs the Bishop, ...Kd6 allows Nb7+ picking up the Rook, and a "pass" like ...Rc8 loses to Nxe6 followed by Bf5+ winning a piece. Thus, (after 1.Kf2) Black can only try ...Kf7/...Kf6 or ...Rf8+:

* 1...Kf6 2.Nxe6 Kxe6 3.Bf5+ and the trades then lead to an improved version of your game.

* 1...Rf8+ 2.Ke3 and the threat of Nxe6 followed by Bf5 is, to put it mildly, annoying.

BLACK IS HELPLESS

Again, the best Black can do after 1.Kf2 is to enter a resignable version of your game.

Another odd way to get the job done is 1.Bf5!?, but it's complicated and was wisely avoided for the sheer clarity and safety of 1.Nxe6 (or 1.Kf2):

1.Bf5 Bxf5 2.gxf5 and now:

ANOTHER WINNER

* 2 Ke8 3.Nxd7 Rxd7 4.Rxd7 Kxd7 5.b4 Kd6

Speeding up the march of the black pawns also doesn't change the result: 5...h5 6.c4 g4 7.hxg4 hxg4 8.b5 cxb5 9.cxb5 e4 10.f6 g3 11.f7 Ke7 12.b6 e3 13.b7 (No need to both with 13.Kf1 when also wins instantly) 13...e2 14.f8=Q+.

6.c4 e4 7.b5 cxb5 8.cxb5 h5 9.f6 g4 10.hxg4 hxg4 11.f7

11.Kf2!

11...Ke7 12.b6 e3 13.b7 and it's all over.

* 2 h5 3.b4 g4 4.hxg4 hxg4 5.c4 Ke8

5...e4 6.f6+ Ke8 7.f7+ Kxf7 8.Rxd7+ winning.

6.Nxd7 Rxd7 7.Rxd7 Kxd7 8.f6 e4 9.f7

9.Kf2 Ke6 10.b5, 1-0.

9...Ke7 10.b5 cxb5 11.cxb5 e3 12.b6 g3 13.b7

13.Kf1, 1-0.

13...e2 14.f8=Q+, 1-0.

Finally, this takes us to the move you chose, which is simple, to the point, and strong:

1.Nxe6 Kxe6 2.Bf5+ Kd6 3.Rxd7+ Rxd7 4.Bxd7 Kxd7

BLACK IS TOAST

5.Kf2

Simplest is 5.b4 Ke6 (5...c5 6.bxc5 Kc6 7.Kf2 Kxc5 8.Ke3 Kd5 9.Kd3 e4+ 10.Ke3 Ke5 [10...Kc4 11.Kxe4 Kc3 12.Kf5 Kxc2 13.Kg6 Kd3 14.Kxh6 Ke3 15.Kxg5] 11.c4) 6.c4 e4 7.Kf2 Ke5 8.Ke3, 1-0.

However, the game continuation of 5.Kf2 also gets the job done.

5...Kd6 6.Ke3 Kd5

6...Kc5 7.Ke4 Kb4 8.Kxe5 Kc3 9.Kd6 Kxc2 10.Kxc6 Kxb3 11.Kd5 Kc3 12.Ke4 Kd2 13.Kf5 Ke3 14.Kg6, 1-0.

7.Kd3!

Why play with fire (remember, we are trying to keep things simple) by 7.c3 e4 8.c4+ Kc5 9.Kxe4 Kb4 10.Ke5?? (White could win by 10.Kd4 Kxb3 11.Kc5 Kc3 12.Kxc6 Kxc4 13.Kd6 Kd4 14.Ke6 Ke4 15.Kf6 Kf4 16.Kg6 Kg3 17.Kxh6) 10...Kxb3 11.c5 Kc4 12.Kd6 Kb5 and BLACK wins thanks to another important endgame term: Trebuchet.

TREBUCHET: WHOEVER MOVES LOSES

To quote my book: This kind of position, which can occur with any set of pawns other than R-pawns (with both Kings in front of their respective pawns), is known as a trebuchet. There is not much to learn, since a glance will make things pretty clear: whoever moves is in zugzwang -- he is forced to move away from the defense of his pawn, which will result in an obviously lost King and pawn vs. lone King situation.

Here's a trebuchet rule from my book: In a near (upcoming) trebuchet position, the side whose King can make first contact with the enemy pawn can force a winning trebuchet.

7...e4+ 8.Ke3 c5 9.c3 Ke5 10.b4 cxb4 11.cxb4 Kd5 12.b5 Kc5 13.Kxe4 and the fox will soon feast on two ripe chickens!