Black to Play
Pete Tamburro
on
Published in Chess Puzzles
Rook and pawn endings are very tricky. The best move is 1... Ke5 Smyslov blundered with the “clever” 1... b2?? And the game continued: 2. Rxb2! Kg4 [or 2..Rh2+ 3. Kf3 Rxb2 Stalemate!—which he missed. Black can really blow it with 3... Rh3+ 4. Kg2 Rg3+ 5. Kf2 Kg4 6. Rb8 f3?? (Best is 6...Rf3+=) 7. Rg8+ winning the rook. 2. Rb5+ Kd4 3. Rb4+ Kc3 4. Rxf4 b2 5. Rf1 Kc2 and Black will queen the pawn with an easy win.
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