Recently, I played a game in which I managed to find a nice early tactic to win a piece for a pawn, but later blundered away a pawn, which soon led into an interesting, but obviously difficult endgame with a piece (knight) for two pawns. Eventually, I offered my opponent a draw, which he accepted.
I'm posting to ask for help in seeing how I could have played better, and to find out whether I had the potential to win at any given points. I've given my own analysis, but I would appreciate comments greatly.
The game is Game 4210579, and the beginnig of the crucial phases of the endgame is shown below.
Position After 20. ... Kf7:
21. Rd1 Qe7
White activates his rook to a more important file, pinning black's knight, and black activates his queen while preparing to activate his rook, too.
22. Qc7 Nf6 23. Qxe7 Kxe7
I believe the queen exchange here favored black, who now has two pieces to white's one.
24. f3
The strongest way to deal with the threatened e4 pawn, keeping control of d5 and freeing a way for white's king to assist.
24. ... Rc8 25. Rc1 Kd6
In retrospect, I believe 25. ... Rc3 may have been stronger, confining white's rook and depriving white's king of the e3 square. I was simply eager to activate my king as soon as possible, but white managed to minimize its influence.
26. Kf2 Ke5
Again, 26. ... Rc3 should have come into consideration.
27. c3!
Taking control of c3 and d4. Already, black's king seems powerless, while his knight and rook are relatively inactive.
27. ... g5?! 28. Ke3!
As black I was looking for a way to gain space with my pawns and/or find a way to activate my knight, but I didn't see white's simple response which neutralized any hope of 28. ... g4 with 28. Ke3! (28. ... g4?? 29. f4+! Kd6 30. e5+ +/-), gaining space and activating his king.
28. ... Nd7
I begin rerouting my knight to a more active square. My ultimate destination was c4, but by that time, white manages to gain significant kingside space and forces my king to retreat. In addition, white manages to exchange one of my pawns, which later becomes vital as I could not afford to exchange pawns if I wanted to retain any chances of promotion.
29. g3 Nb6 30. f4+ gxf4 31. gxf4+ Kf6 32. h4 Nc4+ 33. Kd4 h5?!
At this point, I believe black has lost any advantage he once held. His king is blocked off by white's pawns and far better placed king, and his rook is doing nothing more than defending his knight, which is also accomplishing nothing in particular. In addition, 33. ... h5?! did nothing more than offer white another target, as he can now afford to reposition his rook to the open g-file.
34. Rg1 e5+?
Again, at this point, I really couldn't afford to trade pawns and maintain any chance of counterplay.
35. fxe5 Nxe5 36. Rf1+ Ke6 37. Rf5
Forking black's knight and pawn.
37. ... Rc4+ 38. Ke3 Rxc3+ 1/2-1/2
The game may have continued along the lines of something like 39. Kf4 Rf3+ 40. Kg5 Rxf5+ 41. exf5+ when black will have nothing better to do than sacking his knight for one of the pawns and go into a drawn king and pawn vs. king endgame.
If you've taken any time to look through the game, I greatly appreciate it. Again, any comments (and suggestions) would be appreciated, as my endgame skills are far below where they should be.
Originally posted by wittywonkaThis is interesting! I will take a look, if not for your benefit, then certainly for my own at the least. That passer in the fen you give looks very dangerous at first glance. 🙂
Recently, I played a game in which I managed to find a nice early tactic to win a piece for a pawn, but later blundered away a pawn, which soon led into an interesting, but obviously difficult endgame with a piece (knight) for two pawns. Eventually, I offered my opponent a draw, which he accepted.
I'm posting to ask for help in seeing how I could have ...[text shortened]... ns) would be appreciated, as my endgame skills are far below where they should be.
I liked the analysis given. Going back from the end, I agree that 33. ... h5? and 34. ... e5? were the last points where you still could have gone for the win.:
33. ... Nb2! threatening 34. ... Rd8+ for instance 35.Ke3 Rd3+ 36.Ke2 Rd4 wins another pawn
After 33. ... h5? white should have played 34.Rc2, preventing the above. Since he didn't and played 34.Rg1, you could again have gone for 34. ... Nb2.
It seems like you found the right ideas post-game.
Yes, Rc3 (tying the rook down) followed by Nc4 (threatening c2 and covering d2) I think has to be correct.
White brings the K to d1 intending to activate the rook and now Black's plan is not so obvious to me (although Black has to be winning). What is Black's plan now?