[Event "North American Open"]
[Site "Las Vegas"]
[Date "2011.12.27"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Hunt, Adam"]
[Black "Vallejo Pons, Francisco"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C19"]
[WhiteElo "2558"]
[BlackElo "2778"]
[Annotator "Doe,John"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "2k3r1/1q1b1p2/r3n3/pp1pPp1p/2pP1PpP/2P3P1/R1PBB3/1R2Q1K1 w - - 0 41"]
[PlyCount "56"]
[EventDate "2011.12.??"]
[EventRounds "7"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceDate "2011.06.10"]

{With the position looking like this after the time control at move 40, it was
clear that Black had one plan - to achieve his only pawn break of ...b4, but
it wasn't going to be that easy to achieve.} 41. Be3 Bc6 42. Bf1 Kd7 43. Qc1
Rga8 44. Qd2 Ke8 45. Rab2 Qd7 46. Bg2 Kf8 47. Ra2 Kg7 48. Kf2 Kg6 49. Rab2 Nc7
50. Qe1 Kg7 51. Kg1 Rb8 52. Bd2 Rb7 53. Kf2 Qe7 54. Bf1 Rab6 55. Bg2 Ne6 56.
Ke3 Rb8 57. Kf2 Kg6 {After two hours, and seventeen moves of shuffling later,
we arrive at this position and Black is finally going to achieve his goal.} 58.
Ke3 b4 {Finally!} 59. cxb4 Nxd4 $1 {I think this move must have come as a
shock to Adam after holding on so long. Instead of simply recapturing on d4,
Vallejo Pons went for a killer sacrifice.} 60. Kxd4 Qa7 $1 {The threat of the
discovered checks are deadly. Where can Adam put his king? Already Francisco
can be confident as he will immediately get his piece back in the form of the
bishop on g2} 61. Kc3 d4+ 62. Kxd4 Bxg2 $1 {and he calmly just retrieves his
piece. There are no worthwhile discovered checks as his pieces are already in
the optimum positions. White is hopeless and his king is in trouble yet again.}
63. Kxc4 {What else is there to do?} Qd7 {Just restricting all of White's
movement.} 64. Kb3 axb4 $1 {Much stronger than the alternative} (64... Rxb4+
65. Bxb4 Rxb4+ 66. Qxb4 axb4 {when it is still winning for Black, but just
makes it a harder job}) 65. Bxb4 $2 {A blunder in a horrible position} (65. Ra2
{was the only move to survive for a few more moves in this hopeless position,
trying to sneak away via b2.} {Although} Bd5+ 66. Kb2 Bxa2 {is simply good
enough to pick up the full point as after} 67. Kxa2 {,} Qa4+ 68. Kb2 Qa3# {is
mate}) 65... Qd5+ 66. Ka4 Ra6+ (66... Rxb4+ {would have been a quicker finish}
67. Qxb4 Ra8+ 68. Qa5 Rxa5+ 69. Kb4 Qc5+ 70. Kb3 Ra3#) 67. Ba5 Qc4+ 68. Ka3
Qc5+ {Diagram [#] and White resigned.     An interesting game to watch, which
went from an extremely blocked position which looked difficult to break
through, to an excellent sacrificial finish.} 0-1

