Benidorm: Typical Mistakes & How To Avoid Them

IN round one with white against Raymond Kearsley (1548) I won a pawn in the opening and kept it through to a queen-and-pawn ending.

Black has just captured a knight on e4

*****

*****

*****

*****

*****

*****

*****

*****

The game continued 32.b3 Kg7 33.Qf4 Qc6, reaching the following position.

How should White proceed?

*****

*****

*****

*****

*****

White is a pawn up and has a 4-2 farside pawn-majority. But White has a backward d pawn, and the line-up of black queen and e pawn on the long light diagonal is annoying.

Accordingly I played 34.f3?, which badly weakens the position of the white king as, after an exchange on f3, it has fewer pawns to shelter behind and in particular becomes vulnerable to checks along the second rank.

Since I was winning comfortably, I should have asked myself: "How can Black possibly save the game?"

That would have prompted a reply along the lines of: "Black's only realistic hope is to conjure up a perpetual check."

If I had thought like that, I would surely have strained to avoid playing f3, and indeed White has good alternatives, including 34.Qe5+, eg 34...Kg8 35.b4 with d5 to come, or 34...f6 35.Qe7+ Kh6 36.Qf8+ Kg5 37.Qd6.