[Event "2022 Olympiad"]
[Site "Chennai, India"]
[Date "2022.07.31"]
[Round "3.1"]
[White "Harikrishna, Pentala"]
[Black "Mastrovasilis, Dimitrios"]
[Result "1-0"]
[WhiteElo "2720"]
[BlackElo "2599"]
[Annotator "King,Alex"]
[Variant "Standard"]
[ECO "E07"]
[Opening "Catalan Opening: Closed, Botvinnik Variation"]
[Source "https://lichess.org/study/cS8lSqW7/xmGi0Uwx"]
[Orientation "white"]
1. c4 e6 2. Nf3 d5 3. g3 Nf6 4. Bg2 Be7 5. O-O O-O 6. d4 c6 { The closed
Catalan, a solid but slightly passive setup for Black. } 7. Nc3 Nbd7 8. Qd3 b6 9. b3 a5 { Slightly unusual. } (9... Bb7 { or 9...Ba6. }) 10. e4 Ba6 11. e5 { White's advanced e-pawn secures him attacking chances on the
kingside. } 11... Ne8 12. a4! { Slowing down Black's queenside play. } 12... Nc7 13. Rd1 h6 14. h4 Rb8 15. Bf4 { The kingside half of the board is similar to a King's
Indian Attack, but whereas in that opening Black usually has a large space
advantage on the queenside, here White is fully engaged there as well. However,
this potentially gives Black more ways to open up the queenside for
counterplay. } 15... b5 16. cxb5 cxb5 17. Qc2 Rc8 18. Rdc1 Bb4 $14 { The first step in
the wrong direction, removing a defender of Black's kingside. } (18... bxa4!? { was a safer way to make progress, e.g. } 19. Nxa4 Nb5 20. Qd1 Rxc1 21. Rxc1 Na7!? $13) 19. Qd1 Nb6 $16 { Removing another kingside defender. } (19... Qe7!? $14 { was again safer. }) 20. Nh2 bxa4 21. Nxa4 Nxa4 22. bxa4 Qe7 23. Ng4 { White is
already developing near-decisive attacking threats. } 23... Na8 $18 { The final straw. } (23... Ne8!? $16 { was the last chance, defending the f6-square. }) 24. Bxh6! { A typical sacrifice seen often in this King's Indian Attack structure. } 24... gxh6 25. Nf6+ Kg7 26. Qg4+ Kh8 27. Qf4 Kg7 28. Bxd5! { A second piece sacrifice to
create access the f5-square. } 28... Bd3 (28... exd5 { allows } 29. Qg4+ Kh8 30. Qf5 $18 { when Black has no good way to avoid mate. }) (28... Rh8 { loses a piece back to } 29. Qg4+ Kf8 30. Rxc8+ Bxc8 31. Bxa8 $18) 29. Nh5+ Kh7 30. Be4+ { 1-0 White wins. } (30... Bxe4 31. Qxe4+ Kh8 32. Nf6 $18) 1-0