[Event "FIDE Olympiad"] [Date "2022.08.07"] [Round "9"] [White "Mastrovasilis, Athanasios"] [Black "So, Wesley"] [Result "0-1"] [WhiteElo "2519"] [BlackElo "2773"] [Annotator "Hansen,Carsten"] [Variant "Standard"] [ECO "E48"] [Opening "Nimzo-Indian Defense: Normal Variation, Classical Defense"] [StudyName "2022 FIDE Olympiad - Annotated Games"] [ChapterName "Mastrovasilis, Athanasios - So, Wesley"] [ChapterURL "https://lichess.org/study/cS8lSqW7/wjjj8qkW"] [Orientation "white"] { [%evp 0,108,21,32,27,-9,-9,4,4,23,31,27,17,0,32,-6,7,13,22,15,15,5,42,52,60, 29,39,35,34,0,0,-10,10,-2,17,-28,-1,-22,26,-30,-18,-17,-30,-23,-23,-23,-23,-75, -66,-72,-76,-76,-79,-85,-83,-83,-86,-91,-64,-71,-75,-82,-86,-83,-75,-78,-75, -86,-91,-93,-95,-98,-92,-110,-108,-114,-92,-95,-88,-96,-112,-109,-115,-152, -161,-173,-192,-215,-215,-217,-218,-308,-313,-313,-344,-350,-188,-227,-227, -505,-505,-505,-537,-607,-637,-640,-716,-716,-716,-716,-722] } 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. e3 O-O 5. Bd3 d5 6. Ne2 dxc4 7. Bxc4 c5 8. O-O cxd4 9. exd4 Nc6 10. a3 Bxc3 11. bxc3 h6 12. Qd3 Na5 13. Ba2 b6 14. Re1 Bb7 15. Nf4?! (15. c4 { was better, offering White a decent position. }) 15... Re8 16. Bd2 Qd6 17. c4 Ba6 { Black has equalized. } 18. d5 exd5 19. Nxd5 Rxe1+ 20. Rxe1 Qxd5 21. Qxd5 Nxd5 22. Bxa5 Nf4! { A nice intermediary move, threatening to send the knight to d3 with an advantage for Black. } 23. Bb4 Rc8 24. g3 { White could also have considered } (24. Bd2 Bxc4 25. Bxf4 Bxa2 26. f3 { although Black obviously will be able to play for a win for a long time. }) 24... Nd3 25. Re7 { White takes the route of the active defense. } 25... Bxc4 26. Bxc4 Rxc4 27. Rxa7 Nxb4 28. axb4 g5! { A very important move, aiming to stop White from playing h2-h4. Interestingly, although it looks impossible for White to do anything about it, it was nevertheless possible. } 29. b5?! { White could have tried } (29. h4! gxh4 30. Rb7 Rxb4 31. gxh4 { with excellent drawing chances. }) 29... Rb4 30. Rb7 Rxb5 31. Kg2 (31. g4!? { was more active, intending to put the king on g3 and play h2-h4. }) 31... Kg7 32. Kf3? { Too passive! White should have played } (32. g4! Kg6 33. h4! { and White should hold the draw. }) 32... Rb3+! 33. Ke2 g4! 34. Rb8 h5 { So is keeping } (34... b5 { in reserve, hesitating to give White's rook access to the 6th rank, but apparently it was perfectly fine, for instance, }) 35. Rb7 Rb5 36. Kf1 Kf6 37. Rc7 Rc5 38. Rb7 b5 { Now Black has an easily won position. The rook will go to f5 to protect the f7-pawn while the black king will march to the queenside to support the b-pawn. } 39. Ke2 Rf5 40. Rb6+ Ke7 41. f4 gxf3+ 42. Kf2 Kd7 43. h3 Kc7 44. Ra6 b4 45. Ra4 Rb5 { With the rook behind the pawn, things are getting trivial. } 46. Kxf3 b3 47. Ra1 Kb6 48. g4 b2 49. Rb1 hxg4+ 50. Kxg4 Ka5 51. h4 Ka4 52. h5 Kb3 53. h6 Ka2 54. h7 Rb8 { and White resigned. } 0-1