Iv Sokolov (2652) - Y. Seirawan (2638) [E11]

TCh-NED 2006-7/Netherlands NED (6) 2007


Ivan had tried to convert his extra pawn for a while already in this opposite coloured bishop ending with queens but so far Yasser had been very accurate.

62. Qd6+ Kh7 Preparing the blunder that will follow. Yasser had seen that White draws here after 62... Kf7 63. fxg4 Qe4 64. Qf6+ Ke8 65. Qf8+ Kd7 66. Qd8+ with perpetual check. That's why he went to h7, to avoid the perpetual (so he secretly plays for a win!) 63. fxg4 Qe4?? 63... Qxg4 64. Qxd5 Qg3+ is still a draw. 64. Kh3 Just missed this one, the white king will run upwards and suddenly Black is in big trouble. Even worse was that Yasser had just 1 minute left on the clock for the rest of the game and he didn't recover from this blow. 64... Qe3+ 65. Kh4 Bxg2? Much tougher is 65... Be6! 66. Qd1 (66. Qc5 Qg3+ 67. Kg5 Qxg4+ 68. Kf6 Qg6+ 69. Ke5 Qf5+ 70. Kd4 Qxc5+ 71. Kxc5 Bg4 and f3 with a draw offer.) 66... Kg6 and I don't see a win for White, e.g. 67. Qb1+ (67. Qf3 Qe1+ 68. g3 fxg3 69. Qxg3 Qh1+=) 67... Kg7 68. Qa1+ Kh7 69. Bf8 Qg3+ 70. Kg5 Qxg4+ 71. Kf6 Qg6+ 72. Ke5 Qf5+ 73. Kd6 Qd5+ with perpetual. 66. Kh5 Qh3+ 67. Kg5 Be4 68. Qf6 resigned, White has a mating attack. 1-0