Chapter 12 QUEEN ENDGAMES Queen and Pawn vs. Queen If the defender’s king stands in front of the pawn, the draw is usually an easy matter. Botvinnik — Tal 12-1 Lf 54! 2 @g5 After 2 Wxf5 Wxd4+ Black's defense is even simpler because his king is already stand- ing in front of the pawn and almost every in- stance of a queen exchange is acceptable for him. 2. AYxQ3+ 3 Oxf5 W6t 4 HF4 WLG+ 5 Bez H8! 6 Hd3, If Tal played6...;e7 here, there would have been no doubt about a draw. What he did instead made his task more complicated. 6... SEI+ 7 Hed We2+71 (7...Be7!=) & Wed West 9 Heb tye7+ 10 WES If 10...W7(h7)+ then 11 Ges. After 11...87h5+? (11.,.8e7+ is better) 12 &d6 Black cannot trade queens, the checks will soon expire, and his king will be forced to the g-file, farther from the pawn. 10.47! “However strange it may seem, Black evi- dently has secured the draw only with this move... Now White’s pieces are ideally placed; any move will just worsen his position.” (Tal). 11 tya8+ We7 12 te4+ dB 13 wh4+ Hc8 14 Wh8+ Qb7 15 tyes WL7+ 16 Bes WRG 17 WES Wd! 18 WE7+ cB 19 WES+ Gd8 20 wa5+ Hes 21 d5 We7 22 wa7+ Od8 23 tya8+ Bd7 24 HFS He7 Draw. Now we come to those exceptionally com- plicated cases when the king of the weaker side is placed far away from the pawn. Computers have proved that a win, when it exists, can often be achieved (when both sides play correctly) only after more than 50 moves! Practical players should not delve too deeply into this jungle, for these endings occur quite seldom. We shall con- fine ourselves to basic theoretical statements and the most important practical methods. Botvinnik was the first to find the correct method for the stronger side, during an analysis of the following adjourned game: Botvinnik - Minev Amsterdam ol 1954 1 Gh6? wh4+ 2 &g7 is much weaker, as Botvinnik played in an identical position against Ravinsky eight years earlier. One should not place his king in front of his pawn. According to computer analysis, 1 @f5! is more precise; if 1...t/c8+ (this position already ‘occurred on a previous move) then 2 @f4! Wel + 3 We3 We7+ 4 Sed Wd7+ 5 Bhd Wd8+ 6 Hg3 (there are no checks anymore, 6...t/d6+ loses to 7 Wh4+), or 5...8g7 6 Sg5 etc. (this “etc,” by the way, lasts more than 20 moves at least). 1...Wyd5+ 2 WES Wyd8+ 3 Dhs The stronger side should place the king on thesame file or rank where the defender’s king is standing, or an adjacent file or rank (this rule is also valid when more pawns are present on the board). This tactic often enables counter-checks when the queen provides protection from a defender’s check by interference. For example, 250now Black cannot play 3...%d1+ in view of 4 Wg4+. Or 3...eh8+ 4 4, and Black cannot play 4...8d4+ because of 5 tf4 as 4...t4g7 loses to 5 WET! Wc3 6 g7!. EB 4 P44? An error that was left unnoticed by Botvinnik. The computer analysis shows that the correct winning process is 4 #4! Wve2+ 5 bf4 Wd2+ 6 Bed Wh2+ 7 Wd6 Wb8+ 8 We7 wb4+ 9 @f7 Wb7+ 10 Sf6 Yb6+ 11 Yeé (this is only an introduction: a lot of precise moves are still re- quired for achieving success). But why isthemove actually played wrong? Because, when dealing with a knight or rook pawn, the defender’s king is best placed near the corner that is diametrically opposite to the pawn promotion square. In this case, when the stronger side defends his king from checks with @ queen interference, a counter-check is less probable. Black could have played 4...¢a3! here and theory says that it is a draw, although it is along way from a theoretical evaluation to a half-point in the tournament table, because these positions are very difficult to defend. We should add that the indicated drawing zone does not exist in case of a bishop or cen- tral pawn. One can only expect that the opponent’s play will not be precise (although defender’s errors are more probable in these situ- ations) or... that the king manages to reach the area in front of the pawn like in the Botvinnik - Tal endgame. By the way, the drawing zone, near the pawn, is considerably larger in case of a rook pawn, compared with other pawns, because the defender can go for a queen exchange much more often. Having arrived at general considerations about various pawn cases, I add two more re- marks: 1) The farther the pawn is advanced, the less the defender’s chance for a draw; 2) The closer the pawn is to the edge of the board; the greater the drawing chances. With cen- tral and bishop pawns, practically all positions with a remote king are lost. With a knight pawn, winning positions occur very often. With a rook pawn, a draw can be reached in a majority of positions, although the defense is not simple. 4...9a5? The wrong way! But this choice was not made purely by chance. The above-mentioned game Botvinnik - Ravinsky was thoroughly an- notated by Keres, and the Estonian grandmaster erroneously suggested keeping the king on aS and a4. 5 Wd2+ Bad 6 yd4+ Gas 7 Ges Take notice of White’s last moves. The queen is placed best on the central squares (this is usually valid for the defender’s queen as well). The closer the queen is to the edge of the board, the winning process is more difficult and the probability of a perpetual check is higher. By the way, now we can easily explain why Botvinnik’s 1 ¥f6 was less accurate than 1 &f5!. His queen should not leave the center unless it’s an emergency. 7...89€7+ 8 BES! WEB+ 9 Hes Wh6 10 We5+ a4 11 97 Finally the pawn succeeds in moving for- ward, and the climax is near. The finish is also very instructive: White approaches the black king with his monarch in order to create a situation when every check can be met with a counter- check. This method (king-to-king) is character- istic for queen-and-pawn endings. 11...eh1+ 12 Bd4 di+ 13 Yes Wel+ 14 Od6 (14 G57! We8) 14...yd2+ (14...8h6+ 15 Bd5!) 15 Heb wya2+ 16 Wd5 We2+ 17 Bd6 Wh2+ 18 Ys! 12-3 Black resigned. 251Tragicomedies Shamkovich — Wirthensohn Biel 1980 We shall not go deeply into the intricate lines; instead, we merely want to match the com- puter evaluations of the actual moves with the general considerations that are already known to us from the annotations to the previous example. Because of the rook pawn, Black can hope fora successful defense. And, as a matter of fact, the position was still drawn after 1...8g3 or 1...8c4. 1... g74? This move would have made sense if the series of checks could continue. However, the white king is superbly placed on the rank adja- cent to his adversary’s, and even one single check will not be possible after White’s reply. Hence Black’s move is bad. It allows White to rescue his queen from boredom with tempo. 2 WETI+— Wyg3 (2...We5+? 3 Web+) 3 Wf6+ Bc7 4 Wg5? Shamkovich only worsens the position of his queen, movingit closerto the edge. He should have pushed his pawn in order to obtain a position that can be won in ... 69 moves (!). 4..%9a3+ 5 QE7 Wb3+ 6 Og7 wyc3+? A drawn position (not a draw as such — Black would have spent a good deal of sweat for it) could be maintained after a check from b2. Detailed analysis is not required to see that the black king will get in the queen’s way in some lines now. 7 £6 yg3+ 8 Oh7? But this is not merely an error; this is ne- glect of principles. As we have stated, the king should not seek exile in front of the pawn. Both 8 Wg5 and 8 $f7 are winning, but 8 Bf8! is the most precise. 8... h3 9 Yg5 Pb6? This counter-error is also very instructive. As we know, there is a drawing zone near a rook pawn, and this zone is rather spacious (its pre- cise borders depend on the placement of the pieces, and most important on how far advanced the pawn 1s; we shall not give precise definitions here). The king was already standing in the zone, therefore many queen moves were not losing, but the most logical decision was to go towards the pawn: 9...d7(d6)!=. 105 tyd7+ 11 Wg7? White worsens his queen’s position. All king moves were Winning. 11...%h3? The black queen had to guard the central squares. 11...%d5! was good enough for a draw. 12 wesi+— The white queen has finally arrived in the center, Black’s king is out ofthe drawing zone — White’s position is winning! 12...%d7+ 13 Heo Wd3+ 14 Wes Wg3+ 15 GI7 Yc7+ 16 Sgs Wb8+ 17 Yg7 We7+ 18 WET wh2 19 h6 Was 20 h7 wes+ 21 WF6 Wyg3+ 22 Phot Black resigned in view of 22...th2+ 23 ‘hg6! and the checks expire because of the cor- rect position of the white king (on a rank adja- cent to his black counterpart). 252