Kostya's Game of the Day: August 11th

With all of the other games between the leaders ending in draws, the critical game of the penultimate Round 8 turned out to be GM Illia Nyzhnyk's win over IM Daniel Fernandez. The game was strategically very complex, with lots of changes in the structure throughout. Black had chances to hold, but a hasty pawn push a couple of moves before the time-control all but sealed his fate. Another fantastic technical effort from Nyzhnyk.

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[Event "2019 US Open"]
[Site "Orlando, Florida"]
[Date "2019.08.10"]
[Round "8.1"]
[White "Nyzhnyk, Illia"]
[Black "Fernandez, Daniel"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A30"]
[WhiteElo "2760"]
[BlackElo "2534"]
[Annotator "Kostya"]
[PlyCount "103"]
[EventDate "2019.??.??"]

1. c4 Nf6 2. Nf3 c5 3. b3 Nc6 4. Bb2 d5 5. cxd5 Nxd5 6. Nc3 Nf6 7. e3 a6 8. Na4
e6 9. Rc1 Nd7 10. Be2 b5 11. Nc3 Bb7 12. a4 b4 13. Nb1 $5 {Heading for the
c4-square.} (13. Ne4 $14 {was perfectly sensible too.} Nd4 14. Nxd4 Bxe4 15.
Bf3 $1 $16 {is good for White.}) 13... Be7 14. d3 O-O 15. Nbd2 e5 $5 {
Ambitious.} (15... Bf6 16. Bxf6 Qxf6 17. Nc4 Nce5 {looks very close to equal.})
16. Nc4 f6 {We now have a reverse-Hedgehog structure, but a version that seems
quite comfortable for White.} 17. Nfd2 Rc8 18. Bg4 f5 19. Bf3 Kh8 20. Qe2 Ba8
21. h3 Bf6 22. e4 $5 {A bit controversial, but justified. White gives up the
d4-square in order to fight for the e4-square.} (22. O-O Qc7) 22... Bg5 (22...
f4 23. Bg4 Nd4 24. Bxd4 cxd4 25. O-O $14 {would be slightly better for White
as both of Black's bishops are restricted.}) 23. exf5 Nd4 24. Bxd4 Bxf3 25.
Qxf3 ({Stockfish points out the brilliant} 25. Nxf3 $5 Bxc1 26. Ba1 {with
fantastic compensation for White. I wonder if either player considered this
one?}) 25... cxd4 26. O-O g6 $1 {Preparing to recapture on f5 with the pawn,
in order to control the essential e4-square. This explains White's reply:} 27.
f6 {Giving back the pawn but keeping the e4-square.} (27. g4 $4 {would not be
good for a number of reasons, mainly} gxf5 28. gxf5 Bxd2 29. Nxd2 Qg5+ $19)
27... Qxf6 28. Qe2 {It looks like Black should be ok, but strategically there
are a lot of liabilities in the form of weak squares and pawns.} Bxd2 29. Nxd2
$6 (29. Qxd2 $14 {would keep a small edge.}) 29... Nb6 $2 {Missing a big
chance.} ({It turns out} 29... Rc3 $1 {was absolutely fine for Black, an
exchange sacrifice similar to the one GM Tarjan executed in Round 1's GOTD.}
30. Ne4 Qf4 {and Black looks better if White takes on c3:} 31. Nxc3 dxc3 $1 $17
{(not to allow b4), with the plan of Nc5-e6-d4.}) 30. Nc4 $6 {It seems White
had better opportunities here as well.} (30. Rxc8 Rxc8 (30... Nxc8 31. Re1 Re8
32. Nf3 $18) 31. f4 $5 {would open up Black's structure and leave a lot of
weaknesses for White to work with.} (31. Qe4 $16 {immediately also looks
strong.}) 31... exf4 32. Qe4 $16) 30... Nxc4 31. dxc4 {An interesting choice,
giving Black a protected passed pawn on d4 rather than b4. I guess Nyzhnyk
felt this structure gave him more chances to squeeze for an advantage.} Qf5 32.
f3 Rcd8 33. Rcd1 Rfe8 34. Rfe1 d3 $2 {Overextending. Black's pawns will be
easily blockaded, but now the d3-pawn is 'artifically isolated' from the pawn
on e5, and immediately White has a new weakness to work with.} (34... a5 $14 {
was probably the way to go, keeping everything as stable as possible. White
can poke around, but it would be difficult to make progress without error from
Black.}) 35. Qe3 Rd7 36. Rd2 Kg7 37. Qe4 Qxe4 (37... a5 38. Re3 $16 {and Black
is forced to trade queens.}) 38. Rxe4 Kf6 39. Kf2 a5 40. Re1 {With a simple
plan of Red1 and Ke3.} (40. f4 $5 {is quite strong according to Stockfish,
trading off the e-pawn before going after the d-pawn.}) 40... Kf5 $6 {After
this last slip Black can no longer hold the endgame.} (40... Red8 $1 {(or Rd4
followed by this move) was the only way to deal with White's idea of rounding
up the d3-pawn.} 41. Ke3 Rd4 42. Red1 e4 $1 43. g4 $1 $16 {and White keeps
serious winning chances.} (43. fxe4 Ke5 44. Rxd3 Rxe4+ 45. Kf2 Rf4+ 46. Kg1
Rxd3 47. Rxd3 h5 {is the best possible version for Black in this endgame, with
an active king and White's king cut off. For example} 48. Rd5+ Ke4 49. Rxa5 Kd3
$1 {is enough counterplay for Black, with Kc3 next.})) 41. Red1 e4 {This just
doesn't cut it.} (41... Red8 42. Ke3 $18 {is game over. White picks up the
pawn and is left with a protected passer on c4.}) 42. fxe4+ Rxe4 43. Rxd3 Rde7
{Trying to keep more chances for counterplay by not trading rooks, but White
has everything under control. Nyzhnyk's technique is smooth as butter.} 44.
R1d2 Kf6 45. Rd6+ Kg5 46. R6d5+ R7e5 47. c5 Kf6 48. c6 Re2+ 49. Rxe2 Rxd5 50.
Rc2 $1 {Rook behind the pawn!} Rd8 51. c7 Rc8 52. Rc5 ({Black resigned as the
situation is hopeless - White will simply bring in the king to collect the
queenside:} 52. Rc5 Ke7 53. Ke3 Kd6 54. Kd4 Rxc7 55. Rxc7 Kxc7 56. Kc5 $18) 1-0

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