[Event "45th Chess Olympiad "] [White "Gukesh,Dommaraju"] [Black "Wei,Yi"] [Site ""] [Round ""] [Annotator "Havanur,Nagesh"] [Result "1-0"] [Date "2024.09.12"] [WhiteElo "2764"] [BlackElo "2762"] [PlyCount "23"] [Setup "1"] [FEN "8/8/3k4/p4P2/P6p/2NK1N2/8/7r w - - 0 69"] 69. Ne4+ Kd7 $1 {Wei Yi rightly understands that the king should not be caught in the crossfire of knight checks. So he makes this paradoxical king move away from the dangerous f-pawn and the knights.} ({He cannot stop the pawn promotion with} 69... Ke7 $4 70. f6+ Kf7 71. Nfg5+ Kf8 72. Nc5 $18 )70. Ne5+ Kd8 $2 {This move does not lose. But it makes the draw difficult.} (70... Ke7 { Curiously, this line that lost in the previous line now draws.} 71. f6+ Ke6 72. f7 Rf1 73. Kd4 (73. Ke3 Rf5 74. Ng6 Kxf7 75. Nxh4 Rf1 $11 )Rf4 74. Ng6 Rxf7 75. Ng5+ Kf6 76. Nxf7 Kxg6 77. Ne5+ Kf5 $11 )({A better line is the paradoxical king move, away from knight checks and allowing the rook to manage it all.} 70... Kc7 $1 71. f6 Rf1 72. f7 h3 73. Ng5 h2 74. Ngf3 Rxf3+ 75. Nxf3 h1=Q 76. f8=Q Qd1+ 77. Ke4 Qxa4+ 78. Nd4 $11 )71. f6 h3 $4 {After a heroic defence Wei Yi commits a tragic blunder in time trouble. It's hard to believe that this obvious move can be wrong.} ({Subsequently analysts concluded, he could have drawn with} 71... Rd1+ $1 72. Kc4 (72. Ke2 Rd5 $1 73. Nf7+ Kd7 74. Nfg5 Rf5 $11 )(72. Ke3 Re1+ 73. Kf4 h3 74. Ng3 ({Not} 74. Ng5 $4 Rxe5 75. Kxe5 h2 $19 {and in a sudden reversal of fortunes, Black wins. A fascinating line by Evgeny Gleizerov in "64 Chess Review", 11/2024.} ))h3 73. f7 Rc1+ 74. Kb5 Rf1 75. Kxa5 h2 76. Ng3 Ke7 77. Ng4 Rf3 78. Nxh2 Rxg3 $11 )72. f7 Rf1 73. Ng5 h2 74. Ngf3 Ke7 75. Nxh2 Ra1 76. Nhg4 Ra3+ 77. Kd2 $1 {"Gukesh had only two minutes left here, yet he unerringly zooms in on the only winning king move."- Anish Giri in "New in Chess" Magazine 7/8, 2024} ({The natural retreat, } 77. Ke2 $2 {gives the Black rook counterplay on the fourth rank.} Rxa4 78. Nf6 {Stopping the rook check, a consequence of the king being on e2.} Rh4 79. Nfd7 Rf4 $11 {The rook would sacrifice itself for the pawn with a draw.} )Rxa4 78. Nh6 Ra2+ 79. Ke3 Ra3+ 80. Ke4 (80. Ke4 {If Black tries to stop 81. Ng6+ with} Rg3 $4 {there follows} 81. Nf5+ $18 )1-0