[Event "European Team Championship "]
[White "Kourkoulos Arditis,Stamatis"]
[Black "Indjic,Aleksandar"]
[Site ""]
[Round ""]
[Annotator "Havanur,Nagesh"]
[Result "0-1"]
[Date "2023.11.20"]
[WhiteElo "2543"]
[BlackElo "2601"]
[PlyCount "83"]
[Setup "1"]
[FEN "r3r3/6bk/1pNp2p1/2nPp2n/2P5/pPB2PR1/P1K1B3/7R b - - 0 37"]
{Indjic has been outplayed. Now he finds an astonishing resource to create
counterplay.} 37... Kg8 $5 38. Rxg6 $2 {Kourkoulos falls for the trap even as
he races to reach the time control.} ({It was not easy to calculate and see} 38. Rg4 $1 Nf4 39. Bf1 Kf7 40. Rxf4+ exf4 41. Rh7 Rg8 42. Bh3 {with a
continuing attack} )Nf4 $1 {The point.} 39. Rhg1 Nxg6 40. Rxg6 {White
has only one pawn for the loss of exchange.} Kf7 (40... Nb7 41. f4 Kh7 42. Rg2 )41. Rxd6 {Winning the second pawn.} Bf8 (41... Kf8 42. b4 Nb7 43. Rd7 Nd8 44. b5 $18 {The bishops would soon enter the fray and enable Whte to win.} )42. Nxe5+ {Winning the third pawn.} Rxe5 {Forced. Otherwise he loses the b-pawn.} 43. Bxe5 Bxd6 44. Bxd6 {White has three pawns for the exchange. The two
bishops could help in promoting the d-pawn. Yet the Black rook and knight
resist them all.} Re8 45. Bd1 Rg8 46. Kc3 Rg2 47. Bc2 Rf2 48. f4 Rf3+ 49. Kb4 Rf2 50. Bf5 $2 {This gives Black needless counterchances.} ({Instead he could
have tried} 50. Kc3 Rf3+ 51. Kd2 Rf2+ 52. Kd1 Rf1+ 53. Ke2 Rg1 54. f5 $14 {
, though even here the winning chances are slim on account of the exposed
position of the White king.} )Rxa2 51. Be5 Na6+ 52. Kb5 Re2 53. Bc3 Nc5 54. Kxb6 Re3 55. Bh8 Re8 56. Bc3 Re3 57. Ba1 Nxb3 58. d6 Nxa1 $4 {This
ambitious move is a blunder and it should lose.} ({GM Colovic offers two
remarkable drawing lines. Here is the first of them:} 58... Re1 $1 59. d7 Rd1 60. Be5 a2 61. Bc2 Rxd7 62. Bxb3 Rd3 63. Bxa2 Ra3 $11 )({Now for the second:} 58... Re8 $1 59. d7 Rf8 60. c5 Ke7 61. c6 Rxf5 {(so far Colovic)} 62. Be5 Rxe5 63. fxe5 Nc5 $1 64. Kc7 Ne6+ 65. Kc8 a2 66. c7 a1=Q 67. d8=Q+ Nxd8 68. cxd8=Q+ Kf7 69. Qf6+ Kg8 70. Qg6+ Kh8 $11 {NSH} )59. d7 Nb3 60. d8=Q a2 61. Bg6+ $2 ({
Kourkoulos misses} 61. Qd7+ Kf6 62. Qc8 $3 Kf7 63. Qb7+ Kf6 64. Qa8 Kxf5 65. Qxa2 Kxf4 66. c5 Nxc5 67. Kxc5 $18 {Winning this queen versus rook endgame,
however, is not easy.} )Kxg6 62. Qg8+ Kf6 63. Qf8+ Kg6 64. Qg8+ Kf6 65. Qh8+ $4 (65. Qf8+ $1 $11 {still offers perpetual check.} )Kf5 66. Qh5+ Ke4 ({Not} 66... Kxf4 $4 67. Qh2+ $1 {and the tide turns!} )67. Qd5+ Kxf4 68. Qf7+ Kg3 69. Qg7+ Kf2 70. Qb2+ Re2 71. Qf6+ Ke3 72. c5 $4 ({He could have
prolonged resistance with} 72. Qg5+ Kd3 73. Qf5+ Kd2 74. Qg5+ Kc2 75. Qf5+ Kb2 76. Qf6+ Kb1 77. Qf5+ Rc2 78. Qf1+ Nc1 $19 )a1=Q 73. Qg5+ Kd3 74. Qf5+ Re4 75. Qf3+ Re3 76. Qf5+ Kc4 77. c6 Qd4+ 78. Kb7 Nc5+ {A debacle for White!} 0-1