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Was a win possible?

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CaptnPugwash

Hi all ... can anyone tell me if I (Black) could have won this game, and if so, where did I go wrong? And where did I go wrong in not holding the draw? I have the feeling that I pushed the K-side pawns too soon, or in the wrong order. The fun starts at move 43. Thanks for your help!

shikamaru92

i feel that on move 51 you should have attackes the b pawn

DKof

I think 55. ...h5 would have allowed you to hold the draw for black.  This is because you could then play g4 at any time for the draw.

CaptnPugwash

Thanks to you both. I sent the game in for analysis and you´re both right; 51 ... Kd5 was better. And the losing blunder at the end was 55... h6 instead of h5.

Irontiger

5...Bxe3 isn't great (it opens the f-file, and white gets a pawn control over f4 and d4) (the doubled pawns are nothing to be afraid of here).

8...a6 is useless.

after the knight vs. bishop trade that opens the a file, 11...b5 makes a weakness (the a pawn).

14...Rab8 ? loses a pawn, the fact that the knight moved to a dubious square allowed ...Bc8. Generally, the c8-h3 diagonal seems more attractive to me for the bishop, with the idea of a later ...f5.

17...d5, however interesting, does not fight for the a-file. The fact that White did not castle and thus had one rook out of play made that black could have contested the file by 17...Qd8 or 17...Qe8 though if White castles immediately, Black won't take the file.

19...Ne3 ?? jumps into the enemy's camp when the four squares behind the knight are under pawn control, which should be done with much caution - here it loses the knight.

From there, White has a safe win with one more knight, especially after you traded the queens by 23...Qxd2. (...Qc5+ lost too, but gave far more chances for White to blunder into a queen fork or a checkmate.)

 

31...b3 gives the pawn.

 

On move 38, you miraculously recover the knight, after what it should be a draw : the Black king attacks the too much forward e5 pawn and the rook cuts the king on the 3d rank, after what Black has 3 vs. 2 on the kingside vs. a passer on the other side.

42...Rxe5 goes into a lost pawn endgame, although White's king should have rushed to the kingside instead of accompaniing his pawn.

thaxiss

O, I did my post wrongly, didn't I. oops. Let me see if I can fix it....

bishop987

f3 was probaly better than f4.