The concept of momentum in the games of Ivan Sokolov's games Pt.1

Hello Chess lovers,

 I wish to share with you a concept which some Grandmasters use in their openings especially with the white pieces when they assume the responsibility that comes with the white pieces. Kasparov, Kramnik, Anand and Carlsen all have this aura when they play with the white pieces. The impression is that they are the ones doing the action and their opponents just applaud. In many cases we see them assuming an unstoppable initiative. The positions are not all very forced and they find moves that prepare for onslaughts and keep the momentum going.
At the same time they are alert for counterplay. They also are aware of the GMs who try very solid variations in which they are happy to respond to the ideas of white and then develop potential as GM Rowson would put it.

 In this small trilogy I will focus on a GM who is quite powerful with the white pieces.Ivan Sokolov, the Bosnian-Dutch player who really causes more than his fair share of problems with the white pieces. We shall see how he maintains the momentum with the white pieces in positions where there are no forced lines until much later in the middlegame.

Unto the game!

I Sokolov v Akopian
1.d4Nf6 2.c4e6 3.Nc3d5 By transposition, the players have reached the Queen's Gambit Declined, a favourite of the world's top players in the 80s and 90s until the Slav defence took over.
4.cd5ed5 5.Bg5Be7 6.e3c6 7.Bd3Nbd7 8.Qc2 This move order keeps open the possibility of playing 0-0-0 and Nge2.
8...0-0 9.Nf3Re8 10.h3Nf8This is the standard plan for black.The h7 square is over protected and the c8 bishop gets some air.However it requires a lot of patience. 11.0-0Ng6 12.Ne5Ne5 13.de5Nd7 14.Be7Qe7 15.f4 The position has been transformed.The dark square d6 has been weakened by the exchange of the bishops on e7.
15...Nf8 16.Qf2From this position the queen prepares for action in a different sector of the board.
16...b6 17.e4This is the beginning of a passage of play where it seems that the only direction that white is going is foward.
17...Bb7 18.Rad1Ne6 It appears that black is placed to deal with various white threats.The problem is that black is passively placed and has no target to aim at.
19.ed5!This exchange leaves b5 free for the knight.
19...cd5 20.Nb5 The knight heads for d6.
20...Nc5 21.Nd6Mission accomplished.To get this position against a strong GM like Akopian is a wonderful achievement.21...Re8 
22.Rfe1a5 23.Bb1This is both a preparatory and information gathering move.It is possible that Ivan also had the idea of a3 and Ba2.
23...Bc6 24.Nf5!Qe6 25.Qh4g6 26.Nh6Kf8 27.f5!Qe7 28.f6!Qc7 29.Nf5!This position must have been a nightmare.Nothing is forced yet Ivan is able to develop a steady momentum.
29...h5 White now invades the weakened dark squares. 30.Qg5Ne6 31.Qh6Ke8 32.Nd6Rd6 This is perfectly understandable. However it introduces a new line of attack-the e-file.
33.ed6Qd6 34.Qh7 now f7 is the new focal point.
34...Kd8 35.Qf7Nf4 36.Qe7Qe7 37.Re7 and black had enough.1-0
So what were the key moments here?
A) The move 12.Ne5 and the subsequent exchange on e5.
B) The move 14.Be7 removing a defender of the dark squares.
C)15.f4 grabbed more space.
D)19.ed5 resulted in the knight's move to b5 and then to d6.
E)27.f4-f5 the beginning of an onslaught on the dark squares.
It should be noted that the c3 knight became a star player for white causing a lot of trouble. In this game most of the white pieces went forward and Ivan exploited the changes in the pawn structures very well against a strong GM with a good track record.