how to play chess endgames book

116 How TO PLAY CHESS ENDGAMES
Black should instead give urgent priority to
activating the passive rook on b7: l...Wc7 2
li'!d4 Wb8 (Postny in CBM) with the plan of
.. ..!k7-c8-e8, and White's advantage is only
slight.
2 li'!d4 h5 3 lilb3 l:te7 4 li'!cS l:tc7 5 h4
White is in no rush and first fixes the kingside
favourably for his bishop. Next he will activate
his king.
5 .•• l:te5 6 lh6 l:te8 7 .ie2 We5 8 @el d6 9
lild3+ We610 a4l:tb8 (D)
w
w
11 b5!
A decisive undermining of Black's structure.
ll ... §.b6
After 11...cS 12 .if3 d4 13 .ic6 (Postny)
White dominates the position.
12.!iaS
White rightly avoids the exchange of rooks,
which with this distribution of material is generally
correct, since the white rook is operating
virtually as the conductor of the minor pieces.
12 ... cxbS 13 axb5 §.bb7 14 .if3 l:tc3 15
@d2 l:tb3
Now White can round off the game with a
fine combination:
16.ixdS+! @xd517 b6+Wc418 lh4+ 1-0
Ale) Backward Pawns
A backward pawn is a pawn on a half-open file
that can no longer be protected by another
pawn and the square in front of which can not
be protected either. Such a pawn therefore has
a strong tendency to become a weakness.
1 li'!bl!
Lasker sends his knight on its way to act as a
blockading knight on e5, which will keep the
backward pawn securely blockaded and se-
verely cramp Black.
I...1;lae8
I ... es 2 dxe5 l:tae8 (2 ... l:txe5? 3 l:tf7 +-) 3
li'ld2 is a transposition to the game.
2 li'ld2 lilh6
The following serves as an illustration of a
'siege' of the weaknesses caused by the backward
pawn. In the game Pillsbury dissolved his
backward pawn immediately with 2 ... e5!? but
in return had to accept the activation of the
white knight: 3 dxe5 l:txe5 4 lilf3 l:te3 5 lilg5
l:txg3?! 6 hxg3 h6 7 li'!f7+ @g7 8 li'!d6 l:te7 9
lilxb7 and Lasker prevailed in the end.
3 lilf3 lilf5
3 ... lilf7? 4 l:th3 h6 5 li'!h4 +-.
4 l:tg5 l:tgS 5 l:txgS+ @xg8 6 @d2 1;tg7 7 g3
lild6 s lileS .tes 9 ~f6 1;le7 10 l:th6 ±
Black is paralysed.
Ald) A Pawn that has Advanced
Too Far
Sometimes a far-advanced pawn secures a space
advantage, which can then slowly but surely be
increased (more about this in Chapter 15). But
things can turn out quite differently; the unit
that has strayed far from its base can sometimes
be surrounded, besieged and finally captured.