A mistake! Now Black can get a fantastic position. Can you find the move? 22.Qd3! should have been played.
Exactly! d4 is the square. From there the knight is a beast, and can be supported with ...e5.
Unity Chess Club
Boris Gelfand Haik Martirosyan FIDE Grand Swiss 2021 White to move
Note that the e4-pawn is hanging at the moment. I really love the way Gelfand handles this position. He makes a great sequence of moves to control the two open files: c and d.
The bishop on g2 is useless. Trading the c6-bishop is good for White since that bishop protects b7 and blocks the c-file! Moreover, White gets access to the d6-square!
Taking with the pawn is naturally bad for Black, since it will become an easy target
The same idea. The knight blocks the d-file and controls c8! Rc7 is coming.
Bringing the king to the center. The rest of the game is a masterclass from Gelfand. Enjoy.
25...f6 26.Ke4 fxe5 27.Kxe5 Nf6 28.Rc7 Ng4+ 29.Kxe6! King Leonidas! Nxh2 30.Rd7 Ng4 31.Rxd8 Rxd8 32.Rc2 Nf6 33.b4 Nh5 34.Rc3 a6 35.a4 h6 36.Ke7 Rf8 37.Kd7 Kh7 38.Re3 Rf6 39.f5 b5 40.a5 Rf8 41.Kc6 Nf6 42.Re7 Nh5 43.Ne4 Nf6 44.Nc5 Rc8+ 45.Kb7
Unity Chess Club
Boris Gelfand Maxime Lagarde Biel 2021 White to move
Another example of my favourite positional player, the great Boris Gelfand! White dominates one of the open files, how to control both of them?