White is Boris Gelfand. Black is Alexei Shirov. It is White to move. Is this a win or draw for White?
Chess Daily News from Susan Polgar
Special endgame improvement
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White is winning because White is 2 pawns up.
Isn’t it a win for white after sacrificing the pawn (h4-h5)?
Since I had already watched this game live, I won’t comment on the specific moves Gelfand and Shirov played from this point, but the final position of the game, if played out a few more moves, is a textbook example of the difficulties encountered in bishop-of-opposite-colors endgames.
The king’s pawn ends up blocked by black’s king, and black’s bishop and white’s own g-pawn prevent the white king from ever reaching a position of supporting the final advance of said g-pawn. If the king makes it to h8, the pawn is hanging (white cannot play to h7 then move the pawn to g7 because the black bishop will pin it to the king), and if white advances the pawn to g7, black’s bishop denies access to h7 by playing to g8 and black’s king then moves between e8 and d7.
It ended in a draw, and I don’t think Gelfand missed anything from the point of the game Susan has diagrammed.
Yancey tx for your detailed evaluation of the position. My analysis of the position came to the same result as yours- I have not found a win for White. Therefore I corroborate your conclusion.
To all the endgame experts outthere: Did me and Yance miss anything?
Best wishes
A Weiler
Without doing analysis, I think it is probably a draw with the opposite-colored bishops.
BTW, it’s Gelfand’s 41st birthday today!
I was watching this game online as it was played, and the draw was agreed to rapidly following white’s last move. Both players instantly recognized it as a draw. It probably is in a chess textbook somewhere.
Of course, I had to study it for a few minutes to convince myself.
I didn’t see the game as some of you did, so I don’t know the outcome, but I would have expected the following:
(please forgive me, I’m not super familiar with chess notation – a capital letter denotes a piece, small letter+number a field)
White Black
—————–
P-h5……..PxP
P-g6……..BxP
KxB………
if……….K-d7
K-f7……..P-h4
P-e6……..K-d8 (or wherever)
P-e7……..K-d7
P}Queen…..KxB
and white will win, having a queen and the black side nothing other than the king.
I’m a beginner… so if someone could throw a monkey wrench into my proposal, please do, and let me know. Thanks. 🙂
I will try to get a position where white’s pawn are placed at e7 and g5 and white’s bishop at f6. I feel this setup is probably a win.
But is it a win. I do not know. Need to analyse more.
Even if it is how to get there, move the pawn from e5 to e7 first. Then back up the bishop. Move the king to d6. And move the bishop to f6.
But I need to bring the white king to h6 which is required to exchange the black pawn.
I will try in that line. But looks like a draw to me 🙂
P. Anandh