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Istanbul Diary
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Day 6 & 7 Day 8 & 9 Day 10 Day 11 
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Move
   

Fedorov, A. (2646) - Baburin, A. (2590) [B03]
34th Olympiad, Istanbul (3) 2000

1. e4 Nf6 2. e5 Nd5 3. d4 d6 4. c4 Nb6 5. f4 dxe5 6. fxe5 Nc6 7. Be3 Bf5 8. Nc3 e6 9. Nf3 Bg4
   I don't get to play against the Four Pawn Attack too often and so I decided to try a rare line.
10. Qd2 Bb4   Black wants to play .. .Na5 and ...c5. White can chase away this bishop (as he did), but this weakens the b3-square and ...Na5 becomes a real possibility.
11. a3 Be7 12. Ne4 Qd7 13. b4   After 13.Be2 0-0-0 14.0-0-0 Bf5 15.Ng3 Bg6 16.h4 in the game Huebner-Hort, Biel 1987, Black delivered a nice blow - 16...Nb4. He eventually won after 17.b3 Nc2 18.c5 Qc6 19.Bd3 Nxe3 20.Qxe3 Nd5 21.Qf2 Bxd3 22.Rxd3 Qa6 23.Rhd1 Qxa3+.
Bxf3 14. gxf3 O-O-ON   Apparently, this is a novelty. Previously Black played 14...Rd8 here. I think that my move is better, as Black's king is quite safe on the queenside.
15. Rd1 Bh4+ 16. Ng3 f6 17. b5 Ne7 18. Qa5 Kb8 19. Be2
   Here Fedorov offered a draw, but I decided to play, despite being short of time.
Nf5 20. Bf2 Qf7 21. f4 g5 22. Nxf5 Bxf2+ 23. Kxf2 exf5 24. d5 fxe5 25. fxe5 g4 26. Qc3 h5 27. e6 Qe7 28. h3 Rhg8 29. hxg4 hxg4 30. Qd4 f4 31. Bd3   The tension is rising. Here both players were short of time, which partly explains some of the mistakes, which we made. For example, here 31...g3+ was worth considering.
Qg5 32. Be4 f3 33. c5 Nc8 34. Rh7 g3+ 35. Kxf3 g2 36. Rg1 Rdf8+ 37. Ke2?    White had to play 37.Rf7! instead.
Qg4+ 38. Kd3 Rf3+!    After 38...Rf1 39.Rxg2 Rf3+ White has an amazing move - 40.Qe3!. He is OK after 40...Rxe3+ 41.Kxe3 Qxe4+ 42.Kxe4 Rxg2.
39. Bxf3   White should have declined the offer by playing 39.Kc4, but it is hard to make the right choice when you are down to your last seconds.
Qxf3+ 40. Kd2 Rg4!    Now White is busted, as his king is too exposed and both his rooks are vulnerable.
41. Qe3 Qxd5+ 42. Kc1 Re4 43. Qf2 Qc4+ 44. Qc2 Qf1+ 45. Qd1 Qf4+ 46. Kb1 Qf5
   White resigned, as he either loses his h7-rook or gets checkmated after 47...Rb4++.
0-1

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All text Copyright Alexander Baburin unless otherwise noted