A far sighted move

 One of the difficulties in playing a GM is that almost every move they play is exact. Even in positions where there seems to be a choice of moves, the move chosen seems to be the move required by the position.

In this recent game, White looks to win without much effort, albeit due to Black missing White's real intentions at a number of points. But playing through the game, I was struck by how important 10.e5 was in the overall scheme of things. White's whole game revolved around the squares the pawn controlled, forcing Black to make a number of concessions to deal with it's surprising power. Given that it was only the 4th or 5th best choice for Deep Fritz, I do wonder if Safarli was already planning how the game might finish when choosing this move.

 

Safarli,Eltaj (2616) - Wecker,Martin (2150) [B30]
Chessable Sunway Sitges chess24.com (1.19), 12.12.2022

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. Nc3 Nc6 4. Bb5 Nge7 5. O-O a6 6. Bxc6 Nxc6 7. d4 cxd4 8. Nxd4 Be7 9. Nxc6 dxc6 10. e5 Qc7 11. Re1 O-O 12. Bf4 f5 13. exf6 Qxf4 14. fxe7 Re8 15. Qd8 Qf7 16. Rad1 Qxe7 17. Qxe7 Rxe7 18. Rd8+ Kf7 19. Ne4 Rc7 20. Ng5+ 1-0