Knight v Bishop (part 34)

Black has just captured on e4 in Spanton (1968) - Henrik Lobersli (1818), Fagernes (Norway) 2018. Who stands better, and by how much?  

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Black has the better minor-piece for working with rival pawn-majorities, but the e pawn is weak and will need supporting by ...f5, which further restricts the movement of the bishop. Stockfish12 and Komodo11.01 give White the upper hand.

30.Nd4

Not 30.Kxe4 Bc6+ and ...Bxg2.

30...f5 31.h4

The engines prefer 31.Ne2!? followed by Kd4.

31...Kf6 32.c4 Ke5 33.g3 g5 34.hxg5 hxg5 35.Ne2

The engines prefer 35.f4+!? but reckon Black is equal after 35...exf3!? (better than accepting  a protected passed pawn with 35...gxf4+, according to the engines) 36.Nxf3+ Kf6.

35...b5 36.c5?!

This seems over-ambitious. The engines prefer 36.cxb5 Bxb5 37.Nc3 or 36.Kd2!?

36...a5 37.Nc3

37.b4 axb4 38.axb4 Kd5 looks horrible for White although the engines come up with 39.Nc1!? Kc4 40.g4!, which seems to hold, eg 40...Kxb4 41.gxf5 Bxf5 42.c6 Ka3 43.Kd4 b4 44.c7 b3 45.Nxb3 Kxb3 46.Ke5 Bc8 47.Kxe4 Kc3 48.f4 g4 49.f5 g3 50.Kf3 etc.

37...b4?!

This allows equality. More promising is the engines' 37...Bc6, eg 38.b4 axb4 39.axb4 f4+ 40.gxf4+ gxf4+ 41.Kd2 Kd4, when White faces a tough defence.

38.axb4 axb4 39.Na2 f4+ 40.gxf4+ gxf4+ 41.Kd2 Kd4 42.c6!? Bxc6 43.Nxb4 bb5 44.Nc2+ Kc5 45.Kc3 Kd5 46.b4 Bf1 47.Nd4 Ba6 48.Nc2 Ke5 49.Nd4 Kf6 50.b5 Bb7 51.Kd2 Ke5

HL offered a draw.

52.Ne2 Bd5 53.b6 e3+!?

Black gives up a pawn, but the position remains dead-equal, according to the engines.

54.fxe3 fxe3+ 55.Kxe3 Kd6 56.Nc3 Bc6!?

There is nothing wrong with this objectively. But HL was short of time and there was no increment, so better from a practical view is 56...Bb7, when White cannot stop the black king from capturing the pawn and so ensuring a draw, eg 57.Kd4 Kc6 58.Nd5 Kb5.

57.Kd4 Bb7 58.Na4 Kc6 59.Kc4 Ba6+ 60.Kb4 Bb5 61.Ka5 Bc4

Not 61...Bxa4 62.Ka6.

62.Nc3 Kb7 63.Ne4 Bd5 64.Nc5+ Kb8 65.Kb5 Bf3 66.Nd7+ Kb7 67.Kc5 Bg2 68.Kd6

The black flag fell. A few moves earlier HL had claimed a draw, and an arbiter told us to play on to flag-fall, which came a few seconds later.

HL argued he should be awarded a draw as the position is drawn with anything but extremely stupid play by Black, which is indeed the case.

I argued that I was trying to make progress, as the game score showed, and it was not my fault if my opponent had run out of time.

There was a conflab among the congress's arbiters, and after several minutes the verdict came back as a "borderline" win for me.