Games Chess
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Your support makes all the difference.The seventh round of the Amber rapid tournament in Monte Carlo produced two very interesting endgames. The first diagram position occurred after 48 moves in Ivanchuk-Topalov. White has an extra b-pawn, but has problems forcing its advance while also keeping his king sheltered from checks by the black queen. Play continued 1.Qc4 Bd6 2.b6 Qe7 3.Kd3 Bc5 4.Qg8+ Kh5 and now White had to decide whether to capture the last black pawn. 5.Nxf5 Qd7+ 6.Ke4 Qc6+ 7.Kf4 (or 7.Ke5 Qxf3) Bd6+ leaves Black still in the fight, but 5.Nxf5 Qd7+ 6.Kc4 looks very promising since 6...Qxf5 loses to 7.Qg4+! So should White take on f5? The answer is no. After 5.Nxf5 Qd7+ 6.Kc4, Black plays 6...Qa4+! 7.Kxc5 Qb4+! forcing a draw by stalemate. Instead Ivanchuk won the game with 5.Qh8+ Kg6 6.Nd5 Qf7 7.Nf4+ Kg5 8.Qd8+! Kh6 (Kxf4 loses to Qc7+) 9.Nd5 Qg7 10.Qh4+ Kg3 11.Qg3+ and Black resigned. After the exchange of queens, the b-pawn costs him his bishop.
The second diagram was a missed chance for Shirov (Black, to play) against Kramnik. Avoiding 1...Rg3+ 2.Kf4 Rxc3?? 3.e7, he played 1...Kg7 when 2.c5 gave White enough play for a draw. Instead, 1...Rg3+ 2.Kf4 Kg7! would have won for Black after 3.Rxg3 hxg3 4.Kxg3 Kf6 5.Kg4 b5! (but not 5...a6 6.Kh5 b6 7.Kh6 a5 8.e7! Kxe7 9.Kg7) 6.cxb5 d5 and the d-pawn or h-pawn gets through.
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