the strongest move of its career.

It transpires that the queen's sortie to a3 has not prevented the opening up of the centre. 24 . . . Qa4 There is no choice. 24 . . . Qb4 can be simply met by 25 QXb4 cXb4 26 Bd6, while after 24 QXa2 25 Nc3 the queen is trapped. 25 dxc5 bxcc 26 c4! N8d7 Of course, 26 . . . dXc4 is not possible due to 27 Nc3, while after 26 . . d4 the black queen is again imprisoned. 27 Nc3 Qa5 28 Qc2 Qd8 Now there is nothing for the queen to do on its own wing. 28 . . . e5 is strongly met by 29 Bd2! d4 30 Ne4 Qb6 31 Ng5+. 29 Bg5 Nb6 30 a4 The threat of the a-pawn's further advance does not allow Black time to regroup, e.g. 30 Qc7 31 cXd5 eXd5 32 a5 Nbd7 33 NXd5 NXd5 34 Bc4. 30 . . . dXc4 31 Be4 Re7 32 a5 The alternative way of continuing the attack was by 32 Bc6 and then Rd1. 32 . . . Nbd7 33 Bc6 Nb8 34 Rd1 QXa5 35 Ne4 Rf8! At last this rook comes into play, clearing the way for the king to go to g8. There appears to be a real prospect of Black consolidating his position, while White is restoring the material balance. But here I noticed a drawback to the placing of the black rooks. 36 Bf4! Like a pendulum, this bishop has been oscillating all the game between f4 and g5, each time disrupting more and more the opponent's defences. This last oscillation leaves Black in a critical position. Since 36 . . . e5 is not possible, he is forced to allow the invasion of the white pieces. 36 . . . NXc6 37 bXc6 Ne8 37 . . . NXe4 38 QXe4 Bd4 was rather more tenacious. 38 Rd7! RXd7 39 cXd7 Nf6 40 Nd6+ Ke7 41 NXc4 The other highly promising continuation was 41 Nb7. 41 . . . Qa6 42 Bd6+ KXd9 43 BXf8 BXf8 In spite of the approximate material equality, Black's position remains difficult. It is impossible for him to defend his king and to keep all his weak pawns intact. 44 Qd3+ Ke7 afters . . . Kc7 45 Re1 the e6 pawn is soon lost. 45 Rd1 Nd5 46 Qe4 Kf7 46 . . . Nc3 is bad because of 47 Qh4+ etc. 47 Ne5+ Kg8 48 Nd7 c4 49 Rbl Qd6 Black parries the threat of Rb8, and in passing sets a "trap" NXf8 Nc3, into which White could perfectly well have fallen - 51 Qa8 NXb1 52 NXe6+ Kf7 53 Ng5+ Ke7 54 Qb7+ followed by QXb1, winning. But since, in the heat of the battle, we had rushed past the time control, and neither was taking the initiative to adjourn the game, I followed another path, one planned beforehand, where it was the activity of the rook that

nevertheless decided matters. 50 Rb7 c3 51 NXf8 KXf8 52 RXh7 Qf4 By the threat of perpetual check Black exchanges the queens and saves himself from a mating attack. But the resulting ending is hopeless for him: his passed pawns are doomed. 53 QXf4 NXf4 54 Kf1 a5 55 Ra7 Nd5 56 RXa5 Kf7 With a last trap - 57 Ke2 Nf4+ 58 Kf3? c2 59 Rc5 Nd3 60 RXc2 Ne1+ and it is Black who wins. But. 57 g3 Black resigns.