One of the truths of chess - that we sometimes overlook - is that for us to win, our opponent has to make a mistake; winning is therefore not simply attributable to our brilliance. Normally both sides make significant mistakes, hence Lasker's published observation (also attributed to Tartakower) "The winner of a game of chess is he who makes the last mistake but one."
In this next tournament game, if the result is perhaps not due to brilliant thought, I can at least say that I won less ugly than in Annotated Game #336. I make the strategic error of exchanging queens in the early middlegame, which erased my small advantage, but shortly afterwards I was able to induce a blunder of a pawn by my opponent. For the rest of the game, although we both could have improved our play, there were no huge mistakes and I convert the endgame in a solid fashion.
When you know you have a winning advantage (but not yet a won game), whatever way you can find at the board to successfully realize it is the best path. Engines will of course point out other moves, which normally are considered "better" simply because they win faster. However, there are no bonus points for finishing earlier. Here I again follow NM Dan Heisman's excellent practical advice to "go to sleep" in the endgame when winning, which means taking care to cover your weaknesses and deny your opponent counterplay, only then focusing on calculating the necessary winning breakthrough. If your advantage is structural, then you can afford to do this, and not spend precious energy trying to calculate complex variations, which have the potential to go awry.
[Event "?"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "????.??.??"]
[Round "?"]
[White "ChessAdmin"]
[Black "Class B"]
[Result "1-0"]
[Annotator "ChessAdmin/Dragon 3.2"]
[ECO "D04"]
[WhiteFideId "-1"]
[BlackFideId "-1"]
[PlyCount "103"]
[GameId "2271414718922552"]
1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 d5 3. e3 Bf5 4. Nh4 Bg6 5. Nxg6 {this is the point of White's opening play, to exchange knight for bishop.} hxg6 6. c4 {challenging d5 while gaining space for White's now-unopposed light-square bishop.} e6 (6... c6 {is much more popular here, for whatever reason. The engine considers them equivalent.}) 7. g3 {the bishop is intended to eventually go to g2, so I decided to start the process early. This is fine, but since the queen could generate some early pressure from b3 in the absence of Black's light-square bishop, it might be best to see it develop there first, after exchanging pawns on d5.} (7. Nc3 {is the only move played in the small sample of database games.}) (7. cxd5 exd5 8. Qb3 Qc8 $14) 7... Be7 (7... c5 $11 {would be more challenging, taking advantage of White's slower approach.}) 8. Bg2 $14 c6 9. Qb3 Qb6 {the direct option. Black correctly is not concerned about doubled b-pawns after an exchange of queens, as this would give him the half-open a-file, along with contesting control of c5.} 10. Nc3 $11 {choosing to maintain the tension.} (10. Qc2 $5 $14 {also would avoid exchanging, while arguing that Black's queen is now doing less on b6 than White's queen on c2.}) 10... Nbd7 11. O-O O-O-O $6 {the Black king is certainly not safer on the queenside, so I expected my opponent did this based on a more aggressive desire to launch operations on the kingside.} 12. cxd5 $16 {thought for a while here, eventually deciding that opening up the c-file can't help but be good, given Black's king position.} exd5 13. Bd2 $6 (13. Qc2 $5 $16 {according to the engine, it is now best to preserve the queens; on general principle, this is best when looking to take advantage of an opponent's relatively weaker king position. The queen on c2 is certainly well-placed and Rb1 would be a strong follow-up.}) 13... Kb8 {my opponent also chooses to preserve the tension.} (13... Qxb3 14. axb3 a6 $11 {White, lacking a queen and with doubled b-pawns, is not going to be able to crack the Black defenses.}) 14. Qxb6 $6 {a strategic error, as noted above, although at least my pawn structure is preserved.} Nxb6 $11 15. b3 {most importantly, this covers c4 and prevents the Black knight from landing there.} Bd6 $6 {this seemed a bit of a waste of a tempo.} 16. a4 $14 {while the pawn advance gives up the b4 square, it is the most dynamic option on the queenside, and ends up provoking Black's next move.} a5 $2 {this natural-looking move to prevent a further White a-pawn advance is a critical error, blundering a pawn and fatally undermining the queenside. My opponent had not seen the idea of the backwards knight move} 17. Na2 Nbd7 18. Bxa5 $18 {White is now comfortably winning, with the two bishops and an extra pawn as the endgame approaches. Black has little counterplay, but there is a still a long way to go before I will have an actually won game.} b6 19. Bc3 (19. Bb4 {I also considered, but wanted to avoid} c5 {However, after} 20. Bc3 {White is doing quite well, as further exchanges on d4 or c5 will simplify the situation and enhance the structural advantage on the queenside.}) 19... Kb7 20. Rfc1 {activating the rook before commencing any other operations on the queenside.} Rde8 21. Be1 {I thought for a while here and found nothing better, although Bb4 was still an option. The idea is to get out of the way of the Rc1 and Na2, while maintaining the two bishops.} c5 $2 {as noted above, simplifications will only help White. I use a tempo to get my knight back into action.} 22. Nc3 {pressuring d5} Rh5 {I did not see this defensive move, but the rook is awkwardly placed. I also find the best follow-up with} 23. Nb5 {an excellent outpost square} Bb8 24. b4 {now a breakthrough of some sort is assured.} cxb4 (24... c4 $2 25. Rxc4 {exploiting the pin on the long diagonal.}) 25. Bxb4 Re6 {defending the key d6 square.} 26. Rc2 {looking to double rooks on either the c-file or a-file, staying flexible.} Rc6 27. Rxc6 {this gains a tempo, instead of continuing the doubling plan, as I would have expected Black was to take on c2.} Kxc6 28. Rc1+ Kb7 29. Nd6+ Bxd6 {otherwise the f7 pawn goes.} 30. Bxd6 {Black temporarily has prevented further material loss, but the two bishops will dominate Black's two knights in the endgame.} Ne8 31. Bb4 (31. g4 $5 {I did not consider here.} Rg5 32. Bg3 {and now the g4 pawn is poisoned after} Rxg4 $2 33. Bxd5+ Ka6 34. Rc8 {and Black loses material.}) (31. Bf4 {would be a more active retreat square, given that} g5 $2 {is met by} 32. Bxd5+) 31... Nef6 32. Bf1 {I decided it was time to redeploy the bishop, given that the d5 pawn was over-protected.} Rh8 33. Bb5 {the two bishops are cooperating well now. My opponent was down to just a few minutes on the clock before the time control by this point.} Nb8 34. Kg2 Nfd7 35. h4 {I decided to go with solid, consolidating moves rather than try for too much. This made it a bit easier for my opponent to make the time control, but I was confident I could win the resulting position.} Rc8 36. Rxc8 Kxc8 37. Kf3 {the idea is to get the king into the action and eventually pressure d5.} Kc7 38. g4 Nc6 39. Ba3 {I do not want to trade any pieces, given how well my two bishops work together.} f6 40. Kf4 (40. Bxc6 {the engine is happy to cash in the two bishops for an advantage in the center.} Kxc6 41. e4 $18 {and White will soon have a passed d-pawn.}) 40... Nd8 41. Kg3 (41. e4 {is already possible, but I continued to play solidly and keep my opponent away from any counterplay.} dxe4 42. Kxe4 $18) 41... Ne6 42. Bd3 {targeting the weak doubled pawns.} g5 43. hxg5 (43. h5 $5) 43... fxg5 44. Bf5 Ndf8 45. Kf3 (45. f4 $5 {I considered; it is objectively stronger, but I was focused on getting my king more centralized.}) 45... g6 46. Bb1 Kd7 47. Ke2 Kc6 48. Kd3 Nd7 49. f3 {still playing solidly to consolidate my position, before making a decisive break.} Ndf8 50. Kc3 {now the king is protecting the d4 pawn while opening the Bb1's main diagonal.} Kd7 51. Ba2 {Black cannot cover all of his weaknesses now.} Kc6 52. e4 {and my opponent resigned, as d5 falls.} 1-0
