Tap-Dancing on Ice

My latest Jerome Gambit was a slippery affair, a lot like tap-dancing on ice, for both me and my opponent. We each had our share of falls on the way to an interesting endgame. Finally, we reached the following position.



perrypawnpusher -BEEB
blitz, FICS, 2011

Despite White's outside, connected passed pawns, the best he can hope for is a complicated Queen-plus-pawns-versus-Queen-plus-pawns-ending which is most likely a draw at blitz speed, because soon (after ...Qxa2) Black will have his own connected passed pawns to run down the board. There will be too many chances to check the opposing King almost endlessly. The ticking clock will dictate safety.

35. Qf5+

This move does no harm, but as long as Black's King retreats to b6 it doesn't do much good, either.

Here is how the game could have continued, instead: 35.h4 Qxa2 36.Kh2 a5 (the race is on!) 37.h5 Qb2 38.Qg5+ (necessary to allow the White Queen to catch up with the h-pawn, otherwise, if 38.h6 then Black can rein in the runner: 38...Qe5+ 39.Qg3 Qh5+ 40.Qh3 Qe5+ 41.g3 a4 42.h7 Qh8 43.e5 a3 44.Qd7+ Kb6 45.exd6 a2 46.Qxc7+ Ka6 47.Qc4+ Kb6 48.Qxa2 Qxh7+ 49.Kg2 Qxd3 and a win, if there is one, is still a long way off) 38...Kc6 39.Qxa5 b5 40.d4 Kb7 (40...Qxd4 41.Qa6+ Kd7 42.Qxb5+ Ke7 43.Qg5+ and the White Queen is back on escort duty, although it is still complex) 41.h6 Qe2 42.Qc3 Qh5+ 43.Qh3 Qxh3+ 44.gxh3 b4 45.e5 (45.h7 b3 46.h8=Q b2 47.Qh7 b1=Q starting over again) 45...b3 46.e6 b2 47.e7 b1=Q 48.e8=Q and maybe there is a win, maybe there isn't...

35...Qe5

Oh, no.

A time-slip.

In the transition from middle game to endgame I had been checking Black's King, and perhaps my opponent figured that I would continue to do so, harmlessly, e.g. 36.Qd7+ Kb6.

But there is something better, and it can be seen, it doesn't have to be calculated.

36.Qxe5+ dxe5 37.h4 Kc6

Unfortunately, the King cannot enter the "square of the pawn". (Draw a diagonal from the pawn to the 8th rank. Black, to move, must be able to get inside that square in order to catch the pawn. He is one tempo short.)

38.h5 Kd6 39.h6 Ke7 40.h7

Black resigned