I feel that with the 1 pawn gain, I had an advantage that I might have been able to turn into a win. I find that I loose a lot of games when it comes down to pawns vs pawns and was wondering if there was any obvious mistakes here that I could have avoided. I am playing as Black and I gain the advantage on move 12. (I am relatively new to chess)
How to play with this 1 pawn advantage?
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Jan 25, 2013
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#3
Your "one pawn" advantage was problematic because just like in the Ruy Lopez Exchange Var your Q-side pawn majority was crippled by doubled c-pawns. Still, a pawn is a pawn but in this case I'd consider not trading Queens (or anything else, until there was a good reason to) and avoid going into an endgame where it's very hard to utilize the "extra pawn."
White did you a big favor with 15.0-0 with no Queens on the bd, and another one by advancing his K-side pawns in order to give you closer targets. I don't like ...h6 it looks unnecessary to me, maybe just trading rooks ASAP was better. Eventually ...h6 left you with 2 isolated pawns. Pawn moves can't be undone so make them sparingly!
29...b4 appears premature since it allowed White to recover his pawn. Next time start using your King ASAP and save the pawn moves for when you're sure they will help and not hurt you. The King Is a strong piece - use it! BASIC CHESS ENDINGS, 15 Rules for the Endgame
If it's any consolation Kt & P endings are relatively infrequent and not easy for many of us
Check this out, just knowing general principles here will help you a lot in the future for a good time click on this link: http://blog.chess.com/NimzoRoy/endgame-faqs
After move 14:
After you win the pawn, it's a doubled pawn (i.e. you have two c pawns) and this makes it not as much of an advantage. I certainly wouldn't say you should win from that position. In a pawn endgame you wouldn't be able to force a passed pawn out of that majority as you would if there were no doubled pawns.
After 29...b4
His g pawn is hanging (2 attackers, 1 defender) so it was better to capture that.
30.cxb4
This straightens out your doubled pawns, but I see after Nc6 he wins a pawn so that's ok. Notice if white ignored the move black cannot force a passed pawn to appear (maybe pretend there are no knights).
Practiced this against my engine a few times just now... knight endgames are as hard as ever 
Passed pawns and majorities (which can create passers) are a big advantage. Your comment after move 31 seems correct, when the pawn count evens out, king activity about equal, and no passers, there's not much chance for an advantage. But these endgames still require precision. Your moves 38, 40, and 41 slowed down your passed h pawn. Winning is the move 38.K to the g file and run your pawn.
Likewise white's moves 37, 38, 39, 40, and 41 slowed down his a pawn. 37.a4 makes a passed pawn right away (his a pawn vs your h pawn now) at which point both players are probably very nervous they could lose unless they've sat and calculated a good long while. (The computer says draw if neither side screws up).
Really appreciate the in depth responses here. Its been a lot of help.
