It turns out that because of the small number of flight squares for the black king, Black must retreat his rook along the 8th rank, after which White has a decisive material advantage.
It cannot be said that the move chosen in the game, 46...Rg8, caused White any real problems: 47.Ne6+ Kf6 48.Nxc5+ Ke5 49.Rh6 Kf4 50.Rxh4+ Ke3 51.Ne4! fxe4 52.Rxe4+ Kd2 53.Kf2, and Black resigned.
Unity Chess Club
Wilhelm Steinitz Curt von Bardeleben Hastings 1895 White to move
Exploiting the unstable position of the black queen on d7, White carried out a decisive attack:
Taking the rook also loses: 22...Kxe7 23.Re1+ Kd6 (23...Kd8 24.Ne6+ Ke7 25.Nc5+) 24.Qb4+ Kc7 25.Ne6+ Kb8 26.Qf4+.
Black resigned. There could follow 25...Kg8 26.Rg7+ Kh8 27.Qh4+! Kxg7 28.Qh7+ Kf8 29.Qh8+ Ke7 30.Qg7+ Ke8 31.Qg8+ Ke7 32.Qf7+ Kd8 33.Qf8+ Qe8 34.Nf7+ Kd7 35.Qd6#.
Unity Chess Club
Konstantin Sakaev 2664 Bojan Kurajica 2551 Istanbul 2003 White to move
The black king is weakened, and White brings up additional forces:
The correct idea in an inaccurate form. More accurate was the preparatory 17.Rab1!, and only after 17...b5 (on 17...Qc7, there is the strong 18.c4!, and 18...dxc4 is impossible because of 19.Re4) 18.Re3 – with the same threat of g3-g4.