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| Position after White's 24.c3-c4 |
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Both players still have all their heavy pieces together with six pawns and a minor piece.
White has more space in the centre, but the key to the position is the relative strength of the minor pieces.
The bishop is bad - every white pawn is on a light square - while the knight can only be removed from its outpost by an exchange sacrifice that must be bad for White.
Stockfish15 gives best play as 24...Qd8 25.Bd1 f5, awarding Black the upper hand; Komodo13.02 suggests 24...f5 25.Qg5 Kg7, again with the upper hand for Black.
But the game saw 24...Nxf3?, after which the position is equal.
It may be AG thought he saw a tactical justification, or even a positional one, for what was an anti-positional capture.
He met 25.Rxf3 with 25...Re2, gaining the seventh rank and perhaps hoping for threats against the white king.
But White has several satisfactory replies, including the game's 26.Qf4, when the further moves 26...Re1+ 27.Rxe1 Rxe1+ 28.Rf1 give a position the engines reckon is completely equal.
A move like 24...Nxf3? gives up a large positional plus (good knight versus bad bishop). It can only be justified if there is an equally large positional gain or a tactical coup.
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