A fragment from the book by Y. Kirillov ‘Искусство защиты’. Part 42

15.05.2024

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. 211 The position seems simple from the side, however, white need to seek for defence. 1. FE5!! (the only move) BC5!! (If 1… HG7, then 2. DE3 ВС5, a draw) 2. DB6! FB2 3. BA7 BA1 4. AB8 AD4 5. BC7 DG1 6. DC3, a draw.

	Diagram No. 212 White’s position is not worse, but they need to think of defence! 1. ED4! (the only move) BD2 2. CE3 CB6!! 3. AC7 BD6 4. GH2!! DC7 5. HG3 CB6 6. GH4 DC5 7. HG5 FH4 8. DE5 CB4 9. ED6 BA3 10. DE7 AB2 11. ED8 BA5 12. ED4 AB4 13. DE5 BC3 14. EF6, a draw.

	Diagram No. 213 (black to move) In a very bad position black have found a very beautiful defence! 1… FG7! 2. ED4! (the best move) CE3 3. DF4 GH6 4. CD2! AB2!! (wonderful move) 5. CA1 ED4 6. DE3! DF2 7. GE1 FE5 8. AB2! EG3 9. HF2 HG5 10. FG3 DE5 11. BC3 GF4 12. GH4 FE3 13. CB4! (the best move) ED4!! 14. HG5 EF2 15. EG3 DE3 16. GF6 ED2 17. GF4 DC1 18. FE5 CD2 19. BC5!! DC3 20. CD6 CB4 21. DC7 BD6, a draw.

	Diagram No. 214 White have been tied, but they found a great defence! 1. AB2! AB6 2. BA3 DC5 3. FE5 GH4 4. EG7 HF8 5. DE5!! HG3!! (the best move) (If 5… FG7, 6. CD4 HG3 7. DC3 GH2! 8. EF6 GE5 9. DF6 HG1 10. CD4! Draw.) 6. EF6 GH2 7. CD4 AB4 8. DE5 BA5! 9. EF4 HG1 10. FE7 FD6 11. EC7 CD4 12. AE3 GD8 13. FE5 DE7 14. BC3 EA3 15. EF6 AF8 16. CD4 AB4 17. DE5 ВАЗ 18. FG7, a draw.

	Diagram No. 215 White have found a complicated and a beautiful draw. 1. FG3! HF2 2. EG3 EF6 (2… GF4 3. GE5 CD6 4. EC7 DD4 5. GF2 EF6!! 6. BC5 DB6 7. AB4 FE5 8. FG3, a draw) 3. GF2 GH4 4. GF4 CB6! 5. FE5 FD4 6. CE3 BA5 7. BC5 AB4 8. CD6!! (the only move) BC3 9. AB4!! CA5 10. EF4 AB4 11. DE7!! Sacrifice! 11… DF6 12. FG5 FE5 13. GH6 BC3!! 14. HG7 CB2 15. FG3!! The third sacrifice. 15… HF2 16. GH8! = Excellent!