Here’s another example of how far we’ve come in the past century.
This is the final position in the game Bogoljubov – Thomas, played in the Hastings 6 Masters Tournament on 13 September 1922.
Sir George has just checked his opponent, and like the perfect English gentleman he was, has offered a draw.
Bogo, on retrospective ratings ranked 7th in the world at the time, accepted the offer. But he had a fairly simple, if long-winded win here.
His first task is to move his king to b2, all the while avoiding Black’s rook reaching the c-file safely or the a-pawn promoting with check.
79. Kd5! Ra5+
80. Kc4 Ra4+
81. Kb3 Ra3+!
82. Kc2! Rc3+!
83. Kb2!
Avoiding Black’s traps and completing the first stage of the plan.
Now, after capturing on the a-file, the king has to head back up the board to c8 to reach the Lucena position.
83.. a1Q+
84. Kxa1 Rc2
85. Kb1 Rc3
86. Kb2 Rc4
87. Kb3 Rc1
88. Kb4 Rb1+
89. Kc5 Rc1+
90. Kb6 Rb1+
91. Kc6 Rc1+
92. Kb7 Rb1+
93. Kc8
Completing the second stage of the plan. You should know how to win from here.
93.. Rb4
94. Rh3 Rb1
95. Re3+ Kf7
96. Re4
‘Building a bridge’: placing the rook on the fourth rank.
96.. Kf6
97. Kd7 Rd1+
98. Kc6 Rc1+
99. Kd6 Rd1+
100. Kc5 Rc1+
101. Rc4
and White wins. This is why your rook is on the fourth rank.
It’s extraordinary that two of the world’s strongest players failed to assess this ending correctly. (Sir George would never have offered a draw if he’d realised he was losing.) Perhaps I’m wrong, but I’d imagine any GM, or even IM, wouldn’t have a problem today.
Going back a few moves, this was the critical position.
Black played 72.. a2? here, met with 73. c7! when Black had to start checking. The only drawing move was 72.. Kd8!. Again, I’d imagine today’s leading players would get this right.
Richard James