EG 2020-21 Study Tourney - Preliminary Award

The preliminary award of an interesting tourney which I was judging was published in the latest issue of the EG magazine. You can also download the award from here.

Petr Kiryakov
EG
2020-21
1st Prize
White wins

1. c7 Rf1+ 2. Kb2 2. Kc2? Rf5 3. c8=Q Rc5+ = 2... Rf2+ 3. Kb3 Rf3+ 4. Kb4 Rf4+ 5. Kb5 Rf5+ 6. Kxb6 Rf6+ 7. Kb5! 7. Kc5? Rf1! 8. Kd4 (8. Rb3+ Kg2! 9. Kd4 Rf4+ 10. Kc3 Rf3+ 11. Kb2 Rf2+ 12. Ka3 Rf8 13. Rb2+ Nf2! 14. Rb8 Rf3+ 15. Kb4 Nd3+ =) 8... Rd1+ 9. Ke3 Rc1 10. c8=Q Rxc8 11. Rxc8 = 7... Rf5+ 8. Kb4 or 8. Kc4 Rf4+ 9. Kb3 minor dual 8... Rf4+ 9. Kb3 Rf3+

10. Ka2!!

Logical try: 10. Kc2?! Rf2+ 11. Kd3 Rf3+ 12. Kd4 Rf4+ 13. Kd5 Rf5+ 14. Kd6 Rf6+ 15. Ke7? Rc6 = 10... Rf2+ 11. Rb2 Systematical movement - 1st step 11... Rf8 12. Rb3+ Kg4 The second rank is forbidden: 12... Kg2 13. Rb8 Rf2+ 14. Rb2 +- 13. Rb8 Rf2+ 14. Kb3 Rf3+ 15. Kb4 Rf4+ 16. Ka3! Rf3+ 17. Rb3 2nd step 17... Rf8 18. Rb4+ Kg5 The third rank is forbidden: 18... Kg3 19. Rb8 Rf3+ 20. Rb3 +- 19. Rb8 Rf3+ 20. Kb4 Rf4+ 21. Kb5 Rf5+ 22. Ka4! Rf4+ 23. Rb4 3rd step 23... Rf8 24. Rb5+ Kh6! 24... Kg6 25. Rb8 Rf4+ 26. Kb3 (26. Kb5 is also possible) 26... Rf3+ 27. Kc2 Rf2+ 28. Kd3 Rf3+ 29. Kd4 Rf4+ Position A 30. Ke3! dual avoidance (30. Kd5?! Rf5+ 31. Kd6 Rf6+ 32. Ke7? Rf7+! = The f7 square is controlled by the black king; compare with main line 24...Kh6!) 30... Rc4 31. c8=Q Rxc8 32. Rxc8 Ng3 (32... Kg5 33. Kf3! +-) 33. Rg8+ This skewer is the reason why the black king avoids stepping into g6 in the main line. Returning to a previous rank was again not an option: 24... Kg4 25. Rb8 Rf4+ 26. Rb4 +- 25. Rb8 Rf4+ 26. Kb3 Rf3+

27. Kc2!

The main plan! See the logical try on move 10. 27... Rf2+ 28. Kd3 Rf3+ 29. Kd4 Rf4+ Position B 30. Kd5! dual avoidance 30. Ke3? Rc4 31. c8=Q Rxc8 32. Rxc8 Ng3! = and there is no Rg8+ skewer unlike in the 24...Kg6 line. 30... Rf5+ 31. Kd6 Rf6+ 32. Ke7! 32. Ke5? Rc6 33. Rb6! Rxb6 34. c8=Q Ng3! 35. Qh3+ Kg7! (35... Nh5? 36. Qe3+ +-) 36. Qxg3+ Rg6 Now we see that the white king would be much better placed on e7. 37. Qc3 h6!! There is no fortress with the pawn on h7. 38. Kf5+ Kh7 39. Qc7+ Rg7 = Black reaches a well-known fortress discovered by Guretzky-Kornitz (1864). White cannot break black's rook g-file defence. 32... Rc6 33. Rb6 Rxb6 34. c8=Q Ng3 35. Qh3+ Kg7 35... Nh5 36. Qe3+ +- 36. Qxg3+ and White wins. Due the proximity of the white king, black will have no time to setup a fortress. E.g. 36... Rg6 37. Qe5+ Kh6 38. Qf4+ Kg7 39. Qf8#

"In my eyes, this study was the clear winner of the tourney. After the classical K vs R systematical movement (moves 2 to 9) one would expect the natural 10. Kc2 to follow in order to get the king closer to the black rook, but that move is just a logical try! The amazing 10.Ka2!! and a complex systematical movement is needed to before returning back to the main plan with the move 27.Kc2! By then, the black king is attracted to the 6th rank which makes possible the pin with 33.Rb6!"

I also liked the following study:

Jan Sprenger
EG
2020-21
2nd Prize
White wins

The following presentation is by the author of the study.

Strategic miniature with logical content and systematic king movements up and down the board. The question is how White must break the opposition 1. g3 Kd1. White needs to play Ka3 at the right moment, when Black cannot reply Kc3 due to the f4-f5 breakthrough: h8Q occurs with check!. But first, the king needs to go all the way up to b6! 1. g3 Forced since Black threatened g4-g3. 1... Kd1! Black can rush to the kingside, too. After Kf2 or Kf3, White plays h4-h5 g6xh5 f4-f5, promoting the f-pawn with check. Black then draws against the queen [1] pushing both the g- and the h-pawn if the white king is on the seventh rank, the b-file or on c6; [2] with the doubled g-pawn after hxg3 with wKd6. With wKd5, like in the solution, White is winning. (e.g., 1... Ke2 2. Kc2 Kf3 3. h5 gxh5 4. f5 +-) 2. Kb2 Kd2 3. Kb3 Thematic try: White would like to play 3. Ka3? luring the black king to c3 so that f4-f5 works. However, Black draws with Ke3 (or Ke1/Ke2) (3... Kc3? 4. f5! gxf5 5. h5 +- and White promotes with check) (3... Kd3? 4. Kb3 and Black must give up the opposition) 4. Kb4 Kf3 5. h5 gxh5 6. f5 Kxg3 e.g. 7. f6 h4 8. f7 Kh2 9. f8=Q g3 = 3... Kd3 4. Kb4 Kd4 5. Kb5 Kd5 6. Kb6! Kd6! Black keeps the opposition (6... Ke4 Black tries to exploit the remote position of the white king. 7. Kc5! (Logical try: 7. Kc7? (or Kc6) Kf3 8. h5 gxh5 9. f5 h4/Kxg3 transposes 10. f6 Kxg3! Now the two pawns are strong enough for draw, e.g, 11. f7 Kh2 12. f8=Q g3 13. Qf4 h3 14. Kd6 Kh1 15. Qxg3 h2 =) 7... Kf3 8. h5! gxh5 9. f5 h4 10. f6 Kxg3 11. f7 Kh2 12. f8=Q g3 13. Qf4 h3 14. Kd4! +- and the king arrives in time.) 3... Kd3 4. Kb4 Kd4 5. Kb5 Kd5 6. Kb6! Kd6!

7. Ka5!!

Now the black king can't attack the g-pawn directly, and so White can afford to move the king to the a-file. Logical try: 7. Kb7?! Kd5! (If Black continues to mirror White's movements, the h-pawn queens with check: 7... Kd7? 8. Kb8 Kd8 9. Ka8 Kc8 10. f5! gxf5 11. h5 +-) 8. Kc7? (8. Kb6! Kd6 leads back to the position after move) 8... Ke4! 9. Kd6!? The white king is now too close to draw with g- and h-pawn like in main B, but the second defense plan works: 9... Kf3 10. h5 gxh5 11. f5 h4 12. f6 hxg3! 13. f7 g2 14. f8=Q+ Kg3 = The wKd6 blocks the check on the b8-h2 diagonal and so g2-g1Q cannot be prevented. 7... Kc5 (7... Kd5 8. Kb5 and White has gained the opposition.) 8. Ka4 Kc4 9. Ka3 Now Black must either allow the f4-f5 breakthrough or give up the opposition:

Main A:

9... Kc3 10. f5! echo with the breakthrough in main B (thematic try 10. h5? gxh5 11. f5 h4 12. f6 hxg3 13. f7 g2 14. f8=Q g1=Q =) 10... gxf5 11. h5 f4 12. h6 fxg3 13. h7 g2 14. h8=Q+ +- Check!

Main B:

9... Kd3 10. Kb3! We have reached again the position after 3. Kb3, but now it is BLACK to move. 10... Kd4 11. Kb4 11. Kc2?! Ke4 12. Kc3 Ke3 13. Kc4 Ke4 14. Kc5 Ke3 just loses time 11... Kd3 12. Kc5 Ke4 13. Kc4! (13. Kd6? (or Kc6) 13... Kf3! = see the logical try 7. Kb7.) 13... Ke3!? Luring the white king to the d5 square. (13... Kf3 14. h5 gxh5 15. f5 loses straightforwardly, the white king is too close.) 14. Kd5 Kf2 15. h5! gxh5 16. f5 h4 17. f6 The a8-h1 diagonal is now closed, and so Black tries 17... h3!? 18. f7 h2 19. f8=Q+ Kg2 Now, h1Q cannot be prevented, but White wins with 20. Qa8! Changing the order of moves is possible. 20... h1=Q 21. Ke5+ Kg1 22. Qxh1+ Kxh1 23. Kf4 +-

As a strange coincidence, the key moment of this study has some similarity to that from the previous work. I guess everybody would try the natural 7. Kb7 but that is just a well hidden try. Winning is another amazing move to the edge of the board: 7.Ka5!! The position after black's 3rd move is a 'cyclic zugzwang': white's only way of winning is by returning to the same position but with BTM. A prize winning pawn study is a rarity nowadays but I consider it completely justified.