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 [#]Seemingly, White must suffice with draw after 21.¤xc8. Vasily, however, spent a lot of time and resolved himself to start complications. 21.e4! ¥d6 22.¦d6 £c5 23.ef ¦f5 Obviously, White does have sufficient compensation for the pawn there. However, there is no direct win for him, while it takes Black two moves more to complete the development of his queenside. Time is money. 24.b4! [24.¥e4 ¦f2 25.¥h7 ¢h8 26.ڂd2 ¦d2 27.¦d2 b5 28.¥e4 bc 29.bc ¥b7] [In a post-game analysis we came to conclusion that Black could have held the ground with 25...¦h5 , for example: 26.£f2 (26.c5 £c5 27.¥h7 ¢f8 (but not 27...¢h8 28.¦e6!!); it is obvious that after 26.g4 ¦h6 27.c5 £a5 28.g5 Black is in trouble: 28...¦h4 29.¥h7 ¢h8 (29...¦h7 30.£g6 ¦h4 31.£e8 ¢h7 32.g6) 30.¥g6+-) 26...b6 27.g4 (27.¦f1 ¦f5 28.¥f5 ¥b7) 27...£c5 28.£g3 ¦e5 29.£h4 ¦e4 30.£d8 ¢f7 31.¦f1 ¢g6 32.£e8 ¢h6 33.¦d5 ¦e5 34.¦c5 ¥b7 35.¢g1 ¦e8 36.¦e5] [More stubborn is 26...¢f7 , but there too, after 27.¥e4 b6 28.¢g2 £c5 29.£e2 Black can hardly develop his queenside.] 27.c5! b5 28.c6 dc 29.¦d8 ¦f8 30.ڄd4 In the severest time pressure, [Vasily overlooks the winning opportunity 30.£g6 e5 31.¦c8 ¦bc8 32.£h5+-] [30...£e7 31.¦h4 g5 32.¦h5 c5 33.¥e4 ¢g8 34.¦d5!!] 32.£d2 £e7 33.¦g4 c5 34.¦g5 ¥b7 35.¢g1 £f6 36.¦h5 ¢g8 37.¦g5 Ivanchuk repeats moves because even he cannot calculate the winning variation being left with only two seconds on his clock. [37.¦h4 ¦bd8 38.¦g4 ¢h8 39.¦f4 £e7 40.¦df1 ¦f4 41.£f4 ¦d3 42.£h6 ¢g8 43.£g6 ¢h8 44.£d3+-] |