[Event "Hoogovens"] [Site "Wijk aan Zee"] [Date "1987.01.28"] [Round "10"] [White "Korchnoi, Viktor"] [Black "Nogueiras Santiago, Jesus"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "D48"] [WhiteElo "2625"] [BlackElo "2565"] [Annotator "Llewellyn, Alan"] [PlyCount "187"] [EventDate "1987.01.16"] [EventType "tourn"] [EventRounds "13"] [EventCountry "NED"] [EventCategory "13"] [Source "ChessBase"] [SourceDate "1988.02.01"] {I find Victor Korchnois games fascinating so here is another delightfull game. It is long ie 94 moves and involves much manouvering and concealed threats my advice is to go over the game on a physical board after printing out the moves using a printer. It is included for the incredible King advance which by threatening to checkmate Blacks King forces off the Queens and as the King is already in the centre of the board, it makes it easy to shepherd a pawn into a winning threat to Queen. His opponent is a cuban named rather unusually as Jesus Nogueiras Santiago, who gives a good account of himself, but seccumbs in the end, unlike his more illustrious namesake.} 1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 c6 4. e3 {a semi-slav:Meran system opening, named after the 1924 Meran Tournament where it was first seen, it is still very popular today unlike many openings of the past which have been found wanting.} Nf6 5. Nf3 Nbd7 6. Bd3 dxc4 7. Bxc4 b5 8. Bd3 a6 9. a4 b4 10. Ne4 c5 11. Ned2 $5 (11. O-O {Evgeny Tomanshevsky the strong Russian player has played this more common line, the move Ned2 has fallen into disuse for no particular reason I can see.}) 11... Bb7 12. Nc4 Be7 13. a5 (13. O-O $142) 13... O-O 14. O-O Qc7 15. h3 ({Victor in his book on his best games gives the Ng4 threat as strong and justifying h3 but after g3 by White in reply, what threat is there?} 15. b3 Ng4 16. g3 $11) 15... Bd5 $1 { threatening cxd4 when the Knight is threatened twice on c4, but also postponing the decision on whether to take the knight on f3 or play Be4 and swap off Bishops.} 16. Qe2 Qb7 17. Re1 Be4 $6 (17... Ne4 $15) 18. Bd2 Bxd3 19. Qxd3 Rfd8 20. Qe2 Ne4 21. Red1 Qb5 22. Kf1 Rab8 23. Be1 Bf6 (23... h6 {a waiting move was perhaps best even at a cost of weakening the King position slightly.}) 24. Rac1 h6 $6 25. dxc5 $2 (25. Nfe5 $14 {this is a complex position but it looks like the threat of dxc5 uncovering an attack on the Rook after Nxd7 by White can create an impetus to an advantage.}) 25... Ndxc5 $6 $11 {the wrong Knight!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!} (25... Nexc5 $15 {the Threat of Nb3 by Jesus looms large on the position.}) 26. Nd4 $1 Bxd4 $1 27. exd4 Nb3 $2 (27... Na4 $3 28. Qxe4 Nxb2 29. Qe2 Nxd1 30. Rxd1 $11) 28. Qxe4 Rbc8 29. Qd3 $6 (29. Qe2) 29... Nxc1 30. Rxc1 e5 $1 {the reason why Qe2 was a better move on move 29.} 31. b3 Rxd4 32. Qe2 e4 33. Rd1 Rcd8 34. Rxd4 Rxd4 35. Kg1 f5 36. Qc2 f4 37. Qe2 $6 (37. Bd2 g5 38. f3 e3 $4 39. Qg6+ Kf8 40. Qxh6+ Kf7 41. Qh7+ Ke6 42. Qg6+ Kd7 43. Qg7+ Ke6 44. Qxd4 $18) 37... Qd5 $6 $14 (37... Qg5 $11 {threatening f3. }) 38. Bxb4 Rd3 39. Bd2 (39. Qc2 $14 {getting on the better side of the Rook and defending b3.}) 39... f3 $1 40. gxf3 exf3 41. Qe8+ Kh7 42. Qe1 Rxb3 43. Ne5 $1 Rb2 44. Bc3 Rb3 (44... Re2 $1 $11) 45. Kh2 $3 {the start of an enspired journey without it the game is drawn.} Kg8 46. Qd2 Qb5 47. Qd4 Qb8 48. Kg3 Ra3 49. Qc5 Rb3 50. Qd4 Ra3 51. Bb4 Ra4 52. Qd5+ Kh8 53. Bd2 Ra3 54. Be3 Qc7 55. Bb6 Qc1 56. Qa8+ Kh7 57. Qe4+ Kh8 58. Nxf3 Qg1+ 59. Kf4 Qd1 60. Qe8+ Kh7 61. Qe4+ Kh8 62. h4 Qd6+ 63. Kg4 Qd1 64. Qc6 Kh7 65. Kf4 Kg8 66. Qc8+ Kh7 67. Qf5+ Kg8 68. Qc8+ Kh7 69. Qf5+ Kg8 70. Nd4 Rc3 71. Ke5 $3 {the King believe it or not is heading for the e7 square!!!!!!!!!!!} Qa4 72. Kd6 Qb4+ 73. Kd7 Qa4+ 74. Kd8 Qd1 75. Ke7 Qh1 $1 (75... Qe1+ $2 76. Qe6+ $18) 76. h5 Qh4+ 77. Kd6 Qh2+ 78. f4 Qb2 $4 {its lost but this seals it.} 79. Ne6 $1 {this time the threat of the Knight going to d8-c6-e7 and creating a mating net seals a quite remarkable victory as it forces off the Queens to stop the attack hence swapping off to a won endgame.} Rc8 80. Nd8 Qd2+ 81. Qd5+ Qxd5+ 82. Kxd5 Kf8 $6 (82... Rc2 83. Ne6 Rh2 84. Nc7 Rxh5+ 85. Kc6 g5 86. Nxa6 gxf4 87. Nc7 Rxa5 88. Bxa5 f3 89. Be1 $18 {this may have been Blacks best ploy as not all grandmasters know how to checkmate with Bishop and Knight.}) 83. Ne6+ Kf7 84. Nc7 g6 85. hxg6+ Kxg6 86. Ke6 Rf8 87. Nd5 h5 88. f5+ Kg5 89. f6 h4 90. Ke7 h3 $1 91. Bg1 {the relatively old master (at the time) wasn't fooled by such an obvious ploy.} (91. Kxf8 $4 h2 92. Ke7 h1=Q 93. f7 Qe4+ 94. Kd6 Qg6+ 95. Ke7 Qe4+ $11) 91... Rb8 92. f7 Rb7+ 93. Ke6 Rb8 94. Bh2 $1 {now after 94...Ra8 the Knight comes in to block the Rooks scope by Nf6-e8 and its over so Jesus gave up there as if 94...Rf8 95.Bd6 and although after 95...Kg5 96.Bxf8!! h2 97.Be7 h1=Q, Black gets a Queen so does White ie 98.f8=Q and the position is hopeless due to the loss of the Rook.} 1-0