Chess Close-Up

In this position from the final round of the Championship section in the 2002 Ridgeway Winter Classic, Black is ahead material and has a threatening pawn at h2. However, he must deal with White's threats to queen the pawn at b7. Is it a win, a loss, or a draw? Follow this series of action shots to see how the game went.

Black has just moved his rook from c2 to g2. He is threatening ...Rg1 followed by queening the h2 pawn. Next, White played 1.Kc7, threatening to win after 1...Rg1 2.b8(Q) h1(Q) 3.Qd8 mate. So Black played the rook back, 1...Rc2+, and White moved the king back, 2.Kb8 (better is 2.Kb6, giving White winning chances)

Now the attempt 2...Ra2, inviting 3.Rxa2 h1(Q), can be met simply by 3.Rh1. So Black tried 2..Kd7, and White played 3.Ka8 (better is Ka7). Black then played the surprising move 3...Ra2+. This move looks good, because 4.Rxa2 allows 4...h1(Q), and the b-pawn cannot queen because it is pinned. But there is a subtle catch.

White doesn't have to take the rook. Now that the Black king is on d7, White can play 4.Kb8! - 4...Rxa1 is stalemate!

However, White missed this. He took the rook, and the h2 pawn queened. White then played 5.Ka7, to queen his own pawn.

Black replied with 5...Qb1.

My computer thinks Black is winning here, but after 6.Ra3 or 6.Ra4 (to check on the c-file if the king goes to c7), it can only come up with repeated sequences of queen moves to keep the White pawn from queening. So is this game actually drawn? What do you think?

In the game, White made a mistake. He should have moved his rook on the a-file. Instead, he played 6.Rd2+. Black played 6...Kc7 to win the pawn. (6...Kc6 is better, winning in fact, as 7.b8(Q) gets hit with 7...Qa1+ forcing mate. And 7.b8(N)+ just isn't good enough.) White replied 7.Rc2+

Black took the rook, White queened the pawn with check, and then what do you think happened? Black has a winning advantage, but look at the hands on the chess clock. Both players are short of time. They got into a high-speed scramble, and... White's flag fell first. Black won.

Ed Eusebi, content editor, www.nscfchess.org