In this video I take a look at an instructive chess study by Henri Weenink. It features some fine maneuvers and ways of “eliminating the defender”.
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Click on the moves below to start playing and show a diagram:
[pgn_compat]
[Event “?”]
[Site “?”]
[Date “2014.09.29”]
[Round “?”]
[White “Henri Weenink, 1917.”]
[Black “White plays and wins”]
[Result “*”]
[Annotator “Waldemar Moes, Better Your Chess”]
[SetUp “1”]
[FEN “8/8/P7/4k3/7B/8/1K6/6r1 w – – 0 1”]
[PlyCount “13”]
[EventDate “2014.09.29”]
{In this position everything revolves around White’s passed a-pawn. If he can
promote it he will win the game. Unfortunately the black rook is still kicking
and looking to defend. Moreover, Black is threatening to play 1… Rg7 or g8
and stop the pawn dead in it’s tracks. Can White succesfully fight the
defending rook? With some fine maneuvers he can!} 1. a7 {White starts with
immediately playing out his trump card, forcing Black to defend very directly.
There are only two ways really.} Rg2+ {With this check Black hopes to get his
rook behind the passed pawn on the a-file, so White must get out of check and
guard the a2 square at the same time.} ({The other defense does not work:} 1…
Rg8 2. Bg3+ $1 {this is an important trick and one that is quite common to
regular chess games. The theme is eliminating the defender – in this case the
rook – either by luring it away or blocking:} Rxg3 (2… Kd4 3. Bb8) 3. a8=Q)
2. Kb1 $1 {This precise move secures the win (By the way, Ka1 with similar
ideas as in the remainder of this study also wins, but for esthetic reasons we
will keep the king on the b-file).} ({After the natural but mistaken} 2. Kb3 $2
Rg8 3. Bg3+ Rxg3+ {Black takes the bishop with check!}) {Black has nothing
better then to keep harassing White’s king} 2… Rg1+ {If White’s king now
moves up to the second rank, Black will repeat with Rg2+ and White has not
made any progress since he cannot cross the third rank as we already saw.} {
But now comes the star move really:} 3. Be1 $3 {A fantastic way to defend
against the check and lure the rook into a very unfortunate position, namely
the e-file from where it’s activity is blocked by the black king!} Rxe1+ {
White was threatening to promote the pawn again, so Black must take the bishop.
} (3… Rg8 4. Bg3+) {But now White CAN safely get out of the checks, note
what happens:} 4. Kb2 Re2+ 5. Kb3 {The third rank is accessible now.} Re3+ 6.
Kb4 Re4+ 7. Kb5 {And… ai! Black can no longer give a check or keep the
passed a-pawn from promoting. Als Black cannot set up a stalemate trick f.i.
after White has promoted. Therefore White will queen and will win the
remaining endgame of Q v. R. That is still a difficult task but it is a
theoretical win and not the subject of this post.} *
[/pgn_compat]
PGN notation:
[Event “?”]
[Site “?”]
[Date “2014.09.29”]
[Round “?”]
[White “Henri Weenink, 1917.”]
[Black “White plays and wins”]
[Result “*”]
[Annotator “Waldemar Moes, Better Your Chess”]
[SetUp “1”]
[FEN “8/8/P7/4k3/7B/8/1K6/6r1 w – – 0 1”]
[PlyCount “13”]
[EventDate “2014.09.29”]
1. a7 Rg2+ (1… Rg8 2. Bg3+ $1 Rxg3 (2… Kd4 3. Bb8) 3. a8=Q) 2. Kb1 $1 (2.
Kb3 $2 Rg8 3. Bg3+ Rxg3+) 2… Rg1+ 3. Be1 $3 Rxe1+ (3… Rg8 4. Bg3+) 4. Kb2
Re2+ 5. Kb3 Re3+ 6. Kb4 Re4+ 7. Kb5 *