4X

Nodirbek Abdusattorov – Ian Alexandrovich Nepomniachtchi

2nd World Fischerandom Chess Championship Group A; match game 3; time control: 25 minutes for the first 30 moves, plus 5 minutes for the rest of the game, plus 5 seconds per move starting from move 31; Reykjavík, October 27, 2022

nrkrbbnq/pppppppp/8/8/8/8/PPPPPPPP/NRKRBBNQ w DBdb - 0 1

Position #378

1. g4 Nb6 2. f4 d5 3. e4 Nf6 4. exd5 Nfxd5 5. Ne2 Bc6 6. Bg2? 6. Qg1 Nb4! (Δ ... Nb4xa2#) 7. b3 Nxa2+ 8. Kb2 Nb4 leaves Black a Pawn up, which all considered would be White’s best compromise!

6. ... g5! Vehemently taking the upper hand. Black’s Knights are ready to jump to b4 and c4 with winning threats.
7. fxg5 Qe5! 8. Qf1 Nb4? Threatening a smothered mate (... Nb4xa2#), but allowing White to recoordinate. Much better was 8. ... Ne3! 9. dxe3 Rxd1+ 10. Kxd1 Nc4 11. Bf2 0-0-0+ with a forcing attack.
9. Nc3 Bxg2 10. Qxg2

10. ... N6d5? Another mistake that compromises Black’s game quite irreversibly. Black ought to play 10. ... Nc4, because if now 11. Bg3?? (10. a3 Nd5= is correct) then 11. ... Qxc3!! 12. bxc3?? Nxa2#.
11. Bg3! Qxg5 12. 0-0 f6 13. Nb5 e5 14. Nxa7+ Kd7 15. a3 Bc5+ 16. Kh1 Bxa7 17. axb4 Nxb4. Black has temporarily recovered his Pawn, but his development suffers a grave lack of coordination.
18. Qe4. Double attack.
18. ... Nc6 19. Qxh7+ Kc8 20. Nb3 Rd7 21. Qh8+ Nd8. So now White’s got the Black King bottled up.
22. Qxf6 Qxg4 23. Qxe5 Qc4 24. Na5 Qa6

25. Rf8! Threatening Rf8xd8+.
25. ... Qh6. To avoid the Bishop check at h4 after 26. Rxd8+ Kxd8.
26. Rxd8+! Kxd8. Of course Black cannot take with the Rook, because of the mate on c7.
27. Re1! Kc8 28. Qe8+ Rd8 29. Qf7 1 : 0. For mate follows in a few moves.