You need to study the rules of having "the opposition" in this kind of ending. One slight mistake turns a win into a draw.
Peter
Draw
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Jan 7, 2011
0
#3
There's more you should be concerned about as well as not knowing how to win the Pawn Endgame:
Start studying!
Jan 8, 2011
0
#6
Fezzik wrote:
I disagree with paul in that Black was still winning after his
crazy rook sac, so perhaps it wasn't so crazy?
Well I still think it was pretty crazy if he didn't know how to win the K&P Ending. Because without the Rook sac it would have been so easy. Why make it any harder for yourself than it needs to be?
Jan 8, 2011
0
#7
Fezzik wrote:
The simple answer, fissionfowl is that it was easier to win the pure pawn ending than to win the b-pawn outright!
So what's your point? Why would he be trying to win the b-pawn? Paul's plan is a lot easier to convert than winning the pawn Ending for most people (and certainly would have been for the OP).
Jan 8, 2011
0
#9
There's a "rule of thumb" that says rooks belong behind passed pawns. Instead of capturing the b pawn on move 42, move the rook to b1 via h1. Don't capture the pawn until it is promoted (or abandoned by the king). In the meantime, capture white's g pawn and advance your pawn.
An even simpler solution (for the OP) would be to park the rook on the 8th rank, grab white's g pawn with the king, and run from there- either white queens the pawn with the king next to it, and OP runs his g pawn right up, or white queens the pawn without the king next to it, and OP keeps the rook and wins.
It's completely sane if you know how to handle that endgame (I think I would have done that myself - in a blitz game, even). And if you don't, experiences such as this will only force you to learn it. It's not that hard.
If your king can reach one the pawn's key squares, it's a won endgame; if he can't, it's drawn. The key squares are the three squares two ranks in front of the pawn: If the pawn is still on g7, in your case, the key squares are f5, g5, h5. If you can get your king on one of these it's a won endgame. To demonstrate, from the position right before you made the decisive mistake (...g5):
I wonder why people always concentrate on the opposition; taking the opposition is only the second layer of defense for the pawnless king. If you always follow the rule of the three layers (If you can, block, else, if you can, take the opposition, else, if you can, reserve-block).
(Well, it's kind of inaccurate though; of course, if you can take the pawn, do that before all else! I can defend this endgame in my sleep, and sometimes I sleep through my opponent simply leaving the pawn undefended.)
I know I'm not good at endgames, and that annoys me. Here I sacrified my rook to get a King+Pawn vs King ending, but I did not know hot to finish it and ended in a draw. Any tip for dealing with this situations in the future?