The Chessbase Web site (www.chessbase.com) has announced the results of their poll on the 2017 Endgame of the Year. The Chessbase editors came up with a list of nominees and this was voted on by their members. Last Tuesday I wrote that Ding Liren’s victory over Bai Jinshi in the Chinese League ran away with the “Game of the Year” award. For “Endgame of the Year” though there were two games which were pretty close.
The Wesley So vs Baadur Jobava game from the World Cup finished 6th out of six nominees. I can’t figure it out — I thought it would be a strong contender.
At the end the “Frenchman with Two Names” Maxime Vachier-Lagrave won the award for his victory over World Champion Magnus Carlsen from the 2017 Sinquefield Cup. This will count as a double whammy, for the game enabled Vachier-Lagrave to win the tournament as well, half a point ahead of Magnus Carlsen and Vishy Anand.
Here is the close second-placer.
Nakamura, Hikaru (2785) — Giri, Anish (2771) [D80]
5th Norway Chess 2017 Stavanger (1), 06.06.2017
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 d5 4.Bg5 Ne4 5.Bh4 Nxc3 6.bxc3 dxc4 7.e3 Be6 8.Qb1 b6 9.Nh3 Bh6 10.Bg5 Bxg5 11.Nxg5 Qd5 12.Nxe6 Qxe6 13.Qb4 Qd5 14.Qxc4 Qxc4 15.Bxc4
After this a quick handshake? No not yet. In fact Nakamura proves that White’s position is better — his bishop is superior to the knight and he has two available pawn levers: a2–a4–a5 and h2–h4–h5.
15…e6 16.Be2 Nd7 17.a4 Ke7 18.a5 c6 19.Kd2 b5 20.Rab1 Rab8 21.Rb2 f5 22.Rhb1 Kd6 23.f3 e5 24.c4 exd4 25.cxb5 cxb5 26.Bxb5 dxe3+ 27.Kxe3 Nf6 28.Bc4 Rxb2 29.Rxb2 Re8+ 30.Kd4 Re7 31.Rb8 Rd7 32.Rc8! Rb7 33.a6! Rb4 34.Kc3 Ra4 35.Kb3 Nd7 36.Bb5
[36.Kxa4? Nb6+ 37.Kb5 Nxc8 38.Bg8 h6 39.Bf7 (39.Bh7? Ne7 the bishop is stuck) 39…g5 40.g3 Ne7 Black holds]
36…Ra5 37.Kb4 Ra1 38.Rd8 Rb1+ 39.Ka5 Ra1+ 40.Kb4 Rb1+ 41.Ka4 Ra1+ 42.Kb3 Rb1+ 43.Kc4 Rc1+ 44.Kd3 Rc7 45.Kd4 Ke7 46.Ra8 Kd6 47.h4! Ke7?
The knight should have been moved to either b6 or g6 — the rook endgame is lost.
48.Bxd7! Rxd7+ 49.Ke5 Kf7 50.Rb8 Re7+ 51.Kd5 Kf6 52.Rb7 Re5+ 53.Kd4 Ra5 54.Rxa7 f4 55.Kc4 Ra2 56.Kc5 h5 57.Ra8 Rc2+ 58.Kb6 Rb2+ 59.Kc5 Rc2+ 60.Kb6 Rb2+ 61.Ka7 Rxg2 62.Rb8 Rf2 63.Rb6+ Kg7 64.Kb7 Rxf3 65.a7 Ra3 66.Ra6 Rb3+ 67.Kc6 1–0
You know what Magnus Carlsen’s style reminds me of? Perhaps many of you will disagree, but I always thought that the world champion closest to his style is Tigran Petrosian. What? You would say, but Petrosian is a drawing master, a champion of prophylaxis and dull games whereas Magnus is not! That may be true, but one does not become world champion without winning a lot of games. Did you know that Petrosian represented the USSR in the Chess Olympiad 10 times with an overall result of 78 wins, 50 draws and only one loss? A winning percentage of almost 80%!
Have you ever really studied the games of Petrosian to see how he wins games? He does not go for an opening advantage — a playable middlegame will do. Then, when he gets there, he just sits on the position and starts maneuvering, playing cat-and-mouse — threatening this and then threatening that until his opponent makes a mistake. After that he transposes to the endgame and pursues the win with perfect technique.
That is also the way Magnus Carlsen plays. The game that will follow is a perfect example of that, with one big difference — Magnus manages to create a big advantage out of nothing, but then errs. Now it is the Frenchman Vachier-Lagrave’s time to exhibit his deep tactical style — he always has a “drop of poison” in hand and Magnus falls into it. After that MVL shows his fantastic endgame technique and turns the game around. Best Endgame of 2017.
Carlsen, Magnus (2822) — Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime (2789) [A34]
5th Sinquefield Cup 2017 Saint Louis USA (4.1), 05.08.2017
1.Nf3 Nf6 2.c4 c5 3.Nc3 d5 4.cxd5 Nxd5 5.e3 Nxc3 6.dxc3
White’s main choice is 6.bxc3 and now 6…g6 7.d4 Bg7 8.Bb5+ with a full game ahead of us. The drawback of 6.dxc3 of course is that queens are exchanged and we usually get a dry game. A dry game of course is not automatically a draw! Probably Magnus, knowing that his opponent is a tactical monster, just wanted to fight on a turf which might be unpleasant for his opponent.
6…Qxd1+ 7.Kxd1 Bf5
Preventing a quick e4.
8.Nd2 Nc6 9.e4
White got in e4 anyway, but now his knight is on d2, blocking one of his bishops, so he has to spend a few moves to untangle.
9…Bg6 10.Bb5 Rc8 11.h4 h5 12.Re1 e6 13.a4 Be7 14.g3 0–0 15.a5 Rfd8 16.a6 b6 17.Kc2 Ne5 18.f4 Ng4 19.Kb3 f6
GM Robert Hess suggests here that, given the lack of scope of his two bishops, Black should vacate the c5–square for his dark-squared bishop with 19…c4+! followed by 20…Bc5.
20.Nc4 Nf2 21.e5 Ne4 22.Be3 Bf5
[22…Nxg3? 23.Rg1]
23.Rg1 Rd5 24.Rae1 Kf7 25.Bc1 Bh7 26.Re3
It is not clear how either side can make progress. This is the sort of situation for Petrosian/Carlsen to shine!
26…Rcd8 27.Bc6 Nf2 28.Re2
In such a closed position the rook is not better than a minor piece. After 28.Bxd5 exd5 29.Na3 Nd3 Despite being down the exchange Black’s piece activity in conjunction with his solid pawns give him the advantage.
28…Nd3 29.exf6 gxf6 30.Bb5 Rg8 31.Bd2 Rgd8 32.Be3 Be4 33.Rd2 Rg8 34.Ka4 Rgd8 35.Kb3 Rg8 36.Ka2 f5
Fortifying his bishop’s position on e4 but at the same time creating a hole on e5.
37.Rh2 Rc8 38.Rd2 Rg8 39.Re2
A move which doesn’t threaten anything but it leaves open the possibility of Black taking the pawn on h4. Should he or shouldn’t he? Take note that this is the 39th move and on the 40th move both players get extra time, so people don’t usually like to make a committal move before then as his opponent will have more than enough time to consider the consequences.
39…Bf3?!
Let’s see if Black should have taken the pawn on h4: 39…Bxh4 40.Rh2 Bxg3 41.Rxh5 Rg7 42.Rh8 Bxf4 43.Ra8 is unclear.
40.Rh2
Oops. It turns out that there is a hidden point behind 39.Re2. Now that the d2 square is free for the knight Black can’t retreat with the bishop back to e4: 40…Be4 41.Bc6 Rdd8 42.Bxe4 fxe4 43.Nd2 wins the e4 pawn.
40…Bf6 41.Nd2
Now the Black bishop has to go to g4 where it is out of play.
41…Bg4 42.Rf1 Rgd8 43.Nc4 e5 44.fxe5 Bxe5 45.Bg5 Bxg3 46.Rg2?
A mistake, throwing away the fruits of his labor. 46.Rd2! wins material as the d8–rook is threatened and there is no easy way to disengage. For example 46…Ke6 (46…Rc8 47.Nxb6! axb6 48.Bc4 ouch) 47.Ka1! (getting out of the checking range of black’s knight) 47…f4 48.Bxd8 Rxd8 49.Na3 winning the knight.
46…Bh3 47.Rxg3 Bxf1 48.Rf3?
Having thrown away the win now he throws away the draw. 48.Bxd8 Rxd8 49.Rf3 Be2 50.Rxf5+ the position is equal once again.
48…Be2
Now White realizes that his intended 49.Re3 is met by 49…f4! 50.Rxe2 Nc1+ and his rook falls.
49.Bxd8 Bxf3 50.Bxb6 axb6 51.Bc6 Be4!
MVL had to calculate this move very accurately as there is a real danger that the a6–pawn could queen.
52.a7 Rd8 53.Nd6+ Rxd6 54.Bxe4
White can queen his pawn by 54.a8Q but then 54…Rxc6 Black has more than enough for the queen.
54…Rd8 55.a8Q Rxa8+ 56.Bxa8 Ne5 <D>
POSITION AFTER 56…NE5
This is where the endgame begins. It requires very precise calculation and MVL is up to the task.
57.Kb3 f4 58.Kc2 Kg7!
Not 58…Ng6 59.Bf3.
59.Kd2 Ng6 60.Kd3 Nxh4 61.Ke4 f3 62.Ke3 Kf6 63.b4 c4!
This is why he gets the “Endgame of the Year” award. This is the only move to win. 63…cxb4 64.cxb4 Kf5 65.Kf2 Kg4 66.Bc6 Kf4 67.Bb7 Black’s knight cannot move without losing the f3 pawn.
64.Bd5 Kf5 65.Bxc4
White has to take time to capture the pawn, otherwise 65.Bc6 Kg4 66.Kf2 Kf4 67.Bd5 Nf5 68.Bxf3 h4 69.Bd5 Nd6 Black will use the h-pawn as a decoy and penetrate with his king to capture White’s queenside pawns.
65…Kg4 66.Kf2 Ng6 67.Be6+ Kf4 68.Bf7 Ne5 69.Bxh5 Nd3+ 70.Kf1 Kg3 71.Bf7 Nf2 0–1
After 71…Nf2 72.Be6 Nd1 to be followed by …f3–f3 and Ne3+.
What a titanic struggle! This is the sort of hard-fought victory after which you don’t want to go out to the city to celebrate. You would rather go up to your room, lie down in your bed and review the variations over and over in your head. And then you fall asleep with a big smile on your face. As the famous Tarrasch quote goes, chess like love, like music, has the power to make men happy!
Bobby Ang is a founding member of the National Chess Federation of the Philippines (NCFP) and its first Executive Director. A Certified Public Accountant (CPA), he taught accounting in the University of Santo Tomas (UST) for 25 years and is currently Chief Audit Executive of the Equicom Group of Companies.
