A fragment from the book by Y. Kirillov ‘Искусство защиты’. Part 55

03.09.2025

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. 276 (black to move) Black found a great draw. 1… EF6!! 2.EG7 HF8 3.HG3!! (the best move) HF2 4.GE3 FE7! 5.CB6 CD6 6.BC7 DC5 7.DB6 BD6 8.BA7 AB4 9.AC5 DB4. Draw.

	Diagram No. 277 (black to move) Black found an easy draw. 1… CD4 2.DE3 EF4! 3.EE7 CB6! Draw.

	Diagram No. 278 White found a great draw. 1.GH2! EF6 2.DC3 CB6 3.ED6! BC5 4.DB6 AG3 5.HF4 FG5 6.FE5 GF6 7.EG7 HF8 8.CD4. Draw.

	Diagram No. 279 Black found a good draw. 1.AB6 CA7 2.AB4 AB6!! 3.ED4 DC5 (If 3… BA5, then 4.DC5 FG5 5.HF4 EF6!! 6.CG5 ED4 7.CE5 AC3! Draw.) 4.BF4 ED6 5.GH4 DC5 6.FE5 CE3 7.EG7 EF2 8.CD4 FE1 9.GH8 EA5 10.DE5 BC5 11.EF6 CB4 12.FE7 FD6 13.HF6 AD8 14.HG7 DG5 15.HF6 BA3 16.GH8 DE5, draw.

	Diagram No. 280 White found a good defence. 1.DE5! FD4 2.EC5 GE3 3.FD4 HF2 4.GE3 AB4! 5.EF4! BD6 6.DE5! Draw.