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 King and Pawn end game.This is from a small tournament to select the final berth in the Norway Tournament due to start soon. The game is between the Women's World Champion from China Hou Yifan, and a strong GM from Norway, J.L. Hammer. The game reached this pawn ending after Black (mistakenly) exchanged queens. White to play: what result? Note the relative position of the Kings. White's is much closer to the Centre and the Q-side. What is the significance of that? Check out the weak spots. White's main weak spots are a5, b5 and c3. The Black King is a long, long way from there. There is no way for Black to break through in the centre even with the e6-pawn as a lever. This you will see shortly. Nor can White hope to break through anywhere to the right of the c-file. The weak spot to aim for is the c4-square, but White has to be quick about it! 41.Kd2 Kg6 42.c3! ... I said she had to be quick! Instead, 42.Kc1 is just too slow: 42.Kc1 Kf5 43.Kb2 e5 44.fxe5 ... [essential - and Black can not break through] 44...Kxe5 45.Kb3 Kd5. But White would have no way to break through either. 42...Kf5 Two points here; a/- Black dare not play 43...dxc3ch as that simply helps White on her way after 44.Kxc3 b/- Black MIGHT try to reach the d-pawn by going round his e-pawn, but that's too slow: 43...Kf6 44.cxd4 cxd4 45.Kc2 Ke7 46.Kb3 Kd6 47.Kc4 e5 and White can choose between fxe5ch and f5, either of which would win. 43.cxd4 cxd4 44.Kc2 e5 45.fxe5 Kxe5 46.Kb3 Kd5 There is no finesse possible, as White would be only to happy to shove her king to c4 if allowed. 47.Kb4 Kd6 48.Kc4 Kc6 Black is reconciled to the loss of his d-pawn, and seeks to restore the balance by winning the a-pawn. Clever defence. So far, this has all been pretty straightforward and easy to calculate (for GMs of this standard). 49.Kxd4 Kb5 50.Kd5! ... Instead 50.Ke5 Kxa5 51.d4 Kb6 52.Ke6 Kc7 53.Ke7 (0r else Black will play ...Kd8) 53...Kc6 and draws. 50...Kxa5 What should White play here? Take a few moments to think about it. Here's a diagram . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51.Kc5!! ... The question was asked in the article: I found it at once. The point is that now Black has to spend two moves clearing the front of his a-pawn, instead of one. Not only that, Black can not hinder the White d-pawn in any way. Meantime, White has cleared the front her own passed pawn to achieve this! White wins. (I think Black resigned here). 51...Ka4 52.d4 Kb3 53.d5 a5 54.d6 a4 55.d7 a3 56.d8=Q a2 See what a difference a single tempo makes! White is given one move to stop Black's pawn from queening: 57.Qd4! ... Simplest method. Black can not stop the Q reaching a1, after which there is no hope for Black: 57...Kc2 58.Qa1 Kb3 59.Kd4 Kc2 Instead 59...Ka3 60.Kc4 and mate next move) 60.Kc4 Kd2 61.Qxa2 ... And wins easily. |
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