A fragment from the book by Y. Kirillov ‘Искусство защиты’. Part 43

05.06.2024

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. 216 In a bad position black have found a good draw! 1. FE3 ED6 2. HG3 BA3 3. GH4 CB4! (the only move) 4. EF4 DC5! 5. FG5 FE7! (the only move) 6. HG7 FH8 7. GF6 EG7 8. HF6 CD4 9. CE5 BC3 10. DB4 AC3 11. ED6 AB2 12. CA3 CD2 13. DE7 DE1 14. EF8 EF2 15. FD6 FB6! 16. DG3 BA5 17. GE1 AB6! Draw.

	Diagram No. 217 Black have found a defence in this position! 1. HG3 ED6 2. FE3 ВA3 3. GH4 (If 3. ЕF4, then АВ2!! Draw.) 3… FE7 4. EF4 EG3 5. HF2 DE5!! (the best move) 6. FG3 ED6 7. DE3 DC5!! Draw!

	Diagram No. 218 White have to make a draw! 1. HG3!! DC5 2. GH4!! (the best move) (If 2 FE3, then 2… ВАЗ (the best move) 3. GH4 ED6 4. EF4 AB4 5. CA5 CD4! 6. FG5 FE5 7. DC3! DB2 8. AB6 BA1 9. BA7 ED4 10. GF6! Draw.) 3. FG3 BA3 4. DE3!! CB4 5. GF4 BD2 6. FG5!! Draw.

	Diagram No. 219 (black to move) Black have got a very bad position, however, they have managed to defend it! 1…BC5!! Great! 2. EF4! (Если 2. FG3, то HD4 3. CC7 АВ6 4. CA5 EF6, and center compensates the lack of a piece 2… AB6 3. HG3 BA5 4. FE3 HD4 5. CC7 ED6 6. CE5 AB4! 7. EF6 CD4! 8. BA3 BC3 9. FE7 CD2 10. ED8 DE1!! Draw!

	Diagram No. 220 (black to move) 1… GF4!! 2. EG5 HF4 3. BC5 FG3 4. DE3 GH2 5. EF4 HG1 6. FG5 GH2 7. GH6 HE5! (the only move) 8. DF6 BD4 9. FG7 DE3 10. GF8 EF2 11. HG7 FE1 12. GH8 EH4. Draw!