[Event "18th Latvian CC Championship"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "1994.??.??"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Gurtovoi, N."]
[Black "Safonov, N."]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A02"]
[Annotator "Notes by Nickolai Gurtovoi"]
[PlyCount "133"]
[EventDate "2002.04.25"]
[SourceDate "2002.04.25"]

1. f4 e5 2. fxe5 Nc6 3. Nf3 d6 4. exd6 Bxd6 5. d3 Nf6 6. Nc3 Ng4 7. Ne4 $1 Bb4+
8. c3 f5 9. cxb4 fxe4 10. Bg5 Qd6 11. dxe4 Qxb4+ 12. Qd2 h6 13. Bh4 g5 14. Bg3
Qxe4 15. h3 Ne3 16. Kf2 $5 Nd5 17. e3 Bf5 18. Rc1 O-O-O 19. Bb5 a6 20. Bxc6
bxc6 21. Rxc6 Rhe8 22. Rhc1 Rd7 23. Nd4 {[Better is 23.Rxa6 +-]} 23... Qd3 24.
Qxd3 Bxd3 25. Rxh6 {[25.Ne6! was better.]} 25... Rxe3 $5 26. Rhc6 Rf7+ $1 27.
Nf3 Re2+ 28. Kg1 Be4 29. Rxa6 Rxf3 $2 {[Better was 29... Rxb2 unclear.]} 30.
gxf3 Bxf3 31. Ra3 $1 {[This unexpected move was not seen by my opponent. 
Weaker was 31.Bf2?! because of 31... Nf4 unclear.]} 31... Rg2+ 32. Kf1 Rxg3 33.
Kf2 $1 Rxh3 34. Rxf3 Rh2+ 35. Kg3 Rxb2 36. Rc5 Nf4 37. Ra3 Ne6 38. Re5 Rb6 39.
Kg4 Rd6 40. Rae3 Kd7 41. Kf5 Nd4+ 42. Ke4 $1 {
[After 42.Kxg5?! White's K is offside for a long time.]} 42... Nc2 43. Rd3 Nb4
44. Rxd6+ cxd6 45. Rb5 $1 Na6 {
[45... Nxa2?? 46.Kd3 d5 47.Rb2 Nc1+ 48.Kd2 and Black's N is trapped.]} 46. Rxg5
Kc6 47. Kd4 Nc5 48. Kc4 Ne6 {[Despite the fact that White has superior
material, his win has a thorny path.  Therefore the endgame is of theoretical
interest.]} 49. Rh5 Nc5 50. a3 Na6 51. Rh6 Nc5 52. Rh3 $1 Nb7 53. Kb4 Kb6 54.
Rh5 $1 Nc5 55. Rd5 Kc6 56. Rd2 $1 Na6+ 57. Ka5 $1 Nc7 58. a4 d5 {
[58... Ne6 was more persistent.]} 59. Rd1 $1 Kb7 60. Kb4 $1 {
[After 60.Rc1? d4 61.Rc4 Ne6 62.Kb5 d3! with good chances for a draw.]} 60...
Kc6 61. Rd2 Kb6 62. a5+ Ka6 63. Rh2 d4 64. Rh6+ Kb7 65. Kc4 d3 66. Kxd3 Na6 67.
Kc4 {[Completed at last, a marathon duel between two kings!]} 1-0

