Unity Chess Club
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Black has sacrificed a pawn and set up an initiative on the queenside. How would you react?
18.Qc1!
The simplest! In the endgame the extra pawn is more important. In general it is useful to exchange pieces when you are material up.
18...Qxc1 19.Rxc1 cxd5
20.a3!
The tactical justification.
20...Nd3 21.Rcd1 dxe4?!
21...Nc5 would have been better.
22.Bxf6 Bxf6 23.Nxe4
And now two pieces are hanging - the game is over. Black resigned after three more moves.
Tigran Kotanjian-Tigran L Petrosian
Yerevan 2013
White to move
The second logical thing that springs to mind is preserving your queen for an attack. When your only plan is going for the enemy king, you should logically avoid the exchange of the most dangerous attacker.
30.Qd2?
A strange decision, as now White will be two pawns down with the queens off. It is well known that opposite-colored bishops with the major pieces on the board favor the attacker. So White should have fearlessly gone for 30.Kg3 Qe5+ 31.Bf4.
30...Qxd2+ 31.Bxd2 fxe5 32.Bg5
White still has compensation due to the passive black pieces, but he loses track further on.
32...Rg8 33.Rh7 a5 34.Rd1 Rg6