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Etienne Bacrot vs Victor Bologan
Karpov Poikovsky (2005), Poikovsky RUS, rd 8, Mar-06
Queen's Gambit Declined: Three Knights Variation. General (D37)  ·  1-0

ANALYSIS [x]

FEN COPIED

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Kibitzer's Corner
Mar-17-05  patzer2: After 40...Ne6? 41. Rc6! a5?!, White's 42. Bc3! springs a decisive deflection and pin attack.

Instead of <40...Ne6?>, Black seems to hold with 40...Ne4+, when play could continue 40...Ne4+ 41.Kf3 Re5 42.Bf7+ Kg7 43.Bc4+ Kg6 44.Bxa6 Bxh4 45.Rc6+ Bf6 46.Rxb6 Ng5+ 47.Ke2 f4 48.Bd2 Kg7 49.Rb7+ Kg6 50.Bd3+ Kh5 51.Rd7 Nh3 52.e4 Rg5 53.b4 Rg2+ 54.Kd1 Nf2+ 55.Kc2 f3 56.a4 Ng4 57.Ba6 Bg5 58.Kc3 Nf6 59.Bxg5 Nxd7 60.Be3 Nf6 61.Bd3 f2 62.Kd4 Ng4 63.Be2 Kg6 64.b5 Nxe3 65.Kxe3 f1Q 66.Bxf1 Ra2 67.Kd4 Rxa4+ 68.Bc4 Ra8 69.Bd5 Rd8 70.b6 h5 71.Ke5 h4 72.b7 h3 73.Ke6 h2 74.e5 Re8+ 75.Kd7 Rxe5 76.b8Q Rxd5+ 77.Ke6 Rd6+ 78.Kxd6 h1Q 79.Qg8+ Kf5 80.Qe6+ Kg5 81.Qe5+ Kg4 =.

Putting up more resistance than <41...a5?!> would have been 41...Nc5!? 42.Bc3! Nd7 43.Ke2 Re7 44.Bxf6 Nxf6 45.Rxb6 a5 46.b4 Kg7 47.Be6 axb4 48.axb4 , though White still appears to be winning.

Earlier, Black's <30...Nf7?!> looks to be the start of his problems in this game. Better perhaps was the obvious but solid 30...Ne4!?, when play might continue 31.Bb1 b5 32.b3 Kf7 33.Ba5 Rxc2+ 34.Rxc2 Bd8 35.Bxd8 Rxd8 36.Rc6 Rd6 37.Rc8 Kf6 =.

Mar-17-05  csmath: This whole opening is a suspect. Bologan has all the time d5 pawn to defend and after making an error with 14. ... Be6 instead of more active defence with b6-Ba6, he was not able to equalize the game. Even after 40. ... Ne4 I don't think he has much to hope for. (48. Bd2 in your analysis has a much stronger alternative Bd3 and black is pretty much lost).

In general the rule is if you have a hanging pawn passive defence won't do. Bologan must have known that but he did it anyway, and that is why he lost.

Mar-17-05  patzer2: <csmath> <48. Bd2 in your analysis has a much stronger alternative Bd3 and black is pretty much lost> Not so fast! I agree 48. Bd3 gives White an advantage, but I'm not convinced it wins.

After 48.Bd3+ Kf7 49.Rb7+ Ke6 50.Bd2 f3+ 51.Kf2 Rd5 White has a small advantage, but Black has good practical chances of holding the draw. Fritz 8 continues the analysis @ 18 depth with 52.Rb3 Ne4+ 53.Bxe4 Rxd2+ 54.Kxf3 Rxb2 55.Rxb2 Bxb2 56.a4 Bc3 57.Kf4 h5 58.Bf5+ Kd6 59.Bg6 h4 60.Kg4 = for an apparent draw in an opposite color Bishop ending.

Oct-04-24
Premium Chessgames Member
  plang: Played in the 8th (penultimate) round of a 10 player round robin. Bacrot was a point behind Bologan entering the round so he needed to play for a win. 7..c6 would have transposed into the main line of the Exchange Variation of the Queens Gambit; 7..c5 was a rarely played alternative. 10 Bb5 was a new move; there had been two previous games with 10 Be2 and one with 10 Bd3. One interesting alternative was 13..Nxb2 with double edged play. Bacrot was critical of 21..g5?! recommending 21..Ncd7 followed by ..Nb6 but Bologan did not agree with Bacrot's assessment. 25 Bxd5..Bxd5 26 Nf5+..Kg6 27 Rxd5..Bf6 28 Nd6 would have only have been good enough for equality. Bologan thought that 31..exf?! was the decisive error recommending instead 31..Nd8! 32 Kf3..Nc6 33 Bf4..e5 34 Bg3..Rcd8 35 Rd2..e4+ 36 Kg4..d4 with chances for both sides.

Once the position opened up for the two bishops White quickly had the upper hand.

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