Backwards and Forwards

Stockfish – Leela Chess Zero

Top Chess Engine Championship Season 19 — Superfinal; match game 18; tcec-chess.com, October 3, 2020

Sicilian Defence B45

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nc6 5. Nc3 d6 6. g4 h6 (6. ... a6 7. Be3 Nge7! 8. Nb3 b5 9. f4 Bb7 10. Qf3 g5! 11. fxg5 Ne5 12. Qg2 b4 13. Ne2 h5! 14. gxh5 Nf5 15. Bf2 Qxg5! 16. Na5 Ne3!! 17. Qg3 Qxg3 18. Nxg3 Nxc2+ 19. Kd1 Nxa1 20. Nxb7 b3 21. axb3 Nxb3 22. Kc2 Nc5 23. Nxc5 dxc5 24. Be1 Nf3 25. Bc3 Nd4+ 26. Kd3 Bd6 27. Bg2 Be5 28. Kc4 Ke7! 29. Ra1 Nc6 0 : 1 Shirov – J. Polgár, Lev Abramovich Polugaevsky Chess Tournament, Buenos Aires 1994) 7. h4 a6 8. Nxc6!?TN (8. Bg2 Be7 9. Be3 Nxd4 10. Qxd4 e5 11. Qd1 Be6 12. Nd5 Rc8 13. c3 Nf6= 14. Nxe7 Qxe7 15. g5 hxg5 16. hxg5 Rxh1+ 17. Bxh1 Ng4 18. Bd2 Qf8 19. Qf3 Qh8 20. Bg2 Qh4 21. b3 d5 22. Qg3 Qxg3 23. fxg3 Rd8 24. Ke2 Ke7 25. Bc1 d4 26. Ba3+ Ke8 27. cxd4 exd4 28. Rh1 Ne5 29. Rh8+ Kd7 30. Rxd8+ Kxd8 31. Bb2 Bg4+ 32. Kd2 Nf3+ ½ : ½ Karpov – Kasparov, Moscow 1985, World Chess Championship match game 14) 8. ... bxc6 9. Qd3 Nf6 10. g5 hxg5 11. Bxg5 Qb6 12. 0-0-0 a5 13. Qf3 Bd7. 13. ... Rb8 14. b3 Bd7 might have been considered here, in order not to allow White’s Bishop to claim the diagonal a2-g8. 14. Bc4 Rb8 (14. ... a4 15. e5!+−) 15. Bb3 c5 16. h5! a4 (16. ... c4 17. h6!+−) 17. Nxa4 Qa5 18. Bxf6 gxf6 19. Nc3 (19. Qxf6?? Rh6 20. Qc3 Qa7∓) 19. ... Qb6 20. Qd3 Ke7 21. a3 Bh6+ 22. Kb1 Rhc8 23. Qc4 Rc6 24. Rhe1 Rc7 25. Rd3 Bf4

26. Nd5+! exd5 27. exd5+ Be5

28. Qh4! Kd8. 28. ... c4 is also met by 29. Rxe5+! Be6 (neither 29. ... dxe5 30. d6++− nor 29. ... Kd8 30. Qxf6+ Kc8 31. Rg3+− are of any help to Black) 30. Rxe6+! fxe6 31. Qg4! with an irresistible attack. 29. Rxe5! dxe5 30. Rf3! White is down a whole Rook, but the passed h-Pawn will cost Black much more than that. 30. ... Kc8 31. h6 Kb7 (31. ... c4 32. h7+−) 32. Bc4 Ba4 33. Rxf6 Qa5 34. Qe4 Bb5 35. d6+ Bc6 36. Qxe5 Re8 37. Qf5 Rd7 38. Rxf7 Qd8 39. Rg7 Kb6 40. b4 cxb4 41. axb4 Rxg7 42. Qc5+ Kb7 43. hxg7 Re1+ 44. Kb2 Qf6+ 45. c3 Qxg7 46. b5 Be4 47. Bd5+ Bxd5 48. Qxd5+ Ka7 1 : 0. The curtain falls without waiting for 49. d7.