IncrediBill vs zrylam (with kibitzers)

I think b7 then g4 followed by Qh6 Ke5 queen trade is out due to Blacks better pawns and more centralized King, so Qg7 followed by Qf6 and then Qc7 Qd6 Rc1 and white should have little trouble with his passer

Hello @jetfighter13,  if I understand you correctly, I think the sequence you descibed is  as follows:

Of course, because Black's Queen is now pinned against his King, and I have a pawn about to Queen on its own, Black would have no choice but to exchange Queens and we would end up in the following position:

I think the better response to 40...g4 would be 41.h3 instead of 41.Qh6

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Hello @stubborn_d0nkey,  I thought I would see how Qh5 worked out, and it seems to be O.K. 

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Seems like Qf8 is bad for black, i forgot how vulnerable hi king is

Why not 41. Kg2 after g4? Or am I again missing something?

I think that, overall, White is in a very strong position.  It seems that whatever direction the game goes in, that Black is very vulnerable.

I don't know about bringing my King up to the g2 square.  He seems pretty happy to be tucked away in the corner behind a pawn.  Plus, moving to the g2 square would only block the path of my Rook.  On top of that, I would only be bringing my King closer to Black's advancing pawns.  I haven't analyzed it, but I can't see any good coming out of such a move.

It seems that I have narrowed my choices down to two possible moves, 40.Qh6 or 40.b7.  The Queen move seems to be the most obvious, direct and safest move to make.  Whereas, the advancing of the b7-pawn could have some hidden pitfalls that maybe I haven't fully  anticipated.

However, between the two, I think the 40.b7 move is the most agressive because it adds the pressure on Black that the pawn is one move away from becoming a Queen.  Black is going to be forced to keep an eye on that pawn and make sure that the b8 square is always covered.

Therefore my official move is . . . . . 40.b7

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I don't view bringing the king closer to the pawns as a negative, but rather a positive side. The closer the king is to the pawns the fewer moves he needs to strike at them if a queen exchange (with the b pawn still on the board) occurs. Also, after g4 I don't really see your rook going up the g-file

There certainly are merits to getting the King into the action.

Yeah, 41. Qh6+ wins.

thats what I saw

I assumed that @zrylam was going to push a pawn, but I thought that it would have been the g-pawn . . . . that way my Rook would be cut off from charging down that file.

While his e-pawn does threaten my f-pawn (and also the possibility of promotion to a Queen) , it is of no concern to me at this time, because the next few moves by White are going to put Black in a continously forced situation, where Black will not have the time to advance his e-pawn.  

Starting with the move suggested by @mattattack99 in Post #261 and confirmed by @jetfighter13 in Post #262, which is to put the Black King in check and skewer his Queen.  

After the Queen exchange and subsequent recapture by the Black King, another check of the Black King by my Rook and the skewer of his Rook, as predicted by IM pfren in Post #260.  At this point Black will not be able to avenge his Rook because he will be forced to capture the b-pawn that is about to Queen.

Therefore, my official move is . . . . . . 41.Qh6+

NOTE:  I am aware that the moves I described above are not "true" skewers because the pieces being captured are of equal value, as opposed to a lesser ranked piece creating a situation where it can capture a higher ranked piece.  But because White was being put in the situation where he  is forced to leave his pieces open to an exchange, I figured that I would use a bit of poetic licence and refer to the moves as a 'skewer'.

Also, Black does not necessarily have to follow the moves I outlined above,  but because they are the 'lesser-of-two-evils', I am pretty sure that he will have to go that route.  Of course, @zrylam is an excellent player, so he may have something up his sleeve that I did not anticipate.

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He wins the rook, because after Q x d6, K x d6, R d1, the kind will grab the pawn, then R x d8 and the rook is won. When k x d8 then Pawn b8 til queen.

Good game!

As anticipated in Post #263, and outlined by @John_D in Post #265, the next best logical move for White would be to exchange the Queens.

Not only does this move solidify the fact that the game is truly coming to an end by reducing the pieces on the board to their lowest common denominator.  It will leave White ahead with a Rook, and Black with nothing but pawns.

So instead of waiting 24 hours to make my move, I will make it now . . . 42.Qxd6+

In the above diagram, Black can recapture the Queen with his Rook, but then the b-pawn walks in for another Queen.  Black really has no choice but to take White's Queen with his King.  Unfortunately, this puts the Black King and his Rook on the same file, and the we all know what the White Rook thinks about that.

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The game is pretty much just playing itself out now.  White has a couple of obvious deadly moves to make, and while Black is not exactly 'forced' to respond in a particular way, Black really has no choice but to make predicatable moves to try and keep himself alive as long as possible.

So, as already predicted several moves ago, my official move is . . . . 43.Rd1+

White's next move will be to capture the d8-Rook.  With a pawn about to promote itself into a Queen on the b8-square, the Black King will have little choice but to go after the b-pawn, leaving White's Rook free to escape with it's prize.

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[edit] Actually I'll delete this because I want to see how it works out :)

I can see where you go @Zylam. That is a good move. It will be interesting how it spins out.

Shhhh, they're not done playing.  Earlier it was a draw