Following Kramnik vs. Deep Fritz (Rook and Knight Perpetual Checks, Part 2)
Today (November 27, 2006) was a sad day for the human mind. Kramnik lost to Deep Fritz after missing a mate in one! This reminded me of how fragile we humans are, and on a more practical chess level, this event told me that if the world champion misses a mate in one then we should all practice our basic patterns. Therefore, I decided not to be lazy and write the long awaited second part of the article on rook and knight patterns. What I would like to show you this time is another pattern of rook and knight perpetual check. Note that in the following examples, all of the “victims” are players of over 2450 ELO rating, so let it be another reminder for the rest of us to know our patterns. (OK, don’t take me too seriously, just enjoy some nice last minute savings)
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In Temirbaev (2490) - Likavsky(2492) Calvia, 2004, Black has a won position and White can resign after 46…Bf2+ 47 Kh3 (to protect the h pawn) Rb3+ 48 Kg2 Ke8! (now White cannot achieve the drawing pattern) 49 Rxd5 Bxh4. But instead Black played the reckless 46…Rxb5?? And let White off the hook with the immediate 47 Nh7+ Ke8 48 Nf6+ Kf8 49 Nh7+ ½-½ (if 49… Kg8 then 50 Nf6+ Kf8 returns to the same position, but not 50…Kh8?? 51 Rh7#
In Golubovic (2443) -Sale (2453) Zadar, 1994 Black may not be winning but he has an advantage after 37…Rd6. Black probably did not want to put his rook on a passive square so he played 37…Rb3? White answered with 38 Rd7! And suddenly there is nothing Black can do to prevent the perpetual check. The game concluded with 38…Ne3 39 Nh7+ Ke8 40 Nf6+ Kf8 41 Nh7+ Ke8 42 Nf6+ ½-½.
Ready for some action? Ok, so look at the following position.
The young Akobian who plays the Black pieces is close to a win against Christiansen. Black thought it is time to get the queenside rolling and played 39…a5? And now I have two questions for you: 1. How did White draw the game? 2. How could Black win from the diagram position?
As the concluding example of these two articles on the rook and knight perpetual-check patterns, I give you a real treat from the game Iljin (2505)-Krapivin (2458), Serpukhov, 2004. The white pawn on a7 makes it clear that Black does not have a lot of time to force a perpetual check. Had the black rook been on d2 Black would have no problem in using the pattern we have seen today but unfortunately the rook is on c2. Still Black finds a way out by combining the pattern we saw today with the one I showed in the earlier article. 34 Ne3+ 35 Kg1 Rg2+ 36 Kh1 Rf2 Black threatens …Rf1# 37 Ne5+ The point of this check is to open the h1-a8 diagonal for the future queen but even the queen will not prevent the perpetual check. 37…Kh5 37…Kh6 would also lead to draw 38 h4
38…Rf1+ 39 Kh2 Rf2+ 40 Kh3 now Black cannot play the usual 40…Rf1 because after 41 a8=Q the h1 square is covered. Still the resourceful Krapivin finds a save 40…Nf1! Now Black threatens …Rh2# note how many things the rook and knight can do together. 41 g4 fxg4+ 42 Nxg4 Rf3+ 43 Kg2 Kxg4 44 a8=Q ½-½ now after 44…Ne3+ we are back in the pattern that started this article series. With this we have come to a full circle and it is time to finish.
Solutions:
1. White played 40 Nd5! Kf8 41 Nf6 d1=Q (even the extra queen cannot help) 42 Nxh7+ with a perpetual check.
2.Black could win by 39…Kf8! 40 Rxa7 Ke8 41 Ra8+ Kd7 42 Ra7+ Ke6 43 Ra6+ Ke5 and Black will queen his d pawn, winning the white knight.