Jeroen Bosch:

The Transfer into the Pawn

Ending

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This is the position after move 81 in the
fifth game of the semi-final (World
Championship, Sochi 2015) between
Harika and Mariya Muzychuk. Things are
all square in the match and we have
entered the stage where a fast rapid tempo
is applied: ten minutes each with ten
seconds added after each move. Harika had
reached a winning queen ending for quite
some time now, and had been showing
good technique. She repeated moves
several times to gain time on the clock. She
did not rush in the conversion, and up until
this stage she had allowed her opponent no
counter play. The live commentators had
even deleted their analysis board from the
screen and where already discussing the
difficult situation for Muzychuk: she
would have to win to order in the next
game to stay in the match.
And then, well let's watch the drama that
unfolded:
82.Kh2
A completely understandable move, Harika
wants to allow no counterplay. Yet, we
would all do well to remember that in
chess it is very difficult if not impossible to
win without calculating some lines. Here a
concrete win was in sight: 82.f3 Qa2, the
only check, but after 83.Kh3 White gains
FIDE Surveys Jeroen Bosch

time, because after 83...Qb1 there is

84.Qg7 Ke6 and now 85.Kh4!, when
White will soon promote his h-pawn.

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analysis diagram

85...Qg1 (Black loses the pawn ending

after 85...Qh1 86.Kg5 Qf3 87.Qf6 Kd7
88.Qf5) and now easiest is 86.g4!
Harika's move spoils nothing though, and
Muzuchuk had no choice but to play
82...Qf3 83.Qe3?
A dramatic moment! This 'safe' move
throws away the win. Interestingly, the live
commentators had even indicated this
move as winning, and Harika played it
after 37 seconds of thought (a long
thinking pause at this stage in the game).
However, after the trade of queens on e3
the resulting pawn ending is a draw!
Having had a two pawns advantage for a
long time now in the game, I am sure that
Harika did not consider concretely here the
trade of queens. It is a dangerous human
trait that we lull ourselves to sleep when
are ahead in material thinking that any
trade (of pieces) will benefit us. Mariya
Muzychuk, on the other hand, is by nature
a concrete player, and I am sure that she
kept on calculating lines.
Just like on the previous move Harika
could have calculated a concrete win in the
queen ending: 83.Qg7 Ke6 84.h7! Qf2
85.Kh3 Qg1 (85...Qf1 86.Kh4 Qh1 87.Kg5
Qc1 88.Kg6 is a straightforward win) and
now with clever checks White will either
promote the h-pawn or win f5.
1

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analysis diagram

86.Qg6 (86.Kh4 Qh2= 87.Kg5 Qg3

88.Kh6 Qh4 89.Kg6 Qg4 is draw by
perpetual, and 86.h8Q?? Qh1 is mate!)
86...Ke7 87.Qg5 Ke6 88.Qh6! Ke7 89.Qh4
(89.Qc6 also wins) 89...Ke6 90.Qc4 Kd6
(90...Ke7 91.Qc7 Ke6 92.Qc6+) 91.Qa6
Kc7 92.Qa5 Kd6 93.Qf5 and wins.
If the concrete win in the queen ending
does not seem safe enough, then it was
ironically possible to transfer into a
winning pawn ending with 83.Qf4!

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analysis diagram

83Qf4 (83...Qg4 84.Qg4 fg4 85.f4 gf3

86.g4; 83...Qh5 84.Kg2 Kg6 85.Qd6 Kh7
86.Qf6) 84.gf4 Kg6 85.Kg3 Kh6 86.Kf3
and White wins easily.
Finally, if you don't want to spoil anything,
you can still play 83.Qd2, but the crux is
that at some point White will have to
calculate some concrete line into a win. It
FIDE Surveys Jeroen Bosch

isn't enough to just sit on your extra two

pawns and hope that they will convert
themselves by a miracle.

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83...Qe3!
Muzychuk was interviewed after the game,
and she said: I knew the resulting
position, I knew it was a draw.
This is actually an important element of
good technique: the knowledge of
theoretical endings. Another element that
we have come across in this example is the
concrete calculation of (short) lines.
84.fe3 Kg6 85.Kg2
85.g4 fg4 86.Kg3 Kh6 87.Kg4 Kg6 is a
book draw of course.
85.Kh3 Kh6 86.Kh4 Kg6 87.g4 Kf6! is
also an immediate draw.
85...Kh6 86.Kf2 Kh5 87.Kf3 Kg5 88.Kf2
Kh5 89.Kg2 Kg4 90.Kf2 Kh5

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This is actually a threefold repetition, but
2

Mariya was so sure of the draw, that she

did not even bother to claim.
91.Kg1 Kg5 92.Kh2 Kh5 93.Kh3 Kg5
94.Kg2 Kg4 95.Kf2 Kh5
The fourth time.
96.Kf3 Kg5
and Harika acquiesced into the inevitable.
.
Concept
In this short article we will be concerned
with the transfer into a pawn ending. To be
successful in this stage you have to have
theoretical knowledge of the most
important pawn endings, and you have to
be prepared to analyse concretely.
From a practical point of view we do well
to remind ourselves that as a rule the
possibility to transfer into a pawn ending
only occurs after you have already played
for a long time. This means that:
- a lot of energy has already been spent (it
is important to be physically fit),
- the tension will be rather high, and
- there is often little time left to think.
Van Wely-Wojtaszek, Wijk aan Zee 2015

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Let's examine another recent queen ending,
where again it is clear that White is
completely winning. Black to move played
52...Qg4!?
It is unclear how we should annotate this
move. Van Wely had only three minutes
left at this stage, and Wojtaszek decided to
gamble.
53.f3?
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Van Wely does not call Wojtaszek's bluff!

It is important always to consider the
transfer into the pawn ending! For a player
of Van Wely's standard such calculation is
elementary: 53.Qg4! hg4 54.Kg2 Kd7

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and now 55.f3! wins for White:
- 55...Kd6 56.fg4 Kd5 57.Kf3 Ke5 58.Ke3
(Black is in Zugzwang) 58...Kd5 (58...f5
59.g5+) 59.Kf4 Ke6 and White uses his
extra pawn with 60.g5+;
- 55...f5 56.Kf2 Kd6 57.fg4 fg4 58.Ke3
Ke5 59.d6 Kd6 60.Kf4+;
- 55...gf3 56.Kf3 Kd6 57.Ke4+.
I believe that Van Wely simply did not
imagine that Wojtaszek would offer the
transfer into a lost pawn ending and
decided to save his time by not calculating
the trade of queens.
It was also possible to win with 53.Qe6
Qe6 (53...Qd4 54.Kg2) 54.de6 and this
pawn ending is an elementary win as well.

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3

54...Ke7 55.Kh3 Ke6 56.Kh4 Kf5

(56...Ke5 57.Kh5 Kf5 58.f3) 57.Kh5 Ke4
58.Kg6 and wins.
Or 53 Qf3 54.Kg1 (54.Qb6 Ke7)
54...Qc3 55.Kg2 Qb2 56.d6 and wins.
Finally, in a training session someone
pointed out to me that the safe 53.Qf4 is
also winning easily. Again it is important
that the pawn ending with the doubled fpawns after 53...Qf4 54.gf4 wins (just like
in Harika : Muzychuk).

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54...Kd7 55.Kh3 Kd6 56.Kh4 Kd5 57.Kh5
Ke4 58.Kg4.
53...Qg5 54.Kh3?
As we know, one mistake is often followed
by another. The text really throws away the
win. White could still win with 54.f4! Qg4
55.d6! Kd7 (55...Qd7 56.Qa8+) 56.Qe7
Kc6

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and now only one move will do:

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- 57.Qf6? Qe2 58.Kh3 Qg4 59.Kg2 Qe2

60.Kg1 Qe1 is a perpetual;
- 57.Qc7? Kd5 58.Qf7 Kc6! 59.Qc7 Kd5
60.Qc3 Qe2 61.Kg1 (61.Kh3 Qf1=)
61...Ke6! 62.d7 Kd7 63.Qf6 Qe1 is again a
perpetual;
- 57.d7! is the star move: 57...Qd7 and
once again the pawn ending is a win.
58.Qd7 (although the queen ending after
58.Qf6 should be elementary as well:
58...Kb7 59.Qb2 Kc6 60.Qc2 Kb7 61.Qe4
Ka7 62.Qe3 Ka6 63.Qe2 Kb6 64.Qh5)
58...Kd7 59.Kh3 Ke6 60.Kh4 Kf7 61.Kh5
Kg7

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62.f5! (A draw results from 62.g4? Kh7 or
62.Kg4? Kg6) a position of mutual
Zugzwang. White wins.
54...Qc1!
Now Black has powerful counter play,
because the White king is vulnerable.
55.f4 Qf1 56.Kh4 Qd1! 57.f5 Qd2!
58.Kh3 Qd1! 59.Kh2 Qd2 60.Kg1 Qd1
61.Kg2 Qd2 62.Kh3 Qd1 63.d6 Qd6
64.Qf3 Ke7 65.Qh5 Qd5
65...Qd3! is an immediate draw.
66.Qe2 Kf7 67.Kg4 Qd4 68.Kh5 Qd5
69.Qc2 Qf3 70.Kh4 Kg7 71.Qc7 Kh6
72.Qc1 Kg7 73.Qc7 Kh6 74.Qf4
Transferring into a pawn ending with the
same doubled f-pawns, but here White no
longer has a tempo move, so a draw is
inevitable.
74...Qf4 75.gf4 Kg7 76.Kg3 Kg8 77.Kf3
Kf7 78.Ke4 Ke8 79.Kd4 Kd8
The distant opposition is the only way to
draw here.
4

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80.Kc5
Or 80.Kc4 Kc8 81.Kb4 Kd7 82.Kc5 Kc7
83.Kd5 Kd7 84.Ke4 Kc6 with a draw.
80...Kc7 .
We have examined two recent games into
great detail. We will now investigate a few
more aspects of the transfer into the pawn
ending.
Kovchan A. : Bitensky I.
Wijk aan Zee 2013

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White is better, but can he win?
47.Bb6!
Nothing is gained by 47.a6 Kd7 or 47.ab6
ab6.
47...Bb6
The pawn promotes after 47...ab6 48.a6.
48.ab6 ab6 49.c5!
White gains access to the queenside.
49.Kb4 Kd7 50.c5+.
49...b5
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49...bc5 50.Kc4 Kd8 51.Kc5 Kc7 and

White has a tempo in reserve and thus
wins: 52.b4 Kb7 53.Kd6+.
50.Kb4 Kd7 51.Ka5 Ke6
51...Kc7 52.Ka6+.
52.Kb6 Kd5 53.b4 Ke4 54.Kc6 Kf4
55.Kd5 Kg3 56.c6 f4 57.c7 f3 58.c8Q f2
59.Qg4 Kh2 60.Qf3 Kg1 61.Qf7 Kh1
62.e6
Not 62.Qf2? stalemate. 1:0.
So, in transferring to the pawn ending
White had to appreciate the fact that he
could gain access to the queenside with
49.c5. In our next example the majority on
the queenside (the ability to create an
outside passed pawn) is the crux.
Smeets I. : Turov M.
Wijk aan Zee 2013

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38...Rd6?
This logical check is a mistake because of
39.Rd5!
39.Ke4 Re6 or 39.Kc3 Re6.
39...Re6
Now the rook ending loses. The crucial
line to calculate is 39...cd5 40.c5 Kc6
41.cd6 Kd6 42.b5 and the pawn ending
wins, because White can create an outside
passed pawn.
40.Rd7 Re5 41.Rf7
Or 41.c5 Ka6 42.Rc7 Rg5 43.Rc6 Kb5
44.Rf6 Rg4 45.Ke5+.
41...Rg5 42.Rf6 Rg4 43.Kc3 Rg3 44.Kb2
Kb7 45.Rh6 Rh3 46.Rh8 1:0.

When you have the advantage the transfer

into a pawn ending is often the only way to
make progress.
Here we have an important rook ending of
43 on the same side in a winning version.
Stean - Hartston, Brighton 1972

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41.Re7
This exact position occurs five times in the
Megabase 2015! It was for example
46.Re7 in Piket : Kasparov, internet 2000.
41...Re1
41...Re4 occurred in Ionov : Karasev, but
then on move 57, there is no difference
with Stean : Hartston: 42.e6 Re6 43.Re6
fe6 and so on. Kasparov opted for 41...Ra2
but lost against Piket after 42.f5! gf5 43.e6
h4 44.Rf7 Kg8 45.Kf6 1:0.
And now you must calculate the pawn
ending:
42.e6! Re6 43.Re6 fe6 44.h3!

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White wins because of this tempo move.
FIDE Surveys Jeroen Bosch

44...Kf7 45.Kh6 Kf6 46.g4 h4

46...hg4 47.hg4 Kf7 48.g5+.
47.g5
Not 47.Kh7? g5!=.
47...Kf5 48.Kg7 Kf4 49.Kg6 e5 50.Kf6
Or 50.Kh5 e4 51.g6 e3 52.g7 e2 53.g8Q
e1Q 54.Qg5 Kf3 55.Qg4 Ke3 56.Qe6+.
50...e4 51.g6 e3 52.g7 e2 53.g8Q e1Q
54.Qg4
1:0, Ionov : Karasev, Leningrad 1983.
54...Ke3 55.Qe6
and Black resigned because after the
queens are traded White wins the h-pawn
and creates another queen. 1:0.
The transfer into a pawn ending should
never be executed lightly.
Timmerman G. : Bosch J.
Dieren 1988

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Here we have another rook ending with a
pawn up for White. The first player is of
course slightly better, but a draw should be
obtained fairly effortlessly for both Black's
king and his rook are active.
1...Rc3
Rook behind the passed pawn.
2.c5 Ke6 3.Kf1 Rc2!
Keeping the king from e2.
4.Ke1 Kf6 5.Kf1 Ke6 6.Kg2 Rc3
Keeping the king from f3.
7.c6 Kf6 8.Rc8 Ke6
Black can wait and White can make no
progress.
9.f3
Or 9.c7 Ke7!
6

9...Rc2 10.Kf1 Kd6

Now the draw is clear. White, who was
better for most of the game, had
consequently lost all sense of danger
though.
11.g4?!
A strange move. The normal finish was
11.Rf8 Ke7 12.Rc8 Kd6.
11...Rc6 12.Rc6 Kc6

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13.gh5??
This was played immediately and
accompanied by a draw offer. 13.Ke2 Kd5
14.Ke3 is a draw.
13...gh5
Now White started thinking and after 15
minutes he played
14.Ke2 Kd5
and after thinking for another half an hour
he resigned. The pawn ending is dead lost:
15.Ke3 Ke5 16.f4 (16.Ke2 Kf4 17.Kf2 f6
18.Kg2 Ke3 19.Kg3 f5+) 16...Kf5 17.Kf3
f6 18.Kg3 Ke4+. 0:1.
In our next rook ending, White is also a
pawn up, but again this does not suffice to
win.

Adams M. : Lautier J.
Tilburg 1996

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Black to move played the surprising
1...Re6! 2.Re5
Or 2.Kf4 Rf6.
2...Kf6!
And the pawn ending is a draw!
3.Re6 Ke6 4.Kd3 Kd7!
The distant opposition is the only way.
4...Kf5? 5.c5 bc5 6.Kc4 Kg4 7.Kc5 Kh4
8.b4 ab4 9.Kb4 Kg3 10.a5 h4 11.a6 h3
12.a7+;
4...Kd6? 5.Kd4 Kc6 6.c5 bc5 7.Kc4+.

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5.Kc3
5.Kd4 Kd6 6.c5 bc5 7.Kc4 Kc6=.
5...Kc7! 6.b4 ab4 7.Kb4 Kc6 8.Kb3 Kd6
9.Kc2 Kc6 10.Kd3 Kd6 11.Kc3 Kc5
12.Kb3 Kd6 13.Kb4 Kc6 14.c5 bc5
15.Kc4 Kb6 16.Kd5 Ka5 17.Kc5 Ka4
18.Kc4 .

FIDE Surveys Jeroen Bosch

In this short article I have tried to get the

message across that when you can transfer
into a pawn ending you should always
think concretely and always remain alert to
the unexpected. Make sure that this does
not happen to you:
Chigorin - Schlechter, Ostend 1905

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Black to move seems to make a spite check
with
44...Qc7
And now Chigorin saw his chance to trade
queens and played:
45.Qb6??
45.b6 wins easily, but after
45...Ka8

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he agreed to the draw. Instead of the
expected winning pawn ending, stalemate
or perpetual will be the unexpected moral
of this story!
45...Ka8 46.Qc7 stalemate! Or 46.Ka6 Qc8
47.Ka5 Qc3 (47...Qc7) 48.Ka6 Qc8. .

FIDE Surveys Jeroen Bosch