Another example of my favourite positional player, the great Boris Gelfand! White dominates one of the open files, how to control both of them?

Targetting the b5-pawn.

And the following maneuver is super classy. Please think for a while! How can you penetrate Black's position?

The key move. With this sequence, Gelfand blocks the d-file (...Nd6 + ...e5) and at the same time controls the c8-square. Now this prepares the simple Rc2, dominating the file and planning to penetrate along the 7th rank.

White is clearly dominating and Gelfand ended up winning this endgame!

With good criteria, Illescas decides to keep the a-file closed, therefore keeping control over the only open file, the c-file.

1...Rxa7 2.Rxc4 b5 3.Rc6! Transformation of positional advantages! Now Black has to decide whether to lose control over the file or to allow White to have a passed pawn.

A mistake, but a human one. Black wants to control c7. It was needed to leave the a7-g1 diagonal open for the queen to dream about a possible counterplay.

White has a clear advantage, thanks to the control of the c-file. Now a possible plan is to penetrate on c6-c7.