Thanks, tal. I actually think that black should be able to hold that endgame, despite being a pawn down. It is probably the best shot though.

At move 13, the break 13. e3 looks strong to me. I don't like black occupying so much space in the center and I would be happy to knock preferably that light-squared bishop out first. There's no hurry to play 13. Nxd6 as that Black bishop isn't going anywhere and it's locked in by its own pawns anyway. The knight on e4 is stronger than that dark squared Bishop on d6 so I wouldn't consider a trade. I would rather Black try to force the issue with f5 (I would love to see that, as Black is weakening his kingside squares which might give White something to attack). If Black moves his light square Bishop off the a2-g7 diagonal I might also consider 13 Rac1 as I want to put my Knight on c5 after the pawn break c4-c5 . It looks like a good point to jump into Black's position. Just my 2 pence.

Alright, I just played this game against an NM (g/15, he was black) and I feel I should have had a win somewhere, but I analyzed it with him and we agreed that white was clearly better but couldn't find ANYTHING. It was really frustrating. This is a positional game, for all you positional players who might be able to find something. By the end I was just playing for traps.

I get this type of position with a fair amount of frequency so any insights into how to play it would be much appreciated.

[Event "GCS"]
[Site "GCS"]
[Date "2007.05.26"]
[White "JonHecht"]
[Black "BurkeDevlin"]
[Result "½-½"]
[WhiteElo "1960"]
[BlackElo "2200"]
[TimeControl "900+0"]

1. Nf3 d5 2. c4 d4 3. g3 Nc6 4. Bg2 e5 5. d3 f6 
6. O-O Be6 7. a3 a5 8. Nbd2 Bd6 9. b3 Nge7 10. Ne4 b6 
11. Qd2 O-O 12. Bb2 h6 13. Nxd6 cxd6 14. b4 axb4 15. axb4 Rxa1 
16. Rxa1 Qc7 17. b5 Nb8 18. Ba3 Nd7 19. Bb4 Nc5 20. Ra3 Rc8 
21. Qa2 Qd7 22. Bxc5 dxc5 23. Nd2 Rc7 24. Ra6 Nc8 25. Ra8 Kf7 
26. Bc6 Qe7 27. Ne4 Ra7 28. Rxa7 Qxa7 29. Nd6+ Kf8 30. Qa6 Qc7 
31. Nxc8 Bxc8 32. Qa8 Ke7 33. Kg2 f5 34. Bd5 Kf6 35. h4 g5 
36. hxg5+ hxg5 37. Qa1 Bb7 38. Bxb7 Qxb7+ 39. Kg1 g4 40. Qa6 Qc7 
41. Qa8 f4 42. gxf4 exf4 43. Qf8+ Kg5 44. Qg8+ Kf5 45. Qf8+ 
½-½