[Event "44th Olympiad 2022 "] [White "Gukesh,D"] [Black "Abdusattorov,Nodirbek"] [Site ""] [Round ""] [Annotator "Ivan Sokolov"] [Result "0-1"] [Date "2022.08.08"] [WhiteElo "2684"] [BlackElo "2688"] [PlyCount "144"] 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 Bb4 5. Qa4+ Nc6 6. e3 O-O 7. Bd2 a5 8. a3 Bxc3 9. Bxc3 Ne7 10. Qc2 b6 11. b3 Ba6 12. a4 Ne4 13. Bb2 Nc6 14. Ba3 Nb4 15. Bxb4 axb4 16. Bd3 Nf6 17. O-O c5 18. dxc5 bxc5 19. e4 dxe4 20. Bxe4 Ra7 21. Ne5 Qd6 22. Rfe1 Nxe4 23. Qxe4 Rd8 24. Qf3 Qc7 25. Rad1 Raa8 26. Rxd8+ Rxd8 27. Rd1 Rc8 28. Qg3 h5 29. h3 Rd8 30. Rxd8+ Qxd8 31. Nd3 h4 32. Qe3 Bb7 33. f3 Qd6 34. Kf1 e5 35. Nxc5 Bc8 36. Ke1 Bf5 37. a5 Qc7 38. a6 Bc8 39. Nd3 Bxa6 40. Qxe5 Qb6 {Time control has been reached. White played an excellent technical game and has an easily won position. He is a pawn up and has positional domination. To compound the damage, two games were drawn, while Sindarov had a losing endgame vs Pragg. Needless to say our chances to survive the match (at this moment) I rated below zero!} 41. Nc5 Qa5 42. Kd1 {This does not throw away anything, but it's the start of a wrong plan.} ({It's important to mention that White does not have an immediate win with} 42. Qe8+ Kh7 43. Qe4+ Kg8 44. Qa8+ Kh7 45. Nxa6 $4 {as Black starts checking with} Qa1+ $11 {and saves a draw.} )({In my opinion the easiest plan was to hide the king from checks.} 42. Kf2 $1 Qb6 43. Kg1 Qh6 44. Kh2 $18 {and White wins.} )Qd8+ 43. Kc2 Bc8 44. Ne4 Be6 45. Kb2 Qa8 $1 {Creating counterplay.} 46. Nc5 Qa3+ 47. Kb1 g6 $1 $11 {Black is no longer worse and should save the game!} 48. Kc2 Qa2+ 49. Qb2 Bf5+ 50. Ne4 Qa7 51. Kd3 Qg1 {White cannot make progress. I was happy that Nodirbek had saved the game ... but in essence much did not change as Sindarov had lost to Pragg and we were losing the match ...} 52. Qc2 Qc5 53. Qd2 Qg1 54. Kc2 Qa1 55. Kd3 Qg1 56. Qe2 Qa7 {Honestly, I expected a draw agreement. Gukesh was running low on time, it's obvious that he has ruined his advantage, a draw is enough for India to win the match ... Unfortunately for Nodirbek he cannot play for a win ...} 57. Qe3 $2 {This does not lose the game, but psychologically, it's a huge blunder! The game is now double- edged, with Black having more time on his clock. Your computer engine would be still giving you 0-0 evaluation, but (in a higher sense) this decision was a losing blunder.} Qa2 {White now loses his pawn on g2, and the position is sharp. It's now easy to makea mistake and lose the game.} 58. Kd4 Qxg2 59. Ng5 f6 60. Qe8+ Kg7 61. Qe7+ Kh6 62. Nf7+ Kh5 { Now White can make a draw.} 63. Kc5 ({Your computer engine would tell you,} 63. Qe3 $1 g5 64. Qe8 Bd7 65. Qh8+ $11 {(or even 65.Qe4) led to a level position. But Gukesh was in time trouble and in this kind of position all three results are possible. This time around I was convinced that Nodirbek would win and the match would be saved!} )Qxf3 64. Qxf6 Qe3+ 65. Kxb4 Bxh3 66. Ne5 Qd2+ 67. Kb5 Bd7+ 68. Kc5 $2 (68. Nxd7 $1 Qxd7+ 69. Kb6 h3 70. c5 $11 {Here my engine gives 0-0 evaluation. But in human play it's is still easy to go wrong ...} )Qe3+ 69. Kb4 Bf5 70. Qh8+ Qh6 71. Qd8 Qg7 72. Nf3 $4 {A blunder in a difficult position.} Qb7+ $1 {and the match has been saved!} 0-1