A fragment from the book by Y. Kirillov ‘Искусство защиты’. Part 40

07.02.2024

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. 201 (black to move) Black have found a good sacrifice! 1… EF2!! (the best move) 2.GE1 FE3 3.AB4!! ED2 4.CD4!! (the only move) EC3 5.BC5! Black can’t win this ending!

	Diagram No. 202 (black to move) 1… DC5!! 2.HG3 GH6 3.GF4 FG7!! 4.FE5 HG5!! Draw. This is the easiest draw.

	Diagram No. 203 Black were sure they would win! 1.DC3!! (the best move) DE3 2.FD4 DC5 3.DB6 AC5 4.GH2 (the only move) GF6 5.CD4!! (white found a good defense) CE3!! 6.HG3!! FE7 7.BC3 ED6 8.GH4 EF2 9.HG5! FH4 10.HG7 FG1 11.CB4!! AC3 12.GH8 CD2 13.HC3! Draw.

	Diagram No. 204 In a bad position white have found a good defensive plan. 1.DE5 DC5 2.ED4!! GE3 3.EF6 HG3! 4.FH4 HG5 5.DF2 GE7 6.HG5 CB4 7.GH6! EF6 8.FG3!! (the only move) BC3 9.GH4 CB2 (If 9… AB4, then 10.HG5! FH4 11.HG7 BA3 12.HG3!! HF2 13.GE3 BC5 14.EF4, draw) 10.HG5 FH4 11.HG7 AB4 12.GF8 BC5! 13.FH6 HG3 14.HF4 BA1 15.FE5!! AH8 16.HE3 HD4 17.ED2 BA3 18.GF2! Draw.

	Diagram No. 205 White had come up with a good plan, however, black have found a good defense. 1.DE3! HG7 2.FG3 ED6! 3.EF4 FE5!! 4.HG5! ED4 5.CD2 AE3 6.FD2 HF4 7.GC7 AB6!! 8.CA5 GF6!! 9.AB6 FG5 10.BC7 GF4. Draw.