♣ If you have a default viewer for PGN files, just choose "open" in the link dialog; otherwise, download to see it later.
♣ The idea to publish some nice endgames came from a fact which has little to do with the subject, the way an alien impulse gives us a hint to find incredible moves and ideas.
♣ A certain problem and its story was shared with many chess fans in Spain and today, I can say it's quite known all over this country. I've gathered what we called the "miner's position" from GM Constantin Ionescu.
♣ The other day, I just had a coffee with one of my best Spanish friends - Carlos. The bar has a concise name "8" and even a chess set (kindness of our club).
♣ Given the scenario, a funny chess fan spotted us and staggered along to our board. He is known by his polysemic nickname "Machaca" which, by itself, is quite enough to provoke large and sonorous smiles (here are some meanings of the word = grinds/crumbles/crashes/masacres/distroys by striking, the instrument which does such things, dogsbody, etc.) Looking into my eyes he asked in a serious tone:
♣ "Maestro, can you show me that missionary position again?" (in Spanish "minero" and "misionero" have a more similar music).
♣ All audience was left puzzled. Only Carlos and me understood the poor man's wish.
I'll leave "the position" to your imagination... and tell you the story:
♣ The game Ehlvest-Suba played in the last round of "Keres Memorial", Tallin 1983, as it often happens, is corrupted in CB Megabase 2007. A cleaner version can be found in chess games.com
♣ The following position is not the adjourned one, but a possible result of it, just after few moves. I cannot remember exactly the point of adjourning, we both played very badly in the time pressure before control and, possibly, passed it by several moves. (How can one explain my opponent's 44.Rc7? Or else, was the control at move 45?)
♣ Here is a practical endgame
♣ In a recent Spanish tournament near Madrid, Collado Villalba 2007, a mere FM, Andres Gallardo played very confidently and tied first at the finish.
♣ In round 8 he met an experienced IM from Alicante - Antonio Granero.
♣ The game was unusually long (6h30' with a rate of 90+30) and, towards the end, both contenders played their moves on the account of the additionally 30".
♣ Here are the two critical moments of the endgame.
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author@menssana.co.uk ©2006 Mihai Suba.