[Event "GM Training Festival"] [Site "Udaipur"] [Date "2023.05.07"] [Round "?"] [White "Process of Elimination"] [Black "Introduction"] [Result "*"] [Annotator "Chandrajeet Rajawat"] [SetUp "1"] [FEN "r1bq3r/4pQ1p/p2k1npb/2pPn3/2P2B2/2NB4/P4PPP/1R2K2R w K - 0 1"] [PlyCount "19"] [EventDate "2023.05.22"] [SourceVersionDate "2023.05.22"] {[#] Lets learn how to navigate through very difficult positions by process of elimination and right attitude.} 1. Rb7 $3 {A stunning looking move threatening Qf6 and Ne4# , but it is forced and easy to find if we eliminate other moves since either white kings escape on forcing moves such as Be5 and Ne4 and on other moves Rf8 and queen is trapped for example -} (1. Bxe5+ Kxe5 $19 {White King escapes in the center but sadly black queen can't.} 2. O-O Rf8 3. Rfe1+ Kd4 $3 4. Qxe7 Qxe7 5. Rxe7 {White can pick either piece and is easily winning since mating net can't be weaved anymore with remaining pieces.}) (1. Ne4+ Nxe4 2. Bxe5+ Kxe5 {Doesn't work either}) 1... Bd7 $1 {Only move stopping Qf6 and Ne4 idea} (1... Rf8 $4 2. Qxf6+ $1 exf6 3. Ne4#) (1... Bxb7 $4 2. Qe6+ Kc7 3. Bxe5+ Qd6 4. Qxe7+ $18) 2. Bg3 $1 {Apparently a very hard move for everybody solving this, you may also have found it difficult to find. Why are such easy looking move so difficult to play? Because we are looking for only forcing moves but if we calculate systematicaly and objectively we'll find such moves easily. No forcing moves work hence reject and move on to other moves, Soon you'll realise preserving this bishop is only way to continue our pursuit.} Rb8 (2... Rf8 {Important to find} 3. Qxh7 $18) (2... Qf8 3. Rxd7+ Kxd7 4. Qe6+ Kd8 5. Bxe5 $18) 3. Rxb8 (3. Ra7 $1 {Was suggested by me during the camp with an idea} Ra8 4. Rxa8 Qxa8 5. O-O $1 {Is similar to the mainline} (5. Bxe5+ {This was my idea queen is misplaced on Qa8 and we have great chance to hunt the king. But as pointed out by GM Debasish that this is can work but is unnecessary and principaled approach is to maintain all threats making opponents life difficult. Very Nice point!!} Kxe5 6. Qxe7+ Kd4 7. Qxf6+ Kxd3 8. Qf3+ Kxc4 9. O-O {This is winning but no clear variation to win.})) 3... Qxb8 4. O-O {Again a quite move but only way to continue our attack we need more pieces , hence rook joins the party.} (4. Bxe5+ $2 Kxe5 5. Qxe7+ Kd4 6. Qxf6+ Kxd3 7. Qf3+ Kxc4 8. O-O Qf4 $1) 4... Qf8 $1 (4... Rf8) 5. Re1 {Only move to keep the initiative going,Threatening Be5#. If we don't force ourselves to find such moves in these positions we will lose the thread and lose very quickly. So its important to understand the situation and keep fueling the fire in our attack otherwise defenses shall come in and our material deficit will soon be realised.} Nfg4 {So far if you're just looking for every possible move and using process of elimination reaching to this point is logical. In Such chaotic positions we are often required to consider all possible moves if we don't find apt continuation.} 6. Qf3 $3 {Re-routing the queen but with means of tactics taking the queen leads to advantage for white as black loses the knight.} (6. Ne4+ Kc7) (6. Qxf8 {Very is to get tempted by this and get material imbalance but the more you train the better you get at sensing Moves and maintaining the initiative with moves such as Qf3!!} Rxf8 7. h3) 6... Kc7 7. Rxe5 Nxe5 8. Bxe5+ Kd8 9. Qg3 $18 {Is even stronger, since kings safety is a bigger concern for black and white can continue his attack while black rook wouldn't prove useful anytime soon. But such moves require high level of understanding and can be diffcult to evalute for even strong players at times. This comes with analysing lot of such positions in depth.} (9. Bxh8 Qxh8 10. Bf1 $16 {White is pawn up with better structure, while black's double bishops aren't scary at all. And Black King hasn't found his safehouse yet.}) 9... Rg8 10. Ne4 {[%csl Rd8][%CAl Ge4c5] And we can stop here, White has brilliantly found all resources and is now in driver's seat with attacking position.} * [Event "GM Training Festival"] [Site "Udaipur"] [Date "2023.05.07"] [Round "?"] [White "Candidate Moves Elimination"] [Black "Introduction"] [Result "*"] [Annotator "Chandrajeet Rajawat"] [SetUp "1"] [FEN "r1b1r1k1/1p2q1p1/p2p1n1p/3B2N1/2Pp4/P5P1/1PQ1PP1P/5RK1 b - - 0 1"] [PlyCount "11"] [EventDate "2023.05.22"] [SourceVersionDate "2023.05.22"] {[#] Black has two moves Kh8 and Kf8 , What should we play?} 1... Kf8 {Lets try to find Candidate moves for our opponents as well.} (1... Kh8 $2 2. Nf7+ Kg8 3. Ng5+ $11 {White minimum has a draw here. So Now we should try our best to make Kf8 work or accept our fate with Kh8.}) 2. Qh7 {Only Candidate move for white by process of elimination} (2. Nh7+ Nxh7 3. Qxh7 Qf6 {Black wins with the extra Rook}) 2... Qf7 {And Soon you will ponder onto this move Qf7. It protects g7 creates a threat on Queen on h7 and also protects e8 things magicaly start working. But its not magic, when we analysed more obvious Qe5 and Qe2 we realised that g7 is a big problem if queen goes far. hence such details about the position helps us finding right moves. We understand the position better when we analyse systematically.} (2... Qxe2 $2 3. Qh8+ Ke7 4. Qxg7+ Kd8 5. Qxf6+ Kc7 {Doesn't look appealing since we lost our material and king is still weak.Hence we need to dive deeper and find more candidate moves and keep eliminating such moves.}) (2... Qe5 $2 3. Qh8+ Ke7 4. Qxg7+ Kd8 5. Nf7+ $18) (2... Nxh7 $4 {Selfmates} 3. Nxh7#) 3. Qh8+ Ke7 4. Nxf7 (4. Qxe8+ Qxe8 $19) 4... Rxh8 5. Nxh8 Nxd5 6. cxd5 Bf5 $19 * [Event "GM Traning Festival"] [Site "Udaipur"] [Date "2023.05.13"] [Round "?"] [White "Planning In Endgame"] [Black "Salomon Flohr - Igor Bondarevsky"] [Result "1-0"] [Annotator "Chandrajeet Rajawat"] [SetUp "1"] [FEN "8/pp4rp/2p2k2/3pNb2/PP1P4/4PP2/5K1R/8 w - - 0 46"] [PlyCount "61"] [EventDate "2023.??.??"] [SourceVersionDate "2023.05.22"] {Lets watch this famous endgame. White has the advantage. His knight on e5 is clearly stronger than the black bishop, and his central pawn structure is more mobile. Black lacks space on queenside, and the passed h7-pawn is not very dangerous. White outlined the following plan: 1. Provoke the advance ...a7-a6 and thus protect oneself from counterplay on the queenside, ensuring the knight is able to stay on c5. 2. Transfer the knight to c5, avoiding its exchange for the bishop, for which it is necessary to carry out e3-e4. 3. Having strengthened the position of the king, invade the enemy's position with the rook, attacking the weak h7- and b7-pawns, then exchange the rooks and go into a winning minor-piece endgame. Let's see with what precision Flohr carries out this plan.} 46. a5 {With the threat of 47.a6.} Rc7 47. Rh6+ {It is in such moves that the mastery of endgame technique is manifested. To carry out a5-a6, White needs a rook on c1. Therefore, it would be possible to play 47.Rh1, but after the check, Black will slightly worsen his position. Flohr takes the slightest opportunity to strengthen his position.} Bg6 {Now the g-file is obstructed for the black rook.} 48. Rh1 Bf5 {This is probably the decisive mistake. Black should have played 48...b6 49.Rc1 Be8 , retaining the possibility of counterplay.} 49. Rc1 {White forces ...a7-a6, and Black's pawn structure is frozen.} a6 {Forced because of the threat of 50.a6.} 50. Rh1 {The rook has done its job on the queenside and again takes control of Black's passed pawn. Later the rook will be transferred to h4, where it will enable e3-e4 advance.} Rg7 51. Rh2 {Do not hurry! Black is deprived of the slightest counter-chance, while White has a clear winning plan. The last move with the rook again forces Black to worsen the position of one of his pieces. In such cases, the opponent is psychologically affected by the absence of specific threats. We can assume that with the move 51.Rh2! White gained some valuable time on the clock.} Rc7 52. Rh6+ Bg6 53. Rh4 Bf5 54. e4 {Finally} dxe4 55. fxe4 Bg6 56. Rf4+ Ke6 57. Ke3 Rg7 58. Nd3 Kd6 59. Nc5 {Knight reaches its dream square.} Re7 60. Rf8 Kc7 61. e5 Re8 {Offers exchange under pressure but the minor piece endgame is losing as well} 62. Rxe8 Bxe8 63. Kf4 b6 64. Na4 bxa5 65. bxa5 Bf7 66. Nc5 Bc4 67. Kg5 Be2 68. Kh6 Kd8 69. Kxh7 Ke7 70. Kg6 Bf1 71. Kf5 Bh3+ 72. Kf4 Bg2 73. Ke3 Bf1 74. Kd2 Kf7 75. Kc3 Kg6 76. Kb4 {Wins} 1-0