A fragment from the book by Y. Kirillov ‘Искусство защиты’. Part 41

03.04.2024

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. 206 (black to move) 1… GH6!! 2.CB4 CB6!! (the only move) 3.CD6 EC5 4.BD6 BA5!! (a great idea of black) 5.DC7 (the best move) AB6! 6.CB8 FE5 7.FD6 BC5!! Draw.

	Diagram No. 207 (black to move) White attack the piece F4. 1… GH6!! 2.FG3 GH4!! 3.GE3 CB6 4.AC7 BF4 5.CD2 DE7!! And black have made a draw.

	Diagram No. 208 White are sure that they can win this position. 1.CB6!! (It is possible to play 1.CD6 EC5 2.FG3 AB6! 3.GE5 GF4 4.EG3 CD4 5.AC7 DB6, and a break-through is inevitable!) 1… AC5 2.FG3 GH4 3.GE5 DC7 4.BA3 ED6 5.EF6 CD4 6.FE7 DE3! 7.EC5 ED2!! (the only move) 8.CB6 DC1!! 9.BD8 FE7!! (a great sacrifice) 10.DF6 HG3 11.HF4 CE7!! (the only move) 12.HG7 EC5. Draw.

	Diagram No. 209 (black to move) White have found a draw, however, it is better to know this! 1… EF4 2.GH2 GF6 3.AB4 FG5 4.BA5 GH4 5.FE3! HG3 6.EG5 GF2 7.GF6!! (White have found this move!) 7… EG5 8.HF4 FE1 9.CB6! Draw.

	Diagram No. 210 White have found an interesting defence in a bad position! 1.GH2 FG5 2.CD6 CE5 3.AB4! ED4 4.BC5 DB6 5.AC7 AB6 6.CA5 FG3 7.HF4 GE1 8.FG5!! (the only move) HF6 9.AB6 FE5 10.BC7 FG7 11.CD8 ED4 12.DC7! EA5 13.CG3!! GF6 14.GF2!! DC3 15.HG3 CB2 16.GF4! Draw.