From 1st to 2nd

45. ... g5 "Another mistake/blunder here; if I had played h4 I think I would have been better off..."

 I think white is still winning there.

As I mentioned, your analysis at move 45 is also incorrect. Are you trying to get better or just figure out where the first point was you were losing?

The point is, if you can't correctly evaluate whether 45. ... h4 actually saves black's game, how would you be able to win such positions from the white side in the future?

Finding the win for white after 45. ... h4 isn't exactly easy, and if you want to get good at endgames, here's a perfectly good opportunity to study how to win one! You'll learn more studying how to win with white after 45. ... h4 (and not just the line I gave, figure out black's defensive resources if white goes off the winning line) than you will in trying to win precisely an endgame with an extra piece.

It looks to me like you can draw after 40. ... Rc3 41. a6 Rxc4 42. a7 Rc8 Now you have a one pawn advantage. So, should you be trying to win? what are your best chances to win?

I think if you want to get good at endgames, just finding "oh, Rxa3 was where I lost" isn't good enough. You could get a lot out of studying how to play the resulting position.

on move 13 isn't it better to play Nc6 I don't think you to protect your other knight again.

after that you had the option to play Rad8 to guard the pawn. I think the knight on c6 has more options.

I am no longer comletely sure that you would draw with 40. ... Rc3. The following isn't necessarily the best defense for black, but it shows that the position is still very complicated.

I just tried to put the game into chessmaster to see what it thinks rook to Rxb3+ it the only sound move. rook to Rxb3 scores 0.18  rook to scores 1.92 ...depth 9/15 so Rxb3 was the right move.

I think you would have won if you had found Nc5 on move 15 with a score of -1.05

Rxf2 has 0.05. (1.10 worse)  because whites move was a clear blunder.

actually if you had played g5 on move 44. you would have drawn the game. 12/18 0.00. all other moves loses.

sometimes it is ok to use computers to analyze games.

Perhaps a stupid question, why not 41...Ra3+ winning the pawn at a6 on move 42?  Then you would be up by two pawns and one promote threat is gone.  I would also think that you could lock white's rook onto the last white pawn and promote one of the two pawns on the other side.

aha, so it was a stupid question.  thanks, now i see that no matter how the exchange is made the king can't make it to the queening square in time because of the c pawn. 

well done.  i probably would have played it and lost. 

Hey! NN finally won!!!

(Sorry, this is a joke from another thread- could not help myself...)

Well, there are some tricks possible and I think that 40...Ra3+ is quite good. I guess I would have played it since it gives White some chances to make mistakes.

Even the move played in the game (40...Rxh3) is not bad at all. All you want as Black is make sure you have counter-play, you give White opportunities to make mistakes. After some forced continuation you move 44... h5, which I think is a loss of time at least. Instead, you should have pushed g5, the g pawn is supported by your king and White cannot queen! 44...g5 is not that hard to find if you have a clear goal in mind: you must generate counter-play. If you play quiet, White will win easily. One possible line:

thanks bondocel.  it looks like from there, white will likely advance a pawn, and then black can play b3 which will prevent the white rook from protecting a8.  i am thinking that this is the play because otherwise Ra8 is refuted by Ra3 which just ties up the black rook.  the mate threat would be gone with the black rook on a8. 

As I said in my post, the line I gave wasn't the best defense for black. The point was just to show that white is still playing for a win. The game isn't drawn simply by playing 40. ... Rc3, you have to keep up playing good moves. So if you're studying the endgame to get better, you should keep studying the position after 40. ... Rc3 and not just say "oh, 40. ... Rc3 would have drawn"