Yury Schulman's Patience and Zugzwang

GM Yury Schulman (or Shulman) plays chess with patience that's why he is always dangerous. As I have said before, chess is a game of patience. An important virtue that I wish I have,  but I don't.  I'm always tempted to attack at the slightest opportunity - in many times, only realizing afterwards that it was not wise at all.

GM Schulman won the US Chess Championship in 2008. He tied for first place last year losing out to Gata Kamsky in a tie-break blitz game.  He is once again showing a strong performance this year, currently tied at the top spot with 3 points after four rounds.

I was looking at Round 4 games earlier and if there is one game that should make it as my choice as the "Game of the Day", it should be Schulman's win against GM Alexander Ivanov. Schulman played the game like a chess clinic in Chess 101, doubling the rook in an open file, keeping his pawn structures the way Tarrasch wanted them, and each move seems like an improvement of an earlier position. I guess, in general, the same way chess instructors would teach their students how to play the game. After 30.Kxf1, the position is as follows:

Game continued in an epic manner where Schulman slowly but surely improves on his position without rushing anything. After twenty three more moves, they were able to trade one of the two knights they each have and two of their pawns. The position after 53.a5 is shown as:

At this juncture, GM Ivanov decided to call it a day because he could no longer continue. Oh no… not because he is already tired, it's because of the zugzwang. Hah?!