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drawn game which I should have won

drawn game which I should have won

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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!


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1.e4c5
2.d4cxd4
3.Qd1xd4Nb8c6
4.Qd4c3e5
5.Bf1b5Bf8b4
6.Bc1d2Bb4xc3
7.Bd2xc3a6
8.Bb5e2Ng8f6
9.Nb1d2O-O
10.Ng1f3d6
11.O-Ob5
12.a3Bc8g4
13.h3Bg4xf3
14.Be2xf3Qd8e7
15.b3Rf8d8
16.a4b4
17.Bc3b2a5
18.c3bxc3
19.Bb2xc3Nc6b4
20.Bc3xb4axb4
21.Nd2c4Ra8c8
22.Nc4b6Rc8c3
23.Bf3d1Nf6xe4
24.Nb6d5Qe7e6
25.Nd5xc3Ne4xc3
26.a5Nc3xd1
27.Rf1xd1Qe6xb3
28.Rd1b1Qb3c3
29.Rb1c1Qc3d4
30.Ra1a4f5
31.a6Rd8a8
32.Rc1b1Qd4c3
33.Rb1xb4Ra8xa6
34.Rb4b8Kg8f7
35.Ra4xa6Qc3d3
36.Rb8b6Kf7e6
37.Ra6a7Qd3d4
38.Rb6b7g5
39.Rb7xh7g4
40.Rh7h6Ke6d5
41.Ra7a5Kd5e4
42.hxg4fxg4
43.Rh6h4Ke4f4
44.g3Kf4f3
45.Ra5a3Kf3e2
46.Ra3e3Ke2d2
47.Kg1f1Qd4a1
48.Kf1g2Qa1a8
49.Kg2f1Qa8a1
50.Kf1g2Qa1a8
51.Kg2h2Qa8f8
52.Kh2g2Qf8a8

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      1 edit
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      Originally posted by tvochess
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      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, a7, Qb6. Or if 27.Bc2 then play e4 with d4-d3 to follow.

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      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.

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      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.
      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.

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      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]
      Hey Varenka,

      thx for your help. I just need a bit of clarification.

      What do you mean by "knight is so much better than White's bishop"? In this stage of any game, I get lost in the amount of available moves (because so many squares are safe to go to) and can only think about how I should move the rooks and queen, because I know how to force a mate with them.

      You are right about my plan at move 32. I thought I had to both defend my b-pawn and prevent the a-pawn from reaching the 8th rank. It would have been better to focus on a simple exchange, cause I indeed still had the material advantage.

      Greetz.

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      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.
      Hey Paul,

      this answers my question to Varenka 🙂

      So I don't need to move the knight anywhere. Now that I look at the position again, I notice how the knight can help in defending the d- and e-pawn in their way to promotion.

      Thx!

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      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'.

      3 edits
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      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.

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

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      1.d5a7
      2.Qe1Kh2
      3.Qxb4Rxb4
      4.Rxa7

      -5

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      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.
      I felt like: "How could I not have seen that coming?"

      but also: "don't worry, I am still 4 pawns up", which was perhaps not the right motivation for the rest of the game...

      Thanks for all the feedback (also by the others).


      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.

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

      Here White to Play

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

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

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      Here is the full game.

      Oud -v- Egyptian78 RHP 2007

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      1.e4e5
      2.Nf3d6
      3.Nc3Nf6
      4.h3a6
      5.Bc4Nc6
      6.d3h6
      7.Be3b5
      8.Bd5Bb7
      9.d4b4
      10.Ne2Nxd5
      11.exd5Ne7
      12.c3Nxd5
      13.Bd2a5
      14.a3e4
      15.Qa4c6
      16.Nh2Qh4
      17.O-OBe7
      18.axb4Nb6
      19.Qc2a4
      20.c4O-O
      21.Nf4d5
      22.c5Nc4
      23.Bc1Bg5
      24.g3Bxf4
      25.gxh4Bxc1
      26.Qxc1f5
      27.h5f4
      28.Ng4Bc8
      29.Qd1Nxb2
      30.Qc2a3
      31.Ra2Rf5
      32.Qc3Nc4
      33.Qb3Bd7
      34.Ne5Nxe5
      35.dxe5Rxe5
      36.b5cxb5
      37.Qc3Rxh5
      38.Rxa3Rc8
      39.Qd4Bxh3
      40.Rc1f3
      41.Kh2Rf8
      42.Rg1Be6
      43.Kg3Rh3

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