Poor Decisions

Drawing a lower rated player can be frustrating. This morning, I was forced to make my peace with such a fate. My opponent's rating was 400 below mine.

Black to move

54....Qg3+ 55.Kg1 Qe1+ 56.Kh2

I considered playing Qf1, but Black has a winning pawn ending. A draw is less damaging than a loss.

56...Qe3

Now, it is my turn to show that I can force a draw.

57.Qe8+ Kf5 58.Qd7+ Kf4??

Black made a poor decision in an effort to escape the draw.

59.Qg4#

In the very next game, my opponent was rated 200 higher than me and allowed us to reach a drawn opposite colored bishop ending. We had been shuffling our bishops about for several moves.

White to move

52.Kf2??

Inexplicable that a 2000+ rapid player would make such an error, but perhaps there was some frustration with the inevitable draw against me.

52...d3+ 53.Ke1 Ba5+ 54.Kd1 Ke3??

In my excitement, I misplayed the win. 54...Kf3 55.cxd3 e3 was the winning line.

White to move

55.c4??

55.cxd3 exd3 and neither player can make progress.

55...Kd4 56.c5 e3

A moment's calculation assured me that I would be promoting a pawn with check before White's c-pawn went very far.

57.b6 e2+ 58.Kc1 e1Q+

My opponent played until checkmate.

Today, I was the beneficiary of some poor decisions by my opponents. Another day, I will be giving such gifts to my opponents.