Kostya's Game of the Day - August 5th

In today's game of the day, IM Burnett outplays his opponent to achieve a nice center and more space out of the opening. He then finds a nice sacrifice, after which he is able to regain his invested material with interest, ending in an endgame with the bishop pair and an extra pawn. But rather than collapsing, Malazarte defends stubbornly, and even receives a miraculous chance to hold a draw deep in the endgame. That chance was missed, however, and Burnett ends up winning a finely played game.

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[Event "2019 Senior"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2019.08.04"]
[Round "2.9"]
[White "Burnett, Ronald"]
[Black "Malazarte, Ernesto"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A15"]
[WhiteElo "2412"]
[BlackElo "2152"]
[Annotator "Kostya"]
[PlyCount "155"]
[EventDate "2019.??.??"]

1. c4 Nf6 2. g3 c6 3. Qa4 d5 4. cxd5 Nxd5 5. Nf3 Nd7 6. Nc3 e6 7. Bg2 Nc5 $6 {
A tempo that White will soon get back.} (7... b5 {followed by Bb7 seems more
natural.}) 8. Qd1 Be7 9. O-O O-O 10. d4 Nd7 11. Qc2 $1 {The queen develops for
a second time, preparing to take the center with e4 next.} b6 12. Rd1 Bb7 13.
e4 N5f6 14. Bf4 Nh5 15. Be3 Nhf6 16. Rac1 {White has finished their
development and now enjoys a comfortable space advantage. However it's not
always so clear how to proceed.} Rc8 17. Qa4 a5 18. e5 $1 {It seems like White
is giving up the d5-square, but in fact he is ready to trade off the knight
when it gets there, changing the structure.} b5 (18... Nd5 19. Nxd5 cxd5 20.
Bf1 $16 {Transferring the bishop to the right diagonal, and White would have
an excellent version of the Advanced French.}) 19. Qb3 Ne8 ({Now} 19... Nd5 20.
Nxd5 exd5 {is even worse for Black. White would have an overwhelming structure
advantage here.} 21. h4 $16) 20. Ne4 $1 {Simple and strong, the knight is
heading for the c5-square. Black's position is just too passive.} h6 21. Nc5
Qc7 22. Nxe6 $1 {An absolutely correct combination. It's instructive how
Burnett did not sit on his comfortable position--he struck as soon as the iron
was hot.} fxe6 23. Qxe6+ Rf7 24. d5 $1 {The point, White will play d6 next and
Black will have to give back the piece.} Nf8 25. Qg4 {Accurately calculated,
Black still has no satisfactory answer to the threat of d5-d6.} Rd8 26. d6 Nxd6
27. exd6 Rxd6 (27... Bxd6 28. Nd4 $18 {and Black cannot defend both c6 and b5.}
) 28. Bf4 Rxd1+ 29. Rxd1 Qc8 30. Qxc8 Bxc8 31. Ne5 {With the exchange of
queens, White has transformed the position into an excellent endgame, where
the c6-pawn will soon fall.} Rf6 32. Nxc6 Ng6 33. Nxe7+ Nxe7 34. Bc7 {White
has two bishops and an extra pawn, which should be enough for a technically
won position. However, Malazarte is able to put up a really stubborn defense,
making things anything but easy.} Be6 35. a3 a4 36. Bd8 Kf7 37. Bf1 Rf5 38. Re1
Nc6 39. Rd1 Ne5 40. Ba5 Nc4 (40... g5 $5 41. h3 h5 42. Bc3 Nf3+ 43. Kg2 g4 {
would have made things annoying, but White is still much better after} 44. Bd3
$16) 41. Bc3 Rd5 42. Re1 Rc5 43. Bd4 Rc6 44. Bg2 Rd6 45. Bc3 Bd5 46. Bh3 g6 47.
Bb4 Rd8 48. Re7+ Kg8 49. Rd7 (49. Bc3 $5 Bf7 50. f4 $18 {was another way to
continue, keeping the rooks on the board.}) 49... Rxd7 50. Bxd7 Nxb2 51. Bxb5
Bc4 52. Be8 Bf7 53. Bc6 Bb3 54. f4 Nd3 55. Bc3 Nc5 56. Kf2 Kf7 57. Ke3 Ne6 58.
g4 Nd8 59. Bb5 Ne6 60. f5 $6 {Based on the game continuation, perhaps White
should have waited a bit on this move.} ({Activating the king further with} 60.
Ke4 $18 {seems to be a better way to convert the advantage.}) 60... gxf5 61.
gxf5 Nc7 62. Bd7 Nd5+ 63. Kd3 Nxc3 64. Kxc3 Kf6 65. Kb4 Bc2 66. Bxa4 Bxf5 67.
Bb3 {The endgame seems very difficult for Black, but it turns out that after
this move there was a miraculous save...} ({Instead White would win with} 67.
Bd1 $1 {which seems to save a tempo in crucial lines.} Kg5 68. a4 Kh4 69. a5
Bd3 (69... Bc8 70. Kc5 Kh3 71. Kb6 Kxh2 72. Be2) 70. Kc5 Kh3 71. Ba4 Kxh2 72.
Bb5 Be4 73. a6 h5 74. a7 h4 75. Bc6 Bxc6 76. Kxc6 h3 77. a8=Q $18) (67. h4 $1 {
would also be winning, with an extra tempo compared to the critical line after
67...Kg5.} Ke5 68. Bd1 Bd7 69. Be2 Kf4 70. Bb5 Bc8 71. a4 Kg4 72. a5 Kxh4 73.
Kc5 h5 74. Kb6 Kg3 75. Kc7 Bg4 76. a6 Bf3 77. a7 h4 78. Bc6 Bxc6 79. Kxc6 h3
80. a8=Q h2 81. Kc5 $18) 67... Bd7 {Of course, Black would love to give up the
bishop for White's a-pawn, but White is not going to let that happen.} ({
Amazingly, Stockfish can't find a win after} 67... Kg5 $3 {The critical line
seems to be} 68. a4 Kh4 69. a5 Bc8 70. Kb5 Kh3 71. Kb6 Kxh2 72. Bc4 h5 73. Kc7
Bg4 74. a6 {White's pawn will promote, but after} Bf3 75. a7 h4 76. Bb5 h3 {
Black is in time!} 77. Bc6 Bxc6 78. Kxc6 Kg1 79. a8=Q h2 $11) 68. Bc4 Ke5 69.
Bb5 Bc8 70. Kc5 h5 71. a4 h4 72. a5 h3 73. Kc6 {Here Black is too slow.} Kd4 (
73... Kf4 74. Kc7 Bf5 75. a6 Be4 76. a7 Kf3 77. Bc6 Bxc6 78. Kxc6 Kg2 79. a8=Q
Kxh2 {and with the pawn on h3, White is winning.} 80. Qa2+ Kg1 81. Qb1+ Kf2 82.
Qf5+ Kg2 83. Qg4+ Kh2 84. Kd5 $18) 74. Bf1 Bf5 {I'm not sure exactly how the
game ended as the notation ends here, but White has a winning position as the
pawn will promote by force. For example} 75. a6 Ke3 76. a7 Be4+ 77. Kb6 Kf2 78.
Bxh3 {Followed by Bc8-b7.} 1-0

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