A rare type of four rook ending occurred in Peebo – Mishuchkov. With four pawns each on the kingside white is struggling, but it should be holdable.
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31…Rfd8 32.Rhh4
The first idea to come to mind is 32.Reh4 Rd5 33.f4, and I believe 33…h5 34.gxh6 Kh7 is unwinnable – black can only capture both the d4- and h6-pawns by allowing one pair of rooks to be exchanged, and that is it – but I’m not completely sure.
32…Rd3 33.Reg4
Similarly, 33.f4 leaves only limited chances.
33…Rd5 34.Kg3? Rf5
A pity, it would have been interesting to see this played out “correctly”.
35.Rf4 Rxg5+ 36.Rhg4 Rxg4+ 37.Rxg4 f5 38.Rh4 Kg7 39.Rh1 h5 40.Ra1 g5 0-1
Mishuchov moved to plus two, but Heikki Westerinen won his game and he and Rantanen lead with plus four going into the last round. The latter needed a bit of ingenuity to survive.
Kestutis Kaunas – Yrjö Rantanen
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21.cxb5 e4
Very tempting, but c5-c4 is the standard reaction to cxb5, if playable, and here it’s best. Black doesn’t even particularly need to get his pawn back.
22.Bxe4
22.fxe4 Re5 is possible, but black will capture the e4-pawn and get possession of the open line, with fair chances.
22…g4 23.Qd2 Re5 24.c4 Qe7
It is better to take the bishop and pawn on e4, but that would have been very unlike Yrjö, as I know him. Surely the gun on the e-line is worth a couple of pawns, in a practical game.
25.Bd3 Re8 26.f4 Re3 27.a4?
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Any consolidating move was called for.
27…Qb7?
He puts his finger on the right spot, but 27…Nxd5 28.cxd5 c4 already worked, white perhaps surviving 29.Bxc4 Qe4+ 30.Kf2 Qxc4 31.Rfe1.
28.Kg1 Nxd5
He must play this, the guard dies but does not surrender. After anything else white plays safety moves, and he was in quite a bit of time trouble.
29.cxd5 Qxd5 30.Rae1
There is nothing after 30.Rad1 Qd4 31.Bc2 – 31…Rd3+ 32.Qf2 or 31…Rxg3+ 32.Kh1 – but that sort of thing is not easy with 30 seconds on the clock.
30…Rxe1
Presumably very happy with a draw, black, who in contrast had loads of time, eschews 30…Qd4, with a considerable advantage.
31.Rxe1 Rxe1 32.Qxe1 Qxd3 33.Qe8+ Kh7 ½-½
In the juniors Toivo Keinänen secured his tournament victory, while the girls’ saw a remarkable 5-0 victory for black. Mai Narva won her seventh straight game and looks to be sure as well.
