Know How in the Pawn Endgames (3)

Let us see now how know-how will help us win points:

[Event "Snowdrops vs Oldhands"]
[Site "Podebrady CZE"]
[Date "2012.12.13"]
[Round "5.3"]
[White "Uhlmann, Wolfgang"]
[Black "Tania, Sachdev"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "A29"]
[WhiteElo "2319"]
[BlackElo "2400"]
[Annotator "www.chesstoday.net"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "8/8/p3k2p/P1p2p1P/3p1K2/3P4/4PP2/8 w - - 0 47"]
[PlyCount "6"]
[EventDate "2012.12.08"]
[EventType "schev"]
[EventRounds "8"]
[EventCountry "CZE"]
[Source "Chess Today"]
[SourceDate "2012.12.16"]

{Diagram [#]} {The legendary German player Wolfgang Uhlmann won the East
German championships eleven times and was a world championship contender in
his best years. At the time that this game is played though he is 77 (!)
years old. This is the main reason why in a very complex position he
blundered with:} 47. e3 $4 {This allowed a break-through:} c4 $1 48. dxc4 d3
49. Kf3 Ke5 {And White resigned due to the zugzwang-} (49... Ke5 50. e4 f4 51.
c5 Ke6 $19) 0-1

As it was pointed out in Chess Today, Uhlmann missed a win.

[Event "Snowdrops vs Oldhands"]
[Site "Podebrady CZE"]
[Date "2012.12.13"]
[Round "5.3"]
[White "Uhlmann, Wolfgang"]
[Black "Tania, Sachdev"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A29"]
[WhiteElo "2319"]
[BlackElo "2400"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "8/8/p3k2p/P1p2p1P/3p1K2/3P4/4PP2/8 w - - 0 47"]
[PlyCount "33"]
[EventDate "2012.12.08"]
[EventType "schev"]
[EventRounds "8"]
[EventCountry "CZE"]
[Source "Chess Today"]
[SourceDate "2012.12.16"]

{Diagram [#]} {Things should have ended differently:} 47. e4 $1 dxe3 (47... c4
48. dxc4) 48. fxe3 Kf6 49. e4 $1 {[%cal Gh4h5,Ga4a5] White wants to trade the
central pawns to reach a theoretically won endgame.} fxe4 50. dxe4 c4 51. e5+
Ke6 52. Ke4 c3 53. Kd3 Kxe5 ({Nothing changes:} 53... Kf5 54. Kxc3 Kxe5 55. Kc4
Kd6 56. Kd4 $18) 54. Kxc3 $1 {[%cal Rh4h5,Ra4a5] Diagram [#] Yet another case
of a bishop opposition! The space advantage and the geometry of the board
work in White's favour and he wins no matter which pawn Black will go for-} Kd5
(54... Kf5 55. Kc4 Kg5 56. Kc5 Kxh5 57. Kb6 Kg4 58. Kxa6 h5 59. Kb6 h4 60. a6
h3 61. a7 h2 62. a8=Q $18 {[%csl Rh1][%cal Ra8h1]}) 55. Kd3 Kc5 56. Ke4 Kb5 57.
Kf5 Kxa5 58. Kg6 Kb4 59. Kxh6 a5 60. Kg6 a4 61. h6 a3 62. h7 a2 63. h8=Q $18
1-0

How could Uhlmann calculate that deep during the game? He did not have to. All he needed to do was to remember the following study:

[Event "?"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "1927.??.??"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Grigoriev"]
[Black "Space, geometry"]
[Result "1-0"]
[Annotator ",bojkov"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "8/8/p6p/P3k2P/8/8/2K5/8 w - - 0 0"]
[PlyCount "19"]
[Source "Chess Today"]
[SourceDate "2009.03.11"]

{[%csl Ra5,Ya6,Rh5,Yh6] Diagram [#]} 1. Kc3 $1 {[%csl Rc3,Re5][%cal Re5d4,
Rc3d4]} (1. Kd3 $2 Kd5 $11 {[%cal Rd5e4,Rd5d4,Rd5c4]}) 1... Kd5 (1... Kf5 2.
Kc4 Kg5 3. Kc5 Kxh5 4. Kb6 Kg4 5. Kxa6 h5 6. Kb6 h4 7. a6 h3 8. a7 h2 9. a8=Q
$18 {[%csl Rh1][%cal Ra8h1]}) (1... Ke6 2. Kc4 {[%csl Ra6,Rc4,Re6][%cal Rc4d5,
Re6d5,Rc4c5,Rc5b6,Rb6a6]}) 2. Kd3 Kc5 3. Ke4 Kb5 4. Kf5 Kxa5 5. Kg6 Kb4 6. Kxh6
a5 7. Kg6 a4 8. h6 a3 9. h7 a2 10. h8=Q {[%csl Ra1][%cal Rh8a1]} 1-0

The solution of the problem would be the proper equipment with a base of knowledge. You do not need to know every single endgame by heart. It is hardly possible (except perhaps for a genius like Ivanchuk) but more importantly it is not worth memorizing countless endgames which are very unlikely to happen.
On the other hand each player should owe an existence minimum of exact positions in every major endgame (pawns above all but also knight/bishop/rook/queen) endgames. This will help the players a chance to orientate in most of the situations, will suggest them which pieces to trade and which to keep and naturally will support the calculation.
Best of luck in building your own memory library!
You can also check the complete article on the FIDE Trainer's site.

Know How in the Pawn Endgames (2)

Let us see now how the know-how can help us save points:

[Event "30th Metz Open"]
[Site "Metz FRA"]
[Date "2012.04.??"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Lalic, Bogdan"]
[Black "Gurevich, Mikhail"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "E01"]
[WhiteElo "2469"]
[BlackElo "2611"]
[Annotator "Bojkov, Dejan"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "8/5k2/8/6Rp/1r5P/6P1/8/5K2 b - - 0 44"]
[PlyCount "25"]
[EventDate "2012.04.14"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "FRA"]
[Source "Chess Today"]
[SourceDate "2012.04.22"]

{Diagram [#]} {At a glance it seems as Black is lost. he cannot defend the h
pawn and the two passers should win easily. However, the famous player and
renown coach replied with the cool:} 44... Rg4 $1 {It seems insane to allow a
pawn endgame when beind down a pawn. On the top of that the extra pawn is a
defended passer. Still after:} 45. Rxg4 hxg4 $11 {A textbook draw is achieved.
Lalic tried to win for a while:} 46. Ke2 Ke6 {Distant opposition.} 47. Kd3 Kd5
{Normal opposition.} 48. Kc3 {Diagram [#] The black king can no longer follow
the opponent but there is a neat solution.} Ke5 $1 {Bishop opposition. From
here the black king is ready to take the normal opposition no matter which
direction the white king will choose.} (48... Kc5 $4 49. h5) 49. Kb4 (49. Kd3
Kd5 {only repeats moves.}) (49. Kc4 Ke4 $11) 49... Kd4 50. Ka3 {Once again the
black king is limited to the square of the h pawn, but Gurevic uses the
familiar method:} Ke5 $1 {You can name this dstant bishop opposition if you
like :)} 51. Ka4 Ke4 {Normal distant opposition.} 52. Ka5 Ke5 53. Ka6 Ke6 54.
Ka7 Ke7 55. Kb7 Kd7 {Opposition.} 56. Kb6 Kd6 1/2-1/2

Gurevich did not have to invent the hot water. He knew the following position:

[Event "?"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "1922.??.??"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Grigoriev"]
[Black "?"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[Annotator "Bojkov, Dejan"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "8/8/8/4k3/Pp6/1P3K2/8/8 b - - 0 0"]
[PlyCount "19"]
[Source "Chess Today"]
[SourceDate "2009.03.11"]

{Diagram [#]} 1... Kd5 $1 {[%csl Rd5,Rf3][%cal Rf3e4,Rd5e4] Bishop opposition.}
2. Kf4 Kd4 {[%csl Rd4,Rf4][%cal Rf4e4,Rd4e4]} 3. Kg4 Ke4 4. Kg3 Ke5 {[%csl Re5,
Rg3][%cal Rg3f4,Re5f4] Bishop opposition again. Whenever the norml opposition
does not work, the defender should use the bishop one.} (4... Ke3 $2 5. a5 $18
{[%cal Ra5d5,Rd5d8,Rd8a8,Re3d4]}) 5. Kf3 Kd5 6. a5 Kc5 7. Ke4 Kb5 8. Kd5 Kxa5
9. Kc4 Ka6 $1 {[%csl Ra6,Rc4][%cal Rc4b5,Ra6b5]} 10. Kxb4 Kb6 {[%csl Rb4,Rb6]
[%cal Rb4b5,Rb6b5]} 1/2-1/2

You are not yet convinced? Then check this out:

[Event "Cappelle op 28th"]
[Site "Cappelle la Grande"]
[Date "2012.03.09"]
[Round "8"]
[White "Andriasian, Zaven"]
[Black "Sveshnikov, Vladimir"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B04"]
[WhiteElo "2616"]
[BlackElo "2426"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "8/6p1/4k3/8/Pp3K2/1P6/8/8 b - - 0 51"]
[PlyCount "47"]
[EventDate "2012.03.03"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "FRA"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2012.04.24"]

{Diagram [#]} 51... g5+ $1 {Sveshnikov demonstrates knowledge. He could have
kept the pawn on g7 and only after White captures it he can play Ke7 which
would also be a draw.} 52. Kxg5 Ke5 53. Kg4 Ke4 54. Kg3 Ke5 55. Kf3 Kd5 56. Kf2
Ke6 57. Ke2 Kd6 58. Kf3 Kd5 {Diagram [#]} 59. Kg3 Ke5 60. Kh4 Kd4 61. Kh3 Kd5
62. Kg2 Kd6 63. Kf2 Ke6 64. Kg2 Kd6 65. Kh3 Kd5 66. Kh4 Kd4 67. Kh5 Kd5 68. Kh6
Kd6 69. Kh7 Kd7 70. Kg6 Ke6 71. Kg5 Ke5 72. Kg4 Ke4 73. Kg3 Ke5 74. Kf3 Kd5
1/2-1/2

Try finding this over the board after a tense four-five hour game. To make things even spicier, imagine that this is a day with a double round, this is your second game and you have played the same four-five hours…
(To be continued.)