David2009: The notorious NN vs P ending! The ending was very exciting, both sides making mistakes. White deserves great credit for so very nearly winning this drawn ending (falling foul of the 50-move rule: it is mate in 7 in the final position). Black (correctly) tried to draw by heading for a safe corner (the a8 corner) and staying there, reaching 
click for larger view which is a book draw with either side to play. However
White winkled him out starting 77 Kb6! (the alternative 77.Nb4 gives no chance: Ka7 78.Nf5 g3 79.Nd4 g2 80.Ndc6+ Ka8 81.Nd5 g1=Q 82.Nb6+ Qxb6+ 83.Kxb6 double draw). Black can now draw by heading for the other safe corner (the h1 corner) via g5 and h4. If White tries to stop this, Black simply heads back to a8. See David2009 chessforum for a discussion of safe corners. As the game went Black played rather passively hugging his back row - and was saved by the 50 move rule. White had to mate or force a Pawn move by move 102: he narrowly failed. He had a fleeting opportunity at move 90. The critical position with Black to play is 
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Black blundered with 89...Kf8: correct was 89...Kg6 drawn with care e.g. 90.Ne3 Kg5 91.Ng2 Kf6 92.Kd6
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and now 92..Kf7! draws by heading back towards the safe a8 corner (but NOT Kg6?? here. After 89...Kf8 White can just win within the 50-move rule by 90 Nf6!: in the main variation White checkmates on move 103 - having finally forced a reluctant Black to move his Pawn on move 101 (thus winning by the narrowest possible 50-move rule margin). Rather than give the moves here I shall post them presently on my forum: here's a link to Crafty End Game Trainer to allow you to discover them: http://www.chessvideos.tv/endgame-t...
If you are unfamiliar with Crafty EGT, simply click on the link: you are white, drag and drop the move you want to make. Enjoy finding the mate in 14. In the game, White played the natural 90.Ke6 - which however lets the win slip. The game continued 90...Ke8 91.Ne7 Kd8 92.Kd6 Ke8 93.Nc6 Kf7 94.Ke5
to reach 
click for larger view Now Black played 95..Kf8 which looks logical but is wrong (allowing a mate in 16): he was saved by the
50 move rule. Because White's N is now on f6, 95...Kg6 heading for g5 and h4 is safe and draws. | 
d5+ looks like a try hoping for ...Kg5 when Black might just get tangled up into something like this 
