how to play chess endgames book

214 How TO PLAY CHESS ENDGAMES
frequently leads to the creation of a fortress. It
sounds incredible, but it is true: perusing our
database we have found many hundreds of examples
in which a player spoiled a completely
winning position by the over-hasty promotion
of a pawn to a queen. The scenario was always
the same: the stronger side was so dazzled by
the chance of a quick promotion that he forgot
to pay any heed to the opponent's possibilities.
And in the time it took for the pawn to reach
the eighth rank, the weaker side managed to
construct a fortress. It is as if the prospect of
getting a queen blinds one to everything else.
The following example shows such a case.
White saw the possibility of a promotion,
switched off all the alarms and sent his pawn
on its journey.
Just thinking about a queen seems co make
even a grandmaster weak. We shall provide a
few further examples.
In the following position White is clearly all
set to win easily with his extra exchange and
dangerous passed pawn:
11.53
D.Barua - G.Barbero
Thessaloniki OL 1988
11.52
G.Hertneck - I.Marinkovic
Bundesliga 199112
1 d7??
1 ~d4! would have won easily. For example,
l...!kl+ 2@b7 l:!.bi+ 3@c7 l!cl+4@d8 f65
d7 Ya! 6@e7 ~7 7 ~d5+ @e4 8 @e6 +-.
1...@xe42 dS'fil'
Now White has his queen, but he will go
home with only half a point.
2 .. JU5 3 ~dl @f4 4 '&gl @£3 5@d6@f4 6
\3'g2 @e3 7 'fil'g3+@e4 8 @e7 @d4 9 @f8 @e4
10 @g7 @d4 11 '&el @d3 12 @f8 @d4 13
'&g3 @e4 14 @e7 @d4 15 @d6 @e4 16 @c6
@d4 17 '&el l:!.c5+ 18 Wb6 l:!.f5 19 \'1fe2 1/i-1/i
'That was just an exception, perhaps in extreme
time-trouble', you might think. Wrong!
In the game White now saw the possibility of
promoting his pawn immediately into a queen,
and played over-hastily:
1 b7?!
l l!b3! would have won easily; for example,
l ... l:!.xb3 2 @xb3 tl:lxb6 3 l:!.xb6 +-. Bue 1 l:!.b2
also leaves White's victory in little doubt; for
example, l ... l:!.d4+ 2 @a5 tl:lxb6 3 l:!.bxb6@f4 4
l:!.xf6+ @g3 5 l:!.f5 +-.
1. •• tl:lxb4 2 b8'&??
With 2 @xb4! White could have corrected
his mistake: 2 ... l:!.d8 (2 ... l:!.d 1 3 l:!.c3 l:!.d8 4 l:!.c8
+-) 3 l:!.c8 l:!.dl 4 b8'fil' l:!.bl+ 5 @c3 l:!.xb8 6
Yxb8 @f4 7 l:!.f8 @xf3 8 l:!.xf6+ @g3 9 @d2
@xh3 10 l:!.f5 +-.
2 ... tl:lxc6 3 'fil'c8+ @g6 4 'fil'xc6 l!d4+ =
Now White has his queen alright, but in the
meantime Black has managed to erect an impregnable
fortress.
5 @b5 h4 6 '&e6 @g7 7 \We8 l:!.d2 8 \Wh5
l:!.d8 9 'fil'g4 l:!.d2 10 \Wgl l:!.d8 11 @c6 @f7 12
<lic7 l:!.d4 13 'fil'bl l:!.c4+ 14 @b6 @g7 15 @b5
l:!.d4 16 @c6 l:!.d2 17 '&b4 l:!.d4 18 'fil'e7+ @g6
19 ~f8 l:!.d2 20 'fil'g8+ @f5 21 '&f7 l:!.d8 22
@c7 l:!.d2 23 'fil'g8 l:!.dl 24 ~c8+ @g6 25 ~e8+