You made this endgame too exiting, when it should have been a simple win for white. The simple way to win was 46. dxe5
, as have already been mentioned. After 50. c4?!
chaos started, and I think you were even lost for a moment after the bad move 53. c5??
, when the alternative 53. cxd5+!
seems to be winning! Black returned the favor with the time-wasting move 54... d4?
, when instead 54... b4!
would have lead to big trouble for you. (Or maybe not. Perhaps you can run with the h
-pawn and secure a draw.)
The move 46. dxe5
has already been covered, so I will instead focus on the position after 47... Kg6
.
[fen ""]
[Startply "94"]
1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nd2 Nc6 4. Ngf3 Bb4 5. c3 Ba5 6. exd5 exd5 7. Bd3 Nf6 8. O-O O-O 9. Nb3 Bb6 10. Bg5 Qd6 11. Re1 h6 12. Bh4 Bd7 13. Bc2 Bg4 14. Qd3 Bxf3 15. Qxf3 Rae8 16. Qf5 Ne4 17. f3 g6 18. Qh3 Nf6 19. Bg3 Qd7 20. Qxh6 Ne7 21. Qg5 Nh7 22. Qd2 c6 23. Bf4 Nf5 24. a4 Ng7 25. a5 Bc7 26. Bxc7 Qxc7 27. Nc5 Ne6 28. Nxe6 Rxe6 29. Rxe6 fxe6 30. Bxg6 Qg7 31. Bxh7+ Kxh7 32. Re1 Qg6 33. Re2 Rxf3 34. Qc2 Qxc2 35. Rxc2 Re3 36. Kf2 Re4 37. Re2 Rf4+ 38. Kg3 Rf6 39. b4 b6 40. axb6 axb6 41. Rf2 Rxf2 42. Kxf2 Kg6 43. Kf3 Kf5 44. h4 e5 45. g4+ Kf6 46. Ke3 e4 47. Kf4 Kg6 48. Ke3 (48. g5 Kh5 49. Kg3 (49... b5 50. Kf4 Kg6 51. Kg4) Kg6 50. Kg4 b5 51. h5+ Kg7 52. g6 Kh6 53. Kh4 (52... Kf6 53. Kf4) Kg7 54. Kg5! e3 55. h6+ Kg8 56. Kf6! e2 57. h7+ Kh8 58. Kf7 e1=Q 59. g7+ Kxh7 60. g8=Q+ Kh6 61. Qg6#) Kf6 49. Kd2 Kg6 50. c4 Kf6 51. b5 cxb5 52. g5+ Ke6 53. c5 bxc5 54. dxc5 d4 55. g6 e3+ 56. Kd1 b4 57. c6 b3 58. c7 Kd7 59. c8=Q+ Kxc8 60. g7 Kc7 61. g8=Q b2 62. Qc4+ Kb6 63. Kc2 1-0
In this position there is nothing going on, which means you can improve the position of your pieces before doing anything drastic. So why not start with 48. g5 Kh5 49. Kg3 Kg6 50. Kg4 b5 51. h5+
bringing the pawns one step closer to the goal line.
After 51... Kg7
it's perhaps not immediately clear how white can make further progress, but at least you can play 52. g6 Kh6 53. Kh4
without risking anything. (Except you have ruined the perfect pawn formation with the connected passed pawns standing side by side.)
The big decision comes after 53... Kg7
. Can white play 54. Kg5
and let the black pawn run? It turns out they can, see the variation in the player window, where 56. Kf6!
is another key move. White wins.
This by the way is often the outcome in the battle between two connected passed pawns and a single protected passed pawn of the opponent. There's nothing particular about the position we are analyzing.
46. dxe5
after which there is no black passed pawn.