I thought Ra4 was a good move

for black, but its such a patzer move that leads to a perpetual..but i thought i would have a rook and queen up

thoughts?

dammit i know what i missed he went d1=q and i took the rook then promoted

i should of promoted first then rook takes and then i think im winning and he doesn't have the perpetual

dammit

Looks like the game went 47...Ra4 48.d8=Q Rxc4+ 49.Kg3 c1=Q and then 50.Qf6+ with the perpetual.

And you're thinking that 48...c1=Q+ was better? Well let's say for starters it's not worse, since after 48...Rxc4+ 49.Kg3 you pretty much are obliged to play 49...c1=Q. But is 48...c1=Q actually better (winning)?

According to the chess.com engine, yes, 48...c1=Q is winning. Now without looking at why, what might an easy "human" line look like?

Where does the white king go? For starters he cannot go to e4 or g4 which gives up the rook with check. And I don't think he can go to e5 because at least ...Qe1+ wins. So that leaves g3 and f3. Let's look at 49.Kg3. Black has to be careful to not let white's king safety on g2, it may be drawn then, so 49...Qg1+ 50.Kf3. Yeah this looks winning, after 50...Ra3+ 51.Ke2 Ra2+

Does 49.Kf3 change anything? Well heck - I just saw another line there, which actually solves both Kg3 and Kf3: 49.Kf3 Qa3+! 50.Kg2 Rxc4, and the point is that after 51.Qf6+ Kg8 52.Qd8+ Qf8! and white resigns.

For what it's worth, the computer line is... actually the same as my last line with 49...Qa3+! Haha, how do you like them apples?

What a fantastic endgame puzzle!