Today Kramnik vs Carlsen at london chess classic witnessed a study like ending .. something I have never come across. Carlsen was in a totally lost position a piece down and made a tricky move ...Rg5-c5 (Diagram 1)inviting what would seem to everyone a tactic that Kramnik latched onto immediately. So white played Rxd6+ and forked the king and rook next move and to reach diagram 2. One would think this is easy win for white.... plan is to simply sac the bishop for the black's a pawn (when it advances) mean while the king collects black queen side pawn. Amazingly, black does not bother with the a pawn but tries to box the white king out. Kramnik could not win. But there are several GM as I type this one trying to find a win for white in this very complicated study like endgame. I will comment when I understand more on this. Meanwhile, if you have the time play it out and enjoy. The full game can be replayed at http://chessbase.com/news/2010/london/games/lcc06.htm ( Look into Kramnik vs Carlsen there )
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GM Shipov analysis of the game are here http://www.chessintranslation.com/live-game/. He is convinced it is a draw, but at the end he expresses doubts again due to 68.g5 variation.
ReplyDeleteBarry, Marijan and myself did manage to convince ourselves that white has win in the endgame after studying this position for more than an hour at Wegmens. The famous endgame specialist and trainer Karsten Mueller has now analyzed this endgame at chessbase http://chessbase.com/news/2010/london/games/lcc08.htm and has confirmed our analysis.
ReplyDeleteMueller also writes a very nice article on comparative thinking and how kramnik could have psychologically avoided this difficult ending. Its at http://chessbase.com/newsdetail.asp?newsid=6876
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