Position after 109…Kg2. This is a painful draw as it was for the full point lead at Pamplona. You have to give credit to Jakovenko for fighting hard to hang on.
Morozevich, A (2747) – Jakovenko, D (2671) [E39]
CIUDAD DE PAMPLONA – MAGISTRAL A Pamplona, 12.27.2006
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.Qc2 c5 5.dxc5 0-0 6.a3 Bxc5 7.Nf3 b6 8.e4 Nc6 9.Bd3 Ng4 10.0-0 Qc7 11.Nb5 Qb8 12.h3 Nge5 13.Nxe5 Nxe5 14.Be2 a6 15.Nc3 Qc7 16.Kh1 Bb7 17.f4 Nc6 18.Bd3 Nd4 19.Qd1 f5 20.b4 Be7 21.Bb2 fxe4 22.Bxe4 Nf5 23.Qd3 Bxe4 24.Nxe4 Rac8 25.Rac1 Qb7 26.Kh2 d5 27.cxd5 Qxd5 28.Qe2 Rxc1 29.Rxc1 Nd6 30.Rc7 Rf7 31.Nc3 Qf5 32.Bc1 b5 33.Rc6 Bf8 34.Rxa6 Rc7 35.Bd2 Nc4 36.Be1 Rd7 37.Nxb5 Nd6 38.Nc3 Qxf4+ 39.Bg3 Qc4 40.Ra8 Qxe2 41.Nxe2 Kf7 42.Nd4 Nc4 43.Nc6 Bd6 44.Bxd6 Rxd6 45.b5 Rd5 46.a4 e5 47.Ra7+ Ke6 48.Rxg7 Kd6 49.Rxh7 e4 50.Rh4 Nd2 51.Rh6+ Kc5 52.Re6 e3 53.g4 Rd3 54.Kg3 Ra3 55.Kf4 Nf1 56.Re4 Ra2 57.Nd4 Rf2+ 58.Ke5 Nd2 59.Ne6+ Kb6 60.Rxe3 Nc4+ 61.Kd4 Nxe3 62.Kxe3 Ra2 63.g5 Ra3+ 64.Kf4 Rxh3 65.g6 Rh8 66.g7 Rg8 67.Ke5 Ka5 68.Kf6 Kxa4 69.Nd4 Rd8 70.Ke7 Rxd4 71.g8Q Kxb5 72.Qc8 Rd5 73.Ke6 Rd4 74.Ke5 Rd3 75.Qc2 Rd8 76.Qb3+ Kc5 77.Qc3+ Kb5 78.Ke6 Kb6 79.Qc4 Rg8 80.Qd4+ Kc6 81.Qc3+ Kb5 82.Kd6 Rg6+ 83.Kc7 Rg4 84.Qc6+ Kb4 85.Qd6+ Kc3 86.Kc6 Rd4 87.Qa3+ Kd2 88.Kc5 Re4 89.Kd5 Rg4 90.Qf3 Rb4 91.Kc5 Ra4 92.Qf6 Kd3 93.Qd6+ Ke3 94.Qg3+ Ke2 95.Qc3 Rf4 96.Kd5 Rg4 97.Ke5 Rh4 98.Kf5 Kf2 99.Qd3 Rh7 100.Qd4+ Kf3 101.Kg5 Rh2 102.Qf4+ Kg2 103.Kg4 Kg1 104.Qd4+ Kg2 105.Qd3 Kg1 106.Qe3+ Kf1 107.Qc1+ Kf2 108.Qd2+ Kg1 109.Qe1+ Kg2 (Diagram) 110.Qg3+ Kh1 111.Kf3???? Rf2+!! 112.Ke3 Re2+ 113.Kd3 Rd2+ 114.Kxd2 1/2-1/2
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Moro should learn some endgames 🙂
110 Qe5 wins or wins the Rook by 115 — 6 moves early given the capture at 71. 110. …. Kg1 111 Kg3 Rg2+ 112 Kh3 zugzwang Kf1 113 Qa1+ and the rook is skewered. This Qe5 and Kg3 Kh3 is as important to know as Philidor!
a MUST know endgame, but Peter Svidler failed to manage it, too … a few years ago ^^ (maybe it is a russian problem … lol)
sincerly
It’s clear Jakovenko knows this one better than Morozevich. But by the position you diagrammed, Black was already going to run out of moves. (All right, so I used the tablebase.)
After 109….Kg2 White mates in 13. But Black can claim a draw with his 121st move.
Vohaul you’re right. It was against Boris Gelfand. But Gelfend had Rook+Pawn VS. Queen, and managed to draw the game. He defended great but Svidler made mistakes, of course.
paul serrano: He must take the rook, not mate in 121st move.
I think that Morozevich can win Q vs R any day of the week. All that happened is that he slipped just like Kramnik slipped in Game 2 against Fritz 10. Humans are smart beings but they do get tired and they do have mental and physical lapses.
“I think that Morozevich can win Q vs R any day of the week.”
I think many grandmasters should in fact be international masters.
This is a disgrace!! Grandmasters should pass some knowledge tests, not only beat up and draw each other.
“paul serrano: He must take the rook, not mate in 121st move.”
You’re right, I forgot to see that the rook can be captured in only five moves. But Q v R is trickier than people think, as I learned from A.J. Goldsby’s web site:
http://www.angelfire.com/games4/lifemasteraj/endgames/special_e-g_article.html
when u play a long game like that mistakes are bound to happen- moro is still having a great trnmt but had a chance to have an even better one and lock up first- his game against shirov was awesome though
on ICC you can practice KQ vs KR endgames. In fact the computer will keep you informed on how many moves to mate and you can ask the computer for the correct move, etc. Very helpful to learn the technique.
the games begin from more or less random positions on the board. lots of fun.
I tried but dont know the technique. It is not so easy. maybe I should try again. last time I did not ask for help. it became frustrating.
Moro is great. He probably had 1 hr to play almost 60 moves in tricky endgame.
Anyway, what is the maximum number of moves needed to deliver the win in this type of endgame? Did Morozevich showed perfect play from moves 71 to 108 or he had more mistakes?
I think both players were probably down to 30 seconds per move. At move 71, White had a mate in 28. You have to give credit to Jakovenko for defending so long.
It ain’t over ’til it’s over…
-This is a disgrace!! Grandmasters should pass some knowledge tests, not only beat up and draw each other.-
This is fantastic comment, thank you for it:) Endgames like this one should learn let´s say once a year, but you can never forget the queen does not belong on g3, f3, or these places, that it must be centralized. I suspect they really train only openings in Russia:)
Guys, you don’t know what are you talking here…
I bet all of you wouldn’t be able to beat Morozevich even if you would study chess 200 years with all the technology in the world!
So, try to understand that any human can have a bad period during a game, especially after 3-4 hours of play.
So here this is all about, and not how much endgame technique must have a grandmaster…
Q vs R can be pretty hard, IM David Levy (or maybe it was Walter Browne) supposedly lost a bet about it. Levy bet that he could Q vs R against a tablebase within the 50 move rule (with perfect defense some Q vs R positions take 40 moves or so to win). Levy then spent something like a year practicing the ending, made the same bet again and this time was able to win the position in 49 moves.
Levy of course won a much more famous 1968 bet that no computer could beat him in a match within 10 years (i.e. before 1978). Computer researchers in 1968 thought they’d have solved the game by 1978. In fact the strongest programs of 1978 were around class A level and Levy was able to win a match easily.
A rule of thumb that I remember to use in Q vs R endings is that all the stalemate traps occure when the queen is on the 3rd row, therefore I keep my queen on the 4th row.
“David Levy (or maybe it was Walter Browne) supposedly lost a bet about it”
You’re thinking about the 1977 exhibition with Belle. From Wikipedia:
“Most grandmasters declined to play against the computer in the queen versus rook endgame, but Walter Browne accepted the challenge. A queen versus rook position was set up in which the queen can win in thirty moves, with perfect play. Browne was allowed 2½ hours to play fifty moves. After forty-five moves, Browne agreed to a draw, being unable to force checkmate or win the rook within the next five moves…. Browne studied the endgame, and played the computer again a week later in a different position in which the queen can win in thirty moves. This time, he captured the rook on the fiftieth move, giving him a winning position.”
There is a Queen versus Rook training database at queenversusrook.com. Perhaps this would prevent future embarrassing draws?