Endgame study. Breakthrough.

Hello, guys and girls!

    Today I wanted to talk about a very exciting endgame idea which called breakthrough. The logic behind the breakthrough in the endgame stage usually is to create a passed pawn and eventually promote it. To get this passed pawn we sacrifice some material (a pawn, a few pawns or even a piece).

    As an example we'll take one of the games of the 7th World Chess Champion Vasily Smyslov, who is known as a very strong endgame player. In this example I won't cover all variations because my goal is not to prove that the line was mathematically correct (which it was) but rather show you the idea.

   For those who want to think themself before looking at the solution, this is the starting position. White to move.

    Let's have a look at what Smyslov played.

    I hope you guys enjoyed this little endgame lesson. Please share your thoughts about it in the comments below.

    If you want to learn chess with me - feel free to send me a message. 
    Bye for now