The most technical move! Now Black will play two rooks down and the game will be decided on the queenside.
1.axb5 gxh5 and the black rooks dream about having a life. Anyway the position is a complete disaster for Black.
White brings all the pieces to the a-file and looks for a penetration along a7. Later a sacrifice on b7 or playing Ba6 will come to finish the business. Important to note that Black cannot protect the b7-pawn with a bishop on c8 because a rook would come to a8 and the queen would be trapped.
Unity Chess Club
Milos M Krstic Dmitrij Kollars EU-ch 2023 Black to move
These positions are very typical of the Italian and Spanish openings, so it is always a good idea to have an idea of how to play them. How can Black fight for the space in the center?
Using the fact the knight went to h2 and the e5-pawn is not hanging. Therefore Black can push gaining some more space.
This is usually White's plan. The queen is transferred to f3 to support a knight jump to f5. The bishop on c1 is also dangerous targeting h6.
Gaining more space. The bishop on c2 will remain passive for a long time. The pawn on d3 is now backward and the c2-bishop has to guard it. A possible plan is to take on c3 followed by ...b4 to gain full control over the d4-square.
Now there are several ways to play with the black pieces, but I really love the way Kollars plays in this game. It is a fantastic positional idea that is employed to kick the dangerous f5-knight. We want to play ...g6, but of course, h6 would be hanging. Therefore the idea is to overprotect h6 by playing ...Kh7 followed by ...Ng8! and then ...g6.
And remember! ...dxc3 followed by ...b4 is strong in these positions to secure the d4-square!
Unity Chess Club
Francisco Vallejo Pons Bassem Amin Olympiad 2022 White to move
Black intends to play ...b5 or ...Na4. How to proceed?
14.Rb1!
14.Rb1!