The old saying goes like this: after a bad opening, you can have hope for the middle game; after a bad middle game, you can have hope for the ending; but after the endgame, there is nothing more.

In this series I am once again going to focus on the games I played during my Hungarian adventure in late 2003. As faithful readers of the first True Combat series know, I came to Hungary woefully unprepared for the level of opposition. (This means that, yes, I'm going to follow tradition: in this first article, you will once again get to see me thrashed by a GM!).

But just to give all of us hope, I am going to first present the following interesting and theoretically important position, from my very first game in Hungary, Round One of the October 2003 First Saturday.

My opponent was the Hungarian IM Czabe Balogh; I was Black, and had the move in the following position.

I have indeed suffered through a bad opening (a Philidor Defense); I have fought my way through a bad middle-game; and now I'm just about dead!

White threatens 49.g6! winning; he has the right color Bishop for his h-pawn; Black's doubled pawns are blockaded and weak. Nonetheless, Black can force a draw!! The answer will be revealed at the end of this article.

Now—I get hammered again!

Faithful readers will recall that in my first encounter with a GM in Hungary, vs. Attila Czebe, I was slowly and tortuously Maroczied to death!

With my main defense against e4 in question, I returned to my second string, the Philidor, which I had used to draw the Balogh game, though not without difficulty. My second GM opponent was Emil Anka. He played confidently against my Philidor, casually refuted some Larsen/Kosten analysis, and reached an endgame material up. However, I did not think I was lost, far from it! I was encouraged by my draw with Balogh, and the more I looked at the position I had now reached against Anka, the better it looked!

Black (me) is set to make his 30th move.)

This was my reasoning: though I am momentarily two pawns down, I will take one (30…Rxd3) on this move. I then threaten a second pawn. If that pawn is defended in any conceivable way (31.f4, 31.Rh3, 31.Rf1) I will play 31…Rd2 and will at least win back the second pawn, restoring material equality with a strong R on the seventh.

Furthermore, the general positional factors favor Black: I have an active Rook; White's Rook hasn't even moved. I have an active Bishop on the long diagonal; while White has the ultimate bad Bishop: it has no legal moves that avoid capture, it's blocked by it's own pawn, and only controls two squares!

I thought I could count on a draw, and I even dreamed of a win—I confidently played 30…Rxd3—And resigned three moves later!!

The game continued as follows:

Anka vs. Taylor

31.Rc1! Kf7 32.Rc8 Bd4 33.Kc2! and I resigned, as I am losing a Rook, or at best the Exchange (33…Rxf3 34.Rf8+; 33…Re3 34.g6+) when White wins easily.

How the hell did this happen??

Let's backtrack: is there any way Black can draw?

First, is there any other move besides 30…Rxd3? In a word, no. Since Black is down two pawns, any hesitation means death by material. So 30…Rxd3 31.Rc1 is our first critical position.

Can Black save the game? White threatens Rc8+. Besides my move, 31…Kf7, Black can only try …Be5 or …Bd4 (which after Rc8+ transpose into the game or the following note) and the sole truly alternative move, 31…Rd8. But then White plays 32.Rc7, and the position of the rooks has completely reversed! White has the powerful pig on the seventh while Black can only defend passively. There is no serious defense to White's twin threats of Kc2-b3 and f4-f5. So we can cross off 31…Rd8 as a save.

Moving on, after 31…Kf7 32.Rc8, it's clear that my move, 32…Bd4, loses at once. But what about the alternate Bishop move: 32…Be5—will this save the draw?

The short answer is again, no. This is Black's best try, but nonetheless, the win can be forced by pretty tactics.

White plays:

Anka vs. Taylor (variation)

33.f4! Bd4

Alternatives are even worse: 33…Bxf4 loses both to 34.g6+ and 35.Rf8+, 33…Bd6 loses to 34.Rc6 when White is simply a pawn up with threats on both wings.

34.f5 b3

Clearly Black's only hope for counterplay.

35.axb3 Rxb3 36.Rf8+ Ke7 37.f6+

White keeps making progress with checks.

37…Kd7

Or 37…Ke6 38.Re8+ and White wins.

38.Rf7+ Ke6

If the King goes away from the passed pawn, White wins routinely: 38…Kc6 39.Rxh7 Rb2+ 40.Kc1 Rf2 41.f7 Bc5 42.g6, etc.

39.Re7+ Kd6

40.f7! and White wins, as there are no tricks after 40…Bb2 41.Re3.

What's the verdict? In the diagram position, Black is dead lost!

Now, what's the moral?

The moral is that, even in the endgame, tactical ideas may be more important than strategical ones. All of my “advantages” are real—but they mean nothing in the face of White's tactical blows. In fact, most of White's play comes from his “bad B!” But as Larsen has said, the Bishop may only be controlling “thin air”, but “thin air around the King” is something special!

Because of White's relentless tactical threats, I had no chance to recover material; the position was lost, even with best play.

I have to thank Emil for a Grandmaster lesson! And this means, that to become a Grandmaster, one has to use original thought in every position: nothing is routine!

And now, let us return to a happier moment: how did I save the seemingly lost position of the first diagram?

If you answered 48…Bxg5!!, you are correct! I knew this trick draw from going through Paul Keres “Practical Chess Endings” from cover to cover (a wonderful book, by the way, now sadly out of print). Black reaches an ending a full piece down; and White has the “right color” Bishop—but still can't win, as there is no way to get at Black without stalemating him!

My young opponent could not believe he was not winning! (Even Fritz 8 says that White is winning easily at this point, but eventually both computer and human realize the inevitable …).

The game concluded (after 48…Bxg5):

Balogh vs. Taylor
49.Bxg5 Kxb4 50.Bc1 Kc4 51.Ka3 Kd5 52.Ka4 Ke6 53.Kb5 Kf7 54.Kc6 Kg8 55.Kd7 Kh8 56.Ke6 Kg8 57.Kf6 Kf8 58.Bb2 Kg8 59.Ba3 Kh8 60.Kf7, Stalemate! 1/2-1/2.

More Hungarian endgames will follow!