[Event "2022 Olympiad"] [Site "Chennai, India"] [Date "2022.07.31"] [Round "3.2"] [White "Aronian, Levon"] [Black "Mchedlishvili, Mikheil"] [Result "1-0"] [WhiteElo "2775"] [BlackElo "2593"] [Annotator "King,Alex"] [Variant "From Position"] [ECO "?"] [Opening "?"] [StudyName "2022 FIDE Olympiad - Annotated Games"] [ChapterName "Aronian, Levon - Mchedlishvili, Mikheil"] [ChapterURL "https://lichess.org/study/cS8lSqW7/ryW0d02s"] [FEN "3r4/1p2kp1R/pbp3p1/4P1P1/PP1PK3/5N2/8/8 b - - 0 41"] [SetUp "1"] [Orientation "white"] { [#] [%evp 0,38,0,31,16,23,23,23,28,39,45,41,39,59,66,66,86,83,70,91,99,73,75,81, 138,144,144,173,164,167,172,174,217,178,178,178,164,272,257,258,259] } 41... Ke6 $14 { A practical inaccuracy. } (41... a5!? $13 { would have been a safer defense, preventing White's quasi-bind in the game. }) 42. a5!? Ba7 43. Rh1 { Black now has to be very careful not to allow White a complete grip on the position. } 43... Ke7 $16 { Another subtle inaccuracy. } (43... Rd5? { is worse, leaving Black's bishop trapped after } 44. Rh8! $18 { followed by ...Rh8-a8. }) (43... Bb8! $14 { was therefore the best waiting move, intending } 44. Rh4 Rd5! 45. Rh8 Bc7 $13 { when Black is ready for further counterplay with ...Rd5-b5. }) 44. Kd3 Ke6 45. Rh4 { Now that the d4-pawn is defended by White's rook, his knight is free to reroute, e.g. Nf3-d2-b3-c5 when Black's b7-pawn becomes a target. } 45... Ke7 $18 { The final defensive mistake. } (45... c5!? { was Black's only chance to save the game: } 46. bxc5 Bxc5 47. Rf4 Bb4! $16 { again with counterplay instead of passive suffering. }) 46. Nd2 c5 { The right idea, but too late. } 47. bxc5 Bxc5 48. Kc3 { Preventing ...Bc5-b4 as in the previous note. } 48... Ba7 49. Nc4 Bb8 50. Kd3 Rd5 51. Ke4 { Now that his king has triumphantly returned to the center, White is ready to prepare the advance of his center pawns. } 51... Rb5 52. Rh8 Bc7 53. Ne3 Bxa5 { Black finally breaks through on the queenside, but it is not in time. } 54. Nd5+ Kd7 55. Rf8 Bd8 56. Nf6+! Kc8 (56... Bxf6 57. gxf6 Ke6? { gets mated after } 58. Rd8! $18) 57. Rxf7 a5 58. e6 a4 59. e7 Bxe7 60. Rxe7 { and Black resigned, since 61...a5 62.Re8+ Kc7 63. Ra8 arrests the a-pawn. } 1-0