FIDE SURVEYS – ALEXANDER BELIAVSKY

1

Alexander Beliavsky:

Queens with an opposite colour
bishops makes difference

Beliavsky A. : Pavasovic D.
Nagykanizsa 2008
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25...Td6
Convention all logic says white should keep
rooks, because he control the only open file.
Moreover with every piece trade, black is
getting closer for the different colour bishop
endgame which is considered drawish by
default. 25...g6 26.Lg6 fg6 27.Tg6 Kh8
28.Th6 Kg8 29.Dg6 Dg7 30.De6 Df7
31.Th8+-.
26.Td6!
Against first feelings it is only way to gain
an advantage. It is all important for the white
to "freeze" favourable pawn structure on the
king side by moving his pawn on h5. With
white pawn on h5 black:
1) has not any more counterplay with g6-f5-
e4,
2) should be careful with eventual white
queen penetration on h7.
26.Tc8 Td8 27.Tc4 g6 and white is not better
at all, because black e pawn inevitably going
to e4. Sacrifice on g6 just does not work
anymore.
26...Dd6 27.h5

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White succeed to fix pawn structure on the
king side. Because black cannot reshape
pawn structure on the king side and in the
centre, he has no any meaningful plan.
White has practically one more pawn on the
queen side. The question is whether it is
possible to move queen side pawns far
enough to tie black pieces to the queen side
and attack with a queen+bishop pair not
protected pawns on the king side.
27...Kf8 28.Kg2 Dc6 29.Le4 Dc3 30.Db5
Dc5 31.Dd7 De7 32.Dc8 Dd8 33.Dc6 Dc7
34.Dd5 Dc5 35.Da8 Ke7
White has avoided queens trade and get time
to move his bishop to a2-g8 diagonal, where
it will threatening f7 pawn.
36.Ld3 Dd6 37.De4 Kf8 38.Lc4 De7
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39.b4!
First success q-side pawns started to move.
39...Df6
Black cannot take this pawn because D+B
tandem wins f7 and e5 pawns: 39...Db4
40.Da8 Ke7 41.Db7 Kd8 42.Dd5 Kc7
(42...Kc8 43.La6 Kc7 44.De5 Kc6 45.Dg7±)
43.Df7 Kc6 44.Dd5 Kc7 45.De5+-.
40.Da8 Dd8 41.Db7 De7 42.Da8 Dd8
43.Df3 Df6 44.Dd5 De6 45.Da8

FIDE SURVEYS – ALEXANDER BELIAVSKY

2

It was already possible accept different
colour bishops ending with an extra pawn.
45.De6 fe6 46.Le6 Ke7 (46...e4 47.Lf5 e3
48.f4 Ke7 49.Kf3 a5 50.b5 a4 51.Ld3 a3
52.Ke4 Ke6 53.Lc4 Kf6 54.Kd5 Kf5 55.Kc6
Ld8 56.b6 Lb6 57.Kb6 Kg4 58.Kc5 Kh5
59.Kd4 Kg4 60.Ke3+-) 47.Lg8 a5 48.a3 ab4
49.ab4 Lc7 (49...e4 50.Lh7 e3 51.f4 and
white is getting a free pawn on the king side.
With free pawn on both sides white will
succeed to promote one of them.) 50.Kf3
Ld6 51.b5 Lc5 52.Ke4 Kd6 53.f3 Lb6
54.Kf5 Ld8 55.Lc4 Lf6 56.Ld3 Kd5 57.g4
Kd6 58.Le4 Kc5 59.Lc6 Kd6 60.Le8 Kc7
61.Ke4 Kb6 62.Kd5 Kc7 63.Lc6 Kb6
64.Kd6. Zugzwang. Black has either allow
white king on c7 and b pawn will promote or
give up e5 pawn. Gaining e5 pawn gives
white free pawn on the king side and black
cannot keep both pawns from the promotion.
64...Ld8 (64...Ka5 65.Kc7 Lg5 66.b6 e4
67.Le4 Lf4 68.Kc6+-) 65.Ke5 Kc5 66.Kf5
Kb6 67.Kg6 Lf6 68.f4 Kc5 69.g5 hg5 70.fg5
Le5 71.h6 gh6 72.gh6+-.
45...De8 46.De4 Ld8 47.Dd5 Lg5 48.a4
De6 49.Da8
Now endgame is not so favourable for white,
because black bishop penetrate to e1 and
keep white king busy with pawn protection.
49.De6 fe6 50.Le6 Ke7 51.Lg8 Ld2 52.b5
Kd6 53.Kf3 Le1. It is difficult make
progress.
49...De8 50.Df3 Ld2 51.b5 e4 52.Df5 Kg8
53.Ld5 e3 54.f4 Lc3 55.Kf3 De7 56.g4
Easier was 56.Dc8 Df8 (56...Kh7 57.Le4 g6
58.Dc6+-) 57.Dc7 De8 58.Da7 d3 59.De3
De3 60.Ke3 d2 61.Lb3 and pawns on the q-
side will promote.
56...La5 57.g5 hg5 58.fg5 d3 59.g6 d2
60.Lf7 Kh8 61.Lb3 Dd8 62.h6 Lc7 63.Df7?
White missed easy win: 63.hg7 Kg7 64.Df7
Kh6 65.g7 Da8 66.Ke3 d1D 67.Ld1 Lb6
68.Kf4 Db8 69.Kf3 Da8 70.e4 Dd8 71.g8S
Kg5 72.Df5 Kh4 73.Dg4#.
63...Le5 64.h7 Df6 65.Ke4 Df4 66.Kd5 Dd4
67.Ke6 Dd6 68.Kf5 Df6 69.Ke4 Df4 70.Df4
Lf4 71.Lc2 Lg5 72.a5 Ld8 73.Ke3

White getting free e pawn and black has to
give up his bishop for the pawn, but in this
case there is not stalemate because black
may move a pawn and white b pawn
queenning on b8. After 73.b6?? Lb6 it is a
draw because of stalemate.
73...La5 74.Kd3 Lb4 75.e4 La5 76.e5 Lb4
77.e6
Now black helpless to prevent white king
going to d7. Next black should give up
bishop on e7, but there is not stalemate
because pawn a7 still alive. When black
push a pawn white will promote his b pawn
on b8.Black resign. 1:0.

Gulko B. : Beliavsky A.
Vilnius 1975
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Black has an extra pawn. Still bishop
endgame is a draw, because black will get
only one free pawn and white will easily
keep it from promotion. Therefore black has
to avoid queen trade. Black will try first
change the pawn structure on the king side
for his favour-fix white pawns on the black
squares. By moving h pawn black either will
weaken black squares to penetrate with a
queen and bishop to chase white king or will
fix white pawn on h2. Moreover with a black
pawn on h3 white king feels even more
uncomfortable.
34...h5 35.g3 Ld4 36.Kg2 h4 37.Lc2 Dg5
38.Dd1 Dh6
White cannot prevent black pawn from
moving on h3.
39.De2

FIDE SURVEYS – ALEXANDER BELIAVSKY

3

39.gh4 Dh4 40.De2 a5 41.Ld1 Le5 42.h3
Dg5 43.Kf1 Ld4 44.Lc2 Kg7 45.Ld1 Dh4
46.Kg2 f4 and white king is helpless.
39...h3 40.Kg1 Dc1 41.Dd1 Db2 42.Kf1
Kg7 43.Dd2 Da1 44.Ld1 Kf6 45.Ke2 g5
Now white has an unpleasant choice: either
allow black pawn on g4 fixing f2 pawn or
move his f pawn and risking to lose h2
pawn.
46.f3
Wait and see was preferable but still loosing.
46.Kf1 Kg6 47.Dc2 g4 48.Dd2 Lg7 49.Dc2
Dd4 50.Le2 a5 51.Dd1 Lf6 52.Ke1 (52.Dd4
cd4 53.Lc4 d3 54.Ke1 Lc3 55.Kd1 Kf6
56.La6 Ld4 57.Ke1 Ke5 58.Lb5 d2 59.Kd2
Lf2 60.Le2 Lg3) 52...Lg5 53.Kf1 Kf6
54.De1 Ld2 55.Db1 Ke5 56.Lc4 f4 57.Le2
(57.gf4 Lf4 58.Le2 Kf5 59.Dd1 (59.Kg1
Lh2) 59...Dd1 60.Ld1 Lh2 61.Lc2 Le5
62.Kg1 Kf4 63.Ld1 Ld4 64.Kf1 e3 65.fe3
Le3 winning) 57...f3 58.Lc4 Dc3 59.La6
Kd4 60.Lc4 Lc1 61.Lf7 Dd2 62.Da1 Lb2
63.De1 Dd3 64.Kg1 De2 65.Df1 e3 66.Lc4
Df1 67.Kf1 e2.
46...ef3 47.Kf3 Db1 48.g4
White king will be mated now. Otherwise
white is loosing h2 pawn. 48.Dc2 g4 49.Ke2
Dc2 50.Lc2 Lg1 51.Kf1 Lh2 52.Kf2 f4
53.gf4 Lf4 54.Le4 g3 55.Kg1 Le3 56.Kh1 g2
winning.
48...fg4 49.Kg3 Le5 50.Kf2 Df5 51.Ke1
De4 52.Le2 Ld4 53.Da5 Kf5 54.Da6 Lc3
0:1.

Kochyev A. : Beliavsky A.
Le Havre 1977
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White king exposed and pawn b2 is weak. It

is important for black wins b2 pawn rather
then d4.
37...Kf6?
Black had to place his queen on the better
position e4 first. 37...De3 38.Kg2 De4
39.Kg1 (39.Kh3 g5 mating white king)
39...Kf6. Now white has not useful moves
and loosing b pawn anyway. 40.Kf2 (40.b3
De3 41.Kg2 Db3; 40.Lc4 Db1 41.Kf2 Db2
42.Ke3 Dc3 43.Ld3 De1 44.Le2 b3 45.d5
Lc5 46.Kd3 Db1 47.Kc4 Dc2 48.Kb5 De2
49.Kc5 De3 50.Kc6 b2 51.Dd8 Kg6
winning) 40...Dc2 41.Le2 Db2 42.d5 Dd4
43.Ke1 Dd5 (43...ed5?? Now white is
mating black king. 44.Dc6 Kf7 45.Lh5 Kg8
46.De8 Lf8 47.Lf7 Kh7 48.Lg6 Kg8 49.Df7
Kh8 50.Df8#) 44.Dd5 ed5 45.Lf3 Ke6
46.Kd2 g5 47.h3 Ld6 48.Ke3 gf4 49.gf4 d4
50.Kd4 Lf4 51.h4 Ld2 52.Ld5 Kf6 53.Lc4
Le1 54.h5 Kg5 55.Le2 Kf4 56.Ld3 Kg4
57.Ke3 f4 58.Ke2 Lc3 59.Lc2 f3 60.Kf1 Ld4
61.Ld1 Kf4 62.Lb3 Ke3 63.Ld5 f2 winning.
38.Dc6!
White gives up d4 pawn but preserve his b
pawn. Extra pawn on the king side proves
not enough for the win.
38...De3 39.Kg2 Dd2 40.Kh1 Dd4
40...Db2 41.d5 Kg6 42.De8 Kh7 43.De7
Dc1 44.Kg1 b3 45.De6 b2 46.Df5. Draw by
perpetual check.
41.Lc4 De3 42.h4!
Preparing for eventual g5.
42...Lc5 43.Kg2 g5 44.hg5 hg5 45.fg5 Kg5
46.Df3 Dg1
46...Dd2 47.Kh3 Db2 48.Le6 Dh8 49.Kg2
De5 50.Lb3 De4 51.Ld5 and black cannot
make progress.
47.Kh3 Kf6 48.Df1 Dd4 49.Df4 Df4 50.gf4
Ld6 51.Kg3 e5 52.b3 e4 53.La6 Ke6
54.Lc8 Kd5 55.Kf2 ½.

FIDE SURVEYS – ALEXANDER BELIAVSKY

4

Jussupow A. : Beliavsky A.
Frankfurt 1998
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28...g5!
Black is preparing square d4 for the queen.
Bishop from c5 will assist in attack on white
king.
29.Lb1
White is preparing a counterattack on
diagonal a2-h7. It is a grave mistake,
because black is attacking white king both
with a queen and a bishop, while white only
with a queen. The correct idea was to keep
queen on d2 and king on f3. In that case it is
difficult for black make any progress.
29...gf4 30.ef4 Dd4 31.Dc2 Lc5 32.Dh7 Kf8
Now black king escape safely and white
king helpless against coordinated
queen+bishop attack.
33.Dh6 Ke8 34.Dh8 Kd7 35.Da8 Df2
36.Kh3 Df3 37.Kh4 Le7 38.g5 Df4 39.Kh3
Df1 40.Kg3 Db1 41.Db7 Ke8 42.Dc8 Ld8
43.h4 Dd3 44.Kg4 Dc4 45.Dc4 dc4 46.h5
Kf8 0:1.

Beliavsky A. : Gligoric S.
Novi Sad 1979
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Here white tandem more coordinated then
black one.

37.Dg5 f5?
It is loosing two pawns. Lf3 also does not
work. The correct defence was 37..Kf8
(37...Lf3? 38.Df6 De1 39.Kh2 Dh1 40.Kg3
Dg2 41.Kf4+- and mate inevitable) 38.Df6
Dd7 39.Kg2 Ke8 40.Dh8 Ke7 41.Dh7 Df5
42.Dh4 Ke6 43.Dg4 Dg4 44.hg4 with an
easy draw.
38.Df6 Df8 39.Dh8 Kf7 40.Dh7 Ke6
41.Dg6 Kd5 42.Lg7+- Dg8
Bishops endgame also is winning for white.
42...Le8 43.Lf8 Lg6 44.f4 Kc6 45.Kh2 d5
46.Lc5 Lh5 47.Kg3 d4 (47...Le2 48.f3 d4
49.h4 Lc4 50.h5 d3 51.Le3 Kb5 52.h6 Lg8
53.Ld2+-) 48.Ld4 Le2 49.f3 Lc4 50.Lc5
Kb5 51.Lf8 Kc6 52.Kf2 Lf7 53.Ke3 Kd5
54.h4 Le8 55.Kd3 Lb5 56.Kc3 Le8 57.Le7
Ke6 58.Lc5 Kd5 59.Lf2 Kd6 60.Kd4 Lh5
61.b5 Lf3 62.b6 Ld1 63.b7 Kc7 64.Ke5 Kb7
65.Kf5 Kc7 66.Kg6 Kd6 67.h5 Lc2 68.f5
Ke5 69.Lg3+- and h pawn is promoting.
43.Df5 Kc4 44.Dg4 Kb3 45.h4 Df7 46.Kg2
Ld7 47.Dd4 d5 48.Lh6 Lb5 49.Ld2 Dg6
50.Kh2 Df5 51.Dc3 Ka4 52.Db2! Lc4 53.b5
Df8 54.b6 Dd6 55.f4 1:0.

Beliavsky A. : Ivanovic B.
Belgrade 2000
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32...De5 33.Df3 Dc5 34.De4
Mate threat on h7 force black to trade queens
on the wrong square. The following
endgame is winning because white may get
second free pawn on the king side.
34...Dd5 35.Dd5 cd5 36.a5 Le5 37.a6 Lb8
38.Kf3 Kg8 39.Kg4 Kf7 40.Kh5 La7 41.f4
Lc5 42.g4 Kf6 43.h4 Kf7 44.g5 hg5 45.fg5

FIDE SURVEYS – ALEXANDER BELIAVSKY

5

La7 46.Kg4 Ke6 47.h5 Lb8 48.Kf3 La7
49.Ke2 Lb8 50.Kd1
Black cannot prevent white king from
penetration on b7,because free h pawn keeps
black king on the king side. 1:0.

Beliavsky A. : Ruck R.
Ansfelden 2009
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White has an extra pawn. However he
cannot trade queens, because bishop
endgame is an easy draw for a black since
white has not free pawns. White winning
idea is to attack e6 pawn with queen and
bishop to force black king to f7 and
penetrate with a queen on h8 through c8
square. This plan is not easy to carry out,
because white king is also vulnerable. Also
black is ready in some variations give up g6
pawn just to trade queens.
35.De4 Lc5 36.Kg2 De8 37.Kf3 Lb6
38.Lc2 Df7 39.Dd3 De8 40.Kg4 Df7 41.Dc4
De8
41...Dc7! An interesting trap. White may
win g6 pawn now. However it is just a draw:
42.Da4 (42.Dc7 Lc7 43.Lb3 Kf7 44.Kg5
Ld8 45.Kh6 Lb6 46.Lc2 Lf2 47.Lg6 Kf8
48.g4 Le3 49.Kg5 Ke7 is a draw, because
white cannot move his king from g5. Black
just keep his bishop on diagonal pinning
pawn f4.) 42...Df7 43.Ld3 Db7 44.De8 Df7
45.Dc6 transforming to position similar to
one happened in the game.
42.a4 Dd7 43.Db4 Dc7 44.Ld3 Dd7 45.De4
De8 46.Db7 Df7 47.Dc6

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White has achieved an important milestone
to place his queen on the dominating
position c6. However it is not so easy to
bring bishop on c4 because of Df5.
47...De7?
Black had to control f5 square with a queen.
47...La5 48.Lc4 (48.Kf3 g5 49.Lc4 Dh5
50.Kg2 gf4 51.Dd7 Df7 52.Df7 Kf7 53.gf4
Ke7 with a draw.) 48...Df5 49.Kf3 Dh3
50.De6 Dh1 51.Ke3 Lb6 52.Kd2 La5 53.Kc2
Dg2 54.Kb3 Df3 with an perpetual check.
48.Lc4 Dd8
After 48...Kf7 white bringing his queen on
h8: 49.Dc8 Ld8 50.Kf3 La5 51.Dh8 Lb6
52.Dh7 Kf8 53.Dg6+-.
49.Db7 Kf8 50.Dh1!
White has protected d1 and black has not
means to protect both e6 and h8.
50...Kg7 51.Le6
Now white may trade queens because bishop
endgame already winning for him.
51...Dd2 52.Kh3 De2 53.Lg4 Dc4 54.Dd1
Kh6 55.Ld7 De4 56.Lg4 Dc4 57.Le2 De4
58.Lf3 De3 59.Dd5 Da3 60.Dg8 De7 61.g4
1:0.

Brodsky M. : Beliavsky A.
Alushta 2009
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FIDE SURVEYS – ALEXANDER BELIAVSKY

6

White is keeping b pawn and threatening to
g7 square. It is enough for a draw, because
bishops ending is drawish and black cannot
make progress with a queens on the board as
well. So black is trying last trick.
73...g5 74.fg5?
Strange but it is loosing, because white
cannot prevent second free pawn and black
king penetrate far enough to assist one of his
free pawns. Instead Le5 led to not
complicated draw: 74.Le5 De7 75.Dd3 Df7
76.Dg3 De8 77.Dd3 Le6 78.Dd6 Kg6
79.Lb2 Df7 80.De5 with eventual draw.
74...Dg3 75.Kg3 hg5 76.Kf2
76.h4 f4 77.Kg4 gh4 78.Kh4 Lg2 79.Kg4 f3
80.Kg3 Kg6 81.Kf2 Kf5 82.Ke3 Kg4 83.Le5
Lf1 84.Kd2 Lc4 85.Ke3 Ld5 86.Kf2 Kf5
87.Lb2 Ke4 winning a bishop for the pawn.
76...f4 77.g3 Kg6 78.gf4 gf4 79.h4 Kh5
80.Lf6 Kg4 81.Ke1 Lf7 82.Kf2
82.Kd2 f3 83.Ld4 Kh4–+.
82...Kf5 83.Lb2 Ke4 84.Ke2 Lh5 85.Ke1
85.Kd2 f3 86.Ke1 Kd3 winning.
85...Kd3 0:1.

CONCLUSION
We examined positions with an opposite
colour bishops with queens still on the
board. We demonstrated how coordination
between queen and bishop may create attack
on the king or pawns or help to improve
position to the point where bishop endgame
already favourable enough to win the game.
Opposite colour bishops not always guaranty
for a draw!