The most recent issue of Chess Today contained an endgame study which has a very practical application for tournament players. Without giving too much of the answer away, the study (White to play and draw - Prokes 1939), shows a clever defensive idea when your opponent has a Queen on the c (or f) file and their king is nearer to the edge of the board (eg on the a or b file). This is particularly applicable in a Rook v Pawns ending (as this study shows) as you can allow you opponent to queen and yet still escape with a draw.
For those who can't work it out themselves, the answer is in the comments section.
1 comment:
1. Kb8! The rook needs to be able to freely move across the 7th rank (ie a7,b7,c7) 1. ... a4 (1. ... Kb2 2.Rb7+ Kc3 {2. ... Ka3 3.Rc7=} 3.Rc7+ Kd3 4.Rd7+ Ke4 5.Rc7=) 2.Rxa7 a3 3.Rxa3 Kb2 4.Ra7! c1(Q) 5.Rb7+ = as the Black king can never move to the c file without losing the queen to Rc7+
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