Break out 7 Georgiev - Tsjizjov

To applet

But I was only made aware of this turning point 11-16!! followed by 16x27! by the game that Georgiev – although with reversed colors – won against Tsjizjov in the 2006 European Championship (see diagram).

Since there were additional pieces on 6 and 48 in that game (otherwise the position was identical to Sijbrands-Beeke 1963), Georgiev’s maneuver was actually even more surprising. Indeed: with a piece on 6, Black can, unlike in the analysis variant above or in ‘Palmer-NN 1978’, play 30...6-11 31.28x19 18-22 32.27x18 12x14. However, this wouldn't be very effective, because White would respond with 33.32-28! and then forcefully continue with 34.28-23! For 34...14-19? White doesn’t have enough time due to 35.29-23! 32.20x49 36.23x1. Since 30...7-11 31.28x19 18-23, etc., was even even more unlikely (as mentioned above), Tsjizjov resorted to the desperate combination:

Georgiev,Alexander - Chizhov,Alexey

30....12-1731.28x1916-2132.27x1617-2133.16x278-1234.19x1718-2335.29x1820x4936.17-12!7-11But that costly King could not save him in the end. It must be said, however, that the colorful endgame of this remarkable game, in which the board was at one point populated by no less than four Kings (two for each player), was a feast for the eyes!
By the way, if I’m to believe the computer, Tsjizjov’s three-piece-for-King sacrifice in the analytical ‘reality’ of Sijbrands-Beeke 1963 would have given White better survival chances than in Tsjizjov-Georgiev 2006. This seems to be due in part to the absence of the piece on 3, meaning Beeke would have had to manage without the traps (such as 3/12 or 3/14) that Georgiev was able to weave into the position. However, this detail does not change the fact that in the sequence 29.41-37? 18-23 30.37-32, White has no business there.

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