Advice please. Unwinnable situation?

My friend and I have a suspended match, which seems unwinnable for both of us.  I've only found different forms of stalemate.  

Is this an impossible arrangement?  

Can anyone find a winning strategy?

It's my friends turn to move, as black

.

1. ... Kb8 ?? 2. Nc6+ Ka8?? 3. Ra7# So what we know is a black king move is suspicious.
1. ... Rb1 because I do not like the e-pawn one little bit.
2. f3 Rd1 3. Nc6 Rd3+ 4. Ke2 Rd7 5. Rf6 Kb7 6. Nb4 Nb3 7. Nd5 and I think the b-pawn falls.
My strategy as you can see is move the Nd4 to Nd5 using the rook to gang up on the b-pawn and h-pawn if black leaves it dangling.   

Thanks!  I do appreciate it and I've gone through your moves a few times.  

The first situation of checkmate will really not happen because my friend won't put his king in the corner.

And I appreciate the second move-list.  I had been thinking more about attacking his g- and h-pawns, so I wasn't thinking of going after his b-pawn.  Thanks.  I have a feeling, though, that he might go to lengths to protect that pawn, somehow or other...

Not sure why your focusing on king hunting issues, that isn't the issue here.  Rather, this game is about who can make a truly threatening passed pawn.  White is winning the hpawn next move, has the more central king, and will likely win if given time since the black gpawn is also not defensible subject to time.  Thus white will have multiple passed pawns and win fairly easily unless black can create threats of his own.  Black has the more distant passed pawn and white's king is prevented from getting closer to it for now.  Accordingly, I think we need to turn the bpawn into a threat sooner, and see no advantage to waiting.  B5 rxp b4 and white is running low on time to come up with a plan for the pawn so maybe nf3 or nb5 allowing the king a square to approach.  

It is a complex position.  Someone is definitely winning, and my guess is its white.  An engine could probably tell us, but useful to do the work before checking right?  What do you guys think?

Edit:  [Engine check]  Checked a bit with the engine and the verdict is a slight white edge.  Engine initially likes other moves including Rat's rb1 to start, but after following my suggested approach and letting it run white edge is reduced to +.3.  

white edge is reduced to +.3."  

Ha ok but that's only being ahead by 3/10 of a point... 3/10 of a pawn.  

I had gotten similar results with the engine but I didn't mention it because I'm new to the engine and analysis on the site.  I wasn't sure if it was meaningful to say I had such a miniscule advantage lol.  

By the way, I don't think I was focused on king-hunting, so you must have been referring to the other guy.  

I had been mostly thinking of starting off by going after his pawns lol.  Just because I can definitely take at least one pawn in the next couple moves (plus my rook could easily threaten the other pawns, plus his knight, etc).  Right now our material is exactly even.  

However now I'm leaning toward focusing on my pawns marching up the e and f files.  That might be the most effective part to focus on.  If my first move is the pawn to e5, then it's only three squares away from a Queen and my friend will be obligated to focus on that, instead of focusing on his own attacks etc.  

Plus it might be psychologically the most dramatic sequence, if the one or two pawns suddenly seem very close to his edge lol.  

And it's not like there's a need to kill his pawns, so I do think I'll let them live, and march my pawns up e and f.  

Thanks for pointing out how my e pawn is far enough ahead of his pawns, that his pawns don't actually need my attention, really...

I think white is winning, black could try h pawn next move to save it, and at the least if he loses it make white take it farther up to release the "rook wall" holding the king back.   

But looking at it objectively:   the OP is  < 1200 rating.   Even if the OP and opponent were both 1500, I would still say play on ... either side could make a mistake, either side could win.   The game here is to get to a won endgame, probably with a queened pawn.   Play it on out, there is a lot of game left here for players at these ratings.  

I think it is a drawish position, but black has to tread carefully: it is definitely to easier to play as white here. White is threatening to grab the kingside pawns, so black has to keep creating threats against the e4 pawn to stay in the game. Black king is awfully misplaced, so the knight and the rook have to do the work. Black has to play very precise chess to draw the game.

 Thanks guys.

Re: my rating on the site:  It's a broken rating, for what it's worth lol.  I got close to 1300 at my best rating on the site.  I was keeping multiple turn-based matches going, and internet loss made all the matches lose, all at once, and destroyed the rating.  

But anyway, you're right that my friend and I are not amazing chess players lol.  And there's a lot left to learn.  I'm actually excited to use the site's Analysis for the first time, it's more impressive and informative than I had expected.  

I think black is winning. He has a passed pawn with a rook guarding it. You should be careful for that pawn

And then white's pawn e4 is only four squares away, with nothing in its way.  So white can get a Queen in as little as four moves, versus black's pawn needing at least 6 moves. 

I'm mostly just thinking out loud here lol.  But I think the e-pawn can charge ahead, ignore black's pawns, and ignore everything lol unless black is trying to block the pawn.  And black does not have great positioning for blocking my pawn either lol.  (His knight can't safely attack the e-file. and if he gets his king involved, I have a knight and rook to mess around with his king lol.)

And I think the psychological impression will be strongest if I focus on that e-pawn.  He may panic about me getting so close to a new Queen, or getting my pieces so close to his king.  And any defensive moves will keep him busy from doing his own attacks.  

So I think I'm going with that.  I do enjoy all the input, the more the better.  So it's all appreciated, and even if you disagree with me, I'd like to hear why.  

I think the simple e-pawn march must be the best solution to an arrangement that looks very complicated and drawish.  

And the computers can't calculate the psychology of making my friend panic for my pawn getting so close to a new Queen lol.  

Your friend might not appreciate the fact that you are using an engine to try to beat him? Just saying...

Ha it's OK.  The match has been suspended for like four months.  So really anything goes with such a huge gap of time.  And it's a friendly match, we're not betting money or anything lol.  

Why don't you both just use engines then and let them hash it out?

Because when he and I finally play, it will still just be him and me, and it will come down to who studied the match better over the previous months.  

Also this thread is because I really have gotten fascinated with this arrangement, without finding a clear solution, for months.  

I still haven't decided on a clear strategy, really, aside from hoping he's psychologically scared of my pawn advance lol.  And in practice, he can combine his knight and rook soon for a lot of threats, so I can't really just focus on my pawns only, or that can happen.  

I might see my friend tomorrow so let me know if anyone else has any input lol.  I'm going to go over the thread again tonight.  

Black needs to be careful since the straightforward b5-b4-b3 push doesn't work. First try to figure out why it doesn't work and after that find what black can do to improve on his plan. It's a nice position and you are invested in it so turn off the engine and think for yourself. :)

Here's some input - get your mate on here and we'll give him some advice on how to grind you down.

If this is an ongoing game on chess.com, the soliciting advice on public forum is a violation of TOS.

I think they ban you for that, in fact.

(Once the game is concluded, then you can ask for all the help you want.)

By "Who studied the match better" you mean who used an engine and outside help better?