A fragment from the book by Y. Kirillov ‘Искусство защиты’. Part 39

06.12.2023

It is not always possible to come out of the opening with the best position and at the end to fight for the victory, you also have to defend. Sometimes it seems that the position is already ‘impossible to save’, after a while you will have to give up, but there is the only plan that still leads to a cherished draw.

The art of defense in the draughts game is certainly one of the indicators of the player’s skill. We express our gratitude to Yuri Kirillov for the book of paradoxically drawish positions ‘Искусство защиты’. Perhaps in this book you will find the game that was ‘not saved’.


	Diagram No. 196 (black to move) Black have made a draw in 22 moves! 1… ED6!! 2.GE7 DF8 3.GF4 EG3 4.HF2 AB4!! 5.CA5 CD4 6.FG3 (the best move) FE7 7.GF4 AB2!! 8.CA3 DE3 9.DC3 EG5 10.AB6 GF4 11.BC7 FG3 12.CD8 GH2 13.DF6 HG1 14.FE5 GE3 15.AB4 EF2 16.EH2 FB6!! (the only move) 17.HG1 BA5 18.GF2 AD8 19.BC5 (the best move) DH4 (the only move) 20.FE3 HE7! 21.CB6 EF6 22.ED4 FD8, draw.

	Diagram No. 197 White have found a good defending plan! 1.ED2 GF6 2.CD4 BA7 3.DB6 AC5 4.EF4!! FE5 5.DE3 EG3 6.HF2 HG5 7.FG3 GH4 8.GF4 DE7 9.CD2! EF6 10.AB6! (It is possible to play 10.CB4!) CA7 11.ED4 AB6 12.FG5! Draw.

	Diagram No. 198 (black to move) Black have found an interesting drawish move! 1… AB2!! (the best move) (It is possible to play 1… DE7?! 2.DC3 FE5 3.GH2 EG3 4.HF4 AB2! 5.CA1 EF6 6.CD2! (6.AB2 CB4!! 7.AC3 FE5! =) 6… FE5 7.FG5 HF4 8.EG5 CD4 9.AB6 DE3 10.DF4 EG3 11.GF6!! GF2! 12.FG7 DE5 13.BA7 EF4! Draw.) 2.CA3 DE7! 3.AB4!! CA3 4.ED4 FG5 5.DE3 DC5!! 6.DB6 ED6. Draw.

	Diagram No. 199 Black have found a good defending plan! 1.HG3 DE7 2.AB6! GF4 (the only move) 3.GH2! (the best move) FE3 4.FD4 HF2 5.EG3 EC3 6.CD6 AC5!! 7.DD2 FG5 8.DE3 GH4 9.GF4 ED6!! Draw.

	Diagram No. 200 (black to move) In bad positions the main thing is not to despair! 1… FE5!! 2.FB4 GF4 3.EG5 HF4 4.DE5! FD6 5.BA5 BC5 6.DC3 DE5 7.CB4 EF4! 8.BD6 FG3 9.FE3 GH2 10.DC7 HG3!! Great move! Draw!