Hi! chess hustlers, I am Jon Speelman president of your Hall of endgames and I am about to set up a beautiful endgame position which contains nice piece manouvers that my next opponent won't know as well as I do, do you think you know as beautiful endgame positions as I know?, if so post them to this forum and let us all see them

note: just a nice page with 22 downloadable commented endgame positions from actual games, something to get you started with: http://www.endgame.nl/strategy.htm

note: if you really want to make an impression in "the chess hustler" Hall of endgames you even have the option of making and posting a chess video with sound to the internet (you can do that by using this following site http://www.chessvideos.tv ) , you can get the directions on how to make and post the video by clicking on beginner's videos and then clicking on the (how to) links on next page, then all you will need to do is come back to this forum post your endgame lesson here using our diagram features and let's us know about your video with sound related to the endgame at www.chessvideos.tv site, by giving us a direct link to your video..

 

hi "The chess hustler" club

 well it seems that our friend GM Speelman as well as some among us chess fans still finds a way to enjoy Kramnik's games despite of the ex-champ's rather slow playing style, some would say even passive and drawish, well for those among us who shares GM Speelman's views on how great a chess player Kramnik is, here is a kramnik game commented by GM Speelman in the guardian

enjoy!

 

                                  

                               guote

http://sport.guardian.co.uk/chess/story/0,,2216834,00.html

 ...........

... This game is certainly somewhat undramatic but I find it deeply impressive the way that Kramnik is successfully able to squeeze his way to victory against one of the world's best endgame players (for Shirov isn't just a fiery tactician but a great endgame player too).

Vladimir Kramnik v Alexei Shirov

Moscow 2007 (round 5)

Catalan

1 Nf3 d5 2 d4 Nf6 3 c4 e6 4 g3 Be7 5 Bg2 0-0 6 Qc2 6 0-0 is normal and if 6...dxc4 then 7 Qc2. The change in move order may look minor but it actually is quite significant and I remember feeling bamboozled by the move in a game against Victor Gavrikov way back in 1985. When I looked it up later, then an immediate 6...c5 was supposed to be the recipe and I wasn't aware that this had changed in the interim. But Shirov captured on c4 which is supposed to be quite playable anyway.

6...dxc4 7 Qxc4 a6 8 Bf4 Bd6 9 0-0 b5 10 Qc2 Bb7 11 Nbd2 Nbd7 12 Nb3 Be4 Black tends to hit the queen with ...Be4 in this and analogous lines. Here, since the bishop has left c1 she can move her sideways to a decent square on d2.

13 Qd2 Qe7 13...Nd5 was also possible though whether ...Nxf4 is a threat is a moot point.

14 Rfc1 Rfc8 15 Bxd6!? This surprising move relieves Black of the backward c pawn but Kramnik is still able to press because a5 is weak.

15...cxd6 16 Qa5 Rcb8 17 Nbd2 Bd5 18 Rc2 Qd8?! This can't be too bad but it does fall in with Kramnik's plans. Instead Shirov could have gained activity with 18...Nb6 19 b3 e5.

19 Qxd8+ Rxd8 20 Rac1 Nb6 21 Ne1 Rac8 22 Nd3 Rxc2 23 Rxc2 Rc8 24 Rxc8+ Nxc8 25 Nb4 Bxg2 26 Kxg2 a5 27 Nc6 a4 28 e4

Alexei Shirov (Black to play)

Vladimir Kramnik (White)

White is better here because he has more space and Black's queenside is compromised. Presumably with "perfect defence" Black can hold but it isn't fun, especially against Kramnik.

28...Ne8 I presume that if 28...Kf8 Shirov was worried about 29 e5.

29 Kf3 Kf8 30 Ke3 Nc7 31 Kd3 Ke8 32 Kc3 Na6 If 32...Kd7 33 Nb8+ Kd8 34 Kb4 Ne7 35 Ka5 the king penetrates - if then 35...Kc8 36 Na6 Nc6+ 37 Kb6 Nxa6 38 Kxc6! is winning.

33 Nb4 Nc7 34 Nf1 Kd7 35 Ne3 Ne7 36 g4 If 36 f4 f5 blocks.

36...g5 37 Nd3 f6? 37...Ng6 was indicated and looks sufficient to hold.

38 f4 Gaining more space.

38...gxf4 39 Nxf4 e5 The idea of this is to eliminate the weak f6 pawn.

40 dxe5 fxe5 41 Nfd5 Ncxd5+ Black can also take the other way but after 41...Nexd5+ 42 exd5 Ke7 43 Kb4 Kf6 44 Ka5 Kg5 45 Kb6 Ne8 46 Kxb5 the races are good for White - he will give up the knight for the e pawn as necessary and run his b pawn.

42 exd5 Kc7 43 g5 Kb6 44 b4 axb3 45 axb3 Ka5 If 45...Ng6 46 Ng4 Kc5 47 Nf6 b4+ (47...e4? 48 b4+) 48 Kd3 White should win.

46 h4 Ng6 47 h5 Nf4 48 g6 hxg6 49 h6 g5 50 h7 Ng6 51 Kd3 Black now can't prevent Ke4-f5-f6-g7xN so Shirov resigned.

Hi Guys!!

Last night I came across an interesting endgame problem in a book by the Russian trainer Kostyev.  I will reproduce the problem at the bottom of this post , so you can skip to it now if you like.  I would suggest that you don't look at the solution until you have read what I have to say, then have another look.  The analysis is a mixture of what I have read and my own work, so if there are any mistakes, please let me know.

The problem is really to do with mutual zugzwang and pawn breakthroughs - whether the king can hold the pawns or not.  It involves the attack of three pawns, basically abreast, to form a queen.  I present my analysis with the black pawns attacking the white king in the corner.  In my diagrams please note that the Black King is not allowed to move to lose a tempo:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now take the position up a rank and White draws again

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The next question is 'What happens if it is black's move with the pawns on the 4th rank?' White can try to reproduce the position of diagram 1, but black has a resource:

 So now we come to the problem which started me off playing with these positions! See if you can solve it now:

 

Ps. I think I put in the notes that a6 draws - it loses!!! (Of course)

Mxdplay4, Thanks for an interesting puzzle. 

Can the black king not just move in to protect the f pawn and sacrifice the other two in diagram 1? 

he was just using diagrams 1,2 and 3 to ilustrate the situation (ofcourse diagrams 1,2 and 3 are a win for black if it used the king to help along)