Fun game, was definitely drawn. Was it possible you removed his bishop too early?
Eventful Draw - Analysis Welcome
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Possibly - maybe g4 or h4 would have been better. We were out of the book I was looking at by this point, and seeing as the g7 bishop was eyeing c3 and b2, and with the queen on b6, I thought it couldn't be bad to remove the bishop then. Not sure if it was the right time to play it though.
No one has any ideas?
I have some ideas. Overall an exciting game, I liked your position after 18...f6 then I realized, you have two pawns hanging! Also impressed that you drew the ending -- at first glance, looked pretty tough, but you were right about keeping the rooks disconnected. So anyway, I used the analysis function on here and took some notes, let me show you some of my ideas...
Oops... Im my line move 51 or 52 obviously white wouldn't offer to get a pair of rooks off gifting black the pure R vs B endgame. I was just making moves trying to keep the king out...
So anyway those were my thoughts. At least in the endgame I don't know about the specific moves, but those were my ideas (get a passed pawn instead of split pawns, get king active instead of keeping rook passive etc).
Except for maybe 45.Rxf6 I thought you played the endgame very well, certainly better than him (maybe because of having the exchange he thought he didn't have to try very hard). But there were a few tactical things I may have spotted for you in the middle game.
Thanks for the comments orangehonda, some interesting insights there.
You're right about 15. Qd4+, don't remember if I missed that, but I don't remember seeing it at least.
As for 19. Qh3, I came to the same conclusion - that despite looking very threatening, it was in fact ineffective, hence the decision to grab the diagonal, develop the bishop and defend the important a2 pawn.
Unfortunately in your line at move 22, after 22. Rdh3 Qxc4 23. Rxh7+ Kg8 24. Rh8+, Kf7 (instead of 24...Kg7??) avoids the mate - otherwise I would have gone for it. If the bishop was still on c4, that route would have been denied the black king, but the queen had already eliminated it earlier in the line.
That bishop, covering that diagonal, was extremely important to the position. In fact in some lines where black plays recklessly/badly (as opposed, say, to the sensible decision to trade queens) and allows the g-file to be opened, there were a few mates involving the covering of the diagonal.
I also expected him to trade the pawns with 34...fxe5, leading to a similar position to the one you laid out. However, in that line I could avoid the rook trade with 39. Ke2, denying the e1 square to the black rook, and which has the added bonus of keeping the black king locked up.
45. Rxf6, you're not missing anything, I just didn't notice it. I, along with loads of other people, I expect, have periods of a few moves in games where I end up playing blitz chess, especially if my opponent is also online and replying quickly. A bad habit.
I'm not sure that 46. Ke3 is better, since it moves the king further from the action, and doesn't help the bishop after the rook moves.
46...Rh2 is definitely a better, more active suggestion for black. I'm not so sure about the rest of the line - I wouldn't have wanted to offer the rook trade like that, for instance.
The final line might not have been a win, but to continue it, surely 62. c4 puts the question to black? Black will have a hard time stopping both pawns.
Anyway, thanks again, some good points for sure.
Unfortunately in your line at move 22, after 24...Kf7 (instead of 24...Kg7??) avoids the mate.
Crap. yes, that's right. Good thing you didn't play it :)
39. Ke2, denying the e1 square to the black rook
Again, just my sloppy analysis. Maybe after Ke2 Rh3, the rook seems active at least.
45. Rxf6, I, along with loads of other people, I expect, have periods of a few moves in games where I end up playing blitz chess
For sure. I played on a site like this for a year and would get really frustrated at some of the things I could miss.
I'm not sure that 46. Ke3 is better
Yeah :/ I dunno. It was my frist reaction. I had in mind just repeating Ke4/Ke3 -- but looking at it again f5, what you played, does look better.
46...Rh2 is definitely a better, more active suggestion for black. I'm not so sure about the rest of the line
Yes, offering the rook trade was a silly part of that line, I was just kind of blitzing it out there :). Just surprised me that black was so passive that whole endgame, I kept thinking there had to be something more active -- not that you made it easy for him, he may have been convinced it was a draw in any case.
surely 62. c4 puts the question to black? Black will have a hard time stopping both pawns.
Yeah, I have a funny habbit of cutting endgame lines off too soon and giving a +- , = etc. In my mind the checks from behind will be too annoying and the dark squares a7 and c7 wont get enough protection. Also the bishop will be tied to that one (although probably the best) diagonal to stop the pawn.
It does have the benefit of allowing your opponent more room for error though, who knows what would have happened :).
I just finished this draw that was far from boring. We both had chances to win, I think, and we both made errors (but none too huge). We had quite a tricky endgame with uneven material -- I was down the exchange, but better coordinated -- that I think I could have pushed harder in. Any analysis or ideas welcome.