Another virtuality to be real

Teimour Boris oghlu Radjabov – 李超 (Lǐ Chāo)
FIDE Grand Prix 2017; 4th stage; Palma de Mallorca, November 23, 2017
English Opening A10

Azerbaijani Grandmaster Teimour Boris oghlu Radjabov has today bounced back from yesterday’s débâcle, slowly outplaying 李超 (Lǐ Chāo) in a vintage 1980s English Opening, and thus still hoping for a pyrotechnic réentrée into the Candidates. 1. c4 g6 2. e4 e5 3. d4 Nf6 4. Nf3 exd4 5. e5 Bb4+ 6. Bd2 Qe7 7. Bxb4 Qxb4+ 8. Qd2 Qxd2+ 9. Nbxd2 Nh5 10. Nxd4 Nc6 11. N2f3!? An unsubstantial novelty. For 11. Nxc6 dxc6 12. 0-0-0 Bf5 13. f3 Ng7 14. g4 Be6 15. Ne4 h5 see Polugaevsky – Timman, 2nd International Tournament, Bugojno 1980. 11. ... b6 12. Nb5 Kd8 13. 0-0-0 Re8 14. g3 a6 15. Nbd4 Bb7 16. Nxc6+ Bxc6 17. Bh3 f5 18. Bg2 b5 19. Rhe1

19. ... bxc4? This really seems to be a bad positional error, after which Black’s position gets scattered, eventually causing him to lose first a Pawn and then also the (end)game. Black should rather have consolidated by ... Nh5-g7-e6 with reasonable chances to hold. 20. Nh4 Bxg2 21. Nxg2 Rb8 22. Rd4 g5 23. Red1 Rxe5 24. Rxd7+ Kc8 25. Rxh7 Nf6 26. Rh8+ Kb7 27. Rxb8+ Kxb8 28. Ne3 f4 29. Nxc4 Re2 30. Rd2 Re1+ 31. Kc2 Kb7 32. Kd3 Rh1 33. gxf4 gxf4 34. f3 Rf1 35. Ne5 Re1 36. Ng4 Nd5 37. h4 c5 38. h5 Nb4+ 39. Kc4 Rc1+ 40. Kb3 Nc6 41. h6 Nd4+ 42. Ka3 Nxf3 43. h7 Nxd2 44. h8=Q Nc4+ 45. Ka4 Nb6+ 46. Kb3 a5 47. Qf6 a4+ 48. Ka3 Ka6 49. Qxf4 Nc4+ 50. Kxa4 Nxb2+ 51. Kb3 Nd3 52. Qd6+ Kb5 53. a4+ 1 : 0.