I was thumbing through some of my chess books, and I found this sweet endgame study whose underlying principle should be basic knowledge for every chessplayer. There are no fancy moves here, just straight-forward positional play. It's the kind of position that you'd enjoy practicing against Fritz. White to move and win.

If you were black, would you simplify or not? After some exchanges, as white, I came out a piece up and it looks like a decisive advantage. That's why I sought an exchange of queens, and black seemed to see it that way as well. Black played Qa6, attacking my rook and avoiding further simplification. Now, I am not so dull as to miss the three connected passed pawns on the queenside. With the exchange of queens and some accurate play, I should be able to stop those pawns that are still in their initial squares. But to win that way is a lot more work than what happened in the game. Black's move, Qa6, allowed white to gain tempo for an attack that would not have been possible if the queens were exchanged. Play continued after Qa6 with Bh7+ Kh8 Re3 g6 Bg6 fg6 Qg6 and black was lost.