A fragment from the book by Y. Kirillov ‘Искусство защиты’. Part 45

04.09.2024

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. 226 (black to move) Black pieces are all in the center! And white have found a defensive plan. 1… HG3!! 2.FH4 CB4! 3.GF2 BD2 4.DC3 DB4 5.AC3 EF4 6.CB4! HG5!! 7.FG3! FE3 8.GF4 ED2 9.FH6 DC1 10.HG3!! CB2 11.GF4 FG5 12.HF6 BH8 13.FE5! Draw.

	Diagram No. 227 White in a very hard position have found a beautiful defensive plan! 1.FE5!! (the only move) FE7 2.ED4 ED6 3.FE3 DF4 4.DC5!! AB2 (If 4… HG3, then 5.CB2 AC1 6.ED4! Draw.) 5.CA3 HG3 6.CD6 CE5 7.DC3! Draw.

	Diagram No. 228 Black have fought well! 1.CD4 GF6 2.DB6 AC7 3.AB4 CD6!! 4.BA5! (the best move) DC5!! (the only move) 5.GF4 (5.EF4 GE3 6.FB6 HF2 7.GE3 FE5, draw) 5… HG3!! 6.FH4 CD4 7.EC5 GE3! White take the main road. Draw.

	Diagram No. 229 Black have found a draw in a bad position! 1.ED4!! EC3 2.DB4 CB6 3.EF2 BC7!! (the only move) 4.FG3 CD6! 5.ED4 DE5 6.BA5 EC3 7.AC7 СD2!! Draw.

	Diagram No. 230 White have to find an easy defensive plan! 1.EF4 EG3 2.HF4 AB4!! 3.HG5! FH4 4.ED2 BC3 5.DB4 CD4 6.BA5 DC5 7.AB6! CA7 8.AB4! Draw.