YouRang: This N vs. 3P endgame was winnable for black, but not so easy to see how. White gave black an opportunity to win on the 88th move [diagram]
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Here, white can force a draw with <88.Kf2!>, but instead he played <88.Kf1>. The main difference is that at f1, the white king can't approach the black h-pawn at h3. However black, unable to to see the winning idea, pushed the h-pawn: 88...h2, allowing the white king access to g2, where it can capture the h-pawn, and still be in position to stop the f-pawn, which is *just* too far away to promote successfully. The rest of the game was a forced draw, played perfectly by white. The winning idea for black was to buy a tempo with 88...f5!!, moving the f-pawn forward while white is unable to make any counter-threats (such as attacking the h-pawn). White's best is 89.Kf2, and NOW black has 89...h2 90.Kg2 [diagram]
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This is the same position that was reached in the game after white's 89th move -- EXCEPT that the f-pawn is one square further advanced -- and this makes all the difference. Now, 90...Ke3 91.Nc4+ Ke2 92.Kxh2 [diagram]
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And this is the same position that was reached in the game after white's 97th move -- but again, except for the f-pawn being advanced one square. Black can now afford to exchange the d-pawn for the knight: 93...d2 94.Nb2 (94.Nxd2 Kxd2 95.Kg3 Ke3 ) then 94...f4! and the white king can't stop the f-pawn from promoting. Since black lost that key tempo in the actual game, black's 94th move would have been 94...f5 (not 94...f4). This allows white to play 95.Kg3! to prevent the f-pawn from advancing. If black tries to help it with 95...Ke3, then 96.Nc4+! forks the king and d2 pawn, and the draw is in the bag. |