This game just recently completed:
Game 487204
Okay, so I get off to a bad start here. I blunder a pawn early, and things look bleak. Then I spot a tactic to win the Exchange, and now I'm in a position to win, so in typical Natural Science fashion, I go into autopilot mode and promptly blunder another pawn. So now I have to face the possibilty that I just might not win this game. This Jeckyl and Hyde flow is very typical in my games.
Now to the endgame: I think both of us played the endgame pretty well. It seemed to me that the only chance I had of winning was to sacrifice some pawns to get my rooks into play. Maybe that was rushing things a bit, I don't know. It's possible that by getting rid of so many of my own pawns, I made it all the more difficult to win.
Anyway it seems that White's last chance to draw the game was on move 54, where he should have played f8=Q, he's going to have to give that pawn up anyway so he may as well do it while he still has his c pawn. (Actually he could have done this at any time once his other pawn was on c7.) If he had done that, I couldn't see a way for me to win his c pawn while holding onto my e pawn. Assuming those two pawns got traded for each other eventually, it would leave us with rook and king vs. bishop and king, a draw as long as White knows what he's doing.
I'd love to hear any comments on this game from anyone, regardless of playing strength.
maybe I'm missing something here, but why on earth did white resign?? It looks like he has at least a draw here, even from the current position. He can blockade blacks pawn indefinitely, and if you try and bring the rook to bear, Ra8 g8=Q Rxg8 Be4 seems to solve the problem, because if Rg2+ Kd2 the best black can probably get is a perpetual -- I completely fail to see how black can stop white from either winning the pawn and drawing the rook versus bishop pawnless endgame or queening first and winning. Am I missing something?
I also think both players seriously screwed up the whole king safety thing. I particularly hate white's h3 g4. Better to just castle, get the queen on d3. then none of those problems would have happened.
Originally posted by paultopiaIn the final position, White can't blockade the pawn indefinitely. If you take away my rook and his bishop and two pawns, it's a basic king vs. king and pawn position. His king will everntually get pushed to the back rank and stalemated. Picture his king on e1, my pawn on e2, and my king on e3. Since his king has no moves, he's forced to move the only other piece with a legal move, the c pawn. After I capture it, he's forced to move the other pawn. After I capture that, he's left with a bishop vs. a rook and a pawn on the 7th rank. That's an easy win.
maybe I'm missing something here, but why on earth did white resign?? It looks like he has at least a draw here, even from the current position. He can blockade blacks pawn indefinitely, and if you try and bring the rook to bear, Ra8 g8=Q Rxg8 Be4 seems to solve the problem, because if Rg2+ Kd2 the best black can probably get is a perpetual -- I complet ...[text shortened]... Better to just castle, get the queen on d3. then none of those problems would have happened.
I agree, the play was pretty bad on both sides all the way up until the endgame arrived.