A pawn endgame

[Look]

Hi,

The following endgame happened in an on-line blitz game :

[pgn]
[FEN "5k2/p5pp/1p2p3/4P3/8/8/PPP4P/2K5 w - - 0 31"]

31. b4 b5 32. c4 bxc4 33. Kc2 Ke7 34. b5 Kd7
35. a4 Kc7 36. a5 Kb7 37. h4 a6 38. b6 g6
39. Kc3 h6 40. Kxc4 Kc6 41. Kd4 g5 42. hxg5 hxg5
43. Ke4 g4 44. Kf4
[/pgn]

While kibitzing, I did not know where black went wrong, can you spot it ?

[Henk]

I would play a5 on first move. Black should prevent a passed pawn protected by a pawn on the queen side

[Look]

I would play a5 on first move. Black should prevent a passed pawn protected by a pawn on the queen side

Actually during the game, I expected black to play 31 ... g5 but I did not see a possible later ... h5 as it could prevent white king's infiltration to king-side, which consequently may lead to a draw.

[duncan]

Hi,

The following endgame happened in an on-line blitz game :

[pgn]
[FEN "5k2/p5pp/1p2p3/4P3/8/8/PPP4P/2K5 w - - 0 31"]

31. b4 b5 32. c4 bxc4 33. Kc2 Ke7 34. b5 Kd7
35. a4 Kc7 36. a5 Kb7 37. h4 a6 38. b6 g6
39. Kc3 h6 40. Kxc4 Kc6 41. Kd4 g5 42. hxg5 hxg5
43. Ke4 g4 44. Kf4
[/pgn]

While kibitzing, I did not know where black went wrong, can you spot it ?

crafty does not like 40 ..c6. here is an alternative.


[pgn]
[Event "Computer chess game"]
[Site "PC"]
[Date "2017.07.27"]
[Round "-"]
[White "Crafty-19.17"]
[Black "Crafty-19.17"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[TimeControl "100/60"]
[FEN "5k2/p5pp/1p2p3/4P3/8/8/PPP4P/2K5 w - - 0 1"]
[SetUp "1"]

1. b4 b5 2. c4 bxc4 3. Kc2 Ke7 4. b5 Kd7 5. a4 Kc7 6. a5 Kb7 7. h4 a6 8. b6
g6 9. Kc3 h6 10. Kxc4 Kc8 11. Kd3 Kb7 12. Ke4 Kb8 13. Kd4 Kc8 14. Ke3 Kb7
15. Kf4 Kc6 16. Kg3 Kb7 17. Kg4 Kc8 18. Kf3 Kb7 19. Kf4 Kc8 20. Kf3 Kb8 21.
Kf4 Ka8 22. Kg3 Kb8 23. Kf2 Ka8 24. Ke3 Kb7 25. Kd3 Kc8 26. Kd4 Kd8 27. Ke3
Kc8 28. Kf2 Kb8 29. Kf1 Kb7 30. Ke2 Kc8 31. Kd2 Kb7 32. Kc2 Ka8 33. Kc3 Kb7
34. Kb4 Kc8 35. Kc5 Kd7 36. b7 Kc7 37. b8=Q+ Kxb8 38. Kd6 g5 39. hxg5 hxg5
40. Kxe6 g4 41. Kd7 g3 42. e6 Kb7 43. e7 g2 44. e8=Q g1=Q 45. Qc8+
{Draw agreed} 1/2-1/2

[/pgn]