Was there a faster way?

So I played this game against a guy. I know we both made mistakes but I want you to comment on the endgame part. Specifically from move 36 was there a faster way to mate him? I am pretty sure it would have been possible with the RBK but I was too afraid of a stalemate that I went with what I knew which is RK will be a win just the same. I did push him back a rank but like I said I was too afraid.

I wouldn't really call the game from move 36 onwards the endgame, I'd call it "mopping up". The game is effectively over, you're a quizillion pieces up and your opponent would have resigned if he'd been more experienced. The easiest way to win from move 36 would probably have been to queen one of your pawns, checking carefully for stalemate at every move!

Originally posted by deeploser
So I played this game against a guy. I know we both made mistakes but I want you to comment on the endgame part. Specifically from move 36 was there a faster way to mate him? I am pretty sure it would have been possible with the RBK but I was too afraid of a stalemate that I went with what I knew which is RK will be a win just the same. I did push him back 8 49. g3 Kc8b8 50. Kd6c6 Kb8a8 51. Kc6b6 Ka8b8
52. Rh7h8 1-0
[/pgn]

Re6 would have made promoting your g pawn easy.

I think that would have been checkmate on move 46.

I would focus more on correct opening and middlegame play.

I agree my openings and tactics need help. I took a long break and was surprised to find that I had forgotten so much.

Originally posted by Eladar
Re6 would have made promoting your g pawn easy.

I think that would have been checkmate on move 46.

Most of my ideas are pretty simple.😉

Cool. I think of queens as boxes but rooks as bigger boxes. I guess when you have a bishop that's unreachable you can box the little king up and play away. But like I said I was afraid of putting him in a one square box heh.

With a rook you rarely run into the problem of stalemate. The rook also blocks the bishop's diagonal. It is really a very safe strategy, a much safter strategy compared to a queen supported by a rook.

I prefer to promote all of my pawns to bishops and knights to go for the mate, however I am ashamed to say that I am better at mating with a rook than a queen...

I'm better with the queen. I look for stalemate a lot with the queen but then with the rook I lose on the 3 move repetition.

The easiest mate for me is to walk people off the board with a queen and rook. The only thing you have to remember is that that king needs to be to the inside. In your game that's the kind of mate that I saw:

After 39 ..c5 40 Rc6+ and then queen either the g or a pawn depending on where his King goes. I don't know whether you realised it or not but RBN are enough to mate with.