Alburt, Lev – Lerner, Konstantin (Kiev, 1978), presented by Andreas
White to move. How should White proceed?
8/1N6/1p1P1n2/p1p1p3/P1P5/1P2k3/2K5/8 w – – 0 64
Chess Daily News from Susan Polgar
Grandmaster endgame play
About Author
Nxc5 and b5 to get two passed pawns. The knight can only stop one of them.
Nxc5 and b5 to get two passed pawns. The knight can only stop one of them.
That’s 2.b4, right?
Why can’t Black give up his knight for one of the pawns, play …Kf2, and promote his e-pawn?
maybe
g4 cxg4
na5 wins
Artic Knight
”maybe
g4 cxg4
na5 wins”
You mean,
1b4 cxb4
2.Nxa5 but then
2…Kd4 and Black looks fine.
I just cant figure it out. Nxc5 looks good but a gamble.
A.Munoz
womancandidatemaster.blogspot.com
A. Munoz, you just need to calculate a little further. White pawn queens first in all (reasonable) variations. Black knight is too far from the action and will either not survive (at which point White will win by virtue of having another advanced passed pawn and of having White king available to capture Black’s b-pawn) or will move closer to the action and allow White to capture the black e-pawn.
I looked this game up to see how Alburt won. When I saw that Lerner didn’t resign for another sixteen moves, I didn’t feel so bad about not finding this position completely clearcut.
Here is one possible line:
1.Sc5: bc5:
2. b4 ab4:
3. a5 e4
4. a6 Kf2
5. a7 e3
6. a8Q e2
7.Qa1 e1Q
8.Qf6:+ Kg2 (..Kg3 9. Qc3+ +-)
9.Qg5+ Kf3
10.Qd2
i think this is winning.
if 2. .. cb4: there is
7. Qf5+ and Kd2 stopping the black e-pawn.
Tobe
1.Sc5: bc5:
2. b4 ab4:
3. a5 e4
4. a6 Kf2
5. a7 e3
6. a8Q e2
7.Qa1 e1Q
8.Qf6:+ Kg2 (..Kg3 9. Qc3+ +-)
Typo in the parentheses? White does seem to win, but not with 9.Qc3+? bxc3.
early 1.b4 is playable?
‘early 1.b4 is playable?’
1.b4 cxb4
[1…axb4 2.Nxc5 Kd4 Black is ok]
2.Nxa5 Kd4 and Black is ok
Here is how the game went on, (see move 65.Nxc5) :
Alburt,Lev O (2510) – Lerner,Konstantin Z (2445) [A56]
Kiev Kiev (9), 1978
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 c5 3.d5 e5 4.Nc3 d6 5.e4 Be7 6.Nge2 0–0 7.Ng3 Ne8 8.h4 g6 9.h5 Bg5 10.hxg6 fxg6 11.Be2 Qf6 12.Bf3 Na6 13.Bxg5 Qxg5 14.Qd2 Qe7 15.Nf1 Nac7 16.Qh6 Rb8 17.Be2 a6 18.a4 b6 19.Ne3 Qg7 20.Qxg7+ Kxg7 21.0–0 Nf6 22.g3 Bd7 23.Kg2 h5 24.Rfb1 a5 25.Rh1 Rh8 26.Rh2 Rbe8 27.Rah1 Rh7 28.Kf1 Re7 29.Ke1 Kg8 30.Kd2 Nce8 31.Kd3 Ng4 32.Bxg4 hxg4 33.Rh6 Rxh6 34.Rxh6 Rh7 35.Rxg6+ Kf7 36.Rg5 Kf6 37.Rxg4 Bxg4 38.Nxg4+ Ke7 39.Ne3 Rh1 40.Ke2 Nf6 41.Nf1 Rg1 42.Ne3 Kd7 43.Kf3 Rc1 44.Ned1 Ke7 45.Ke3 Kf7 46.Kd2 Ra1 47.Kc2 Kg6 48.b3 Kg5 49.f3 Nh5 50.g4 Nf4 51.Kb2 Rxd1 52.Nxd1 Nd3+ 53.Kc3 Ne1 54.Ne3 Nxf3 55.Nf5 Kxg4 56.Nxd6 Ng5 57.Kd3 Kf3 58.Kd2 Kf2 59.Kd1 Kf3 60.Kd2 Kf2 61.Kc2 Ke3 62.Nb7 Nxe4 63.d6 Nf6
64.Nxc5!! [64.b4 cxb4 (64…axb4 65.Nxc5 Kd4 unclear) 65.Nxa5 Kd4 66.Nb7 unclear]
64…bxc5 65.b4 axb4 66.a5 e4 67.a6 Kf2 68.a7 e3 69.a8Q e2 70.Qf8 e1Q 71.Qxf6+ Kg3 72.Qg5+ Kh3 73.Qd2 Qa1 74.d7 Qa2+ 75.Kd1 Qb3+ 76.Kc1 Qa3+ 77.Kd1 Qb3+ 78.Ke2 Kg4 79.Qd1 Qxc4+ 80.Ke3+ 1–0
Pharaoh