Triangles

Lawyers in a courtroom, it is said, should not ask questions to which they do not already know the answer. Chess players are well advised to adopt a similar attitude to pawn endgames – steer clear unless you can anticipate the outcome with certainty. In endgames with more wood on the board, overlooking a nuance need not be catastrophic. In pawn endgames, nothing is minor, and any oversight can be decisive. Yet their apparent simplicity has the lure of a siren song.

Grandmasters are usually more circumspect, so I was gobsmacked by Alireza Firouzja’s endgame howler in the recent Norway Chess tournament.

Magnus Carlsen-Alireza Firouzja

Norway Chess, June 2024

In the diagram position, Firouzja was faced with a critical decision and he must chart a narrow path to secure the draw. The correct course is to avoid the exchange of rooks with 77…Rb1. This abandons the pawn on h6, but the resulting endgame remains tenable with accurate play, a fact which both players would undoubtedly have known.