Annotated chess game

Instead 44...Rh4! at once keeps half an eye on c4 whilst defending against the infantry charge down the h-file. The idea is this line: 44.Rh4 h2 45.Kf1 Rb2 46.Rh6+ Kc7 47.b5. White's finesse keeps Black's rook on the c-file.

47.Kf1!

Obviously. The well-known skewer trick is coming to come into play sooner or later.

You know, that's a nice look... I saw the king's attack on the rook, but I never even THOUGHT to have him go help out the pawn... Nice. I guess that's why our ratings differ by some 400 points!  

After 48.Rh8+ Kc7! might have put the frighteners on: 49.Rh7+ Kc6 50.Rh6+ Ke5 (you see where I'm going with this?) 51.Rh5+ Kd4 52.Rh4+ Kd3 53.Rh3+ Kxc4 54.a6 Rxa6 and if 55.Rxh2 Ra1+ wins. White might be able to do better, but he has to take care!

Only a slim chance, since the three connected pawns are a good match for the rook. White could even have won here with 58. b5!!, racing the pawns up before Black's king can reach the Q-side.

The right idea is to race the BK into action ASAP. The BR is doing as much good on a1 as it would anywhere else on the board, right now. After 59...Ke7 Black has good drawing chances. After the text move, Black is quite lost. One has to bear in mind that two pawns on the 6th will beat a rook if the kings are both far off; and three pawns on the 5th will do the same. After 59...Rh7 60.b6! immediately threatens to bring the a-pawn alongside. This can be prevented (e.g. by 60...Rh1, say) but then comes 61.c5.

I actually looked at many, many lines white putting his king in front of his pawns and my king heading to the abc corner, and I found that I had wins for most of them. When I moved my rook to h7, though, I lost tempo and the ability to get behind his pawns if necessary, thus costing me any hopes at winning. Somehow I didn't see the a pawn as being able to make the complete run before my king got to b8... I guess I just counted terribly... o_O

White ought to have played 60.b6 or 60.a6, either of which ought to be good enough to win. Here's a couple of sample lines: [A] 60.b6 Rh1 61.c5 Rb1+ 62.Ka2 Rb5 63.a6 Ra5+ 64.Kb3 Rxa5 65.b7 and wins; [B] 60.a6 Ra7 61.c5 Ke7 62.b6! Rxa6 63.b7 Ra1 64.c6! (or 64.Kb2 Ra5 65.b8=Q Rxc5 etc) 64...Rc1 65.c7 and wins. It has to be admitted, Qvs R endgames aren't the easiest to win.

Interesting endgame: full of incident. You can learn a lot from endgames like this!

Again, thanks for reading, and thanks for the comments. I often get caught up in an idea, and miss other opportunities or even other options for the opponent because of them. I'd say that came into play at least 3 or 4 times in this game, and it really cost me. But I was more than happy to get the draw from the pawn down position, and more importantly... it was a lot of fun.  

The end games, always tricky, but you were the man here Tim. althoug if you were more cautious about your castle you could've won !

hello, but and the end???