Sergei Lobanov vs Alisher Suleymenov: game review

14.Nc3! The only good move here: every alternative is clearly worse.

• Protects the rook on a1, which was hanging.
• Develops the knight, bringing another piece into the game.
• The next best move, 14.O-O, would drop White's winning chances from 74% to 59% (+1.04).
• 14.Nc3 stops …Qxa1.
• Black was threatening …Qxa1, winning a rook and a knight. Nc3 takes care of it.
• Black answers 14…Rd8.

19.Qf3! The only good move here: every alternative is clearly worse.

• Moves the attacked queen to safety.
• The next best move, 19.Qxd7+, would drop White's winning chances from 86% to 74% (+2.84).
• 19.Qf3 wins the exchange, picking it up with 21.Bxg5, and gets the queen out of the way of …Qxf5.
• Sets up a sequence and wins the exchange once the captures settle, picking it up with 21.Bxg5.
• Black was threatening …Qxf5, winning the queen. The queen steps away.
• Black answers 19…h6, attacking the knight on g5, leaving White with an isolated pawn on a2.

35…Qe8 is a mistake: Black's winning chances go from 5% to 0%. It allows mate in 5.

• White answers 36.Rxd7, which takes the knight on d7.
• After Rxd7, White wins 3 points of material within 2 moves.
• Better was 35…Qf7 (+8.06): shores up the rook on h7, which was under as much attack as it had defence (1 against 1).

Better: 35…Qf7 stops the mate threat Rxd7. After 36.Qg4 Qh5 37.Rxd7 Qxg4 38.Rxh7+ Kxh7 39.Rxg4 a5, the rooks are traded and Black is a piece down (+8.06).

• Both sides followed opening theory up to 6.c4: 11 moves in all, 6 by White and 5 by Black.
• Theory runs out after 6.c4: too few games between strong players reached this position to go further.