And White won.

White is a pawn up, but with his queen on the other side of the board his kingside attack has come to a dead end.

With the queens off, the pawns on a4 and c3 will be easy targets for Black's rook, for example via b3 . You could also include this example under the heading 'eliminating the defender' .

Justifiably declining. Being a pawn up is of no significance here.

White is trying very hard to bring back his rook to the scene of the action.

This lets White off the hook. More challenging was 37...Nf6 or 37...Ra2.

A lucky escape. Black does not manage to make anything of his extra pawn.

And the game ended in a draw a few moves later.

Improving the Pawn Structure
A queen exchange, like other exchanges, can also be used for positional gains, for instance, if it allows you to reunite pawns or undouble a pawn when recapturing.