Lessons From Bad Herrenalb VII

MY round-seven game was completely equal, according to Stockfish16.1 and Dragon1, for most of its duration.

After much manoeuvring, we reached this position, with me to make my 48th move

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After a fair bit of thought I played 48...Qc2+ and offered a draw, which was accepted.

I took some time because I was considering playing ...Qd4 in the hope White would go wrong.

If I had played the move, what should the outcome have been?

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What had caught my attention was a win for Black after 48...Qd4? 49.Qxd4 exd4 50.Ke2 Kf6 51.Kd3? Ke5 and 52...Kxd4.

However I eventually spotted it is White who should win, by playing 51.Kd2 with Kd3 and Kxd4 to come.

LESSON: pawn-endings are in a way the simplest of all endings in that nothing can move more than a square at a time (apart from pawns still in their starting position), but in another way they are the most complicated in that a subtle subtle nuance can turn a win into a loss, which is why players are often warned not to swop off into such an ending unless absolutely certain of the outcome.