[Event "Candidates Tournament (Zurich)"] [Site "?"] [Date "1953.??.??"] [Round "14"] [White "Averbakh"] [Black "Kotov"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "A55"] [PlyCount "102"] [EventDate "1953.??.??"] {This game is analysed on Jim's Chess Channel on YouTube and by David Bronstein in "The Chess Struggle in Practice", game no. 96. The 1953 Candidates Tournament was held at Zurich to find the challenger to Botvinnik in the 1954 World Championship match. It was a 15 player double-round all-play-all, featuring all the strongest players of the time except the world champion himself. Smyslov emerged as the winner by two points and went on to draw the 1954 match with Botvinnik. This game is one of the highlights of the tournament. After a relatively quiet beginning the game explodes into life with Kotov's justly famous queen sacrifice on move 30.} 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 d6 3. Nf3 Nbd7 4. Nc3 e5 5. e4 Be7 6. Be2 O-O 7. O-O c6 8. Qc2 Re8 9. Rd1 Bf8 10. Rb1 a5 11. d5 Nc5 12. Be3 Qc7 13. h3 Bd7 14. Rbc1 g6 15. Nd2 Rab8 16. Nb3 Nxb3 17. Qxb3 c5 18. Kh2 Kh8 19. Qc2 Ng8 20. Bg4 Nh6 21. Bxd7 Qxd7 22. Qd2 Ng8 23. g4 f5 24. f3 Be7 25. Rg1 Rf8 26. Rcf1 Rf7 27. gxf5 gxf5 28. Rg2 f4 29. Bf2 Rf6 30. Ne2 Qxh3+ 31. Kxh3 Rh6+ 32. Kg4 Nf6+ 33. Kf5 Nd7 34. Rg5 Rf8+ 35. Kg4 Nf6+ 36. Kf5 Ng8+ 37. Kg4 Nf6+ 38. Kf5 Nxd5+ 39. Kg4 Nf6+ 40. Kf5 Ng8+ 41. Kg4 Nf6+ 42. Kf5 Ng8+ 43. Kg4 Bxg5 44. Kxg5 Rf7 45. Bh4 Rg6+ 46. Kh5 Rfg7 47. Bg5 Rxg5+ 48. Kh4 Nf6 49. Ng3 Rxg3 50. Qxd6 R3g6 51. Qb8+ Rg8 0-1