Vadim's analysis of Martirosov-Slive Rd. 7 adjourned position

Along with his own notes, Alex sent in Vadim’s analysis of their Round 7 adjourned position. I can’t include enough diagrams to make clear all the subtle positional and tactical themes in this line. Instead, I would strongly recommend that you play through these moves on a board (physical or electronic). You won’t be disappointed.

Note – this is all analysis; the actual moves of the game can be found here. To be as accurate as possible, I would attribute what follows as -- analysis by Vadim, commentary by Alex based on his post-mortem with Vadim, and very minor editing by me:



[Vadim showed me a beautiful almost study-like variation that he worked on for hours during the adjournment. It ends in a draw and he thought it probably was Black's best play]

41.Be4 Ne6 42.Kf3 Nf4 43.h4 Nh3

[Black attempts aggressive counterplay]

44.Ke3 Rxf2 45.Ra7

[Threatening e6]

45…gxh4

[Black gets a pawn for compensation]

46.e6 Rf6!

[Only move - e7 is threatened and Black plans ...Re6. 46...Kf8? loses to 47.e7+ followed by Bc6]

47.Bf5

[Best move - 47.Bd5? Nf4 48.e7 Nxd5+]

47...Kf8 48.e7+ Ke8 49.Kd4

[White wants to play Bd3/c2 followed by Bb5+/a4+ but has to avoid a Rook check at e6 first]

49…Ng5 50.Kc5!

[Beautiful! 50.Bc2 Rf4+ 51.Kd5 Rxg4 and Black will give up his Rook for White’s Bishop after a check on a4; 50.Bd3 Rd6+ 51.Kc4 Rxd3 52.Kxd3 h3]

50...Rxf5+

[Now this is forced]

51.gxf5 h3 52.Ra6!

[An amazing line is 52.Kd6 Ne4+ 53.Ke5 h2 54.f6 (54.Ra1? Nf2) 54...Nxf6 55.Ra1 with a probable draw (not 55.Kxf6?? because 55…h1Q covers a8!)]

52...f6! 53.Ra4

[53.Rxf6?? Ne4+]

53...Kxe7 54.Rh4 Kf7 55.Rxh6

[A positional draw]