M.S.

Liburkin, 1931
Win
White: Kd1, Na2; pawns - b5, c6
Black: Ka1, Rc5
[From "The Tactics of End-games" by Jeno Ban, reviewed this
week in The Chess Cafe Book Review section. English Descriptive
Notation has been converted to algebraic notation.]
1 Nc1! Rd5+/i 2 Kc2!/ii Rc5+ 3 Kd3!!/iii Rxb5/iv 4 c7 Rb8/v 5
cxb8B! and wins.
i) 1...Rxb5 is to be met by 2 c7 Rd5+ 3 Nd3!! And this driving-on
sacrifice helps White to achieve the former winning position
without loss of time: 3...Rxd3+ 4 Kc2! (4...Rd4 5 c8R! Ra4 6
Kb3). We have already seen this. But how to proceed now?
ii) 2 Ke2? won't work on account of 3 c7 Re5+ and 4...Re8. Nor is
the knight sacrifice any better for: 2 Nd3? Rxd3+ 3 Ke2 Rc3 and
4...Rc5! Or 3 Kc2 Rd5! etc. There is only one solution left.
iii) This interpolation is much more cunning that one might first
think. Doubtless it is not easy to notice that the natural 3 Kd2 can
be parried by 3...Rxb5 4 c7 Rb2+ 5 Kd1 Rc2!! And after 6 Kxc2
Black is stalemated; otherwise the rook can capture the pawn.
iv) It is not much better to take the knight since after the
continuation 3...Rxc1 4 Kd4! Ka2 5 Kd5 Ka3 6 b6 the united
passed pawns would easily win against the rook.
v) The last stalemate attempt! Now the careless 5 cxb8R or 5
cxb8Q would lead to stalemate again, and after 5 cxb8N the two
knights would be powerless against the king. By good luck there is
a fourth way of capturing the rook...