Input needed

My real question is, on move 48 should I have promoted to a knight instead of queen? Of course any (constructive) input is welcome.

Actually the best move would be 49.Rxc7, and there is no way to stop promotion. If black delines the rook, you will queen with check and if he takes the rook you can queen anyways, leaving queen and knight vs. rook. If you do promote, queening is fine. Promoting to a knight is flashy and all, but it doesn't help in this position and I think they are the same. Also, watch out for moving your queen too many times and pawn hunting. It can get you in lots of trouble, instead you should develop your other pieces.

The endgame  you reached (king and rook vs king) is never a draw. There are plenty of places online to learn how to checkmate with a king and rook, and that would help you a lot. I was impressed by how you advanced your g pawn all the way so that the king got boxed in.

Alright, I'll try to help however I can.

1) Move 7, your queen wasn't under any attack, I think it probably would have been better to continue developing with a bishop move, maybe Be2 to prepare for castling.

2) Move 9, big blunder, his knight is undefended, take with Bxe3

3) Move 15, not supposed to trade Queens when down material. 

4) Move 17, you had to play Bd3 to prevent Nc2 where your knight was attacked twice, but only defended once, luckily your opponent missed this.

5) Move 19, if your opponent played Bxb2, you would have just lost a pawn for nothing.

6) Move 22, Kd6, another lucky break, would have not gained anything if he played Ke6.

7) Move 49, Rxc7!, and you get the queen.

Lastly, a rook and king vs. king is ample material to mate, a beginning chess book should show you the technique.

Now first let me say, I am not good by any means, but my 2cents worth...

I dont see any difference in queen or knight in that case, you were gonna lose it anyway.

see 61. Kf6 .Kf8  61. Rg8++

also try working on your rook and king endings, that should not have been a draw.

i'm a beginner, too. like everyone else said, learn the king-rook mating pattern. i just picked it up recently. it's really valuable because you're bound to reach a similar situation several times. it's one of the most frustrating to pull off if you don't have experience. i've actually timed out because i couldn't figure it out at one time.

I think I speak for all experienced players when I say that playing this through was a strange form of masochism.  Honestly not trying to be rude, it was just so bizarre that it is hard to get ahold of any continuing stategy, even short term.  The move that struck me the most like chewing on tin foil was 63.where Kf6 avoids stalemate and leaves you with a unavoidable victory.

63 Kf6 Kh7

64 Rf8 Kh6

65 g8=Q Kh5

66 Rf7 and mate next move

You posted in the forum titled Help!, there was plenty of good advice in that.

Here is what I see.  First, I don't see how it makes any difference whether you promoted to a queen or a knight.  Either way, Black can make the same move he made and you get the same result. 

Second, here is how you could have promoted a second pawn with the right combination on moves starting with move 63.  Kf6.  This leaves Black with no choice  63...Kh7.  THEN, you move 64. Rf8.  Now the pawn is protected before  and after promotion, which was the problem you were facing.  Again, Black has no choice but to move 64...Kh6, and with 65. g8(Q) you have a rook and a queen and an easy mate.  In the endgame, your king becomes an important attacking piece.

Third, with a little practice, a rook and a king against a king is still a very easy mate to accomplish.  The key is to work the opponent's king to an edge of the board and then keep him there by putting the rook safely away from him but on the next row of squares.  You also use your king to "herd" him to the place you want him.  If you had moved 73. Kc6 you would have had him in just a few more moves.

Finally, I believe you brought your queen out too early and missed a golden opportunity to set a trap most novices (and occasionally an intermediate player) will fall for.  If, instead of capturing a pawn with your queen to save the knight on move 6 you  had moved 6. Nb5, you would have been setting two possible traps at once and also been in a position for that knight to come back and take the pawn if he didn't fall for it.  Here is the trap:  Black's knight takes your unprotected (?) pawn on e4.  You move your queen to e2, and the knight can't move.  Either the queen can take him next move, or you move the f pawn up to take him.  Better yet, if he moves his queen to e7 in order to save the knight, you can move the knight that we placed at b5 to capture the pawn at c7 forking the king an the rook.

I hope this is the kind of thing you were looking for and that it was helpful.

If you would have moved 59 Rh7+ you would have set up a K and R vs K end game which would have been a easy win for you. Here's a couple of books that cover endgames:

Winning Chess Endings by Yasser Seirawan

Silman's Complete Endgame Course by Jeremy Silman

Thanks for the help, it is much appreciated. AS I mentioned we are both new and time constraints are one of my many weak points. one thing you can't see is I was down to less than 10 sec. I was trying to herd him into the top left but I let him turn, then it got called a draw.

Ok.