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How to draw the endgame down a queen

Recently I played in the Chicago Open. I did not play many good games, so instead I will show one where I managed to escape with a draw after ruining my position. 

 

The following position is a theoretical draw:

As you can see, the defense hinges on stalemate in the final position. So if White had some extra pawns on d2 and h4 for example, then Black would be winning because the stalemate wouldn't work. But there is a way to add a pair of pawns that makes the fortress more robust:

 

 

 

In this position stalemate is not necessary to achieve a draw. This is because the a5 pawn guards b6. In the first example, b6 was the square the queen needed to go to in order to force the king to either abandon or block the c-pawn. And the a6-pawn shields the White king from checks if it is on the a-file and the queen happens to take on a5. So it does not matter if any extra White pawns are added to the board.

 

 

 

 

 

 

That was the idea I used to get a draw in my game. Turns out it was unsound because he could have stopped my king from getting to b7 on time, but maybe it was the best practical chance anyway.



Comments


  • 11 months ago

    fritzkiller

    Not so interesting article , u had a lucky escape !

  • 11 months ago

    fritzkiller

    well not so interesting you had a lucky escape dretch , no offence intended  you are really one of the best players on chess.com...well , if i were in that place i could have stopped the your pawn by simply playing my queen on the c file and developed the king and take ur pawn and the end game is quite easy to checkmate with a queen and king pair , in less than 9 moves !

  • 12 months ago

    brasslan

    Never mind.... I got confused as to which way the pawns were moving...  ;-)  ok, noob signing out.

  • 12 months ago

    brasslan

    Thanks Sun!   Not sure why I didn't see it.

    Can I ask another?

    The alternate 59 (in blue) Is that supposed to be a winning senario for black?  I think it is still a draw ending with king takes queen, and kings taking pawns

    65. Kxc7 ... a7
    66. Kb7  ... a8=Q
    67. Kxa8 ... Kxe3

  • 12 months ago

    brasslan

    Take a question from a noob?  Why not promote your own pawn on move 56?

  • 12 months ago

    jempty_method

    Back around 1981/82 before I was 20, I played the queen down side of this ending in the U1600 section of a tournament at New York's Chess Center at 7th Ave and 14th St, a venue where many grandmasters also played.  Ours was the last game and we'd already played 90 moves and I was trying to convince my opponent to cede the draw to me -- he was my chief competition, so we could go home and rest up to play well the next day.

    My opponent said he wanted to know it was a theoretically drawn position from an authority higher than myself, so I went back to the room where the masters and grandmasters gathered, and who should be the first one I encounter: Pal Benko!  You should have seen the look on my face when I brought one of the world's foremost endgame experts to the board.  He had us play a few moves, chiefly because he wanted to be sure I knew the drawing technique, and eventually he silently signaled my opponent that I did indeed know how to draw.

    Benko is a class act, giving up his spot so Bobby could play for (and win) the World Championship.

  • 12 months ago

    didiz1016

    lol lawdoginator

  • 12 months ago

    ChessisGood

    Loved the part at the end with 83. Qe2+!

  • 12 months ago

    F22Raptor

    Very instructive and useful for players of all levels.

  • 12 months ago

    Serenity_

    Very instructive thank you.

  • 12 months ago

    Lawdoginator

    Check, check, check, check, check, check, check.  

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