[Event "Prague-01 International Masters"]
[Site "Prague"]
[Date "1908.06.05"]
[Round "14"]
[White "Teichmann, Richard"]
[Black "Alapin, Simon"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D46"]
[Annotator "Sundararajan Kidambi"]
[PlyCount "180"]
[EventDate "1908.05.18"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "19"]
[EventCountry "CZE"]
[SourceTitle "HCL"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceQuality "1"]
{[%evp 0,180,16,28,28,-1,-16,-23,30,39,53,20,53,51,51,64,52,36,36,33,60,29,45,
-12,-16,-19,69,42,40,47,63,60,66,66,89,81,65,70,51,57,125,75,72,82,85,75,74,98,
111,86,104,100,69,48,58,27,30,0,5,-10,-8,-2,51,56,59,35,38,42,47,35,43,18,41,
41,44,51,49,44,47,44,47,44,44,56,44,44,44,36,49,44,44,44,44,42,44,81,54,54,52,
58,53,51,51,43,37,34,41,74,68,47,26,26,25,24,26,26,58,58,58,55,58,58,73,55,55,
55,67,55,61,59,61,55,60,55,58,55,55,55,64,61,63,64,64,64,64,61,65,50,55,55,65,
64,64,53,53,55,55,55,55,55,55,49,61,61,63,65,61,57,61,60,73,73,73,73,73,73,73,
32,73,72,63,63,63]} 1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 c6 4. e3 Nf6 5. Bd3 Be7 6. Nf3
Nbd7 7. O-O O-O 8. e4 dxe4 9. Nxe4 c5 10. Nxf6+ Bxf6 11. Bc2 cxd4 12. Nxd4 Qa5
13. Be3 Rd8 14. Qe2 Nf8 15. Rfd1 Bd7 16. Be4 Bxd4 17. Bxd4 Bc6 18. Bxc6 bxc6
19. Qe4 Rd7 20. Bc3 Qc7 21. Rxd7 Qxd7 22. Qg4 e5 23. Qxd7 Nxd7 24. Rd1 Nb6 25.
b3 f6 26. Rd6 Rc8 27. Ba5 Kf7 28. Bxb6 axb6 29. Rd7+ Kg6 30. Kf1 c5 31. Ke2 Rc6
32. Re7 Rd6 33. a4 h5 34. g3 Kh6 35. h3 g6 36. Ra7 Rd8 37. Rc7 Rd6 38. Ra7 Rd8
39. Rb7 Rd6 40. Ra7 Rd8 41. Rc7 Rd6 42. Ra7 Rd8 43. Rb7 Rd6 44. Ra7 Rd8 45. Ra6
Rb8 46. h4 g5 47. a5 bxa5 48. Rxf6+ Kg7 49. hxg5 Rxb3 50. Rc6 a4 51. Rxc5 e4
52. Ra5 a3 53. c5 Kg6 54. c6 Rc3 55. c7 Rxc7 56. Rxa3 Kxg5 57. Ra5+ Kf6 58.
Rxh5 Rc3 59. Ra5 Rb3 60. Rc5 Ra3 61. Rb5 Rc3 62. Rb8 Ke5 63. Rf8 Ra3 64. Re8+
Kd4 65. Rd8+ Ke5 66. Rf8 Rb3 67. Rf7 Ra3 68. Rf8 Rb3 69. Kf1 {[#] White
clearly indicates his intentions. His King is cut off on the h-file and
White's King wants to hop over to support the passed g-pawn. His idea is
Kg2-h3-h4 and then start pushing the g-pawn. This is perhaps White's only
available plan. So how does Black fight against this?} Rf3 $1 {[%mdl 4096]
Clearly Alapin knew that this was the way to salvation.Psychologically it is
hard to offer exchange of Rooks as we tend to think all King and Pawn endgames
are lost, but sometimes there are exceptions and we might miss them. Here
precisely with the King on f1 this pawn endgame is a draw!} 70. Re8+ (70. Rxf3
exf3 71. Kg1 (71. Ke1 Kd5 72. Kd1 Kc5 73. Kc1 Kd5 74. Kb2 Kd4 $11) 71... Kf5
72. Kh2 Kg4 $11 {White's King is caged for the lack of an 'i' file on the
chessboard!} 73. Kg1 Kf5 74. Kf1 Ke4 75. Ke1 Kd3 76. Kd1 Kc3 77. Kc1 (77. g4
Kd4 78. g5 Ke5 79. Kd2 Kf5 80. Ke3 Kxg5 81. Kxf3 Kf5 $11) 77... Kd3 $11) 70...
Kd4 71. Rd8+ Ke5 72. Kg2 Rf7 $1 {Now the cut off is no longer there and Black
places his Rooks ideally attacking the pawn on f2 and thereby tying up the
King to the defence of the pawn.} 73. Rd2 {Protecting the pawn in order to
free the king.} (73. g4) 73... Rf8 74. Ra2 (74. Kh3 Kf5) 74... Rf7 75. Ra5+ Ke6
76. Rg5 Rf8 77. Kf1 Rf3 78. Ke2 Ra3 79. Rg4 Ke5 80. Rf4 Rb3 81. Rf8 Ra3 {
Back to original position!} 82. g4 {Finally White realises that he has no
progress without this move.} Rb3 83. Rf5+ Ke6 84. Kf1 Rb1+ 85. Kg2 Rb3 $1 {
But now we see that White's King is cut off on the third rank and so there is
no win,} 86. Rf8 Ke5 87. Rf5+ (87. g5 Ra3 {Black can calmly wait as he can
answer} 88. g6 {with} Ra6 $1 $11 {When White has no progress, for example} 89.
Rg8 Kf6 90. Kg3 Ra1 91. Kf4 Re1 $11) 87... Ke6 88. Rh5 Kf6 89. Rh3 {This is
the only way to move Black's rook away from the third rank, but in doing so he
has freed Black's King to come back and block the g-passer.} Rb4 90. Kg3 (90.
Re3 Kg5 91. Kg3 Ra4 92. Rb3 Ra5 $11) 90... Rb3+ {An endgame brilliantly
handled by Simon Alapin} 1/2-1/2
[Event "Sigeman & Co 05th"]
[Site "Malmo"]
[Date "1997.06.17"]
[Round "8"]
[White "Hellers, Ferdinand"]
[Black "Rozentalis, Eduardas"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C43"]
[WhiteElo "2585"]
[BlackElo "2650"]
[Annotator "Sundararajan Kidambi"]
[PlyCount "157"]
[EventDate "1997.06.10"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "SWE"]
[EventCategory "13"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 060"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "1997.09.29"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "1997.09.29"]
[SourceQuality "1"]
{[%evp 0,157,30,33,33,37,19,43,82,0,8,3,1,-27,11,-20,24,17,13,30,56,55,79,70,
70,76,81,74,81,71,48,54,54,25,29,-12,2,-18,21,16,30,10,63,64,57,21,21,17,42,33,
83,79,82,89,92,96,97,120,125,127,118,103,99,106,108,100,113,113,99,105,126,118,
121,116,145,84,92,67,67,47,105,104,117,109,80,101,101,101,98,68,49,77,76,83,70,
70,57,60,60,54,54,49,49,56,58,58,58,61,61,58,62,49,49,49,49,41,56,45,69,45,62,
63,64,63,63,62,73,64,66,62,61,53,61,46,44,60,55,58,58,58,72,91,102,51,59,74,74,
74,84,84,67,67,67,84,84,106,99,105,195,220]} 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. d4 Nxe4 4.
Bd3 d5 5. Nxe5 Nd7 6. Nxd7 Bxd7 7. O-O Be7 8. c4 Nf6 9. Nc3 Be6 10. c5 Qd7 11.
Re1 O-O 12. Bf4 c6 13. b4 Rfe8 14. b5 Bf5 15. bxc6 bxc6 16. Ba6 Ne4 17. Nxe4
dxe4 18. Qa4 Rad8 19. Rad1 Bg4 20. Rd2 Bf8 21. h3 Be6 22. Bc4 Bxc4 23. Qxc4 Qf5
24. Be3 Rd5 25. Rb2 Rd7 26. Reb1 Red8 27. Rb7 g6 28. Qa4 Bg7 29. Qxc6 Rxd4 30.
Rb8 Be5 31. Bxd4 Bxb8 32. Qf6 Qxf6 33. Bxf6 Rc8 34. Rb7 Kf8 35. Kf1 Bc7 36.
Rxa7 Bd8 37. Bd4 Be7 38. c6 f5 39. Ra6 Kf7 40. Be5 Ke6 41. Bh2 g5 42. c7+ Kd5
43. Ra5+ Ke6 44. Be5 f4 45. a4 h6 46. h4 Bd6 47. Bxd6 Kxd6 48. hxg5 hxg5 49.
Rxg5 Rxc7 50. Rf5 Rc1+ 51. Ke2 Rc2+ 52. Ke1 Ra2 53. Rxf4 Ke5 54. g3 Rxa4 55.
Kf1 Ra8 56. Kg2 Rh8 57. Rh4 Rf8 58. Rh5+ Ke6 59. Ra5 Rf3 60. Ra8 Rf7 61. Kf1 {
[%mdl 4096]} Kf5 (61... Ke5 62. Ke2 Kd5 63. Ra5+ Ke6 64. Ra4 Ke5 {Since Ke3
can always be answered by Rf3, White has no progress.}) 62. Ke2 Rb7 $4 {
The Rook should not have been moved from the ideal f-file.} (62... Ke5 $1 {
There is absolutely nothing to fear.}) 63. Rf8+ $1 $18 {By moving back and
forth White has achieved a winning position. He cuts off the king and White's
king can cross over to g2 without Black having the Rf3 possibility.} Ke5 64.
Kf1 $1 $18 Re7 65. Kg2 Kd6 66. Kh3 e3 67. fxe3 Rxe3 68. Kh4 Ke7 69. Rf1 Rb3 70.
g4 Rb8 71. Rf4 $1 Rh8+ 72. Kg5 Ke6 73. Kg6 Ke5 74. Rf5+ Ke4 75. Rf6 Rg8+ 76.
Kh5 Rh8+ 77. Rh6 Rf8 78. g5 Ke5 79. Ra6 {Rank cut off decides the game.} 1-0
[Event "23rd ETCC Open 2021"]
[Site "Catez"]
[Date "2021.11.21"]
[Round "9.1"]
[White "Firouzja, Alireza"]
[Black "Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C54"]
[WhiteElo "2770"]
[BlackElo "2765"]
[Annotator "Sundararajan Kidambi"]
[PlyCount "101"]
[EventDate "2021.11.08"]
[EventType "team-tourn"]
[EventCountry "SLO"]
[SourceTitle "playchess.com"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceQuality "1"]
[WhiteTeam "France"]
[BlackTeam "Azerbaijan"]
[WhiteTeamCountry "FRA"]
[BlackTeamCountry "AZE"]
{[%mdl 8256][%evp 14,101,18,14,18,12,33,4,7,0,5,8,12,11,9,6,12,0,42,0,0,0,0,0,
31,50,109,98,112,97,93,62,72,25,24,0,0,0,81,81,81,80,80,80,80,86,86,85,85,83,
76,75,80,73,71,95,102,102,102,102,102,102,102,102,102,102,102,61,61,61,61,61,
61,61,61,61,61,61,61,61,639,397,632,632,632,599,587,543,531,456]} 1. e4 e5 2.
Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. O-O Nf6 5. d3 h6 6. c3 d6 7. Re1 O-O 8. h3 a5 9. Nbd2 Be6
10. Bxe6 fxe6 11. Nb3 Ba7 $146 12. Be3 Bxe3 13. Rxe3 a4 14. Nbd2 d5 15. Re2 b5
16. exd5 Nxd5 17. a3 Nf4 18. Re3 $1 Qe8 19. g3 Nxh3+ 20. Kg2 $1 {[%CAl Rg2h3]}
Ng5 21. Nxg5 hxg5 22. Qg4 Rf5 23. Nf3 Qf7 24. Qe4 Rf8 25. Rh1 g6 26. Qxc6 g4 {
[%CAl Rf5f3]} 27. Kg1 $1 Rxf3 28. Rxf3 Qxf3 {[%csl Gf8][%CAl Rf3f2]} 29. Qxe6+
Qf7 30. Qxf7+ Rxf7 {[%mdl 4096]} 31. Rh4 Rd7 32. Rxg4 Rxd3 33. Rxg6+ Kf7 34.
Rc6 Rd2 35. c4 Rxb2 36. Rxc7+ Ke6 37. Rc6+ Kf5 38. cxb5 Rb3 39. b6 Rxa3 40. b7
Rb3 41. Ra6 Rxb7 42. Rxa4 e4 (42... Rb8 {Black can keep waiting, but there is
nothing wrong with the text move.}) 43. Ra5+ Kf6 44. Kf1 Rb3 45. Ke2 Rc3 46.
Ra8 Rb3 (46... Ke5 $5) 47. Rf8+ Ke5 {[#]} 48. Kf1 $1 Kd4 $4 (48... Rf3 $1 {
is the only way to draw, as is known from Alapin's game.} 49. Rxf3 exf3 50. Ke1
Kd5 $1 51. Kd1 Kc5 {Black's pawn on f3 restricts White from converting his
distant opposition into a close one. So surprisingly this is a draw!} 52. Kc1
Kd5 53. Kb2 Kd4 $1 $11) 49. Kg2 Rb7 50. Kh3 Ke5 (50... Rh7+ 51. Kg4 Rg7+ 52.
Kf5 $18) 51. g4 {Once White's king has crossed over to the g and h files while
maintaining the cut off on the f-file he is simply winning.} 1-0
