Assuming [1] is complete, 2. Play Bb7 seems pretty good as well.

Black needs to prevent that...as usual rooks (attacking or defending) stand well behind the passed pawn.

Thought it wasn't my move right now :S

What is the forum's general opinion of the position now? Hoping to get some feedback here to help my poor endgame skill.

The way I'm evaluating it is that it's likely going to be drawn, but I think white has better winning chances. Black can get the kingside pawns rolling with ...f5 at some point, but white already has a passer and black will always have to keep an eye on it. White's main problem is the difficulty in activating the king. In a general sense I feel like white's passer compensates for his king.

The main point is I have trouble seeing how either side will make serious progress with the opposite colored bishops. The position seems too equal for either side to force a win.

I would think Black has virtually no winning chances. I expect it should be drawn, but Black might have ways to go wrong blockading the f-pawn or defending f7 for example.

The game should be drawn pretty quickly. 1. Rc3 Bd5 2. Ra3 Rb7 is enough to shake hands on already. However, if somebody tries to win - white is the only one who can lose. These positions are deceptive since it seems that ostensibly white is the one with chances because of his a pawn - but that pawn is basically dead. Black would have to fall asleep for about 5 moves for it to get anywhere. The big difference is that if black can get in f5 then he develops some winning chances that aren't 'as' superficial. They still are superficial but enough that white only has to fall asleep for 1 move for black to get somewhere.

Another way to look at is to consider realistic fantasy positions. Black would like to have his king on g3/h4, pawn on f5. There are some major threats to white in that position. White would like to have his rook on a2 (a1 is covered by darky) and his bishop on d5, but even there in white's fantasy position Ba7 crushes all his dreams.

Thank you for the explanation, that's very helpful. I'm still trying to wrap my head around that, because it's tough for me to get over the idea that the player with a passer doesn't have any winning chances. Your fantasy position paragraph helped a ton. What really drove it home is that with a black rook on the a-file and the Bd4 covering the a7, white is really never advancing the pawn. I kept trying to conjure up scenarios where white could get a rook on the 6th/7th rank to help the pawn advance, but I can't come up with a conceivable scenario where white can move the rook without dropping the pawn.

Really appreciate the help.

I don't think white can make any progress with the rooks on. So his goal must be to go into a bishop endgame where his a-pawn distracts me enough that he can invade the king-side and make another passed pawn, which would be the end of me.

I should set up my k-side pawn on black squares. The exact number of my pawns doesn't matter that much. For example, after 33. Bd5 Ra5 34. Rb7 Ra7 35. Bxf7 Kg7 36. Bd5+ Rxb7 37. Bxb7 h5



i threaten h4 with a draw (i just keep my K on a central file to follow suit if he goes to the queenside and protect the h-pawn with the bishop. If he sacs his a-pawn for my h-pawn it's still easily drawn) and after he stops it by 38. g3 g5 39. h4 then gxh4 40. gxh4 Bf2 and i'm in time to take his h-pawn and then return to stop the a-pawn. That's also why i was keen to not let his a-pawn advance earlier and even sac'ed the f-pawn to achieve that.

If he doesn't go for the f-pawn right away, i just play g5 and await further developments. 34. Rf1 Rc7 35. a5 Ra7 loses the a-pawn, i just have to be careful after 36. g4 not to take right away (which could lead to problems after Rxa5 37. Rxf7 Kh8 38. g5) but play g5 first. Then Kg7, f6 and h6 if necessary.

His best bet might be to put the rook behind the a-pawn, force my rook to a5 and then advance the king. But this is so time-consuming that i surely have ways to stop that. If he does something slow i'll start with Kg7 and then either f6 or f5 or g5, according to circumstances.

tldr cliffnotes: Try not to let the a-pawn advance too soon, force him to exchange rooks if the pawn is to make progress. Put k-side pawns on dark squares.

33. Rf1 forces 33...Rf7

Can White find anything with the pressure on f7?

White should be able to get a5 and a6 in.

White may get a rook maneuver Rf1-f6-? (d6 to sac for the bishop?) to defend the pawn on a6 in order to give his bishop time to get to b7.

White's rook on the f-file (especially f6) prevents Black from pushing the f-pawn and creating his own kingside counterplay.

White needs to get on the 7th rank.

Rf1 enables black to get in a quick Kg7 then start pressing for f5.

Only question is whether white will defend his a pawn or draw immediately after something like 1. Bd5 Ra5.

IMO Black is fine.

Frankly I feel I have all the chances. I dont think something like 33.Rf1 will work because after 33...Rc7 34.a5 Ra7 35.a6 Rxa6 36.Rxf7 Kh8 My king has all the freedom but I don't think it will be enough to win the game. It is a tempting line because I have more freedom and clearly have no chances of losing.

I will try to keep the passed pawn while maintain my bishop on it's diagonal. So 33...Ra5 Rb8 Kg7 Bb3 is my plan.

Don't see how allowing f5 can be the right plan. Allowing that like this is just playing for the loss IMO. Still a couple of moves to realize it and abort.

Agreed. This could get interesting if white allows f5.

Previously i analysed 34. Rb7 Ra7?! but there's probably nothing wrong with taking on a4 right away. 35. Rxf7 Kh8 followed by Ra7 and it looks pretty dead equal to me. If he protects the pawn with Rb4 or Bc6 it's still not clear how white's going to make any progress.

I just realized any attack on the flank like Rb7 is countered with Ra7. I have no choice but to transpose into the line where I'll have the rook on f7.

If White's a-pawn and Black's f-pawn come off, they can agree to a draw.

Yeah, playing this instead of Bb3 and we are practically shaking hands. A draw offer seems likely in a few moves.

Yesterday I was going to post that this was a pretty big inaccuracy by white since Rc7 forced a pretty straight forward immediate draw and this line allows black to make progress: 1. Rf1 Ra7 2. a5 Kg7 3. a6 Rc7 (or the odd looking Rd7 with idea of f6/Rd6/etc) with f6/etc to follow. But then it seems that white has a pretty strong rejoinder playing g4+h4 at some point which stands to not only freeze up f5 ideas but also possibly lock out black's king. Looking at it more today if black can't loop his king around the outside with Kh6/etc then it seems possible white could end up getting the better of this, should black choose to try to continue the game. I'm not sure. It's a very interesting position and Rf1 is a very interesting and extremely counter intuitive move. I'm anxious to see what happens since it's starting to feel like a Mexican standoff.

Not getting in a useful f5, just take and shake

gg? - I want to go back where people thought there was some big pressure on white's tied up queenside. Do people now think that they over estimated blacks intiative or positional advantage or do they want to point out some inaccuracies.

I wouldn't say it's over just yet. There is still room to continue playing, though I do also expect a draw imminently. I think a issue in the ending of this game is that Noir seems to have really underestimated his position's potential so he was playing to draw when he should have been playing for the advantage - he even told his opponent as much in an non-spoiled post which just seems insane!

I think moves like 32. .. Rc5 were symptomatic of that. Definitely not what anybody could call a bad move but I think it was a pretty clear indication he just wanted to draw, which means he was never going to be looking to create chances from that point. For instance, 32. .. Rc3 would also have been a very safe move but worked to start to create more practical chances. One fantasy variation being: 32. .. Rc3 33. Bd5 Kg7!!!! 34. Rb7?! Rc1+ 35. Kh2 Bg1+ 36. Kg3?? 0-1

Okay, it's pretty unlikely for white to just stumble into a mating net but the point is that active play at least gives chances for white to slip and for black to more actively organize his pieces. The position is very drawy at that point already so the only way to stand any chance of pulling out a swindle is activity. And these sort of positions with opposite bishops and one king on very limited space tend to have have lots of tricky ideas available. Here's another along the lines above assuming white doesn't blunder off his king on move 36: 32. .. Rc3 33. Bd5 Kg7!!!! 34. Rb7?! Rc1+ 35. Kh2 Bg1+ 36. Kh1 Be3+ 37. Kh2 Rf1 38. g4 h5!? 39. a5?! Rf2+ 40. Kg3?? h4+ 41. Kxh4 Rg2 0-1 and white's getting mated again - all while playing at least fairly reasonable moves.

There were a lot of ways left for black to try to poke at white and a lot of ways for white to go wrong. Black, on the other hand, had basically no chances of losing - yet he was the one who was pushing for the draw!

I probably have other options but i do trust my calculations.
35. Rxf7 Kh8
a) 36. Rf8+ Kg7 37. Rg8+ Kf6 38. g4/h4 h6 and i'm safe. If he tries something funny like Bc6 i have a perpetual.

b) 36. g4 Ra7 37. Rf8+ Kg7 38. Rg8+ Kf6 39. h4 h6 is similar.

On anything else i probably play Ra7 followed by Kg7 too.

Time to mark my king and knock on black's door. Unless black plays Kh8 I'll always have a discovered attack to protect my King from rook checks