Endgame Technique: Some Practical Lessons
It's a nice relaxing Saturday afternoon. I log on live chess to play a couple of blitz games. A user with a somewhat cool profile picture accepts takes me down in the first game, and I look forward to a rematch with the Black pieces. I thought that the result was cemented after a simple tactic below.
It turns out I was far from right. In the game, White played 22. fxe6, and after 22... Nxb1 (Nxf1 was more accurate, probably because the f-file could be critical in this variation), 23. exf7+, Rxf7 24. Rxb1, there still was some work to do.
We fast forward a few moves. In the position above, I am really better off waiting around with a move like 36... Re6. It is worth pointing out that 37. Rxb7(??) fails to 37... h5(!), trapping the Knight. I rushed the position with 36... h5(??). My opponent responded with 37. Ne5(!), and a fork on d7 is inevitable! However, it's not all that simple had I played 37... Kh6, instead of 37... Kf5(?). Let's look at some variations I studied:
Unfortunately (for me), I did not get to enjoy the pleasures of the mating net, and after 42. Kg3, Rg6(?), 43. Rxg6, Kxg6 44. Kxg4, the position is extremely difficult for me to defend in a blitz game. I did have one more practical try which I show in the diagram below:
Here is a link to the full game: https://www.chess.com/live/game/3124730659. Feel free to share any possible defenses from move 47 onward.
