The chess player I admire most is GM Magnus Carlsen.1 Second is his main rival Fabi.2 Here’s a position from one of their many clashes. It’s too difficult for moi to assess accurately in order to discern what is the best move to play, engines aside. Rook endgames are so highly nuanced that anyone can go wrong in them, so what chance has little ole’ me got of seeing GM Carlsen’s move?
Piece activity is essential in endgames, we all know that and black obviously wants to queen a pawn but can’t he shore up his position first by improving his king position? It doesn’t look right to drop the e-pawn and gift white greater mobility for his rooks like that. I would want to play Kf7-e6-d5 before doing anything else, try and march the king in if you can, assuming of course the position allows for this. Just looks safer and much less double-edged but with calculation skills as limited as mine, and me being prone to making a mess of things, how can I tell what to play for first, Rook or King activity? GM Carlsen only drew this game, so perhaps there are inaccuries in play, however, I would prefer to take black in the position above. I would play 38. … Kf7 here.
https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1916995
M J M
McCreadyandChess 