Leko-Kramnik, 5th worldchampion match, October 2, 2004
The position given below arose after the moves:
1.d4 Knf6. 2.c4 e6. 3.Knf3 d5. 4.Knc3 Be7. 5.Bf4 0-0. 6.e3 c5. 7.dc5 Bc5. 8.cd5 Knd5. 9.Knd5 ed5. 10.a3 Knc6. 11.Bd3 Bb6. 12.0-0 Bg4. 13.h3 Bh5. 14.b4 Re8. 15.Rac1 a6. 16.Ba6 Ra6. 17.b5 Ra3. 18.bc6 bc6. 19.Rc6 Ra7. 20.Rd6 Rd7. 21.Qd5 Rd6. 22.Qd6 Qd6. 23.Bd6 This position has been known before. Black deliberately plays a worse position expecting he can draw in the ending while avoiding
middle-game complications. ...Bf3. 24.gf3 Bd8. 25.Rb1 Bf6. 26.Kg2 g6. 27.f4 Kg7. 28.Rb7 Re6. 29.Rd7 Re8. 30.Ra7 Re6. 31.Bc5 Rc6. 32.Ra5 Bc3. 33.Rb5 Ra6. 34.Rb3 Bf6. 35.Rb8 h5. 36.Rb5 Bc3. 37.Rb3 Bf6. 38.e4 Ra5. 39.Be3 Ra4. 40.e5 Be7. 41.Rb7 Kf8. 42.Rb8+ Kg7. 43.Kf3 Rc4. 44.Ke2 Ta4. 45.Kd3 Bh4. 46.Bd4 Ra3+. 47.Kc2 Ra2+. 48.Kd3 Ra3+. 49.Ke4 Ra4. 50.Kd5 Ra5+. 51.Kc6 Ra4. 52.Kc5 Be7+. 53.Kd5 Ra5+. 54.Ke4 Ra4. 55.Rc8 Bh4. 56.e6+ Bf6. 57.e7 Rd4+. 58.Ke3 Be7. 59.Kd4 Bh4. 60.f3 f5. 61.Rc7+ Kf6. 62.Kd5
POSITION AFTER WHITE'S 62th MOVE:
White Kd5, Rc7, pawns f3, f4, h3;
Black Kf6, Bh4, pawns f5, g6, h5.
Black to play.
Black played 62...Bg3? 63.Rc6+ Kf7. 64.Ke5 and lost (after 64...h4. 65.Rc7+ Kh6. 66.Rc4 Kg7. 67.Ke6 Bh2. 68.Rc7+ Kh6. 69.Kf7). At the 62nd move, black should have headed for the fortress described in Background Position 2 here. He should have done so by playing 62...Be1!. Leko mentioned this move after the game but, incorrectly, conjectured that he could still have won then. Yusupov later pointed out that black can draw. This draw was missed by Jan Timman, Analysis in New in Chess 2004 Issue 7, p. 19, but he corrected it in New in Chess 2005 Issue 1, p. 95. The following analysis shows how black can draw.
After 62...Be1, the white rook can't leave the c-file because then black moves his bishop to the long diagonal a1-h8 through Bc3, and a draw according to the mentioned Background Position 2 results: the black bishop will be on c3, b2, a1 (avoiding transitions to lost pawn endings), and the black king on g7 and g8 (when leaving f6), and no zugzwang can arise. (Black attempts to keep the white king away from f6 by keeping his bishop on d8-h4 fail because this diagonal is too short, and zugzwang will result.)
63.Rc6+ Kf7. 64.Ke5 Ba5! (The only move. From now on both sides want to check on c7, and prevent the opponent from doing so.) 65.Rc8
The white rook can't leave the c-file because then black plays Bc3 building the fortress. After other rook moves on the
c-file black plays Bd8, and the white rook has to return to c6 because otherwise black's bishop reaches the long a1-h8 diagonal through Bf6+. After 65.h4 Bd8 white may lose h4. Black does not need this pawn because, after other rook moves, black has Bc7+ or Bf6+ also.
65...Bb6 (only move to prevent Rc7+ and Kf6). Now white can't make progress. If the rook leaves the c-file then Bc7+ follows. If the rook leaves the 8th rank then Bd8 comes, as before. After h4 black plays Ba5, waiting.
We conclude that Kramnik missed a draw on the 62nd move.