To exchange or not to exchange?

Correct evaluation of pawn endings is an important pillar of good endgame
technique. So, e.g., in the following position Black had to come to a 
judgment as to whether, after the exchange of rooks with 47…Rxe2 48.Kxe2, the
ensuing pawn ending is a draw. Otherwise, he would be obliged to do without
the exchange and to defend the rook ending.
What do you think? Does the exchange of rooks lead to a drawn position?

The solution is here,
but first ponder over it with a  larger version of the diagram.

Related posts:

1. A stunning exchange sacrifice… ...in the Marshall Attack was unleashed by Peter Leko...
2. White squares and diagonals… ... were the issue in this position where the...
3. The duel of knights and queens… ... was literally the central theme in this position....
4. The Achilles’ heel h2… ... Black had spotted in this position when he...
5. The Achilles heel h2… ... Black had spotted in this position when he...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

This entry was posted on Saturday, December 26th, 2009 at 12:00 am and is filed under chessnews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.