Scottish Championship (Paisley) 2018
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| White has just captured on d5 - is his extra pawn enough to win? |
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Yes, but White has to find the correct plan.
31...g4
I felt this gave the best hope as I now have two reserve tempi with the h7 pawn.
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32.d4?
Any king move wins. The problem with the text is that from now on either the white king is tied to protecting the d4 pawn, or White will have to play dxc5, when the reply ...bxc5 is good enough to draw as the white king cannot penetrate the black position. The game continuation should make these points clear, and then I will show why any king move wins.
32...Ke7 33.Kd3 Kd7 34.a4
The analysis engine Komodo11.01 at first reckons White is winning, or at least much better, after 34.a3, but soon changes its evaluation as the problem of the d4 pawn is not solved.
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34...cxd4!
The only drawing move, as 34...Kc7, for example, is met by 35.a5! when there are two main lines: A) 35...bxa5 36.dxc5 dxc5 37.Kc3 Kb6 38.Kb3 Kb7 39.Ka4 Kb6 40.d6! Kc6 41.Kxa5 Kxd6 42.Kb6 etc; B) 35...cxd4 36.axb6+ Kxb6 37.Kxd4 with c5 to come.
35.Kxd4 Kc7 36.Kc3 Kb7 37.Kb3 Ka7 38.Kb4 Ka6 39.Kb3 Ka7 40.Kc3 Kb7 ½–½
Going back to the position after 33...Kd7, the thought arises whether White can win by exchanging on c5 and trying to penetrate with his king on the queenside.
After 34.dxc5 bxc5 35.Kc3 Kc7 36.Kb3 Kb6 37.Ka4 Ka6 it is clear the answer is no.
But there is a win from the diagram, eg 32.Kd2 Ke7 33.Kc3 Kd7 34.Kb3 Kc7 35.Ka4 Kb8 36.Kb5 Kb7 37.a3 h6 38.a4 h5 39.a5 bxa5 40.Kxa5 Ka7. Having forced an exchange of a pawn for b pawn, White can now return to pushing the d3 pawn: 41.Ka4 Kb6 42.Kb3 Kc7 (42...Ka5 does not help) 43.Kc3 Kb7 44.d4 Kc7 (44...cxd4+ 45.Kxd4 is followed by pushing the c4 pawn) 45.dxc5 dxc5 46.Kb3 Kb7 47.Ka4 Kb6 48.d6 etc.
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