V Pranav vs Ivan Saric: game review

29…Qd5! The only good move here: every alternative is clearly worse.

• Lines up queen and rook on the d-file, so the two pieces push in the same direction.
• Shores up the b7 pawn, which was under as much attack as it had defence (1 against 1).
• The next best move, 29…Kd7, would drop Black's winning chances from 44% to 21% (+3.58).
• 29…Qd5 stops the mate threat Qxb7#.
• White was threatening Qxb7#, with mate in 1. Qd5 takes care of it.
• White answers 30.Qf4.

31…Qd5! The only good move here: every alternative is clearly worse.

• Lines up queen and rook on the d-file, so the two pieces push in the same direction.
• Shores up the b7 pawn, which was under as much attack as it had defence (1 against 1).
• The next best move, 31…Kd7, would drop Black's winning chances from 45% to 22% (+3.37).
• 31…Qd5 stops the mate threat Qxb7#.
• White was threatening Qxb7#, with mate in 1. Qd5 takes care of it.
• White answers 32.Qf5+, joining the attack on the king.

33…Qd5! The only good move here: every alternative is clearly worse.

• Lines up queen and rook on the d-file, so the two pieces push in the same direction.
• Shores up the b7 pawn, which was under as much attack as it had defence (1 against 1).
• The next best move, 33…Rd7, would drop Black's winning chances from 44% to 29% (+2.40).
• 33…Qd5 threatens …Qxe4, winning the queen, and stops the mate threat Qxb7#.
• It threatens …Qxe4, winning the queen, so White has to spend the next move on it.
• White was threatening Qxb7#, with mate in 1. Qd5 takes care of it.

34…Bg5! The only good move here: every alternative is clearly worse.

• Attacks the queen.
• Takes h6 away from the White queen on f4.
• The next best move, 34…Qd3, would drop Black's winning chances from 45% to 31% (+2.11).
• 34…Bg5 threatens …Bxf4, winning the queen for 8 points of material.
• It threatens …Bxf4, winning the queen for 8 points of material, so White has to spend the next move on it.
• White answers 35.Qg4+, joining the attack on the king.

42.Rxc5+! The only good move here: every alternative is clearly worse.

• Takes the pawn on c5.
• The next best move, 42.Qh4, would drop White's winning chances from 54% to 40% (−1.14).
• 42.Rxc5+ wins a pawn.
• Takes the c5 pawn and wins a pawn once the captures settle.
• Black answers 42…Qxc5, taking back.
• After 42…Qxc5 43.Qxg7 Qd5 44.Qf6 Rd6 45.Qe7, White comes out a pawn up (+0.54).

• Both sides followed opening theory up to 9…g6: 18 moves in all, 9 by White and 9 by Black.
• Theory runs out after 9…g6: too few games between strong players reached this position to go further.