Greetings - Little Help?

Hello everyone.  I just joined the site yesterday, and I am LOVING it.  I wish I had found it a lot sooner.

I've been playing for a long time, but so sparingly that it's not even worth mentioning.  I intend to change that now that I found this site, but that's beside the point.  :)  Anyway, I'm looking for help with a game I recently played.  I keep thinking in my head that it's a game I should have won, but I don't really know where to start evaluating.  I'm only including the moves from 30 on for two reasons.  One, it's where I really can't figure out where I went wrong, and two, because the first 29 moves were probably so screwed up that they're not even worth showing here.  :)  If for some reason it would help to see the first half of the game, let me know and I'll post it.

Any help I could get would be much appreciated.  Here's the game in question (I am playing White):

50. b4 and 51. Rc4 severely limits the mobility of the rook. This is probably easy to see after the fact, but often easy to fall into during the game.

Black's 50. ... Rb2 is a classic technique of attacking a weak pawn so that the opponent's pieces will be tied down to its defense.

At move 50, white has a piece more than black and can afford to be slow and safe about winning the game. His pawns are safe on b3 and d3 because they can be protected by the bishop on c4 that cannot be displaced by the opponent. Instead of rushing forward with the b-pawn, white should first take care of his poor king position.

In the endgame, the king is a strong piece and needs to be active. At move 50, I would suggest. 50. Re7. This cuts the black king off from the side of the board with the action and helps the white king escape from the prison of the opposing rook. White plans 51. Re2, allowing the white king off the back rank.

Also important is that if black allows the rook to be traded, this should be a straighforward endgame for white. Imagine the position at move 50 with no rooks. If that doesn't look like an easy win -- i.e., you know how to force promoting a pawn, I would suggest studying king and pawn endings.

Loomis - that is outstanding advice, and hopefully I learn a lot from it.  Like I said in my initial post, I've never played seriously, so I've never actually studied situations like this one.  For example, the fact that the King is strong in endgame might be common knowledge to most, but to me that's news.  I've mostly just viewed it as a fragile piece, but now I see how powerful it can be.  Looks like I've got lots to learn!

It may be true that I lost a game that I should have won, but I feel pretty lucky to have learned this lesson so early on in my chess.com career!  Thanks again to everyone who replied, I really appreciate it.  What a site!

 Sorry, that should have been 37. Rf5 Ke7 38. Rf2.

Excellent reply Loomis...Learning something new every day.

I can see how the end of that game would eat at you Zeteclark

The starting position is clearly winning for Black. White has a bad bishop. Instead of opening more lines for White's bishop Black should use both rooks. Don 1 has 30...Rh8 right. If 31.f4, Don1 is again right with Rh2+. Next, Black has 32...Rbh8 and if 33.fxg5, simply Rxa2. After 31.f4, Black is almost a rook ahead. In the initial position, White has to try to do less. Black still has Rh2 or Rh1 followed by Rbh8.

It’s probably a good idea if we let this forum die.

Nice