46.Bh3
I was very tempted at this point to play 46. g5. However, I decided to reserve this move for later, after resolving other issues. Besides, g5 looked more dangerous if Black moved his King further away, say by ... Kd5. White defends the g-pawn with the Bishop to allow the Knight to move. White must keep the K-side pawns intact.
46...c3 [46...Kf6 47.Bf1] 47.Nxd3+ exd3 48.Kxd3 Kf4 49.Kxc3
[Finally, the central pawn mass is gone! Black couldn't make additional progress there so he used those pawns to drive White's King away from his K-side pawns. The position is much simpler now, so let's take stock again (see following diagram). If Black goes for the immediate win of White's pawns by 49. ... Bxg4 then 50. Bc1 wins the a-pawn and Black must scramble to avoid allowing White to Queen his pawn and win. In addition, if the Black pawns on g7 and h6 disappear then all White has to do to obtain a draw is to place his King on a1.
Black preserves his a-pawn to prevent counterplay. Now it looks like White's Bishop can be won by ... Kg3. However, that would allow g5. If White panicked and moved 50. Bg2? then his K-side pawns would fall.
50.Kd4 Bb5
I was having difficulty getting to sleep one night, so I decided to enjoy myself a bit by thinking about this game. It was then that I saw this move for the first time. Then I really couldn't go to sleep! For some reason I hadn't seen this possibility before but, as I find it difficult to visualize the board in my mind, I took a more systematic approach to looking for candidate moves for my opponent. Perhaps I should have simply gotten up and examined this move on a board. The point of this move is that it forces White to move (almost a zugswang position). I liked the defensive coverage of my King exactly where it was, preventing Black's Bishop from reaching the c4 and d3 squares.
However, the next day I found a good continuation. Perhaps I should recommend to you that you think about your games in bed at night to avoid missing important potential moves for your opponent!
51.Kd5 Kg3 52.g5
52...Kxh3 53. f6 gxf6 54. gxh6! Bd3 55. Ke6 1/2-1/2
The last Black K-side pawn falls. Of course, 55...f5? 56. h7 and White wins.
The above game was a long, difficult defensive battle for White. There were many times when the game seemed headed for defeat. But, by adopting a tenacious defensive mindset and watching for every defensive resource, White was able to save a difficult game and achieve the draw. As Greg Conlon of Jenison, Michigan pointed out to me, "... a draw isn't a win, but sometimes there is a victory tucked away in a hard fought draw."
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