|
Analysis from the 8th round |
 Dear chess lovers, you can find some spectacular moments of the eighth round below;
Foisor,Cristina-Adela - Gunina,Valentina
22.Ne4 Rd7?! Black's position is solid but rather passive, so the move in the game is a natural try to improve coordination of pieces. However, a closer look discovers a piece which could hardly be improved - a bishop on h7 is not the bishop to be proud with! [Therefore Black should have played 22...Bxe4! 23.Bxe4 Rd7 with good chances to neutralize White's slight pressure.] 23.b3?! A waste of the precious time, which could have been used for knight's transfer to c4 - [23.Nd2! Bb4 24.Nc4 Bxc3 25.bxc3! and White is clearly better as black bishop is stuck for ages on the edge of the board.] 23...Bxe4! Finally eliminating a dangerous white horse and getting rid of unemployed bishop! Now Black is out of trouble. 24.Bxe4 Qb6 25.Qg3 Bb4 26.Bb2 Bc5 27.Rae1 Bd4 28.Bxd4 Qxd4 29.g5 hxg5 30.Qxg5
30...f5?! [A better choice would have been 30...Qc5!? , hoping for 31.Re2?! (31.Qg2!?) 31...f5! with quite comfortable play, as 32.Rxf5 exf5 33.Qxf5 Rf7 34.Qh7+ Kf8 35.Qh8+ Ke7 36.Qh4+ Kf8 doesn't seem to give more than perpetual.] 31.exf6 Nxf6 32.Bg2 Re8? [32...Re7 33.Re5 Rf8 would offer much better chances to equalize. 34.Rxa5 e5! 35.Rf5 Qc3 36.Rfxe5 Rxe5 37.Qxe5 Qxc2 and Black has certain compensation for the pawn.]
33.Rf4? Giving away a sudden opportunity to extend the lead! [White could grab the pawn - 33.Qxa5! e5 34.Qd2!? with very good winning chances, for instance 34...e4?! 35.Qf4 e3 36.Qxd4 Rxd4 37.Rf3 Nd5 38.Re2! Rf4 39.Rg3 Rf2 40.Rxf2 exf2 41.Bxd5+ cxd5 42.Kg2 Re2 43.Rg5 and White is winning.] 33...Qc3 34.Ref1 Rf7 35.Qg6 Kf8 36.R4f2 Qe5 37.Rf4 Ree7 38.d4 Qe3 39.Qg5 e5 40.dxe5 Rxe5 41.Qg6 Qc3 42.R4f3 1/2
Hoang,Thanh Trang - Muzychuk,Anna
A nice example of positional play by Anna Muzychuk. The endgame is nearly equal as it's hard for White to make use of the nice outpost on d4. 19.f4?! [19.Ra5!? Bg4+!? (19...Be6?! 20.Nf3 Nxf3 21.gxf3 would give White a pleasant risk-free chance to squeeze "something from nothing") 20.f3 Be6 and perhaps White has to think of 21.c4 Nxd3 22.cxd5 Rhd8!? 23.e4! (23.dxe6 Rac8! , and White is in trouble.) 23...b6 24.Raa1 Bxd5 25.exd5 Rxd5 26.Nc4 reducing material and aiming for a draw.] 19...Nxd3 20.Kxd3 Rac8 21.Nf3?! Logical follow up of 19. f4, this move allows Black to get a perfect position for the bishop. Indeed, White's knight on d4 is nice-looking as well, but in fact it lacks targets, while the bishop on e4 will annoy White quite a lot as a pawn on g2 needs permanent attention. 21...Bf5+ 22.Kd2
22...h5! Grabbing some space and ensuring the fact White's pawn couldn't be removed from g2. 23.Ra5 Be4 24.Rh2?! Perhaps White was still relaying on the power of d4 knight, but that was a nice moment to calculate a bit and secure a draw with [24.Ng5! Bxg2 25.Rh2 Be4 26.Nxe4 dxe4 27.Re5+ Kf6 28.Rxe4=] 24...f6! From now on White can only dream about changing the bishop! Black's position is clearly better. 25.Nd4 g5! 26.Ra1 Rcg8 27.Ne2 Kf7 28.Rah1 Kg6 29.Nd4 Rh7 30.g4 h4 31.f5+ Kf7
White has managed to close the position on kingside, however, Black has an opportunity to break trough on the opposite flank. 32.Ne6?! [White could build a kind of fortress with 32.Kc1! Rc8 33.Kb2 Rhh8 34.Rd1 Rhe8 35.Rd2 followed by Rh2-h1–a1, and it's hard to make a progress for Black.] 32...Rc8 33.b4 Ke7 34.Ra1 [34.Nc5!? Kd6 35.Nxe4+ dxe4 36.g3 Rch8 and it's not clear if Black has enough to win the game.] 34...Kd6 35.Nc5 Ke5 36.Ra3 [36.Nxe4? Kxe4 37.Rhh1 Rhc7 38.Ra3 Rc4!, winning g4 pawn.] 36...Rhc7 37.Ne6 Rc4
38.Nd4?! [38.Nc5! R8xc5!? Otherwise I don't see how Black can make progress. 39.bxc5 Rxc5 40.Rb3 b5 (40...Ra5 41.Rxb7 Ra2+ 42.Kc1 Ra1+=) 41.Ra3 Rc6 42.Ke2!? (42.Ra2 Kd6 , planning Kc7-b6 followed by advance of a pawn.) 42...d4!! and after both 43.exd4+ 43...Kf4 or 43.cxd4+ Kd5 Black has all the chances to win.] 38...Kd6 39.Ne2 Ra8 Being practically a rook up, Black prepares to open up the position. 40.Nd4 b6 41.Ra1 Rcc8 42.Ra3 a5 43.b5 White tries to close everything that possible, but still fails to hold... 43...Rc4! 44.Ke2?! [44.Kc1 Rac8 45.Kb2 R4c5! 46.Rb3 Bd3 47.Rh1 (47.g3 hxg3 48.Rg2 Rh8) 47...Re8–+] 44...Rac8 45.Kd2 R8c5!
White is completely paralyzed! 46.Rb3 Any other move would drop the material immediately. 46...Ra4 47.Rb2 Ra3 48.Ne2 a4 49.g3 Ra1 50.gxh4 a3 51.Rb4 a2 52.Ra4 Rxb5 53.c4 Rb2+ 54.Kc3 Rc2+ 0–1
Mkrtchian,Lilit - Kosintseva,Tatiana
1.c4 Nf6 2.Nf3 e6 3.g3 d5 4.b3 Stepping off the main track. [4.d4 would lead to Catalan - quite a fashionable opening nowadays, with many forced lines where a lot of specific knowledge is required.] 4...Be7 5.Bb2 0–0 6.Bg2 c5 7.0–0 Nc6 8.e3 b6 9.Nc3 dxc4 10.bxc4 Bb7 11.Qe2 Qd7 12.Rad1 Rad8
13.d3!? An interesting semi-waiting move. [13.Ne1 Na5 14.Bxb7 Qxb7 15.d3 Ne8 16.f4 Nd6= ... 1/2 Malakhov,V (2679) - Dizdar,G (2543)/Dresden 2007/] 13...Ne8?! Planning to transfer the knight to d6 and neutralize White's dark squared bishop with Bf6. [Prophylactic 13...Qc8 seems more to the point, as in the game White could get an advantage.] 14.d4! cxd4 15.exd4 Na5 [15...Nd6 16.c5 Nf5 17.d5 exd5 18.Nxd5 Qc8 19.Nxe7+ Ncxe7 20.cxb6 axb6 21.Rfe1 and Black hasn't equalized yet.] 16.Ne5 Qc8 17.d5 [17.Bxb7!? Qxb7 18.d5 would give White slightly better chances - 18...Nf6 (18...exd5 19.Nxd5 Bd6 20.Rfe1±) 19.dxe6 fxe6 20.Rfe1 Bc5 21.Na4 Bb4 22.Bc3 Qe7 23.Bxb4 Qxb4 24.Nb2 and White's position looks preferable to me.] 17...Nd6 18.Bh3?! Trying to put a pressure on e6 but most probably overlooking opponents reply. [18.dxe6!? Bxg2 19.Nxf7!? (19.Kxg2 fxe6=) 19...Qa8 (19...Bxf1? 20.Nd5 Rxf7 21.exf7+ Nxf7 22.Nxe7+ Kf8 23.Rxf1 (23.Bxg7+? Kxg7 24.Qb2+ Kf8 25.Nxc8 Rxd1–+) 23...Qxc4 24.Qh5! with advantage, as 24...Kxe7 is bad in view of 25.Re1+ Kf8 26.Qxh7 Rd4 27.Ba3+ Rd6 28.Bxd6+ Nxd6 29.Qh8+ Kf7 30.Qb8±) ]
18...f5! 19.Ba3?! Rfe8 20.Rd4? This attempt to defend c4 fails tactically. [White could still keep the balance with 20.Rfe1!? Bf8 (20...exd5? 21.Qh5! Naxc4 22.Bxd6 Nxd6 23.Nb5! Rf8 24.Rc1 Qb8 25.Nd4±) 21.Bxd6 Bxd6 22.Qh5! Bxe5 23.Rxe5 g6 24.Qe2 Nxc4 25.Rxe6 Rxe6 26.dxe6 Rxd1+ 27.Qxd1 Qxe6 28.Qd8+ Kg7 29.Qd4+=] 20...Bf6! Simple and strong! 21.Bxd6 Rxd6 22.Nb5 Rdd8 23.d6? Loses on a spot! [However, after relatively better 23.dxe6 Qxe6 24.Rxd8 Rxd8 25.Re1 Qxe5 26.Qxe5 Bxe5 27.Rxe5 Rd1+ 28.Bf1 Nxc4 Black's position is winning anyway.] 23...Bxe5 24.Qxe5 Nc6 25.Qe3 Nxd4 26.Qxd4 Qc6 27.f3 a6 0–1
 Evgenij Miroshnichenko (born 28th of December 1978), or "Miro", as he likes to be called, is international Grandmaster since 2002, two times Ukrainian Champion (2003 and 2008) and a winner of numerous international tournaments. Growing expert of women chess, as you can remember his reports and comments during the World Women Team Championship.
|
