Croad, Nic
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Nijman, Brian
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36.Bd2?...Missing a tactic which complicates the result. In defence of the quality of play here both players were already below 5 minutes.36.Rxg5Kxg537.Bd2Kf538.Rxf6+Rxf639.Bxf4Kxf4±was probably good enough for White to win.36....Rxf3+37.gxf3Bxd238.Rbb6Nd739.Rxg6+Kh740.Rbd6Bf441.Rxd7Rxd742.Rg4Rd3+43.Kc4Rxf344.Rxh4+Kg645.b4Rxf246.a4Kg547.Rg4+Kf548.a5Rc2+49.Kb5Rc350.Rxf4+?!...This is probably a mistake. Now I was looking for a way to set up a sacrifice of the rook for the more advanced pawn followed by a capture of the other by the king, meaning the Black king needs to get in touch with the b4 pawn, ASAP. Still it's hard to judge, the bishop would have been a good defensive piece also.50....Kxf451.a6Rxh352.Kc6Rh6+Side checks force the White king back to the a5 square.53.Kb7Rh7+54.Kb6Rh6+55.Ka5Ke556.b5Kd657.a7Rh158.Kb6...58.b6Kc559.Ka6Ra1+60.Kb7Kb5Also leads to a later game position.58....Ra159.Kb7Kc560.b6Kb561.Kc7Rc1+?I realised while waiting for a reply that my instinctive move (which I had seen several moves prior) was a catastrophic error.61...Ra662.b7Rxa763.Kc8Rxb764.Kxb762.Kb8?!...62.Kd6now is just leading to a technically winning queen vs rook endgame.62....Rh163.b7Kb6and I guess to both of us this looked very threatening. I know neither of us realised this is still a trivial win for White.64.a8=N+??...Going from winning to losing. The knight can't escape from the corner and Black is winning the last pawn.64.Ka8+−and that is that.64....Kc665.Ka7Ra1+66.Kb8Rb167.Ka7Rxb7+68.Ka6Rb169.Ka7Rb20-1 White resigns.0-1