Promoting to a queen is no good, so we promote to a knight! The white forces are sufficient to cope with the lone black queen.
87...Ka7 88.Rc7+ Kb8 89.Rd7 Qb1+ 90.Kc4 Qf1+ 91.Kd5 Qf3+ 92.Kd6 Qf8+ 93.Ke6 Qh6+ 94.Kxe5 Qe3+ 95.Kd6 Qf4+ 96.Kc5 Qe3+ 97.Kc4 Kc8 98.Nf7 Qe4+ 99.Kc5 Qe3+ 100.Kc6 Qxc3+ 101.Kb6 Qe3+ 102.Ka6 Qe6+ 103.Nd6+ Kb8 104.Rd8+ Kc7 105.Rc8+ 1-0
Unity Chess Club
Vasily Smyslov Mikhail Botvinnik Moscow ch-URS 1941 Black to move
Both sides’ passed pawns are very far advanced, and each is a potential queen. Therefore, to gain a tempo, Black sacrifices a rook:
58.a7 d2 59.Rg1 c2 60.Rb8 c1=Q 61.a8=Q Qxg1+ 62.Kxg1 d1=Q+ 63.Kg2 Rc2+–+.
Careful! After 59...c2?, White manages to create threats against the black king: 60.Rf7+ Kh8 61.Rf6=. Black could also win with 59...d1=Q 60.Rxd1 c2–+.
White resigned, since after 61.Rxd1 c2, Black makes a queen with tempo. Incidentally, Black avoided a cunning trap: after 60...c2 61.R6g5, Black cannot avoid move repetition.
Unity Chess Club
Lev Psakhis Alexei Vyzmanavin Moscow 1981 White to move
It is obvious that in the current pawn battle, White has the better chances. However, after an exchange of one pair of pawns on the queenside and the appearance there of the black knight, the win would be problematical. White’s solution is elegant and convincing:
The pawn on b6 is defended, the Rb7 passive, and the only other blockader of the white pawns is eliminated on g4. There is no way to stop the white pawns, so Black resigned.
Unity Chess Club
Jeroen Piket John Nunn Wijk aan Zee 1990 Black to move
The motif of advancing the pawns closer to queen strikes one at first glance. And certainly, with his knight so far away, the white queen has trouble coping with the excellently-coordinated black pieces, supporting their passed pawn.
Now, the black bishop can support the passed pawn from f1 rather than h3, which facilitates the bringing up of additional help in the form of the h-pawn.
It was essential to play 34.Qg1! Bh3 (34...Nd4 35.Qxg2+ Kf7 36.f3 h5 leads to something close to a positional draw –
It was essential to play 34.Qg1! Bh3 (34...Nd4 35.Qxg2+ Kf7 36.f3 h5 leads to something close to a positional draw –