Lessons From Bischofsgrün: Pawn Power

I WAS winning for most of my round-three game against a Fide master rated almost 200 elo higher, and was still winning, albeit by not such a big margin as I had been, when the following position was reached.

Black has just played 46...Kg6-g5 in Spanton (1954) - Dieter Seyb (2137)

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Best, according to Stockfish17 and Dragon1, is 47.Rxf5+!? exf5 48.Ne3 Rd3 49.Nxd5 Rxh3 50.Kxh3. Also probably winning is 47.Ne3 Kxf4 48.Nxd1.

However I played 47.Rhf3?, only to be hit by the sacrifice 47...h3+!, when capturing with the king leads to mate or massive loss of material.

There is nothing better than 48.Kh2, after which 48...Nh4+ equalises, and I even managed to go on and lose.

LESSON: some sacrifices come out of the blue, but a pawn is of such low value, relatively speaking, that there is no excuse for overlooking its sac-ability.