Pachman gave the following game as an illustration of what happens if the Pawns are blockaded. In the final position white's connected passed Pawns on the Q-side went nowhere while black's connected passed Pawns in the center marched to victory.
When Pachman gave this as a model game he left the reader with the impression that Gligoric's opening strategy was completely faulty and, a a result, it was doomed from the beginning. But, thanks to Stockfish and Komodo it is clear that that was not the case.
In fact, the opening line as late as move 18 was played in at least four later games and white won them all, so clearly black's position after 17....Ne8 actually favors white slightly as is indicated by Stockfish and Komodo. Based on the evidence then, it's clear that Gligoric's loss must be attributed to a later error and not faulty opening strategy.
Still, the game is a good example of the principle that two united passed Pawns should not be allowed to be blockaded as Gligoric allowed to happen in this game and its instructional value is not diminished.
[Event "Helsinki Olympics (Men) prel-B"]
[Site "Helsinki FIN"]
[Date "1952.08.11"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Svetozar Gligoric (Yugoslavia)"]
[Black "Laszlo Szabo (Hungary)"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "E42"]
[Annotator "Stockfish 15"]
[PlyCount "79"]
[EventDate "1952.??.??"]
{Nimzo-Indian: Rubinstein} 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. e3 {[%mdl 32]} c5
5. Nge2 d5 6. a3 cxd4 7. exd4 Be7 8. c5 O-O 9. b4 b6 10. g3 bxc5 11. dxc5 (11.
bxc5 {is also favorable to black after} Nc6 12. Bg2 Ba6 13. Bf4 Bc4) 11... a5 {
This allows white to get two united passed Ps and so it seems illogical, but
the Ps are not as dangerous as they seem because they can be easily blockaded.}
12. Rb1 axb4 13. axb4 {Szabo's play in the opening has not lead to a decisive
positional advantage as some past annotators have claimed...the correct
evaluation here is black is slightly better.} Nc6 {Today's powerful engines
suggest that 13...Na6 would have been ever so slightly better, but the
resulting complications are probably beyond a player's ability to calculate
over the board.} (13... Na6 14. Bg2 Rb8 15. Nd4 Bd7 (15... Nxb4 16. Rxb4 Rxb4
17. Nc6 Qc7 18. Nxb4 Qxc5 {is unclear.}) (15... Rxb4 16. Nc6 Rxb1 17. Nxd8 Rxc1
18. Qxc1 Nxc5 19. Nc6 Nd3+ 20. Kd2 Nxc1 21. Nxe7+ Kh8 22. Rxc1 {favors white.})
16. Nc2 e5 17. Nxd5 Nxd5 18. Qxd5 Bf5 19. Qxd8 Rfxd8 20. Rb2 Bxc2 21. Rxc2 Nxb4
{is about equal.}) 14. Bg2 (14. b5 {fails for tactical reasons.} Ne5 {The
threat is simple ...Nf3#} 15. Bg2 Bxc5) 14... Rb8 15. Ba3 (15. b5 Bxc5 16. bxc6
Rxb1 17. Nxb1 Qb6 {and black has attacking chances in exchange for his
material investment. Just for example...} 18. Nbc3 Bxf2+ 19. Kf1 Ng4) 15... Bd7
(15... Ba6 {was better as demonstrated in Belous,V (2524)-Goganov,A (2469) St
Petersburg 2011} 16. O-O Bc4 17. Re1 {Now, after the correct 17...Nd7 black
has a very slight advantage. However, the position is so delicate that after
he played 17...e5 white was better and eventually managed to score the point.})
16. O-O (16. b5 {Must be renounced because it is flawed tactically.} Ne5 17.
O-O Qc8 {winning a P and leaving the other one very weak.} 18. c6 Bxa3 19. cxd7
Nfxd7) 16... Na7 {Headed for b5 to blockade the P.} 17. Re1 Ne8 {The second N
joins in the plan to blockade white's Ps.} (17... Nb5 {is punished by} 18. Nxb5
Bxb5 19. Nd4 Qd7 20. Nxb5 Qxb5 21. Bb2 {and white has a decisive advantage
after, say, 21...Rfc8 22.Bf1 and 23.Bd4 because the Q is a poor blockader.
Note that the P cannot be taken.} Qxb4 22. Bxf6 {with a discovered attack on
the Q.}) 18. Bc1 (18. Nd4 {was tried in three later games and it's neither
better nor worse than Gligoric's move. White is slightly better here in any
case.} Nc7 19. Qd2 (19. Na4 Bf6 20. Nb6 e5 21. Nf3 Bf5 22. Ra1 {is equal.
Panczyk,K (2375)-Pokojowczyk,J (2380) Bytom 1986}) 19... Bf6 20. f4 Qc8 21.
Nce2 Rd8 22. Bb2 {White is slightly better. Garcia Palermo,C (2520) -Pinter,J
(2540) Luzern 1985}) 18... Bf6 {Pachman declared that this move is part of
black's attacking plan and also makes the observation tht white now errs in
his plan to draw black's Ps forward with the idea of attacking them and at the
same timne increasing the scope of his B on g2.} 19. Bf4 {Pachman assigned
this move a ? without comment, but it is Komodo's first choice and white's
advantage is put at just over a half of a P.} e5 {While this move ultimately
serves black well it actually gives white the advantage.} (19... Nc7 20. Bd6
Re8 21. Nd4 {White's pieces are well placed, but black has adequate defensive
resources so the position must be considered equal.}) 20. Bd2 {This retreat is
an excellent move.} (20. Nxd5 exf4 21. Nexf4 {White's b- and c-Pawns and two
well placed Ns are not quite sufficient compensation for black's two Bs and
his slight material advantage.}) 20... d4 21. Nd5 {Not at all bad, but
slightly more accurate would have been 21.Ne4 eyeing d6} Bc6 22. Nxf6+ Qxf6 23.
Bxc6 Qxc6 {At this point the position must still be considered equal.} 24. f4
f6 25. Qb3+ Kh8 26. Rf1 {A subtle error after which black gains a very slight
advantage.} (26. g4 {gaining active play on the K-side would have assured
white of a small, but lasting advantage.} Nc7 27. Ng3 Rbe8 (27... Nab5 28. fxe5
fxe5 29. Rxe5 {picks up a P.}) 28. fxe5 fxe5 29. Qd3 {Keeping a watchful eye
on e4 and b5} Nab5 30. Rf1 Rxf1+ 31. Rxf1 {White is slightly better.}) 26...
Nc7 27. Qc4 Nab5 28. Rbe1 {Because the hope of advancing his Q-side Ps has
long disappeared white has shifted his Rs around in an attenpt to defend
against black's advancing Ps and as a result black now has the initiative.
Pachman incorrectly assured readers that it's too late, black has a won
position, but that is over optimistic. Evaluation: Komodo black by about a
half a P, Stockfish 1.5 Ps.} h6 29. g4 {This makes g3 available for the N.
It's interesting to note that white's Q-sdie Ps are not playing any part in
the game at this point.} Rbe8 30. f5 {[%mdl 8192] This is a serious positional
mistake because it gives black two connected passed Ps in the center.} (30.
fxe5 fxe5 {also gives black two connected passe Ps in the center, but with the
major difference that they can be blockaded.} 31. Rxf8+ Rxf8 32. Ng3 Qf3 33.
Rf1 Qa8 34. Rxf8+ Qxf8 {with equal chances. In fact, white is slightly better.}
35. Qd3) 30... Qd5 31. Qc1 {[%mdl 8192] This is really where white starts down
the trail that leds to a loss. His best bet was to exchange Qs because now
black's Q is in a dominating position.} (31. Qxd5 Nxd5 32. Ng3 Rb8 (32... Ra8 {
is not quite as strong.} 33. Ne4 Rfb8 {White's best try is...} 34. c6 Rb6 35.
Rc1 Ne7 36. c7 Rc8 37. Rc5 Rxc7 38. Ra1 {with some play.}) 33. Rb1 Na3 34. Rb3
Nc4 35. Be1 Nde3 36. Rf2 {Black is clearly better, but at least white can play
on with some hopes of salvaging the game.}) 31... Kh7 32. Ng3 e4 {[%mdl 32]
With his Ps on the move black is clearly winning. White's Ps on the other hand
have not budged.} 33. Bf4 e3 34. Qd1 Qc4 {Prevents Qd3} 35. h4 Nd5 36. g5 d3
37. Qg4 Rg8 38. Nh5 Re4 39. g6+ Kh8 40. Qf3 {White exceeded the time limit in
this hopeless position.} (40. Qf3 e2 41. Rf2 Nxf4 42. Nxf4 d2 {wins easily.})
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