with correct play, does this draw? shredder won't tell me.


white on move

it's from game:Game 3599995 i fear i leapt into endgame illadvisedly on move 36. or else i should have mobilised K before pawn pushing once i got there. any advice would be very welcome.

the games already drawn😕

yes, i'm trying to figure if i played it badly.

i'm pretty sure it was a won game.

move 43 a5 was better

I think black should have won that game. I would have brought blacks king over to the A pawn and push and exchange blacks A pawn for whites B pawn. I think move 45 was wrong and lead to the draw. I think the draw was still premature as you could have tried exchanging down to just 1 pawn. There's always a chance your opponent can mess up and give away the opposition.

trading the a pawn for the b pawn is the wrong process. its creating a passed pawn and using it to your advantage to scoop up the white a pawn and go for promotion.

Originally posted by kmac27
move 43 a5 was better

Originally posted by hammster21
I think black should have won that game. I would have brought blacks king over to the A pawn and push and exchange blacks A pawn for whites B pawn. I think move 45 was wrong and lead to the draw. I think the draw was still premature as you could have tried exchanging down to just 1 pawn. There's always a chance your opponent can mess up and give away the opposition.

at your level you should know how to coordinate an easy pawn endgame such as that. do you know of opposition? when you bring all of your pawns in the same row it is much easier to create a passed pawn.

With trading Blacks A pawn for whites B pawn, I would try to aim for a setup similar to this, white's kings has to always guard the passed pawn and it's a matter of opposition. I don't know if this is winning or if it is even attainable, buts it is what I would aim for.

Originally posted by kmac27
at your level you should know how to coordinate an easy pawn endgame such as that. do you know of opposition? when you bring all of your pawns in the same row it is much easier to create a passed pawn.

yeh, this position looks good if there's a forcing line that could make it
Originally posted by hammster21


With trading Blacks A pawn for whites B pawn, I would try to aim for a setup similar to this, white's kings has to always guard the passed pawn and it's a matter of opposition. I don't know if this is winning or if it is even attainable, buts it is what I would aim for.[/b]

i highly doubt you could attain that position. why would white allow you to trade your a pawn for his b pawn? he'd trade b pawn for a pawn and you'd have to retake with your b pawn. why? because your king could not get in there! the move where i said a5 earlier i believes is the easiest way to win.

Black still could have won with 43...b4 as played. Then,
44.Kd3 a6 (black wants to trade the drawish rook pawn but first needs a tempo to gain the opposition) 45.Ke3 a5 46.Kd3 a4 47.Ke3 axb3 (If 47.bxa4? c4 then the rook pawn will be captured by black's king) 48.axb3 c4 49.bxc4 Kxc4 50.Kd2 Kb3 wins.
Or
43...b4 44.Kd3 a6 45.Kc2 Ke4 46.Kd2 Kd4 47.Kc2 Ke3 48.Kd1 Kd3 49.Kc1 Kc3 50.Kb1 a5 51.Kb2 Kd2 (and now that black's king controls the queening square he can sac the a pawn and advance the c pawn to queen with mate) 52. Kb1 a4 53.bxa4 c4 wins.