Tuesday
Jun082010
White to Move and Win?
Tuesday, June 8, 2010 at 1:37PM
Here's a position from the ongoing Poikovsky tournament. It's Sutovsky-Jobava, with White to make his 43rd move. What should he do?
Sutovsky did one thing and failed to win (though it was probably good enough to win by a hair, with perfect play), ChessToday mentions a second option chosen by some unnamed internet commentators and refutes it (nicely), but I believe I've found a rather simple third approach (confirmed by the computer) that does win. But perhaps I'm missing something? Have a look here - after you've tried to solve it for yourself, of course!
Reader Comments (6)
Well, I too wanted to play the move noted by Golubev, and I don't see why White's 44th in his refutation that you quote is all that obvious. When I decided to play that move, my intention for the 44th was different, because I thought the Golubev move was losing a tempo I very much needed. However, now I'm not that sure: maybe Black can draw in my line, as he has one serious asset he can try to use to stay alive.
(I hope this doesn't give away any information, but that nevertheless it's obvious what I mean for everyone who's read Dennis' analysis.)
It took me a while to parse out your comment, but I understand it and that line is a draw - the bishop ending after 44.c6 Kg6 45.c7 Rh8 46.Ba6 f4 etc. can't be won by White against best play. Here, as opposed to my line, the pawns are connected and Black's king can take up a better position.
That's what I figured, the connected passers being the mentioned "serious asset". Thanks for your confirmation!
You suggest 46 c7 Re8; 47 Rc5 Rc8; 48 Kc4 as winning, but what about "desperado" a-pawn ? 48...a4; 49 Kb5 a3; 50 Kb6 a2;
51 Ra5 g5; 52 Kb7 Rf8; 53 c8=Q Rc8; 54 Kc8 Kg6; 55 Kd7 Kf6 draw.
Or 49 Kb4 g5; 50 Ka4 Kg6 draw.
Gabriele,
It's a nice try, and you're right about 49.Kb4(?) being only a draw. However, both 49.Kb5 and 49.Kd5 win. Just sticking to your line, the problem is 53.c8Q? - simply 53.Rxa2 Kg6 54.Ra8 wins (54...Rf7 55.Kb6 Rxc7 56.Kxc7 and you can either work out the ending or consult a tablebase to confirm that White wins).
That's true, 52 Ra2 wins, your analyse is ok !