Annotated chess game

perhaps b4 would have been a better move. Either it will make a way to the pawn in c6 or exchange blacks a-pawn -- which saves some steps for white.

Difficult to say. Both sides have to take care they don't overpress. Here's the sort of thing that could go wrong: 36.b4 Ke5 37.b5? axb5 38.Kxb5 Kd5... Now White is in zugzwang - or soon will be. The WK can't move, and soon the K-side pawns will run out of moves: 39.g3 g6 40.h3 h6 41.g4 g5 etc. After 36.b4 it may be that White's game would already be compromised after 36...Ke5, as once the pawns are locked on the K-side, White would have to move the king. Thereupon ...Kd6 will settle White's hash. Maybe 36.b3 is to be preferred? But then 36...Ke5 is good (It's starting to look as though 35...Kf5 was a very far-sighted finesse!).

Best. A delay could result in a White win: E.g. 36...g5? 37.Ka5 Ke5 38.Kxa6 Kd5 39.Kb7 Kd6 40.g4

41.b5 Kc5 and hold the g3-move till g5 is actually been played leaves you with an extra move, always handy in end games. If 42. Kb7 g5, white simply captures hg5 and wins or if 42. Kb7 Kb5 then 43.Kc7 Kc5 with g3 at some point and I think white would win the race

The position has been objectively equal for some time. The K-side is locked, and neither side can safely attempt to make progress on the other wing.

Black could have secured the draw by 45...c5! White dare not take because Black gets to the K-side pawns first (46.bxc5 Kxc5 47.Kc7 Kd6 48.Kd7 Ke4 49.Ke6 Kf3 50.Kf6 Kxg3 51.Kxg6 Kxh4 52.Kf5 Kg3 and Black's pawn is home free). So: 46.b5 c4 47.b6 c3 48.Ka7 c2 49.b7 c1=Q 50.b8=Qch. The check saves White's bacon, but a draw is all he can hope for here. *** After 45...c6?! 46.Kb6 Kd5? White would have won easily by 47.Kc7! Kc4 47.Kxc6 Kxb4 48.Kd6 etc. Instead of the advance, a retreat is called for: 46...Kd7 ought to hold.

45. ... c6 is may be already lost after 46. Kc8! instead of 46. Kb6, white gains access to c7, the pawns gets exchanged and white will be first to eat the pawns on the king-side.

As noted last time 47.Kc7! was the caper. And Black here ought to play 47...Kd6, not 47.Kc4 (48.Kb6 Kd5 49.Kc7 or 48.Kb6 Kxb4 49.Kxc6 etc). Can Black hold after 47...c5? Life has suddenly become much more complicated!

White has miscalculated here, not realising betimes that the g-pawn is taboo. I like 52...Ke5 so that if 53.Qxg6, Black plays 53...Qc5ch! with the idea of corralling the WK on the Q-side. White dare not allow Q exchanges (54.Ka6?? Qd6ch 55.Qxd6 Kxd6 56.g4 [desperation] hxg4 57.h5 Ke6 and Black wins. Otherwise 54.Ka4 Qd4ch 55.Kb3 (Only move! Guess why!) 55...Qe3ch 56.Kb2 (Only move again) Qd2ch etc, and Black seems to be holding.

I think black should play on 54 ... Kxg3. He would have a great chance of drawing the game.

It turns out, as White realised just too late, that 54...Kxg3 lost quickly: 55.Qg5ch! Qxg5 56.hxg5 and the pawn promotes in 3 more moves. Otherwise, even 2 pawns down, Black retains slender drawing chances provided she can keep her Q on the board. The consequences of moving to the c-file we'll see in a moment, but nor could Black play to the third rank: (56...Ke3 57.Qf4ch; 56...Kc3 57.Qc8ch; 56...Kd3 57.Qf3ch Kd4 58.Qf4ch!! Qxf4 59.gxf4 Ke4 60.h5 Kf5 61.Kb5 Kf6 62.Kc5 and White wins - the SPLIT-PAWN motif is well worth learning). Black best chance is 56...Ke5 (or 56...Kd5 if he thinks White might be sucked into 57.Qxg5ch? Qxg5 58.hxg5 Ke6 (=)).

It was a nice game.

This was a nice game Geert. From your annotations it is possible to tell you're very good at strategy and postional play! I'm sure you'll be in the 1800's pretty soon. Rodrigo.

Let's hope so, Rogubravo ! Let's keep practising !

Very interesting game, and thorough annotations. The endgame in particular is full of intriguing and instructive features.

I agree with the comments, it was fun going through this game. Thanks for annotating Geert.