Welcome to the second week of chess summer school. We’re looking at how to save yourself in tough spots. The last problem was a pawn down position. In this one you’re about to be a pawn down. How do you salvage a draw here?

Solution:

It’s all about the king and rook pawn vs. king being a draw. You always have to be alert to that as White resigned in this position rather than play these possibilities: 1.a4 Kxa4 [1...bxa4 2.Kc1 a3 (2...Ka2 3.c4) 3.Kb1 a2+ 4.Ka1 Kxc3] 2.Kc2 Ka3 3.c4 b4 [3...bxc4 4.Kc3 a5 5.Kxc4 a4 6.Kc3 Ka2 7.Kc2] 4.Kb1 Ka4 5.Kc2 b3+ [5...a5 6.Kb2 b3 7.c5 Kb5 8.Kxb3 Kxc5] 6.Kb2 Kb4 7.c5 Kxc5 [7...a5? 8.c6 a4 9.c7 a3+ 10.Kb1 b2 11.c8Q Kb3 12.Qc2+] 8.Kxb3 —all drawn if White remembered this simple rule.

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