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43. Ne1 Nc4 44. b3 Qb2
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I must admit, I was sooooo tempted to simply play 44. ...Qxc3 45. bxc4 Qxc4, trading in my knight for two pawns. Two adjacent passed pawns on the far side of the board from white's king and his (nearly) trapped bishop. I whipped out a chessboard and played through that endgame a bunch of times and couldn't quite force one of those pawns to promote, so I backed down and played more conservatively. As played, 44. ... Qb2 forces white to trade queens or lose a pawn. |
 
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45. Qxb2 Nxb2
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And now we begin the endgame, more or less. Almost 20 more moves, nearly all of which are just a big positional dance. Black's goal is to try to eliminate white's two remaining pieces in such a way that his pawn advantage will be decisive. |
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46. Bg1 a5 47. Be3 Kg7
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Time to make the king get off his lazy butt and get into the fight. |
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48. Bc1 Nd1
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Threatening a pawn, but it was also the only safe move for the knight. |
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49. c4 bxc4 50. bxc4 a4
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OK, now we each have a passed pawn, but black's is farther from the action and a more imminent threat of promotion. |
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51. Nc2 Nf2+
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What black really needs is his knight on d2 or b2 unopposed. Let's see if we can get there. |
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52. Kg2 Nd3
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Threatening the bishop. White must respond. White has two objectives here, saving his bishop and preventing 53. ... Nb2. I don't think he can achieve both unless he plays 53. Ba3 which allows black to exchange bishops, an exchange that favors black. Still, I think 53. Ba3 was white's best move here. |
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53. Bd2 Nb2
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Threatens 54. ... Nxc4. I don't think white can save the pawn. 54. c5? won't work. 54. Na3? won't work. 54. Ne3 is met by 54. ... f4! and the knight won't be able to stay on e3. Nor does white have a counterattack that manages to save the pawn, such as with 54. Bb4. Nothing seems to hold the pawn. |
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54. Bc3 Nxc4
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And now it's a two pawn endgame. Black needs to help white reduce his material. Those pieces really need to come off. |
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55. f4 Kf6 56. Kf3 Ke6 57. fxe5 Nxe5+
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A 3-2 kingside pawn advantage is more decisive than a 3-4 kingside advantage. |
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58. Ke2 Nc6
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Thinking that this knight on b4 will help the pawn advance, once white moves either of his pieces that are currently protecting b4. |
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59. Kf3 a3
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Time to finish this. If black can get white to trade a piece to prevent this pawn from promoting, the remaining material advantage (piece+pawn) should decide things quite nicely on the kingside. |
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60. g4 Ne5+
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This is the losing move. 60. g4? allows black to force a piece trade, something white cannot afford. Now the black knight forks the white king and the pawn on g4. The king cannot simply move or the pawn is lost. White must capture the knight. |
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61. Bxe5 Kxe5 62. gxf5 gxf5
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Decsions, decision. Capture on f5 with the pawn splits the black pawns, isoloating both of them and weakening black's pawn structure, but it does create a passed f-pawn. Capturing with the king prevents the isolated pawns, but also fails to create a passed f-pawn. I decide to go with the passed pawn. |
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63. Ke3 a2
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One square away from promotion. Can the white king get there? 64. Kd3 Bc5! and now if 65. Kc3?, black responds with 65. ... a1=Q 66. Nxa1 Bd5+ 67. K-any Bxa1 and black has bishop+2 pawns against white's pawn, an easy endgame. If instead 64. Kd2 (intending to go to c1 instead of c3), 64. ... Bc5 65. Kf1 Bd4 and now the bishop covers b2 and the pawn covers b1 and the white king cannot approach the pawn. Not 66. Nxd4?? allowing 66. a1=Q+ and 67 Qxd4. So either way white plays, he is about to sacrifice his knight to capture the a-pawn, leaving black with his won endgame. Instead, white resigns. |
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