76 Part II – About the Inhabitants of the Chess Board

Tomas Petrik – Jan Markos 26...¥e4?

The attempt to protect the e6-pawn is
Slovakia 2012 commendable, but the bishop will not be able
 to stay in the central position for long.
 

27.f3
  Maybe even stronger is the laconic 27.g3!.
  27...¥f5 28.g4! ¥xg7 29.¥xg7 £xg7
    30.£g3?
     This loses all the advantage.

   After the simple 30.¢h1, White is winning.

   However, both opponents were already in time
    trouble.

 
This is a wild position but, surprisingly, a  
rather balanced one. Black’s king is stuck in   
the centre, but this factor is compensated by
his well-placed bishops and the weak g7-pawn.   
However, Black has to reduce the pressure of   
the white pieces on his position immediately.
After the correct 26...¦d8, the most likely
   
outcome would be an equal endgame after:   
27.¥xe6 fxe6 28.¦xe6† ¢f7    

       
  
30...£c3?
  Black again underestimates the power of
    his opponent’s pieces and continues playing
     speculatively.
   
   It wasn’t too late to reduce the pressure with
30...¥xg4! 31.fxg4 £xg4 32.£xg4 ¦xg4†
    33.¢f2 ¢e7, retaining chances for a draw.

29.¦de1 £xg2† 30.£xg2 ¥xg2 31.¢xg2 31.¢h1?!
¥xg7 32.¦e7† ¢f8= 31.£f4! is the most convincing win.

However, instead of reducing the pressure, I 31...h5?

placed another poorly-protected piece in the It still wasn’t too late to play 31...¥xg4.
centre.