Black to move. GM Oparin did not win as black. Can you win this endgame?
Nakamura – Oparin (Zurich blitz)
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1… Kh5
2. Kf1 Bg6
3. Kg2 e5
4. Kf3 Kg5
5. Ke3 g2
6. Kf2 h3
7. Rg7 e4
8. Kg1 e3
9. Ra7 e2
10. Re7 Bd3
11. Kf2 Kh6
12. Re8 Kg6
13. Re5 Kf6
14. Re3 Kf5
15. Rf3+ Ke5
16. Rxd3 g1=Q+
17. Kxe2
The one improvement I can offer in this line, Alena, might be to push the h-pawn instead of the g-pawn at move 5. With the rook requiring a move to get back behind the pawn, having the h-pawn on h2 and the g-pawn on g3 protecting it freezes the white king to g2 long enough to get the e-pawn to e3 and then e2. What I have in mind is rook on h8, pawn on h2, white king on g2, and the e-pawn on e3- then white takes at g3 with the king, but then e2 means one of the two remaining pawns queen.
I think you have the basic idea- blockade of the bishop/king combo on g6 and g5 and the push of the e-pawn overtaxes the white king, and the rook is badly out of the action almost the entire way. I think this is won in an analogous way with any move at move 1 for black to the f-file, too, though 1. ….Kf4 makes more sense than either 1. …Kf3 or 1. …Kf5.
Oparin must have played 1. …Kh3 to end up drawing this.
3 minutes to see 1. .. Kf4 with the idea of Bg6 shielding the K on the g file with a bit of additional checking.
Count me in n 1…Kf4. It just makes more sense to me to have the K in the center, and still preserves the idea of setting up the Kg5 Bg6 barrier. It also allows the possibility of 2. Rf8+ Bf5 3. Rh8 h3 and the e-pawn is cleared for takeoff.
Also allows a later Bh5 blocking potential attacks on on the h-pawn once it reaches h2.