Yesterday's game between Cheparinov and Firat from the European Championship rekindled memories of working on Aronian-Dubov World Cup game. Here, the position has a slight difference, both sides have f-pawns instead of g-pawns.
Cheparinov-Firat EU Championship 2018
This position was reached after White's 57th move Kd5.
Black continued with 57...Bc3? which is an instructive mistake. White won the game cleanly with 58.Ra7 + Kf6 59. Ra3 Bb2
60.Ra2 Bc3 61.Kc4! Be162.Ra6 1-0 with the idea 63.Kd4 next move and getting the same Zugzwang as in Aronian-Dubov game which I had analyzed earlier in the "Tale of Three Endgames".
However Black could have drawn this game if he had continued with 57...Bg7! or 57... Bh8!
An Important position to remember!
The difference between this position and the one with g-pawns for both sides is that Black's Bishop has two hiding squares behind his King on f6, namely g7 and h8. White's Rook and King duo can never force a Zugzwang as Black always has the moves Bh8-g7-h8. Although this seems counter-intuitive Black should know that he should hide his Bishop in the rear to hold this game! There were 2 more games from very similar positions.
