[Event "EU-ch 23rd "] [White "Sarana,Alexey"] [Black "Korobov,Anton"] [Site ""] [Round ""] [Annotator "Sarana, Alexey"] [Result "1-0"] [Date "2023.03.11"] [WhiteElo "2668"] [BlackElo "2658"] [PlyCount "113"] 1. d4 {Before this game I had 6.5 out of 8, and that was half a point less than my opponent had bagged at that point. Fortunately, I had already qualified to play in the 2023 World Cup in an earlier tournament - so I wasn't very afraid of losing this game and was willing to risk.} Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 Bb4+ 4. Bd2 c5 5. Bxb4 cxb4 6. e3 b6 7. Bd3 Bb7 8. Nbd2 O-O 9. O-O {The first player has a simple plan: Rf1-e1, e3-e4, Nd2-f1-g3, Bd3-c2-a4, Ra1-c1 with ideal piece placement. Black has almost no possibility to do anything against it.} a5 10. Re1 d6 11. e4 Nc6 12. Nf1 e5 13. Bc2 Rc8 14. Rc1 g6 15. Ba4 Qe7 $6 ({The best sequel was} 15... h5 $5 {which would give the black equal play, e.g. } 16. b3 (16. Ng3 Nxd4 17. Nxd4 exd4 18. Qxd4 h4 19. Nf1 h3 $13 )Nb8 17. Ng3 Na6 18. h4 Qe7 $13 )16. Ne3 Nxd4 17. Nxd4 exd4 18. Qxd4 Nxe4 {I hoped that my opponent would not dare to make this continuation, but he probably realized that everything else is bad, and was thus forced to calculate the text move, and then decide to do so as well. Fortunately, White has a dangerous answer:} 19. Ng4 $1 (19. Nd5 Bxd5 20. Qxd5 Nf6 $1 21. Qd4 Qd8 22. Rcd1 Nd7 $11 )(19. f3 Qf6 $1 )(19. Qxb6 Nc5 20. Nd5 Qg5 21. f4 Qh4 22. g3 Qh3 23. Bd7 $1 Nxd7 24. Ne7+ Kg7 25. Qxb7 Rce8 26. Qd5 $14 )Qg5 20. Bd7 $1 Rc5 $1 ({After} 20... Rcd8 21. h4 Qd2 (21... Qxh4 22. g3 $18 )22. Nf6+ Kh8 23. Qxd2 Nxd2 24. Bb5 $1 { Black must make too great a positional concession to save his knight:} d5 25. Re7 Ba8 26. Nd7 Rg8 27. Ne5 $18 )(20... Rc7 21. h4 Qd2 22. Nf6+ Kh8 23. Qxd2 Nxd2 24. Bb5 $1 $18 )21. Rcd1 ({Maybe} 21. h4 {was a better option - White won't catch the opponent's knight with it, but there is only one saving line for Black, and it is not easy to find:} Qd2 22. Nf6+ Kh8 23. Qxd2 Nxd2 24. Bb5 Rfc8 $1 25. Nd7 (25. b3 $5 Ne4 26. Rxe4 Bxe4 27. Nxe4 Rxb5 28. Nxd6 Rbc5 29. Nxc8 Rxc8 30. Rd1 $14 {- this endgame is unpleasant for black.} )Rh5 26. Nxb6 Rxh4 $1 {All black moves in this line are forced.} 27. Nxc8 Nf3+ $1 { Thanks to this tactical resource, Black's counterplay works.} 28. Kf1 Nxe1 29. Nxd6 Nd3 $13 )h5 22. Rxe4 hxg4 23. Rxg4 Qe5 24. Qxd6 Qxd6 $2 {The crucial mistake - after that White remains with an extra pawn and moves his bishop to b5, where it will be very well placed in terms of defence.} ({With} 24... Bc8 $1 {Black could have saved himself:} 25. Qxe5 Rxe5 26. Bxc8 Rxc8 27. Kf1 b5 28. cxb5 Rxb5 29. Rgd4 Rc2 30. R1d2 b3 31. a3 Rbc5 {If you see this position in your mind's eye when calculating in advance, you may very well assess it as rather lost, but in reality it's a fortress - White can't get rid of the rook on c2.} )25. Rxd6 Rd8 26. Rgd4 (26. Rgxg6+ {(at the board I thought this continuation would complicate things) also wins.} fxg6 27. Be6+ Kg7 28. Rxd8 Re5 29. Kf1 $1 $18 )Kf8 27. Bb5 Rxd6 28. Rxd6 Be4 29. Rxb6 Bd3 30. Rb8+ Ke7 31. b3 Bb1 32. Ba4 Re5 33. f4 ({Easier was} 33. Re8+ Kd6 34. Rxe5 Kxe5 35. h4 $18 {- the positions with bishops of the same color and one extra pawn on each wing are almost always won, and it is the same here, but such activation of the opponent's king put me off this line.} )Re1+ 34. Kf2 Rc1 35. Re8+ Kd6 36. Re1 Rc2+ 37. Re2 Rc3 38. Rd2+ Kc5 39. Be8 f6 40. Rd5+ Kb6 41. Rd6+ Kc5 42. Rd5+ Kb6 43. Rd2 Kc5 44. h4 Be4 45. f5 {This tactical solution almost ends the game.} gxf5 (45... Bxf5 46. h5 gxh5 47. Rd5+ $18 )46. h5 a4 $1 {Black fights to the end, and it's the right thing to do! For my part, I had relaxed too early - and that led to a mistake:} 47. Bxa4 f4 48. Re2 $2 { Fortunately for me, I had enough extra pawns, so this mistake was not critical, but it cost me a lot of nerves. There was even a line where I didn't see a win. } Bxg2 49. Bd7 Bf3 ({I feared the line} 49... Bb7 $5 50. h6 Rc1 51. h7 Rh1 52. Bf5 Rh2+ 53. Ke1 Rh1+ 54. Kd2 f3 {After I had an absolutely winning position, this position looked anything but tempting to me. In reality, however, further moves by White can easily be found with the help of the exclusion method.} (54... Kd4 55. Re8 Rh2+ 56. Kc1 Rh1+ 57. Kb2 Rh2+ 58. Bc2 f3 59. h8=Q Rxh8 60. Rxh8 f2 61. Rd8+ Ke3 62. Bd3 $18 )55. Re1 $1 Rh2+ 56. Ke3 $18 )50. h6 $1 { Here I have carefully checked everything and calculated to the profitable end.} Bxe2 51. h7 Rc2 52. h8=Q Bg4+ 53. Ke1 Rc1+ 54. Kd2 Rd1+ 55. Kc2 Rxd7 56. Qxf6 Bd1+ 57. Kc1 {So I won a good and, above all, the most important game for the fight for the European title.} 1-0