[Event "New York"]
[Site "New York, NY USA"]
[Date "1924.03.23"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Jose Raul Capablanca"]
[Black "Savielly Tartakower"]
[Result "1-0"]
[Annotator "https://lichess.org/@/NoseKnowsAll"]
[ECO "A40"]
[Opening "Horwitz Defense"]
[UTCDate "2021.06.27"]
[UTCTime "19:09:04"]
[Variant "Standard"]

{ Skip to move 34 to see the endgame we shall be exploring. } 1. d4 e6 2. Nf3 f5 3. c4 Nf6 4. Bg5 Be7 5. Nc3 O-O 6. e3 b6 7. Bd3 Bb7 8. O-O Qe8 9. Qe2 Ne4 10. Bxe7 Nxc3 11. bxc3 Qxe7 12. a4 Bxf3 13. Qxf3 Nc6 14. Rfb1 Rae8 15. Qh3 Rf6 16. f4 Na5 17. Qf3 d6 18. Re1 Qd7 19. e4 fxe4 20. Qxe4 g6 21. g3 Kf8 22. Kg2 Rf7 23. h4 d5 24. cxd5 exd5 25. Qxe8+ Qxe8 26. Rxe8+ Kxe8 27. h5 Rf6 28. hxg6 hxg6 29. Rh1 Kf8 30. Rh7 Rc6 31. g4 Nc4 ( 31... Nb3 $1 { This insane move is possibly enough to draw the game. Tartakower needed to visualize the entire following line in order to understand why. } 32. g5 Nc1 $1 { [%csl Gd3] } 33. Bb1 Ne2 $1 { [%csl Gf4][%cal Ge2f4] } 34. Kf3 Nxc3 35. Bd3 Na2 36. f5 $2 Rc3 37. Ke2 Nc1+ $1 38. Kd2 Rxd3+ 39. Kxc1 gxf5 { And everything works out perfectly for black. No easy feat! } ) 32. g5 Ne3+ 33. Kf3 Nf5 $2 { We join this game at a critical juncture. White has the more active rook and minor piece, but this knight is firmly blockading our kingside pawns from promoting. How do we make further progress? } 34. Bxf5 $3 { Capablanca willingly goes in for this minor piece trade, seeing a way to activate his king in the endgame at the mere cost of two (irrelevant) pawns. } 34... gxf5 ( 34... Rxc3+ $4 35. Kg4 gxf5+ 36. Kxf5 { Black should not be so quick to force our king up in the endgame for us! } ) 35. Kg3 $3 Rxc3+ { It is extremely instructive to see how Capablanca is not at all concerned about losing material; he only thinks of improving his king as much as possible. } 36. Kh4 $1 Rf3 37. g6 $1 Rxf4+ 38. Kg5 { This was the position that Capablanca had seen when he played 34. Bxf5. His rook will be master of the board on the 7th rank, his king will be untouchable on f6, threatening several checkmates, and his passed pawn on g6 or g7 will be threatening to queen if black makes a small mistake. White is already winning. } 38... Re4 ( 38... Rg4+ $4 39. Kf6 { [%cal Gh7h8] } 39... Kg8 ( 39... Ke8 40. g7 f4 41. Rh8+ Kd7 42. g8=Q Rxg8 43. Rxg8 $18 { White is up a rook and easily winning. } ) 40. Rxc7 $18 { Black would have to give up the rook to stop checkmate now. [%cal Gc7c8] } ) 39. Kf6 { "It is a frequently available finesse in such positions not to capture hostile pawns, but to pass them by in order to be protected in the rear against checks by the rook" -Richard Reti.
Capablanca threatens Rh8#. [%cal Gh7h8] } 39... Kg8 40. Rg7+ Kh8 41. Rxc7 { Capablanca threatens Rc8#. [%cal Gc7c8] } 41... Re8 42. Kxf5 { Only now do we take this pawn, simply to avoid it forcing our rook or king into passivity at a later move. } 42... Re4 43. Kf6 { Again threatening Rc8# [%cal Gc7c8] } 43... Rf4+ 44. Ke5 Rg4 45. g7+ $1 Kg8 ( 45... Rxg7 46. Rxg7 Kxg7 47. Kxd5 Kf7 48. Kc6 Ke7 49. Kb7 { White mops of all the remaining pawns and easily wins any king and pawn endgame. } ) 46. Rxa7 Rg1 47. Kxd5 { Finally Capablanca has regained all his sacrificed material, while black is forced to wait passively and pray these remaining queenside pawns cannot queen. Spoiler alert: they can. } 47... Rc1 48. Kd6 Rc2 49. d5 Rc1 50. Rc7 { PRO TIP: When you are winning a king and pawn endgame, your opponent has to avoid every piece trade. Therefore, you can threaten piece trades to improve your overall position. } 50... Ra1 51. Kc6 Rxa4 52. d6 $18 { Tartakower resigned rather than watch this d pawn march up the board and make a new queen like so: } 52... Rd4 53. d7 b5 54. Rc8+ Kxg7 55. d8=Q Rxd8 56. Rxd8 $18 { PRO TIP: Get your king up in the endgame! I've said it before and I'll say it again. The king is the best piece for pushing your endgame agenda. } 1-0