Lessons From Benidorm VII

IN round eight, where I had white against Miguel Ángel Fernández Alonso (1988), I accepted a draw-offer in the following position.

It's a rook-and-pawn ending in which Black's king and rook are more active than their white counterparts, but Stockfish17.1 and Dragon1 reckon White is winning

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The winning move is 46.Rd1, when Black's best is probably 46...Kc6.

I saw I could play 47.Rd5, preparing to menace the black kingside, but after 47...Rb1+ 48.Ke2 Rb2+ White has nothing better than 49.Rd2, when 49...Rb4 is completely equal (Stockfish17.1) or at best leaves White with a marginal edge (Dragon1).

Going back to the diagram, I naturally looked for ways to get the white king off the back rank after the white rook attacks Black's kingside. But 46.g3? Rxh2 is bad, and 46.Kg1, preparing g3, is too slow - both 46.Rd2 and 46.Rb4 seem good enough for a draw.

I cannot recall whether I seriously looked at 46.h4, giving the white king a route off the back rank via h2, but anyway 46...Rd2 holds.

The solution, as shown by the engines, is to combine the two ideas, Rd1 and h4, in a precise order, with best play running something like 46.Rd1 Kc6 47.h4! Rc2 48.Rd5 Rxc4 (48...Rc1+ 49.Kf2 Rc2+ 50.Kg1 etc, or 49...Rh1 50.h5 Rh4 51.Rg5 Kd6 52.Rxg7 Rxh5 53.Rg4 Ke5 54.c5 h6 55.Rg6 Kd4 56.Rd6+ Kxc5 57.Rxd7, when White is a protected passed pawn up, and Black has two isolanis) 49.Rf5 Kd6 50.Rxf4, when White's extra pawn and single pawn-chain give a winning advantage, according to the engines.

I accepted White's draw offer at move 45 because I genuinely thought the position was drawn, but against a lower-rated opponent I would probably have played on, hoping to induce an error.

However, I was playing someone 92 elo higher, and at the back of my mind was the thought that if I played on I might somehow be the one to throw the halfpoint away.

In other words, I was not playing the position, but rather the rating, whereas if I had played on I might have ended up winning, and at the very least I would have gained valuable experience of playing such an ending.

LESSON: every game is an opportunity for a student of chess to learn, but agreeing a draw earlier than is necessary is like leaving a lecture before it ends.