Hi
I went over it again when I had more time.
Flicked the bits about. Idea and tricks, ideas and tricks but nothing concrete.
I fell back on the IQP ploy.
White make exchanges, Black avoid them.
Nothing to say hey, this was the way. (not that I can see anyway).
So how did Black lose?.......Why did Black lose?
As someoine mentioned earlier the two pawn moves. f5 and g6.
f5 is the smoking gun.
Black is not lost in the final Q & R ending but the odds favour White
in the coming under 1800 Russian Roulette.
I'll explain.
In this ending each player puts a certain amount of bullets into the
six chambers and then passes the gun to his opponent.
White due to the nature of the exposed Black King will always be putting
at least one bullet into the chamber, sometimes two.
Black on the other hand has no bullets to load.
White hits empty chambers, but there is always a chance Black may hit
the wrong chamber. (as he did in this game).
In short.
The loser of this ending was always going to be the first (and last)
player to make a serious blunder.
Black had the position where the blunder was going to be made.
He was on the ice.
I like this Russian Roulette. term, I often use it.
6 bullets is zugswang.
5 bullets means leaving an opponent with one move to save the game etc etc.
The more bullets you can load and pass across the better.
A blunder is you shooting yourself in the foot whilst loading the gun.
I hate and try to avoid the chess writers lazy way.
Look at the final result, praise winners moves, condemn the losers.
So I am not dropping ?? on 12...f5
But bringing the a8 Rook into the game was better and more flexible.
I can play Rac8, if I don't like there, I can move it to d8.
Once the f-pawn was pushed there is no going back.
It's not a losing move but as the game went on it lured forward
a defender 19...g6. and the big swap off started with a Queen check
due to the fact the f-pawn was missing.
I'm not chalking this as an example of 'Rowson's Trigger Happy' f-pawn.
(all this terminology to firearms...chess is violent game).
As it did not lead lose to a forced loss.
Just a difficulit position to play and in the end..click...click...click...BANG!
Another way of putting it without all the flowery words.
(which I use to hide my complete inability to spot the shot) 🙂
The game was level, Black blundered in the ending.
Which is exactley what happened.
Toet does OK and nails it.
"...white has more options for tricks.So I guess we can conclude
white has,as they say so nicely,practical chances. "
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Interesting opening choice by White, the Exchange French.
That early c5 by Black is OK. I always root for the IQP.
It's better v 4.Bd3 as after 4.Nf3 White has 5.Bb5+ (saving a tempo).
which last time I looked was OK/good for White.
Recall a nice miniature by Korchnoi v Taitu(?) (Korchnoi was Black).
White played swapsy looking for a draw. Korchnoi bounced him in
under 18 moves.
Thanks for the analysis. Looks like I didn't make terrible mistakes until the very end. Missed a few opportunities, sort-of but not really. It confirms the idea that sometimes it the best players know when to "hold-em". Blunders eventually happen and the best take advantage. Hopefully, I will learn to look at all parts of a move before moving a piece.
Tnanks again.