drawn game which I should have won

Please see the game below. It was drawn although I had a big advantage after move 6 (captured White's queen). However later in the game, I have made a few mistakes myself:

24. ... Qe6 (thought I could exchange the rook for a knight with the advantage I had)

33. ... Ra6 (didn't notice the possibility of check)

But anyhow, after all this messing up, I still have 1 pawn advantage. So I thought that I could still win. But in the end I was lucky to be able to force a draw.

I have two questions:
- The mistake @ 24 was just stupid, but how should I have tackled the situation in move 33?
- Did I have a chance after move 34, although I just lost a rook? I guess 2 rooks in the endgame are very strong, but I find it difficult to judge the situation.

Thx for your help!

Originally posted by tvochess

Originally posted by Varenka
[fen]3r2k1/5ppp/3pq3/P3p3/1p6/1Pn4P/5PP1/R2B1RK1[/fen]

26... Nxd1

This looks like dogmatic thinking in terms of "exchange when ahead in material", but your knight is so much better than White's bishop. Instead, what if Black just plans to push his own passed d-pawn with 26... d5. Now the White forces cannot support the a-pawn, e.g. if 27. a6 then Ra8 ...[text shortened]... ing about your b-pawn.

And I think you had chances in the queen versus two rooks endgame.

Originally posted by Varenka

(...) This looks like dogmatic thinking in terms of "exchange when ahead in material", but your knight is so much better than White's bishop. (...)

32... Qc3

Keep things simple and just plan to exchange your b-pawn for White's a-pawn. So Qd3 attacking the a-pawn and forgetting about your b-pawn.

And I think you had chances in the queen versus two rooks endgame.[/b]

Originally posted by Paul Leggett
I thought the same thing at first glance at the position- if it were my game, that knight would just sit there like a vulture until an opportunity presented itself. It's like an octopus, constricting white's ability to move in dramatic fashion.

I wonder if move 7 wasn't the beginning of trouble. You grabbed the queen and started 'playing it safe'. After move 6 white needs to get his hung bishop back to safety. A6 enables whites plan.

Qh4, on the other hand, creates a threat on the E pawn and pins the F pawn. White still gets to follow his plan of getting the light colored bishop back to safety, but your threat is on E and F pawns rather than the speedy light colored bishop. ...nf6 reasserts your control of the e pawn, develops a piece, and gets you ready to castle.

10 .. d6, could have been ..d5. D6 is okay in that it puts another pawn on a black square. However, with D5 you are saying 'I'm up material, I'm trading pieces, and you can't stop me'. D6 says 'I'm up material, and I'm going to give you a chance to strike back'.

11. B5 I consider to be a bad move. You need to be striving for all of your pawns to be on dark squares when you've lost your dark bishop. There's otherwise no point to this move that I can see. At our rating I suspect that 90% of terrible moves are made with pawns. 90% of those terrible moves are made with pawns on the home row without a real purpose.

23. nxe4 is bad, which I think is obvious after you see white's response. TOtally understandable how you mgiht not see how that night was protecting d5. I wonder how you were /feeling/ after that move. YOu are still up material (queen for a rook now) but you've just been hit with a strong tactic.

33. 🙂 yeah... Greenpawn is screaming 'check all checks'.

On black's move 33, queen takes rook looks good, black ends up 2 pawns to the good and with white's threatening pawn neutralised. I know black seems to be fewer pieces "up" after the queen sac, but the position is a lot simpler.

That us what I considered Tiger. A sac back to transpose into a won endgame.
I refined it a bit.

Originally posted by Darax The Good

23. nxe4 is bad, which I think is obvious after you see white's response. TOtally understandable how you mgiht not see how that night was protecting d5. I wonder how you were /feeling/ after that move. YOu are still up material (queen for a rook now) but you've just been hit with a strong tactic.

Strange coincidence.
Just Logged on, played over one of the mates that greet you when you hit RHP.
(see the Blog about Tactics v Openings.)

Same situation except this has a tragic ending.
Player wins a Queen, drifts around about a bit, misses chance for
a winning Q sac-back, then misses exchange sac to clinch win.

If material up look for advantageous ways of giving it back.
(a future blog theme.)

Here White to play.


31.QxN PxQ 2.RxR White is a Rook up, end of resistance.
(The b-pawn is easily rounded up.)

Here White to Play


40.RxB RxR 41.Qxd5+ Kh8 42. Qe6 forking the Rooks.


Instead White let the Bishop stay on the board and it
was instumental in mating him a few moves later.
Final position:



Here is the full game.

Oud -v- Egyptian78 RHP 2007