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Normal Topic Alekhine-Bogoljubov ending revisited (Read 1884 times)
mbourzut
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Alekhine-Bogoljubov ending revisited
09/01/12 at 20:49:05
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In the same chapter in Cheron's Lehr-und Handbuch der Endspiele that contains the complicated #392 discussed previously in this forum there is an analysis of an ending that occurred in the 1934 world championship match between Alekhine and Bogoljubov, game 8. This ending seems to have been misanalyzed in a number of sources I've looked at.

The critical position is:

Alekhine-Bogoljubov, 1934

* * * * * * * *
* * * * * * * *
* * * * * * * *
* * * * * * * *
* * * * * * * *
* * * * * * * *
* * * * * * * *
* * * * * * * *
*

Bogoljubov played 59...Rc8?! and drew after

60.Rc7! Rf8+ 61.Kg6 Kd4 62.Kg7 Rb8 63.h8Q Rxh8 64.Kxh8

E. Klein in the Journal de Geneve, 1934 claimed that Black could have won with

59...Rh8!

This verdict seems to have been accepted by Cheron (his #404), the ECE, and V. Charushin in his monograph on Bogoljubov.

Here are some of the variations that were considered:

60.Kf6? Kc6 (60...c2 61.Rc7 Rxh7! also wins) 61.Ke6 c2 62.Rxd6+ Kb5-+

60.Kg6? Kc6! 61.Rg7 (61.Ra7 d5 62.Rg2 Rxh7 63.Kxh7 c2-+) 61...d5 62.Rg8 Rxh7 63.Kxh7 d4-+

60.Kf4?

This is E. Klein's main line

* * * * * * * *
* * * * * * * *
* * * * * * * *
* * * * * * * *
* * * * * * * *
* * * * * * * *
* * * * * * * *
* * * * * * * *
*

60...Kc4?

Instead, 60...Kc6! indeed wins, similar to the lines considered above.

61.Rc7+?

Instead, White can draw with 61.Kf3!, but not 61.Ke3? which loses to 61...Re8+.

61...Kd4! 62.Kf3 d5 63.Ke2 Re8+ 64.Kd1 Kd3-+

The best defence is 60.Rc7!, analogous to the game continuation.  Then after 60...Kd4 we arrive at

* * * * * * * *
* * * * * * * *
* * * * * * * *
* * * * * * * *
* * * * * * * *
* * * * * * * *
* * * * * * * *
* * * * * * * *
*

Now Klein only considers 61.Ke6? which indeed loses to 61...d5 (Here Cheron claims that after 61...Kd3 White can draw with 62.Rd7, but Black still wins with 62...Ke4!) 62.Rd7 (62.Kd6 Kd3-+) 62...c2 63.Rxd5+ Kc4 64.Rd7 Rc8-+

But why not 61.Kg6! similar to the game continuation?

After 61...d5 62.Kg7 Rd8 63.h8Q Rxh8 64.Kxh8 Black has indeed gained a tempo compared to the game continuation, but a straightforward analysis shows that is still not enough to win the game.

So the verdict is that Bogoljubow did not miss a win in the starting position.
« Last Edit: 09/01/12 at 23:08:12 by mbourzut »  

Alekhine-Bogoljubov.pgn ( 1 KB | Downloads )
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