The Miles Report

Ends and Odds

In my March column I gave a position as a problem. It turned out to be a
little more interesting than I realised. So for the benefit of readers who
have not been following the bulletin board, let me give the revised
solution!
This position was taken from a local
league game in England. Black has
just played ...Rc3 attacking the
a3-pawn. With no obvious
continuation (with hindsight
perhaps the best is 1. g3 to meet
The Miles ...Ra3 as in the game, but that is
being a bit clever) White reasonably
Report went for the little combination
1.Qd8 Kh7 2.Be4! Ne4 3.Rd7
neatly and rather unusually trapping
Tony Miles the black Queen.
At this moment Black has several
defensive tries: (a) In the game,
short of time, Black played 3...Rd3
losing simply after 4.Rd3; (b) My
first thought was 3...Ng3!? with the
ideas that 4.Ra7 is met by 4...Rc1
5.Kh2 Nf1 6.Kg1 Ng3 with a draw
by perpetual check, while 4. fg even
loses to 4...Qe3 5.Kh2 Rc1.
However, after a while I noticed the
simple 4.h4!!

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just vacating h3 for the white King,

when Black has no way to save the
game; (c) Hence I then turned my
attention to 3...Rc1 4.Kh2 Rh1
5.Kh1 Nf2 6.Kh2 Qe3 when Black,
with two pawns for the exchange,
and threats against the white King,
looks fine. For example 7.Rf7 Qe5
8.g3 Qe2. However a couple of
diligent readers with silicon friends
pointed out that White has 7.Qc7!
defending the crucial diagonal and
hitting f7.
Actually I had not overlooked this,
but I had thought that Black could
play 7...Qe1 and after 8.Rf7 Qh1
9.Kg3 Ne4, when 10.Kf3 allows
10...Ng5, so White must play
10.Kf4 when 10...Qg2 defends g7.

At this point I observed that

11.Qc2?! can be met by 11...Qg3
12.Ke4 Qg6 winning the Queen!!??
(11...Qc2 was too complicated for
me! The beer must have been
good!), but missed the alternative
pin 11.Qb7! when the Ne4 is lost.
Black can wriggle for a move with
11...Kg8, but after 12.Rd7 there is
no way out and no perpetual, so
White wins.
A reader also pointed out the
possibility of 10...Nf6 instead of 10...Qg2 and gives the elegant
refutation 11.Rg7 Kh8 12.Ke5! Qb1! (if 12...Ne8 13.Rh7 and Qf7
mate, while 12...Qa1 13.Ke6 is terminal.) 13.Ke6! (not 13. Kf6? Qf5
and ...Kg7) 13Ne8 14.Rg8! Kg8 15.Qf7 Kh8 16.Qe8 Kg7 17.Qf7
Kh8 18.Qf8 Kh7 19.Qf5 exchanging Queens with an easy win.
d) However Black does have a defence: 3...Rc1 4.Kh2 Nd2!

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I had initially rejected 3...Nd2

(rather than 3...Ng3) because of
simply 4.g4, making space for the
King, but the preliminary check
makes a big difference. Now 5.Ra7
Nf1 is the same draw as before, and
5. g4 is now well answered by
5...Nf1 6.Kg2 Ne3 and Black is
better after either 7.fe Qe3, or 7.Kf3
Rd1!
The real point, though, is that 5.h4
is beautifully met by 5...Rd1!!
with a new variation on the theme.
Again, if 6.Ra7 Nf1 when 7.Kh3
just loses a piece to 7...Rd8, so
White must acquiesce to 7.Kg1 Nd2
with the same old draw.
Attempts to get the King out of the
way also fail: 6.Kh3 runs into
6...Ne4! 7.Rd1 Nf2 and 8...Nd1
winning for Black!
A fascinating position, and many
thanks to the readers who sent in
their analysis.
Another neat little problem from the game Lutz-Ftacnik in the
Bundesliga. (This time you won't need Fritz!)
White to play. How did the game
end? (Solution at the end of
column)
The final of the Korchnoi Birthday
tournament in Switzerland recently
brought the first decisive clash
between Kramnik and Kasparov. It
confirmed the suspicion that while
Kasparov gets the better results in
tournaments, with his great
preparation and ruthless destruction
of lesser mortals, in head-to-head
clashes Kramnik seems to have his number!
With the black pieces Kramnik yet again anaesthetised Gary's 1.e4 with
the Berlin, so the following game was decisive:

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White: V. Kramnik Black: G. Kasparov

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3
No Nimzo-Indian today!
3...d5 4.Nc3 dc
A neat bit of preparation by Kasparov. Clearly he had something ready
for Kramnik in the Vienna variation 5.e4 Bb4 6.Bg5 etc., so Vlad ducks
back toward the safety of the Queens Gambit Accepted.
5.e3 a6
But Kasparov's point is that the N is prematurely committed to c3 in
this move order, so Black gets a very comfortable Semi-Slav type
position. First blood to Gary!
6.Bc4 b5 7.Bd3 c5 8.a4 b4 9.Ne4 Nbd7 10.Nf6 Nf6 11.O-O Bb7
12.dc Bc5 13.Qe2 Qd5!
Black has a very comfortable
position. Just compare the Bc1 to
the Bb7!
14.Rd1 Qh5 15.h3 Rd8 16.Nd4
Trying to bail out.
16...Qd5 17.Nf3
Inviting the draw by repetition, but
understandably Kasparov wants
more.
17...Ke7
White has no easy way to complete
his development, so he makes the
practical decision to give up a pawn
to get some play and hope to get at
the black King.
18.e4!? Ne4 19.Be3 Be3 20.Qe3
Qc5 21.Qe1
A good move. It is hard to believe
that White has enough for the pawn,
but there are some small targets in
the black position, and the b4-pawn
is one of them.
21...Nf6 22.Rac1 Qb6 23.Ne5

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The critical moment. If Black could

just get his Rh8 into play he would
be winning, but at the moment there
are some problems on the dark
squares, notably c7 and b4, and the
possibility of Nc4 is annoying. The
most obvious move is 23...Rc8, but
after 24.Nc4 Qc5 25.Ne5 Black
cannot escape the repetition, and
White could even try for more with
25.a5 threatening Nb6.
The radical attempt to protect b4 by
23...a5 also has its drawbacks: 24.Nc4 Qa7 (24Qc5 may be better,but
25.Ne3 and Ne5 both look like they will lead to repetition). 25.Qe5
(hitting a5 and c7) 25Rd5 (or 25...Nd5 26.Qg5 Ke8 27. Ne3/e5 with
threats of Bb5 and Qg7) 26.Qc7 Nd7 27.Ne5 Re5 28.Bb5 and Black is
butchered. One can understand Kasparov's choice, but it also fails to
solve the problems.
23...Rd4 24.Ba6!!
A stunningly beautiful combination, but one also has to ask what would
have been the reply to the simple 24.Nc4. On 24...Qc5 White has
25.Ne3 Qg5 (what else, in view of Nf5?) 26.h4 and invasion via Nf5
and Rc7 seems decisive.
24...Rd1 25.Rd1 Ba6
On 25...Qa6 26.Qb4 Ke8 27.Nc4 looks worrying: For example 27...Ne4
28.f3 Qa7 29.Nb6 Nf6 30.Qb5 Ke7 31.Qc5 Ke8 32.Qc7 Nd5 33.Qd7
Kf8 34.Qd8 mate.
26.Qb4!! Qb4 27.Nc6 Kf8 28.Rd8 Ne8 29.Nb4
A comical situation. Black's
kingside is in a box, and his Bishop
has no refuge. The White a-pawn is
a winner.
29...Be2
If 29...Bc4 simply 30.Rc8, and on
29...Ke7 30.Nc6 Kf8, 31.b4
mobilises the infantry.
30. f3
Calmly rounding up the Bishop.
30...h5 31.b3 Rh6 32.Kf2 Rg6

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Hopeless.
33.Ke2 Rg2 34.Kd3
The a-pawn is still a winner!
34...Rg3 35.a5 Rf3 36.Kc4 1-0

Solution to problem:
1.Qf6!! Kf6 2.Rg6! fg 3.Rg6 Ke7 4.f6 Kf8 5.Rg8 mate.
Copyright 2001 Tony Miles. All rights reserved.

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