[Event "33rd NATO Championship"] [Site "Portoroz, Slovenia"] [Date "2023.09.06"] [Round "4.3"] [White "Aizpurua, Patrick Emilio"] [Black "Pavlidou, Ekaterini"] [Result "1-0"] [WhiteElo "2304"] [WhiteTeam "Panama"] [BlackElo "2088"] [BlackTeam "Greece"] [Annotator "FM Patrick Emilio Aizpurua"] [Variant "Standard"] [ECO "E53"] [Opening "Nimzo-Indian Defense: Normal Variation, Gligoric System, Keres Variation"] [StudyName "33rd NATO"] [ChapterName "Aizpurua, Patrick Emilio - Pavlidou, Ekaterini"] [Source "https://lichess.org/study/QT029rod/OepH6tEM"] [Orientation "white"] 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. e3 O-O 5. Bd3 d5 6. Nf3 c5 7. O-O b6!? { An interesting attempt to deviate from heavy Nimzo-Indian theory. I was expecting to engage in the main line with } (7... dxc4 { where the main theory discussions take place. }) 8. cxd5 exd5 9. Ne5 Bb7 10. Qf3!? $146 { Maybe a little bit too creative on my behalf, but I was looking forward to playing outside of my opponent’s preparation. } (10. Bd2 { has been played before in Gligoric–Spassky, Bugojno, 1978, although several other top-level games have occurred in shorter time formats. }) 10... Bxc3 11. bxc3 Ne4! { Emphasizing the fact that the pawn on c3 is attacked and the knight on e5 does not have good retreating squares after ... f7-f6. } 12. Qh3 { An interesting set of variations arise after } (12. c4 f6 13. cxd5 Ng5 14. Qg3 (14. Qg4 fxe5 15. dxe5 Bxd5 16. Rd1) 14... fxe5 15. e4 { These variations both lead to complicated games after White sacrifices his knight for some attacking chances and a large center pawn mass. }) 12... Bc8 13. Qh5 f6? { Perhaps Black’s last move was the losing mistake. } (13... g6 14. Qh6 { might have been a better try. White can now claim a decisive advantage. }) 14. f3! fxe5 { The tactics favor White after all center exchanges are resolved. } 15. fxe4 Rxf1+ 16. Bxf1 { If } (16. Kxf1 { , Black would be able to swap some pieces off the board with } 16... Ba6 { or } (16... exd4 17. exd4 Ba6 { . })) 16... dxe4 17. Qxe5 Bb7 { Arguably one of the critical moments of the game. White now must decide how he wants to convert the advantage. Should they try to grab a pawn and convert the material? Should they continue the attack? What’s the ideal piece setup? } 18. c4 { After } (18. dxc5 Nd7 19. Qe6+ Kh8 20. cxb6 (20. c6 Nc5!) 20... axb6 { , I wasn’t completely sure that this pawn-down position is so indefensible for Black; they have easy pawn targets on open files and their pieces do an effective job of stopping the advance of White’s extra pawn. Also interesting were: }) (18. a4!? { and }) (18. Bb5!? a6 19. Be8 Qf6 { . }) 18... Nd7 19. Qe6+ Kh8 20. Bb2 Nf8 21. Qg4 Qe7 22. d5 Rd8 { White must stop the rook transfer to g6 and contend with any ... b6-b5 pawn breaks. } 23. h4 Bc8 24. Qg3 h6 25. a4 Kh7 26. Be2 Ng6 27. h5 Nh4 28. Rf1 Qg5 (28... Nf5 29. Qg6+ Kh8 30. Rxf5 Bxf5 31. Qxf5 { Unfortunately, the exchange of queens does not help the black pieces, as too many weaknesses have already been created across the board. }) 29. Qxg5 hxg5 30. Rf7 Rd7 31. Rf8 Ba6 (31... Rc7 32. Be5 Re7 33. Rxc8 Rxe5 34. d6 $18) 32. Bg4 Rb7 33. d6 { 1-0 White wins. } 1-0