Now, White has a small material advantage, but his position is bad, as Black has obtained control of the centre and an extremely strong protected passed pawn, only a short step from promoting.
White has a protected passed pawn on d5, typical of the Grünfeld Defence. The further White can push it, the greater his threats, because the Bg7 does not hold up the pawn’s progress. But there is a danger – the moment the pawn moves forward, it ceases to be protected by its own pawn, and the enemy pieces can try to surround and capture it. In this example, White manages without a sharp advance of the pawn.
30.f4! Qg4 31.Bxh8 Qd1+ 32.Bf1 Nd6 33.Qh3+ Qh5 34.Qc3 Ne8 35.d6! Qd1 36.Qh3+
Unity Chess Club
Magnus Carlsen 2861 Pentala Harikrishna 2698 Wijk aan Zee 2013 White to move
White is two pawns down, but at the moment, this deficit is not really felt. Instead, one’s eye is struck by the blockade on the dark squares and the protected passed pawn on e6.
21.Nc5 Nd6 22.Qf3 Qe7 23.Rf2 Ra5 24.Nb3 Rb5 25.Bc5 Bh5 26.Qc3! Qe8 27.Qe3
An equal endgame results from the exchanging operation 27.Nd4 Ne4 28.Nxb5 Nxc3 29.e7 Rf7 30.Nxc7 Qxe7 31.Bxe7 Rxe7 32.Rxc3 Rxc7=.