Tactics: Only a King and Pawn Ending

John Upper's picture
Submitted by John Upper on Thu, 06/15/2017 - 15:48

The 2017 Continental Championship -- June 10-18, 2017 in Medellin, Colombia -- is an 11-round Swiss, open to players from North and South America, which qualifies players for the next round of the World Cup.

After 7 rounds, Peruvian GM Jorge Cori is in clear first with 6.5, with a 2864 TPR.

Four Canadians are playing:  

    • GM Anton Kovalyov (5.5/7)
    • IM Raja Panjwani (4/7)
    • FM Shiyam Thavandiran (4.5/7)
    • Elias Oussedik (4.5/7)

 Canadian Results

http://www.chess-results.com/tnr286140.aspx?lan=1&art=25&fedb=CAN&flag=30&wi=821

Photos from the Federación Colombiana de Ajedrez facebook page
https://www.facebook.com/fedcolombiana.deajedrez/

Our Canadian Tactic comes from the round 2 game between FM Juan Torres (2275) and GM Anton Kovalyov. The game had been very even, but in the diagram position White has a critical choice to make. The players had just passed the time control and so White had plenty of time to calculate. Can you find what White should do to save the game? 

Note: This endgame requires a lot of calculation and some imagination, but it resembles the famous 1909 endgame where Rubinstein showed the world (and his opponent) the thematic way to take advantage of the isolated h-pawn in a King and Pawn ending. Knowing that classic might help you with this one. You can play through both games, with notes, in the player below.

Hint:

Spoiler: Highlight to view
h3 or b4 or a King move

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 Round:  Result:

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