Greetings everyone! First of all, thank you to Benjámin Gledura for inviting
me to annotate this game for Chess Life magazine. Before this game, I was in
the pack of players on "minus one" after four rounds, while my opponent, Sam
Sevian was in the leading group with "plus one." The day before, Sam had to
defend for a long time against Dariusz Swiercz, and eventually drew his game
after 179 moves. I figured he might have been tired after this long game and
therefore it would be good if I could put him under pressure in this game as
well.1.d4Nf62.c4e63.g3...Going for the Catalan, perhaps this might
have been a first slight surprise for Sam as 3. Nc3 is my main move in this
position.3.Nc3When I played Sam in the 2021 FIDE World Cup, I played
this move three times, inviting the Nimzo-Indian.Bb4In the first classical
game and in the first tiebreak game of the match, I played4.Qc2(4.f3was what I played when I was in a must-win situation in the second set of
rapid games.)3....d54.Bg2dxc45.Nf3...5.Qa4+In round three of the
tournament, Illya Nyzhnyk played against Sam, but Sam held comfortably.5....c5Sam's usual response, and one of the main lines against the Catalan. Black
aims to play ... Nb8-c6 quickly and clear up the situation in the center right
away.6.O-ONc67.dxc5...Leading to an endgame where White can hope for a
slight edge.7.Qa4The other main lines are this move and7.Ne57....Qxd18.Rxd1Bxc59.Nbd2...Aiming to regain the pawn on c4.9....c3Since Black
does not have a good way to hang on to the pawn, their best option is to
return it this way to damage our pawn structure a bit.10.bxc3O-O11.Nb3Be712.c4...Gaining some space on the queenside, and opening up the a1-h8
diagonal, as we are aiming to play Bc1-b2 next.12.Nfd4is the other main
move.12....Bd713.Bb2Rfd814.Nfd4Rac815.Nb5b616.Nd6Bxd616...Rc7is Black's other main move.17.Rxd6Be818.Rxd8Nxd8White has managed
to get the advantage of the bishop pair, but Black is aiming to play ...
Be8-c6 quickly to trade off the light-squared bishops.19.Rc1Bc620.c5Bxg221.Kxg2Nd722.cxb6Rxc123.Bxc1...Up until this point, Sam and I had both
been blitzing out the opening, but this is where he had his first real think
of the game.23....axb6After a 12-minute think, Sam settled on this recapture.23...Nxb6is of course also possible. White also has a slight advantage here,
but Black should hold with accurate play.24.Kf3...Activating the king.
White is slightly better in this endgame due to our more active king and the
bishop is often better than Black's knight. That being said, Black should hold
with accuracy as the position is quite simplified.24....f5A logical move,
stopping my king from advancing up the board. With this move, Sam was still
following a game that he had played with Black against Ray Robson in the 2022
American Cup.24...Nc6has also been played in some games, most notably in
Giri – So, Bucharest, 2019.25.Ke3e5Once again, stopping White's king
from advancing up the board by building a wall of pawns.26.g4!?N...The first new move of the game. White is sacrificing a pawn to try to get
access into Black's position.26.Kd3The game Robson – Sevian, St Louis,
2022 sawb527.e4g628.exf5gxf529.g4fxg430.Ke4Nc6and eventually
finished in a draw after 50 moves.26....g6The best move, maintaining the
pawn wall and stopping my king from advancing.26...fxg4Black is not in
good shape to accept the pawn sacrifice after27.Ke4Kf728.Kd5±when White's king enters Black's position, and Black is in serious danger of
losing.27.gxf5gxf528.f4...Again, trying to break down Black's pawn wall
so that my king can advance up the board. Up to this point, I was still in my
preparation. It is actually one of two moves that are still fine for Black.28....Ne6After a 21-minute think, Sam settled on this move, which took me out of
my preparation.28...Kf7This was the only move that I had looked at in my
preparation, after which White still has nagging pressure and Black will have
to play accurately to hold the draw.29.fxe5...I realized I did not have
much choice, and just had to go for this trade.29....Nxe5Of course, Black has to
recapture, and this is where I had my first real think of the game. After 17
minutes, I decided on30.Nd4...Attacking the f5-pawn, and offering the trade
of pawn so my king can advance up the board.30.h3I also considered this
move, with the idea to play Nb3-d4 on the next move, without having to worry
about ... Ne5-g4+. However, this is too slow. Black's easiest way to equalize
isb5as now31.Nd4runs intoNc4+32.Kd3Ne5+33.Kc3b4+30....f4+?This move is actually losing, but even the strongest engines have trouble
seeing why.30...Ng4+Black's only way to hang on,31.Kd3the endgame
is still quite unpleasant for Black.31.Ke4Nxd432.Kxd4f3This was
Sam's idea. Black trades off another pair of pawns, and will pick up the
h2-pawn afterwards. However, Black's king and knight will be extremely far
away from White's a-pawn, which will soon become a passer.33.exf3Nxf3+34.Kd5...34.Kc4leads to the same thing afterNxh235.Kb5followed by Kxb6.34....Nxh235.Kc6Kf7Sam brings the king closer to the queenside. Initially,
I thought White should easily be winning here, but Black has a lot more
resources than I initially thought.35...Nf336.Kxb6Nd4Initially, I
thought that this was Black's best chance to hold, but White is winning after37.Be3.(37.Bb2Black still hasNf3With the idea to meet38.a4?withNd2and Black manages to stop the pawn with ...Nb3.)Nc238.Bd2(38.Bc5I saw that after this natural move, Black hasNa1!With the idea to meet 39.a4 with 39...Nb3.)Na339.Bc1Nc4+40.Kc5As Black's knight is getting pushed away, and White's a-pawn will start
running.36.Kxb6...Of course, White should take the pawn.36....Ke6Here I
thought for a long time, 42 minutes to be exact. For a long time, I could not
find a win as Black moves their king to c8, and is just in time to get back
with their knight to prevent me from queening right away. But then I spotted a
clever idea...37.a4...I had also considered some other moves like 37.Kc7 to
shoulder Black's king, but Black can always bring their knight back in time.37....Kd738.a5Kc839.Bf4...Of course, I could not let Black's king reach the
a8-corner, as then the position would be dead drawn.39....Ng4Black has to bring
their knight back this way, as Black will need to check White's king on d5 to
stop White from queening right away.40.a6Ne3This was the move that had
caused me a lot trouble figuring out the win on move 37.40...Nf6I was
quite happy to see this in my calculations.41.Kc6That said, it is still
not over here, as Black hasNg841.Kc6...41.a7Black is just in time to
meet this move withNd5+42.Ka6Nb4+41....Nf5Initially, I thought that
Black would be holding here. Black is again just in time to meet 42. a7 with
42. ... Ne7+ 43. Kb6 Nd5+ 44. Ka6 Nb4+. I therefore considered placing my
bishop on d6 to control the b4-square, but thought that Black would always be
able to play ... Ne3-f5 to kick the bishop away, and once the bishop moves,
Black can play ... Nf5-e7 again. However, it then occurred to me that I can
meet a potential ... Nf5 with Kc6-b6! as ... Nxd6 will be met by a7 Nc4+ Ka6
and the White a-pawn queens. I then started to realize that White can put
Black in zugzwang by placing the bishop on d6 and the king on c5 when Black's
knight is on e7, as Black can push the h-pawn, but is eventually also going to
run out of moves with that one as my bishop covers the h2-square.42.Bd6Ne7+42...Nxd643.a7would make my job a lot easier.43.Kc5...The first
zugzwang, Black has to start pushing the h-pawn.43....h543...Nf544.Kb6Nxd645.a7Nc4+46.Ka6is the line I was referring to earlier.44.Bh2Ng645.Bg3Ne746.Bd6...Black is in zugzwang again and has to push the h-pawn again.46....h447.Be5Nf548.Bf4Ne749.Bd6...Again, Black is in zugzwang.49....h350.Bh2Nf551.Bf4Ne352.Bd6Nc2Black's best attempt. Moving the king up to c6 or
b6 will allow Black to instantly draw with ... h3-h2 followed by Nb4.
Furthermore, our bishop is already ideally placed, but fortunately we have
another way to put Black in zugzwang.52...Nf553.Kb6Nxd654.a7Nc4+55.Ka6as my pawn will queen one move earlier.53.Kb5...Another zugzwang,
when Black's knight moves, White can play Kb6 or Kc6.53....Ne354.Kc6h2White
was threatening 55.a7, so Black finally has to give up their h-pawn.55.Bxh2Nf556.Bd6...Here again, White has to be patient as pushing the pawn right
away would allow Black to draw.56....Ne7+57.Kc5...The final zugzwang! Black's
knight has to move, and then White can finally play Kb6, followed by a7, after
which the a-pawn promotes.57....Nf558.Kb6...Finally executing the idea that I had
already in mind many moves ago.58....Nxd659.a7Nc4+60.Ka6...Black's pieces just
come a little short to stopping the a-pawn.60....Kc761.a8=Q...The rest was not
difficult, I figured I should win as long as I do not blunder any forks :)61....Kd662.Kb5Ne563.Qe4Nd764.Qc6+Ke765.Qa6Nf866.Kc4Ne667.Qc6Kf768.Kd5Nf4+69.Ke4Ng670.Qd6Ne771.Ke5Ng6+72.Kf5Ne7+73.Kg5Ng874.Qd5+Kf875.Qd7An important win that got me back to 50% in the tournament! As
fate would have it, Sam and I would meet again in the finals of the play-offs.1-0