A fragment from the book by Y. Kirillov ‘Искусство защиты’. Part 48

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’.
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Diagram No. 241 (black to move)
1… BA7! 2.CD4! AB4!! 3.BA3 DC5 4.DB6 AC5 5.FE5! (the best move) GF4 6.EG3 BC3 7.GF4 CB4 8.AC5 CB2 9.FE5 BA1 10.ED6 AH8! 11.GH2!! (the only move) (If 11.DE7, then HG3 12.FH4 HF6! Draw.) 11… HD4 12.DE7 DA7 13.ED8 (If 13.EF8, then 14.HG3!! Draw.) HG5. Draw. |
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Diagram No. 242 (black to move)
Black have found a good defence. |
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Diagram No. 243 (black to move)
White have found a good defence. |
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Diagram No. 244
White have found a good plan, which makes a draw for black hardly achievable. |
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Diagram No. 245 (black to move)
Black have found a good plan, which makes a draw for white hardly achievable. |