C64 Spanish Game: Classical Defence (3...Bc5) except 4.O-O Nf6 (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Bc5 4.O-O Nge7 5.c3 Bb6 6.d4)

The first game in this post was played at Chess.com in May, 2014. This is one of the several hundred Daily chess games I have played there. The first position of interest in my opinion can be seen in the diagram below. My opponent, hppchess, played 12.Ba4 in the game. Retreating with the bishop to a4 does not really make sense. The bishop is not doing anything useful there. The only way for the bishop to really get into play is to move it to c2 later. It was a better idea to place the bishop to the b1-h7 diagonal immediately. Even if it may result in few exchanges, it should be played.

In the game I played 12...Nxe3, which won the bishop pair, but trading the good knight for the bad bishop was not a good idea. It was a better idea to play 12...f6 and try to undermine the central pawns and maybe get the rook into play. Since I was not able to play the strongest move, the game continued in a relatively equal manner until we reached the position after 26...Rb7 that you can see in the next diagram.

Hppchess played 27.Bf3 in the game, with the idea of playing e4 in a convenient moment. However, the bishop blocked the f-file and made it more difficult for the rooks to do anything active. I replied with 27...b4 and took advantage of my opponent's inaccuracy. The game continued with the moves 28.axb4 Qxb4 29.e4 and then I moved my rook to d8, worried about the move exd5. It was, however, a mistake and the only move that seems to keep my advantage was 29...Qxb2. The game continuation was only good enough to an evenly played game. One of the biggest blunders of the game was played by hppchess in the diagram position below. My opponent played 38.Qf2 and the game could have come to a quick end, had I found the crushing reply 38...c3.

I chose to play 38...Rd3 instead, which is not a horrible move, but pales in comparison to 38...c3. I was clearly in the driver's seat up to the move 42.Qd2, which was actually a huge blunder that would have allowed me to take the winning advantage, had I played the correct move 42...Qe4. I played 42...Qxd6 instead for some reason in the next diagram position. After my 42nd move the position should be roughly even, but it is probably easier to play with the white pieces.

I did get one more chance to play for the win. The next critical position can be seen below. Hppchess moved the queen to e3, which could have cost my opponent the game, had I known how to take advantage of that unfortunate move.

By playing 50...Qc2+, I could have been on my way to victory that is if the computer analysis is to be believed. I played 50...hxg3+ instead and the game ended in a draw after a couple of more moves.

Game number two. The game below was played in a team match called 2. It was played between BULGARIA and Magnus Carlsen Group. I was playing on board 3 for the Magnus Carlsen Group in this match. The match ended with a score 27 - 7 in favor of BULGARIA. In this 17 board match we lost both games on boards 1, 5, 6, 11, 15 and 17 due to timeouts. So 12 points were basically just given to our opponent for free. That is too many points lost on an unfortunate thing like that.

The next diagram shows the position after my 14th move Qxe5. This was perhaps the first time in the game when one of the players was given an opportunity to get a clear advantage. I was able to find the strongest reply and also the only move that gave me any advantage, 15...Qxc3. After the obvious 16.bxc3 the pawn structure was changed for the worse from crisdim's perspective. I continued with the move 16...Ra3, which not only attacks the pawn on c3, blocks the pawn on a2, but also prepares the doubling of rooks to the a-file.

The game continued to be clearly in my favor for a few moves, until it came time to play my 21st move in the next diagram position. I played the move 21...Ba4, which does not make much sense, it places the bishop on a bad square and ends up being a waste of time. Crisdim played 22.Nd4 in reply and improved the position of the knight. I then played 22...Kf8, a good move that would have been much better a move earlier. Crisdim then made a huge blunder 23.Nf5, but unfortunately I was not able to find the strongest reply 23...g6 and played 23...Rc2 instead. The move 23...g6 would have driven the knight back and the amount of possible squares for the knight would have decreased, making it a worse piece. The move I played was a decent one, which kept at least a clear advantage on my side.

The position after the rooks had been exchanged is one that I should not have lost. Then again I am capable of losing pretty much any position... :-P The chess engine clearly preferred my position up to the move 29.Ke2, but I am not so sure that it would be so easy to think that during the game. To me the position does not seem to be clearly better for the player controlling the black pieces. I would evaluate the position to be closer to a draw than anything else. I had the right idea of advancing my pawns on the queenside, but I did not do it in the best way possible and therefore my opponent had some chances he or she would not have had otherwise. I played 29...c6 in the next diagram position and the game started to fizzle out towards a draw even according to Stockfish 8 64 POPCNT running on 4 4GHz processors.

The game continued with the moves 30.Kd3 Ba4 and during those moves the position was roughly even, but then crisdim played 31.g4, allowing me to be on the advantageous side once again. My advantage did not long to evaporate because after 32.g5 I went for the move 32...fxg5 and the game was played evenly again. I should have played 32...bxc4+. Both players then continued playing accurately and a draw should been the result of this game, but then I made a huge blunder in the diagram position below and threw the game away with the move 41...Kd8??

I do not remember why I did not go for the move 41...Kd6, which to me seems now the most obvious try. 41...Kd8 was probably just a hasty move that I had not thought about enough to understand the problem with it. We played a few more moves, but when it came clear that I was lost, I resigned after 44.d7+.

Game number three. This game was played in a team match called Rematch. It was played on 47 boards between LATINO and Space Angels Calculating Thermodynamic Shift In Andromeda's Cluster Of Infinite Bright Stars. I played on board 11 for the latter and I lost my other game against cedula1066. The match ended with a score 37.5 - 56.5 in favor of Space Angels Calculating Thermodynamic Shift In Andromeda's Cluster Of Infinite Bright Stars.

For this game I went back to my old lines for some reason and I am glad that I did so. I am still more comfortable in these kind of positions than I would be in the variations of Spanish that start to go 3...a6 instead of 3...Bc5. On his 7th move, cedula1066 made an interesting decision of not taking back on d4 with the pawn and instead he played Re1. I think that had to be a mistake. It is much better to play cxd4 there than Re1. It is true that he got some play out of it, but I was able to defend against the attack quite easily. Cedula1066 had some compensation for the material up to the move 12...fxe5, but then my opponent played 13.Qh5 in a position that can be seen in the diagram below.

The game continued being clearly in my favor until we reached the position after 25.Rf3+. It can be shown in the diagram below. I played 25...Ke8 in the game because I wanted to keep my bishop attacking the pawn on e4 and not place it to f7 where it is pinned to the king. That being said, I should have played 25...Bf7 because it would have avoided the problem with the move 26.Rc3. I would have lost the pawn back and material would have been even, had my opponent indeed played 26.Rc3.

In the game cedula1066 played the much more passive 26.Re3 and my opponent was in a lost position. However, after 29...Ne6, cedula1066 started to be the one with initiative again. On move 40 the situation on the board had become easier to play and I was quite confident about my winning chances. I may have started with the wrong idea on my 40th move though, I wanted to put my king to e5, because I thought it would be well placed there, but later on I noticed that I was wrong and had to retreat to d7 again and after 46...Kd7 I was not sure about my win anymore, due to the poor moves I had made. I started to finally go with my king to the right direction with 48...Kc6 and the plan on how to win this position started to form in my mind. That being said, I faced an important decision after 50.Nf5 that could have been the turning point of the game. I considered my options of moving the rook or taking on f5 with the bishop. I thought that not taking on f5 was more dangerous of the two options, so I took on f5 with my bishop. I was very confident that my pawns are much more dangerous than cedula1066's f-pawn. The game continuation proved my thought process to be correct. I did face another important decision on move 56, should I protect my a-pawn or just push the c-pawn. Defending the a-pawn seemed like a simpler win, so I played my rook to a7. There could have been a plan for my opponent to reply with Rg3 and plant the rook to g7 on the following move and I think that it would have been the best option for my opponent to try to make things as difficult as possible for me. I might have blundered the game away, had the game continued like that. Especially since there was only one way to win after Rg7 that involved pushing the c-pawn.

[Event "Let's Play!"] [Site "Chess.com"] [Date "2014.05.05"] [Round "?"] [White "hppchess"] [Black "Vierjoki, Timo"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [ECO "C64"] [WhiteElo "1862"] [BlackElo "1875"] [Annotator "Stockfish 8 64 POPCNT (30s), TV"] [PlyCount "104"] [EventDate "2014.??.??"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Bc5 {Spanish Game: Classical Variation} 4. O-O Nge7 (4... Nf6 5. c3 O-O 6. d4 Bb6 7. Bg5 {Spanish Game: Classical Variation. Modern Main Line}) 5. c3 Bb6 6. d4 {C64 Spanish Game: Classical Defence (3... Bc5) except 4.O-O Nf6} exd4 7. Nxd4 O-O (7... Nxd4 8. cxd4 c6 9. Bc4 d5 10. exd5 Nxd5 11. Nc3 O-O 12. Nxd5 {1/2-1/2 (12) Vescovi,G (2526) -Lima, D (2525) Teresina 2000}) 8. Be3 (8. Bg5 f6 9. Be3 Nxd4 10. Bxd4 d5 11. Bxb6 axb6 12. Qb3 Be6 13. Rd1 c6 14. Be2 Qc7 15. Bf3 Bf7 16. exd5 {1/2-1/2 (16) Hridel,M (1867) -Salus,J (1808) Czechia 2005}) 8... Nxd4 9. cxd4 $146 (9. Bxd4 d5 10. Bxb6 axb6 11. exd5 Qxd5 12. Qxd5 Nxd5 13. Re1 Rd8 14. Nd2 Be6 15. Nf3 Nf4 16. a3 Bd5 17. Re3 c6 18. Bf1 Re8 19. Rae1 Kf8 20. Rxe8+ Rxe8 21. Rxe8+ Kxe8 22. Ne5 Ke7 23. f3 Kd6 {Markov,S-Basagic,V Brezovica 1988 1/2-1/2}) 9... d5 10. e5 {White wins space} Nf5 11. Nc3 c6 {Black threatens to win material: c6xb5} 12. Ba4 $2 (12. Bd3 f6 13. Bxf5 Bxf5 $11) 12... Nxe3 {Black forks: d1+f1} (12... f6 $142 $5 13. exf6 Qxf6 $17) 13. fxe3 $15 {Black has the pair of bishops} Qg5 {Black threatens to win material: Qg5xe3} 14. Qd2 (14. Rf4 Be6 15. Qf3 Qh6 $11) 14... Be6 {Blocks the pawn on e5} (14... Bf5 15. Ne2 $15) 15. Bc2 Rad8 (15... f6 $5 { looks like a viable alternative} 16. exf6 Rxf6 (16... gxf6 $143 17. Ne2 $14) 17. Rxf6 Qxf6 $15 (17... gxf6 $143 18. Rf1 $11)) 16. Na4 Bc7 17. Nc5 {White threatens to win material: Nc5xb7} b6 {Black threatens to win material: b6xc5} (17... Bc8 18. Rf4 $11) 18. Na6 {White threatens to win material: Na6xc7} Rc8 19. Nxc7 Rxc7 20. Rf3 c5 21. Qd3 {White has a mate threat} g6 {Black has a new backward pawn: f7} 22. Rg3 {White threatens to win material: Rg3xg5} Qe7 23. Rf1 Rfc8 24. Bd1 c4 {Black threatens to win material: c4xd3} 25. Qc3 b5 26. a3 Rb7 {Black plans b4} 27. Bf3 (27. Rgf3 Qd8 $15) 27... b4 $17 28. axb4 Qxb4 29. e4 Rd8 (29... Qxb2 $142 $5 30. Qxb2 Rxb2 31. exd5 Bf5 $17) 30. exd5 $11 Bxd5 31. Bxd5 {White forks: c4+b7} Rxd5 {White has a new passed pawn: d4} 32. Rf2 a5 33. Qe3 (33. Rd2 Kg7 $11) 33... Qb6 34. Rg4 {The idea is Rg3-g4-f4-f6} Qe6 { Black threatens to win material: Qe6xg4} (34... Rbd7 $5 35. h3 Rxd4 $15) 35. Rgf4 $11 Rdd7 36. Rf6 {White threatens to win material: Rf6xe6. White can be proud of that piece} Qg4 37. Rd2 Rb3 {Black threatens to win material: Rb3xe3} 38. Qf2 $4 (38. Qf4 $142 $5 {should be considered} Qxf4 39. Rxf4 $11) 38... Rd3 (38... c3 $142 {secures the win} 39. bxc3 Rb1+ 40. Qf1 Rxf1+ 41. Rxf1 Qe4 $19) 39. Rd6 Rxd6 40. exd6 {White has a new passed pawn: d6.} Qe6 41. Rxd3 cxd3 { A queen endgame occured.} 42. Qd2 $4 {another bit of territory lost} (42. h3 $17) 42... Qxd6 $4 {stumbles just before the finish line} (42... Qe4 $142 { and Black wins} 43. Qf2 Kf8 $19) 43. Qxd3 $11 {White has a new passed pawn: d4} Qf4 44. Qc3 Kf8 45. g3 {White threatens to win material: g3xf4} Qe4 46. Kf2 h5 47. Qc5+ Kg8 48. Qc3 Kf8 49. b3 h4 50. Qe3 $4 {there were better ways to keep up the pressure} (50. Qc5+ Kg7 $11) 50... hxg3+ $4 {weakening the position} ( 50... Qc2+ $142 {Black has the better game} 51. Ke1 Qxh2 52. Qh6+ Kg8 53. gxh4 Qg1+ 54. Kd2 Qxd4+ 55. Kc2 Qe5 $19) 51. hxg3 $11 Qc2+ 52. Kf3 (52. Ke1 $5 $11 { has some apparent merit}) 52... Qf5+ 1/2-1/2 [Event "2 - Board 3"] [Site "Chess.com"] [Date "2014.11.05"] [Round "?"] [White "crisdim"] [Black "Vierjoki, Timo"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "C64"] [WhiteElo "1773"] [BlackElo "1842"] [Annotator "Stockfish 8 64 POPCNT (30s), TV"] [PlyCount "87"] [EventDate "2014.??.??"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Bc5 {Spanish Game: Classical Variation} 4. O-O Nge7 (4... Nf6 5. c3 O-O 6. d4 Bb6 7. Bg5 {Spanish Game: Classical Variation. Modern Main Line}) 5. c3 Bb6 6. d4 {C64 Spanish Game: Classical Defence (3... Bc5) except 4.O-O Nf6} exd4 7. Bxc6 $146 (7. Nxd4 Nxd4 (7... O-O 8. Bg5 (8. Be3 d6 9. Ba4 Ne5 10. Nd2 N7g6 11. h3 Qf6 12. f4 Nc6 13. Bxc6 bxc6 14. Qf3 c5 15. Ne2 Bb7 16. Ng3 Rfe8 17. Nh5 Qe7 18. f5 Bxe4 19. Nxe4 Qxe4 20. fxg6 Qxe3+ 21. Qxe3 Rxe3 22. gxf7+ Kf8 {Yanofsky,H-Keltz,B Ventnor City 1945 1-0 (54)}) 8... f6 9. Be3 Nxd4 10. Bxd4 d5 (10... Kh8 11. Re1 c6 12. Bc4 d6 13. Na3 Bc7 14. Qh5 Bd7 15. f4 Qc8 16. h3 Be6 17. Bd3 Bf7 18. Qg4 Qd8 19. Rad1 Bxa2 20. e5 f5 21. Qg5 h6 22. Qg3 dxe5 23. fxe5 Be6 24. Nc4 Bxc4 25. Bxc4 {Albareda, M-Paoli,E Sirmione 1954 1-0 (41)}) 11. Bxb6 axb6 12. Qb3 Be6 13. Rd1 c6 14. Be2 Qc7 15. Bf3 Bf7 16. exd5 {1/2-1/2 (16) Hridel,M (1867) -Salus,J (1808) Czechia 2005}) 8. cxd4 c6 9. Be2 (9. Bc4 d5 10. exd5 Nxd5 11. Nc3 O-O 12. Nxd5 {1/2-1/2 (12) Vescovi,G (2526)-Lima,D (2525) Teresina 2000}) 9... d5 10. e5 Nf5 11. Be3 Qe7 12. Bg4 Nxe3 13. fxe3 O-O 14. Nd2 Qg5 15. Bxc8 Qxe3+ 16. Kh1 Raxc8 17. Nf3 f6 18. Re1 Qf4 19. e6 Rce8 20. a4 Re7 21. a5 Bc7 {Falcon,E-Palau,L Argentina 1938 0-1 (43)}) (7. cxd4 $5 Ng6 8. d5 $14) 7... Nxc6 (7... dxc6 8. a4 a5 9. Nxd4 $11 ) 8. cxd4 d6 {Consolidates e5} 9. Be3 (9. d5 Ne7 $11) 9... Bg4 10. d5 {This push gains space} Ne5 11. Nbd2 Qf6 (11... Bxe3 12. fxe3 O-O 13. Qb3 Bxf3 14. Nxf3 Nxf3+ 15. gxf3 $11) 12. Bxb6 (12. Qa4+ Bd7 13. Qb3 Nxf3+ 14. Nxf3 O-O $14) 12... axb6 $11 {Black has new doubled pawns: b6+b7} 13. Qb3 (13. Rc1 Nxf3+ 14. Nxf3 Bxf3 15. gxf3 $11) 13... O-O (13... Nxf3+ $5 {has some apparent merit} 14. Nxf3 Bxf3 15. gxf3 Kd8 $15) 14. Nxe5 $11 Qxe5 15. Qc3 (15. Rac1 $142 $5 { and White can hope to live} Rac8 16. Rc2 $14) 15... Qxc3 $17 16. bxc3 Ra3 17. f3 Bd7 18. c4 (18. Rfc1 Rfa8 $17) 18... Rfa8 19. Nb3 Rxa2 20. Rxa2 Rxa2 21. Rc1 (21. Nd4 $17) 21... Ba4 {Black threatens to win material: Ba4xb3} (21... Kf8 $142 $5 $19) 22. Nd4 $15 Kf8 23. Nf5 $2 (23. Nb5 $142 $5 $15 {is worth consideration}) 23... Rc2 24. Rxc2 Bxc2 25. Kf2 Bb3 (25... Bd3 26. Ne3 $17) 26. Ne3 Ke8 27. f4 f6 28. h4 Kd7 29. Ke2 c6 (29... Ba2 $142 $5 $17) 30. Kd3 Ba4 31. g4 (31. Kc3 $5 $11 {might be a viable alternative}) 31... b5 $17 32. g5 (32. cxb5 Bxb5+ 33. Kc3 $17) 32... fxg5 (32... bxc4+ $142 $5 33. Kxc4 Bb5+ 34. Kd4 c5+ 35. Kc3 Be2 $17) 33. hxg5 $11 bxc4+ 34. Kxc4 b5+ 35. Kc3 c5 36. e5 dxe5 37. fxe5 h6 38. gxh6 gxh6 {Black has a new passed pawn: h6.} 39. Ng4 {White threatens to win material: Ng4xh6} Bd1 {Black threatens to win material: Bd1xg4 } 40. Nxh6 Bf3 41. e6+ {Is this a dangerous pawn?} Kd8 $4 {instead of simply winning the game} (41... Kc7 $142 {had to be tried to avoid defeat} 42. e7 b4+ 43. Kb2 Kd7 $11) 42. d6 Bd5 (42... Bc6 {does not solve anything} 43. Nf7+ Kc8 44. Ne5 Be8 45. d7+ Bxd7 46. Nxd7 c4 47. Nf6 Kd8 48. Nd5 Ke8 49. Kd4 Kf8 50. Ke5 c3 51. Kf6 Ke8 52. Nb4 c2 53. Nxc2 b4 54. Nd4 b3 55. Nxb3 Kd8 56. Kf7 Kc7 57. e7 Kb6 58. e8=Q Kc7 59. Qe6 Kd8 60. Na5 Kc7 61. Qc6+ Kd8 62. Nb7#) 43. Nf7+ Ke8 44. d7+ (44. d7+ Ke7 45. d8=Q+ Kxe6 46. Kd3 b4 47. Ke3 b3 48. Kf4 Kxf7 49. Qxd5+ Kf6 50. Qd6+ Kg7 51. Kf5 b2 52. Qd7+ Kh8 53. Kf6 c4 54. Qg7#) 1-0 [Event "Rematch - Board 11"] [Site "Chess.com"] [Date "2016.01.28"] [Round "?"] [White "cedula1066"] [Black "Vierjoki, Timo"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "C64"] [WhiteElo "1735"] [BlackElo "1834"] [Annotator "Stockfish 8 64 POPCNT (30s), TV"] [PlyCount "114"] [EventDate "2016.??.??"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Bc5 {Spanish Game: Classical Variation} 4. O-O Nge7 (4... Nf6 5. c3 O-O 6. d4 Bb6 7. Bg5 {Spanish Game: Classical Variation. Modern Main Line}) (4... Nd4 5. b4 {Spanish Game: Classical Defense: Zaitsev Variation}) 5. c3 Bb6 6. d4 {C64 Spanish Game: Classical Defence (3...Bc5) except 4.O-O Nf6} exd4 7. Re1 $146 (7. Nxd4 Nxd4 (7... O-O 8. Bg5 (8. Be3 d6 9. Ba4 Ne5 10. Nd2 N7g6 11. h3 Qf6 12. f4 Nc6 13. Bxc6 bxc6 14. Qf3 c5 15. Ne2 Bb7 16. Ng3 Rfe8 17. Nh5 Qe7 18. f5 Bxe4 19. Nxe4 Qxe4 20. fxg6 Qxe3+ 21. Qxe3 Rxe3 22. gxf7+ Kf8 {Yanofsky,H-Keltz,B Ventnor City 1945 1-0 (54)}) 8... f6 9. Be3 Nxd4 10. Bxd4 d5 (10... Kh8 11. Re1 c6 12. Bc4 d6 13. Na3 Bc7 14. Qh5 Bd7 15. f4 Qc8 16. h3 Be6 17. Bd3 Bf7 18. Qg4 Qd8 19. Rad1 Bxa2 20. e5 f5 21. Qg5 h6 22. Qg3 dxe5 23. fxe5 Be6 24. Nc4 Bxc4 25. Bxc4 {Albareda, M-Paoli,E Sirmione 1954 1-0 (41)}) 11. Bxb6 axb6 12. Qb3 Be6 13. Rd1 c6 14. Be2 Qc7 15. Bf3 Bf7 16. exd5 {1/2-1/2 (16) Hridel,M (1867)-Salus,J (1808) Czechia 2005}) 8. cxd4 c6 9. Be2 (9. Bc4 d5 10. exd5 Nxd5 11. Nc3 O-O 12. Nxd5 {1/2-1/2 (12) Vescovi,G (2526)-Lima,D (2525) Teresina 2000}) 9... d5 10. e5 Nf5 11. Be3 Qe7 12. Bg4 Nxe3 13. fxe3 O-O 14. Nd2 Qg5 15. Bxc8 Qxe3+ 16. Kh1 Raxc8 17. Nf3 f6 18. Re1 Qf4 19. e6 Rce8 20. a4 Re7 21. a5 Bc7 {Falcon, E-Palau,L Argentina 1938 0-1 (43)}) (7. cxd4 $142 O-O 8. d5 $14) 7... dxc3 $15 8. Nxc3 {Black has a cramped position. Black's piece can't move: c8} O-O {Black castles and improves king safety} 9. Bg5 f6 {Prevents intrusion on e5} 10. Be3 Bxe3 11. Rxe3 Ne5 12. Nxe5 fxe5 13. Qh5 (13. Nd5 Kh8 $15) 13... d6 $17 14. Rg3 Be6 15. Rd1 Rf6 16. Rdd3 ( 16. Nd5 Bxd5 17. exd5 c5 $17) 16... Bf7 (16... c6 17. Ba4 $17) 17. Qg4 Rg6 18. Qh4 (18. Qd1 $5 $17) 18... a6 19. Ba4 b5 (19... Rxg3 20. Rxg3 Ng6 21. Qg4 $17) 20. Bc2 (20. Bb3 Bxb3 21. axb3 Rxg3 22. hxg3 b4 $17) 20... Nc6 21. Qxd8+ Rxd8 22. Rxg6 Bxg6 23. Bb3+ Kf8 24. Nd5 (24. f3 Nd4 25. Kf2 $19) 24... Rd7 (24... Bxe4 $142 {and Black could have gained the advantage} 25. Re3 Bxd5 26. Bxd5 Nd4 $19) 25. Rf3+ $17 Ke8 (25... Bf7 $142 26. Bd1 Ne7 $17) 26. Re3 $2 (26. Rc3 $142 {and White is still in the game} Nd4 27. Nxc7+ Ke7 28. Nd5+ Kd8 29. Re3 $15) 26... Nd4 $19 27. Bd1 c6 28. Nb4 (28. Nc3 Ke7 $19) 28... a5 29. Nc2 Ne6 30. Bg4 Ke7 31. g3 Rd8 32. Bxe6 Kxe6 33. f4 exf4 34. gxf4 Kd7 35. f5 Bf7 36. b3 (36. a3 Re8 $19) 36... Re8 37. Nd4 g6 38. Kf2 (38. f6 a4 $19) 38... gxf5 39. Nxf5 Bg6 40. Ng3 Ke6 (40... Rf8+ $5 {keeps an even firmer grip} 41. Ke1 Rf4 42. a4 $19) 41. Rf3 Ke5 42. Ke3 c5 43. h4 (43. h3 $19) 43... Re7 (43... d5 $142 {and Black has reached his goal} 44. exd5 Kxd5+ 45. Kf2 c4 $19) 44. h5 $17 Bf7 45. Rf5+ Ke6 46. Kf4 (46. Rd5 Kd7 47. Rg5 h6 $17) 46... Kd7 47. Kg5 $2 (47. Rg5 $142 $5 Be6 48. Nf5 $19) 47... Be6 $19 48. Rf3 Kc6 49. Kh6 $4 {the position was bad, and this mistake simply hastens the end} (49. Nf5 $142 Rf7 50. Re3 $19) 49... c4 50. Nf5 (50. bxc4 {the only chance to get some counterplay} bxc4 51. Ra3 $19 ) 50... Bxf5 51. exf5 d5 52. f6 Rf7 53. Kg5 d4 54. bxc4 bxc4 55. Kf5 Kd5 56. Ra3 Ra7 57. h6 (57. Rg3 c3 58. Rg7 $19) 57... c3 (57... c3 58. Rb3 c2 59. Rb8 c1=Q 60. Rd8+ Kc6 61. Rc8+ Rc7 62. Rxc7+ Kxc7 63. f7 Qf1+ 64. Ke4 Qxf7 65. Kxd4 Qxa2 66. Kd3 a4 67. Ke4 Qg2+ 68. Kd3 a3 69. Kd4 a2 70. Kc3 a1=Q+ 71. Kc4 Qc2+ 72. Kd5 Qc6#) 0-1