MARK RUBERY CHESS

The endgame Q v R might appear to be a fairly easy win in tournament practice, but this is usually because the defending side is not aware of how to make the winning process as difficult as possible. In 1978 a chess program called BELLE (specifically primed for this ending), was able to withstand GM Walter Browne’s attempt to win this ending within 50 moves. A rematch was arranged and this time a better-prepared Browne prevailed (winning the rook on move 50!).

I wonder how many players in this country would be confident in winning from the following position? According to the Nalimov Endgame Tablebases it is mate in 19 moves against the best defence…

According to GM John Nunn Black has constructed a ‘third-rank defence’, which is of particular practical value in that it is easy for Black to play -he just shuffles his rook along the rank. However, White’s task is more taxing as he has to make a counter-intuitive move to make progress. 1 Qf4! (This is the unexpected move that provides the key to success. Moving the queen away from its dominating position allows it to switch flanks quickly. There are numerous other continuations that win, but they all involve an unobvious move at some point.) 1...Kd7 2 Qa4+ Kc7 3 Qa7+ Rb7 4 Qc5+ (the third-rank defence has been broken)...Kb8 5 Kd6 Rh7 6 Qe5 Rc7 7 Qe8+ Rc8 8 Qb5+ Ka7 9 Kd7 Rb8 10 Qa5+ Kb7 11 Qe5! Ka7 12 Kc7 Rb7+ 13 Kc8 and the Black rook will soon disappear.

Frederic Friedel of ChessBase recounts the following anecdotes:

‘During a tournament in Brussels in the 80s, I got Karpov and Kasparov to sit together in front of my Atari ST and try to win the ending queen vs rook. It was a hurried attempt in the press room after a round. They did not succeed, and laughed in amazement over the computer’s defence.’

‘Later in 1993 a 14-year-old chess talent who stayed at my house and whom I asked if he could win with the queen vs the rook responded with “Of course I can,” only to fail against the computer. The next morning at breakfast he announced he had found the strategy to win, and proved it with flawless play against the computer. The lad, whose name was Peter Leko, had actually worked it out in his head, while lying in bed in the dark.’