GOTW: Vogt - Piasetski, HD Bank Cup, 2018.

[Event "HD Bank Cup"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2018.03.12"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Vogt, Lothar"]
[Black "Piasetski, Leon"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B33"]
[WhiteElo "2402"]
[BlackElo "2258"]
[Annotator "Leon Piasetski"]
[PlyCount "123"]
[EventDate "2018.??.??"]
[EventCountry "VIE"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Qb6 {This is the Grivas variation which
has a solid reputation.} 5. Nb3 Nf6 6. Nc3 e6 7. Qe2 {And this is one of the
most aggressive setups for White.} Bb4 8. Bd2 O-O 9. a3 Be7 10. O-O-O {[#]} Qc7
{Normally Black plays 10 ... d5 and accepts a weak d-pawn in exchange for easy
development and active piece play. However, I wasn't as sure about 11. e5:} (
10... d5 11. e5 Nd7 (11... Ne8 12. f4 f6 13. exf6 Bxf6 14. g3 Nd6 $14) 12. f4
Qc7 13. Kb1 a6 14. g4 b5 15. h4 {looks unclear.}) 11. g4 {I was expecting f4.}
d5 12. g5 Nxe4 13. Nxe4 dxe4 14. Bg2 {White wisely avoids 14.Qxe4 b6 when
Black targets the queen. But now 14 ...b6 15.Be4 Bb7 16.h4 looks dangerous for
Black.} e5 15. Bxe4 Be6 16. Kb1 Rad8 17. h4 Nd4 $2 {My original plan was to
double rooks when the position is close to equal. Unfortunately, after 17 ...
Nd4 White is close to winning ...} 18. Nxd4 Rxd4 19. Bc3 Rxd1+ 20. Rxd1 {
White threatens Bxe5 followed by Bxh7+.} f5 ({Defending e5 with} 20... f6 {
runs into} 21. gxf6 Bxf6 {which leaves Black in misery: White will play h5,
Rg1 and Qe4.} ({Not} 21... gxf6 $2 22. Bxh7+ Kxh7 23. Qh5+ Kg8 24. Rg1+ {
and mate.})) 21. Bxb7 $1 {White can still play 21 gxf6 en passant, but this is
even better.} e4 {Black can't take the piece ...} (21... Qxb7 22. Qxe5 Kf7 23.
Qxg7+ Ke8 24. Bf6 $1 {and White is winning, for example} Rf7 25. Qg8+ Rf8 (
25... Bf8 $2 26. Rd8#) 26. Qxe6 $18) 22. Qa6 Bf7 23. Bd5 Bc5 24. Qc4 $1 Bb6 25.
Qxc7 Bxc7 {Now White should play 26. Bf7+ Rf7 27. Bd4 to restrict Black's
activity and eventually the extra queenside pawn will win easily enough.
Instead, my opponent wanted to eliminate the rooks, but missed the counterplay
lurking in the bishop ending.} 26. Bb4 $6 Rd8 27. Bxf7+ Kxf7 28. Rxd8 Bxd8 29.
Bc5 Kg6 30. Bxa7 Kh5 31. c4 {White would have won more easily with:} (31. b4
Kxh4 32. a4 Be7 33. c3 f4 34. Bd4 $18) 31... Kxh4 32. c5 f4 {With little time
on my clock it was impossible to figure out this ending, but it seems my
choice was correct since the alternative clearly loses after:} (32... Bxg5 33.
Kc2 Bf4 34. c6 h5 35. b4 Kg4 36. Be3 Bc7 37. b5 h4 38. b6 Bxb6 39. Bxb6 h3 40.
c7 h2 41. c8=Q h1=Q 42. Qd7 $18) 33. Kc2 Kg4 {Imagine being short of time and
trying to work out the following variations:} (33... e3 34. Kd3 Kh3 35. c6 (35.
f3 $2 Kg2 36. Ke2 h5 37. gxh6 g5 38. h7 Bf6 39. c6 (39. Bb8 g4 $19) 39... g4
40. fxg4 f3+ 41. Kxe3 f2 42. h8=Q Bxh8 43. c7 f1=Q 44. c8=Q $11 Qe1+ 45. Kd3
Qd1+ {with a perpetual: the white K cannot cross the c-file without dropping
his Q and} 46. Ke4 Qf3# {is even worse.}) 35... Kg2 36. fxe3 f3 37. e4 Bc7 38.
Kc4 Bb8 $5 (38... h5 39. gxh6 gxh6 40. Kd5 {Only move.} h5 41. e5 $1 h4 42. e6 h3 43. e7
h2 44. e8=Q h1=Q 45. Qg6+ Bg3 46. Qc2+ f2 47. Qe4+ $18) 39. Bd4 Be5 40. Kd5
Bxd4 41. c7 $1 f2 42. c8=Q f1=Q 43. Qg4+ $1 Kh1 44. Kxd4 $18) 34. Bb6 e3 35.
Kd1 {Another win was:} (35. f3+ Kxf3 36. Bxd8 Kg2 37. c6 e2 38. Ba5 f3 39. c7
f2 40. c8=Q f1=Q 41. Qg4+ Kh1 42. Qe4+ {since White controls e1.}) ({The third
option was also tempting:} 35. Kd3 $6 Bxb6 36. cxb6 Kf3 37. fxe3 fxe3 38. b7 e2
39. b8=Q e1=Q 40. Qf8+ {which also wins, but queen endings can get tricky.})
35... Bxg5 36. fxe3 $2 {It was fortunate that the previous decisions had eaten
up all my opponent's time and we were both playing on increment. Here White
missed a much simpler win with:} (36. c6 exf2 37. Ke2 {But not 37.Bf2 after
which 37 ... Bd8 results in an equal pawn ending!!  Although White is still
much better Black can fight on. However, after 37.Ke2 Black has no way to
disturb white since the king is safe on f1 and the bishop stops all
counterplay with the h-pawn.} f3+ 38. Kf1 Bf4 39. c7 Bxc7 40. Bxc7 $18) 36...
f3 37. c6 Kg3 38. e4 Bf4 39. c7 Bxc7 40. Bxc7+ Kg2 {Now it's a race !} 41. Bb6
g5 $1 42. e5 g4 43. e6 g3 44. e7 f2 45. e8=Q f1=Q+ 46. Kd2 {Objectively Black
is losing but with little time it's easy to go wrong. Here I should play ...
Qf5, and I did consider it, but the move I played seemed better. It turns out
46 ... Qf3 loses immediately after 47. Qe2+ since white queens the a-pawn with
check !} Qf3 $2 47. Be3 $4 {Incredibly this move already allows a draw! Of
course, White was still winning after even 47.a4 but the easy win was:} (47.
Qe2+ $1 Qxe2+ 48. Kxe2 h5 49. a4 h4 50. a5 h3 51. a6 h2 52. a7 h1=Q 53. a8=Q+
$18) 47... Qd5+ 48. Ke2 Qc4+ $2 ({My original intention was} 48... h5 {which
draws; and even easier is 48 ...Qf3+ but the move played loses!}) 49. Ke1 Kf3 {
I couldn't resist threatening mate in one!!} ({I should have played} 49... Qf1+
50. Kd2 Qf3 {but then} 51. Bh6 {is strong} ({and} 51. Qe5 {also wins.})) 50.
Bd2 g2 51. Qe3+ Kg4 {[#]} 52. Qg1 $4 {Here I expected 52.Qg5+ which wins but
nothing else works! For example, 52.Qf2 to stop ...Qf1 mate allows perpetual
check starting with ...Qe4+.} (52. Qg5+ {Only move.} $18 Kh3 (52... Kf3 53. Qf5+ Kg3 54.
Qf2+ Kh3 55. Qf3+) 53. Qf5+ Kh4 54. Qf2+ $18) 52... Qe4+ 53. Kd1 $4 {Now White
even allows Black to win!!} Qf3+ $4 (53... Kf3 {Only move.} $19 54. Qc5 Qb1+ 55. Bc1 Qd3+
56. Bd2 Qf1+ 57. Kc2 g1=Q {What a turnaround !}) 54. Kc2 Qe4+ 55. Kc3 Qc6+ 56.
Kd3 Qb5+ 57. Kc2 Qc4+ 58. Bc3 {Forced. King retreats lose because of ..Qf1+.}
Qe2+ 59. Kb3 Qb5+ 60. Bb4 (60. Ka2 Qc4+ 61. b3 Qe2+ 62. Bb2 h5 {is also
completely equal because Black's threats are enough to force White to give
perpetual or expose his own king to the same fate.}) 60... Qd3+ 61. Bc3 Qb5+
62. Bb4 {I hope you enjoyed this game as much as we both did!} 1/2-1/2