Chapter 10 ROOK VS. KNIGHT The Knight Alone In the chapter, “Rook vs. Pawns” (the portion devoted to “Promoting the Pawn to a Knight”), we were introduced to the most important knight-vs.-rook positions for the practical player. Let’s revisit the basic conclusions: Usually, a knight draws easily against a rook. But there are exceptions: When the knight becomes separated from the king, then it can sometimes be trapped; When the knight is in the corner, it will be lost through zugzwang. We should also note that the knight stands poorly at g7 (or b7). APAdli IX Century Several such endings were discovered in Arab manuscripts from the Middle Ages. At that, time, the game was shatranj, a game which differed markedly from contemporary chess, although the kings, rooks and knights in fact moved the same as they do today. White can win in several different ways. 1 Hd! (Averbakh says this is the simplest) 1... b8 2 Baél c5+ No better is 2..%c8 3 Bcl+ @b8 4 Bb1 Ba85 Bb6 Ad6 (5... b8 6 Sc6 Ba87 Sc7) 6 Bdi+-. 3 @b64)a4+ (3...b7 4 Bd7 Wa8 5 Bh7) 4 Gc6 4)c3 5 Hel, and the knight is soon lost. Therearetimes whena lone knightcan hold even against rook andpawn -and notjust in those cases where the pawn may be attacked and captured. It can be enough just to prevent the enemy king from reaching its pawn. Em. Lasker - Ed. Lasker New York 1924 1 a4 Be3 2 Hb2 Wed 35 Has FZ Black can only improve his position if he can get his king over to the pawn. And the only way to get there is by bringing it around the rook. White must take measures against + Be2-d2-c2-+. 4 a3! Averbakh believes White can also play 4 Db2 BWe2 5 Hed (5 Gaz Wd2! 6 Hc4+ Bcl-+) 5...8g3 6 ta3, followed by 7 &b2. However, Black in fact wins here with 6...2c3! 7 a5 (7 Dd6 3 8 Sb2 Ac6!; 7 HeS We3 8 Wb2 Hdd) 7.83! 8 &b2 Hc5! 9 Axb3 Bb5 10 a2 gc3. 4...e4 If 4...&e2, then 5 Ac5 Bd2 6 Sb2!, and the pawn goes. 5 &b4 Of course not 5 £\c5?? d4 6 Axb3 Se4-+, 5.4 6 b2 Hh3 7 Ha4 Yd3 8 Oxb3 Od4+ Drawn. 225.Exercises 10-3 10/1 Ww? 10-4 10/2 w? Rook and Pawn vs. Knight and Pawn Now let’s look at the situation where the pawns are on the same or adjacent files (that is, when neither pawn is passed). In order to win, it will be necessary for the stronger side to attack the pawn with his king - which the weaker side may sometimes be able to prevent by a proper piece placement. The best position for the knight is one from which it controls the invasion square, while simultaneously attacking the enemy pawn. de Firmian - Alburt USA ch 1983 10-5 1 g4? fg 2 fg £6 leads to the ideal defensive setup for Black, wherein the knight guards important squares, while simultaneously attacking the g4-pawn - an effortless draw. There are two things to keep in mind in situations of this type. The first is, that if the whole position were moved one rank higher, White would win by sacrificing the exchange. And secondly, White would prefer the pawns not to be blocking one another - that is, it would be better to have his pawn on g2, than g4, because then he would not have to defend it. 1 £4! gf+ No better is 1...24 2 @2d4! Dxg3 3 Wes+-. 28f Black could draw, if his knight were at e6 or g6. From h5, although the knight would be attacking the pawn, it would not control the invasion squares d4 or e5. 2...887 3 Hb6 The immediate 3 Bal @f6 (intending ..g7-e6) 4 Bh1 Og7 5 Hh6+, followed by 6 &d4+ was also possible. 3...@h7 After 3...8f7 4 Bh6 aF6 5 &d4.Dg46 Hab e7 7 Sd5 Sf7, we reach a position examined in 1941 by Reuben Fine. His analysis: 8 @d6 &F6 9 a8 Bf7 10 Bd8© fb 11 Hf8+ &g6 12 Heb De3 (12...Dh6 13 B+ &g7 14 Bxh6) 13 BL7O Dc2 14 Hf6+ Sg7 15 SxF5+-. 4Hb1 As Miller indicates, the immediate 4 &d4? also wins: 4...Axf4 5 de5 Dg6+ (after 5... h5+ 6 Gxf5 g7+ we come to the AP Adli position: see diagram 10-1) 6 @f6!. For example: 6...f4 7 &b1 f88 Hd1!0 (rather than the hasty 88h1+ g8 9 git Hh7 10 Sf7? in view of 10...¢h6! 11 @ixf8 PhS=) 8.. £3 (8...7g8 9 Hd), and only now 9 Hh1+ @g8 10 Hgl+ @h7 11 &f7+-. 4...8g6 5 Bh DF6 The same reply wins after 5...8g7 or 5...@h6. 6 Bd4 |d7 7 Yds |L6+ 8 Hed (8 Seb) 8... Nd7+ 9 Me AE8+?! (9...c5+) 10 e7 Black resigned. In the next diagram, the knight at e4 prevents the king’s invasion of the kingside; but it will be vulnerable to attack by ...&e6-e5. In this case, its place is on hS. In his detailed study of these kinds of positions, Averbakh showed that White can get a draw. 226Larsen - Tal Ha4+ 3 Of3 We5 4 Hh5! HaBi? 5 We3s!= Let’s look at the possibilities after 5 @g3?!. White holds the draw after 5...a3+ by retreating his king to the 2nd rank (6 ®h4? would be a mistake: 6...2b3© 7 4g3 Hb8 8 Hh5 Hh8 9 Bgl £5 10 BF f4-+). Black therefore continues 5...2h8 6 Sf4 ed (after 5 e3! the king could not occupy the e4-square). Tal subjected the position after 7 Sh3 to exhaustive analysis, and found a subtle winning method. 7...2g8? is insufficient after 8 Df2+ Ye3 9 Od1+ Bd2 (...8e2 10 Hc3+ Sd3 11 |Ad5 £5 12 Se7! Hxg4+ 13 Gf3=) 10 DF2 Be2 11 Hed £5.12 Df6 Hg6 13 4! Hxf6 14 gf AFB 15 Bed! (shouldering, preventing the outflanking by the king) 15...f2 16 @f4!=. Black must get his king to e3 first, but more importantly, he must get his rook from the 8th to the 7th rank; only then can he attack the g4-pawn. 7...H.c8! 8 DF2+ Be3 9 Hh3 (9 Ad1+ Be2, and he cannot check from c3 now; 9 g5 f5 10 Qdl+ Bed 11 Df2+ Hd5 12 G4 Web 13 Hd3 Hcd+ 14 @f3 Hg4-+) 9..c4 10 Of2 Be7! 11 ®h3 Hg7 12 Hf2 f5 13 Ad1+ Be2 14 |f2 f4+ 15 Gxf4 Hxf2 16 gi Hg8!O (the decisive handoff of the right to move to the opponent) 17 g4 tg2! (2ugzwang, again) 18 &f5 h3-+, or 18 @h5 &f3-+. As you can see, Black’s basic idea is the same as the one in the Réti study of Diagram 8-10. Tal thought 7 Sh5! impossible, because of the reply 7...f5. However, White saves himself then by 8 Df6+ Bes 9 Hd7+ Web (9...8d6 10 Db6! Hg8 11 Ac4+) 10 Hc5+ Hd 11 Ad3 Hgs 12 Of2=. Let's return to the game, where Tal, despite lengthy maneuvering, was unable to refute Averbakh’s evaluation. 5...Hb8 6 @F3 He8 7 Hf4 Hd48 HhS He 9 @f2 He4 10 Hf3 Wed 11 Yg3 He3+ 12 GF2 Hb3 13 Gg2 Hb7 14 GF3 Abs 15 We3 Hes 16 Sf3 Hh8 17 Hg3 Hh7 18 e3 Ah8 19 &F3 Hh2 20 Ge3 Hb2 21 |h5 Hb3+ 22 HF2 Hd3 23 Sez 23... Ged 24 A xf6+ OF4 25 HF2 After 25 g5??, Black wins either by 25...Hg3+ A 26...Axg5; or by 25...8xg5 26 De4+ G4 27 DF2 Hd20. And 25 Wh? is a mistake, owing to 25...2.d6 26 g5 Hd8!-+. 25..Hd2+ 26 Bel Hd6 27 g5 If it weren’t for the g-pawn, the knight, cut off from its king, would be lost. 27... @£3 28 2yh7 (forced) 28...8e3 29 }f6 F330 Hh7 Hd5 Or 30... g6 31 &d2 Hg7 32 Df6 (32 D8) 32...Hxgs 33 Bc3=. 316 Hd7 32 Ags+ Be3 33 Heb Hd2 34 Df4 Bh2 35 Dd5+ GF3 36 Odi He2 37 87 Drawn In the next diagram we have the same position as in the previous example, except that it has been shifted slightly. As Averbakh and Bronstein’s joint analysis showed, this tiny difference changes the evaluation of the position. 227