Fatal Passed Pawn

Here is a game with an exciting finish. I felt the heat at the end of this one, but my opponent did not calculate my passed pawn correctly. You will see him sacrifice his knight for play against my King. The attack is unsound, though, as my pieces are just too well placed.

There is no way to stop the pawn. Black has decided to attack with his rooks and now finds them blocked in and unable to help with defense. The key point is the rook on g6, pinning the bishop and blocking the g2 rook. This makes black fall one move short of stopping the pawn.

A side note:

I decided to call 32.N5d4! a good move. It was not hard to find, of course, but it is just so pretty and accomplishes so much in one move. It stops mate on c2, limits the scope of the bishop, blockades the passed pawn, and kicks the e2 rook. All these things, (plus the fact that I had calculated my plans with this move in mind) I think, deserve the exclamation mark that I gave the move.

 Thanks. What line do you play against the KID?

I play an offbeat positional idea:

Blacks bishop is locked in by e5 and the position is closed, so I think Loomis' opening is fine.

Black has a very reckless style in this game. Whatever happened to controlling the square in front of a passed pawn, and using ALL of your pieces? Instead he puts his bishop offside, starts trading down to no advantage, and makes some obscenely incorrect sacrifices. Very bad.

I'm glad you beat him. Bad chess like this must be punished. 

That's not what usually gets me in trouble in these games. The line I showed is fine, at least that's what I'm assured by a friend of mine who is an FM and has played and studied this line. One problem is that black doesn't have to play 9. ... h6.

The queenside space provides good chances for white. Here are two examples, neither of which I should have won, but show some of the possibilities.

http://www.chess.com/echess/game.html?id=3396871

http://www.chess.com/echess/game.html?id=3433721

And here is one where black doesn't play 9. ... h6 and I flounder. I make mistakes later in the game, so I wouldn't blame the loss on 9. Bg5, but I would like to learn something different.

http://www.chess.com/echess/game.html?id=3520801 

 Wow. Sorry we're not all playing to your standards. I was rather proud of this win before you posted that.

wow. cool game. I wish I could play that well. nothing rocks like a rook sacrifice. I assume if he hadn't resigned he probably would have had the best chances by taking your rook on g6. Ckeck out my rook sacrifice mr tonight only:

 http://www.chess.com/forum/view/game-showcase/dont-play-philidor-sicilian

 Very cool! Those are some nice tactics for 1100!

Yes, Rxg6 was pretty much the only move, but the pawn still would have promoted.

lol. Don't cry!!!

You saw that his sacrifice was incorrect, and you punished him for not stopping your passed pawn. You played well.

 Maybe I am overly critical, but anyone reading this thread will learn (if they didn't already know) that the way to play against passed pawns is to control the square in front of them.

I admit that I get a little bit of joy from bashing other's play, but at least, in the end, I offer something that might help their games.  

 Yes,  9...h6  10.Bxf6 Bxf6  11.b4   is KID theory, and is definitely playable. The pawn on d5 makes the exchange okay for white, but I would still call it risky. Notice, I didn't use the word 'suicidal,' which would definitely apply to other KID lines! The fact is, that a skilled player with the black pieces can employ a 'dark-square strategy' in the KID, where the King's bishop on the long diagonal can become very powerful. This can still happen after a white pawn has been placed on d5. I will try to find a good game to show this.

 Thanks

I think, all that it came down to was that he fell victim to an opening trap. He emerged from the opening a pawn down, and did not simply want to trade into a hopeless endgame. Therefore, he played rather recklessly, and ended up playing an unsound attack.