Traps, Tricks & Mistakes: Complex Queen Endgame
Does GM master the endgame technique? Most chess players would say ‘yes’. However, the reality obstinately shows the opposite. It is indisputable that some endgames are more difficult than others. And the most complicated are queen endgames as we already have seen in previous posts.
American GM Fabiano Caruana and French GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave were in the unpleasant situation of having to fight a queen endgame. It happened in round 4 of the prestigious tournament Sinquefield Cup, 2022. Caruana played the white pieces and seriously prepared the opening knowing that Vachier is a specialist in the Sicilian Defense. They entered the Najdorf variation and they repeated the same first 20 moves from previous games played between Dominguez and Vachier-Lagrave. Then Caruana varied in move 21 and after some inaccuracies from both sides and trading most of the pieces, they reached an endgame with queens and some pawns. And here came the drama. Caruana needed a win after two painful losses in previous rounds. He started playing determinedly the endgame until he threw it away at move 67 and again at move 87. Fortunately for him, Vachier also helped with a couple of mistakes.
As GM Savielly Tartakower wrote, “the winner is the one who makes the next-to-last mistake”, and that was Caruana in this dramatic game.
The difference between top chess players and club players is the number of mistakes they make. The few mistakes you make, the better player you are.
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