19.Qd3?! [In this moment Anna could break in the center with 19.e5! dxe5 20.Bh4 Bf6 21.Bxf6 Nxf6 22.fxe5 Ng4 23.e6+-] 19...Nc5 20.Nxc5 dxc5 21.e5 Rd8 22.Qe2 Qe8 23.Ng5 Rxd1 24.Qxd1 Ne7 25.Ne4 Nf5 26.Qc2 h5
27.Qb3? Another unlucky queen move! [27.e6! fxe6 28.Ng5 Qc6 29.Bg3 , and Black is helpless.] 27...Qa8 [27...Bxe4!? 28.Rxe4 Nd6 29.Re1 Nxc4 30.Qxc4 Qe6 31.Qxe6 fxe6 32.g3 Rd8 33.Be3 and we got a typical "Berlin endgame" on the board. Black is very passive but quite solid at the same time, so it's not entirely clear if White is going to find the decisive break.] 28.Qc2 White decides to return with the queen, confirming the fact she had overlooked last move of her opponent. [Computer suggests 28.Ng5!? Bxg2 29.Bxf7+ Kh8 30.Qc2 claiming White to have decisive advantage there, but all that is not easy to find, particulary in a timetrouble.] 28...Rd8 29.Ng5 Bd5 30.Bd3 Ne7 White still has an advantage, however the fight is not over yet. 31.Bh4 c4 32.Be4 Qc6 33.Nf3 Bf8 34.Nd4 Qd7 35.Bxe7 Qxe7 36.Bxd5 Rxd5 37.Qe4 Rd8 38.f5 Qg5 39.e6 Bc5 40.Rf1 fxe6 41.Qxe6+ Kg7 42.Qxc4 gxf5 43.Kh1 Bxd4 44.Qxc7+
44...Kh8? After that the game could hardly be saved. [Black could put much tougher resistance with 44...Kg6 45.cxd4 Qf6 46.Qg3+ Kh7 47.Qf3 Kg6 48.d5 Qe5 49.Rd1 and it's still a long way to go for White to get the full point.] 45.cxd4 Rxd4 46.Qxb6 [Much faster would win 46.Qe5+ Qg7 47.Qe8+ , and h-pawn falls with check.] 46...Rxa4 47.Rd1 Finally it took white twenty more moves to convert her advantage... 1–0
19...Bxb5 20.cxb5 d5!? 21.Nc3?! Accepting much worser position. [Critical would have been 21.f4 Neg4+ 22.hxg4 Nxg4+ 23.Kh1 dxe4 where Black seem to have dangerous initiative for the sacrifised piece.] 21...dxe4 22.Nxe4 Nxe4 23.fxe4 h4 24.gxh4 Qe6 25.Bf4 Rad8 26.Qh5 Bd6 One shouldn't be fooled with computers evaluation of this position - while engine says it's almost equal in fact it's very hard to play for White, especially being in a timetrouble. Till some point Kosintseva managed to defend well... 27.Kh1 Ng6 28.Bxd6 Rxd6 29.Qg5 Qd7 30.h5 Re5 31.Rf5 Rd1+ 32.Rxd1 Qxd1+ 33.Kh2 Rxf5 34.exf5 Qd6+ 35.Qg3 Nf4
White is paralyzed, however it's hard to find anything concrete for Black. 36.h6 Qxh6 37.Bxb7 Qd6 38.Bg2 Qe5 39.b4 Qd6 40.f6 g6 Timetrouble is over, but White's nightmare continues - all the pawns are weak and the lack of active counterplay must be really unpleasent to feel... 41.Bf1 Qxb4 42.Qe3 Qb2+ 43.Kg1
43...Ne6?! Normal move from human chess - Black transfers the game into queens ending with extra pawn and very good practical chances to win. Finally Humpy forced her opponent to make a mistake and won the game, so the decision itself was correct. [Black could take the pawn - 43...Qxf6! , as 44.Qxa3 loses after 44...Qd4+ 45.Kh1 Qf2 46.Qc1 Nh5 47.Bg2 Ng3+ 48.Kh2 Ne2 49.Qd1 Qe3!! but that's of course beyond human understanding - Black's treat is a march of g-pawn! 50.a4 g5! 51.a5 g4! 52.a6 (52.hxg4 Qe5+ 53.Kh1 Qh8+ 54.Bh3 Qxh3#) 52...gxh3 and Black is winning.] 44.Bc4 Qxf6 45.Bxe6 Qxe6 46.Qxa3 Qb6+ 47.Kg2 Qxb5 48.Qa8+ Kg7 49.a4 Qb2+ 50.Kg3 c5 51.a5 c4 52.Qd5 Qa3+ 53.Kg2 c3 54.Qd4+ f6 55.a6 Qa2+ 56.Kg3 Qd2 57.Qa7+ Kh6 58.Qa8 Qd6+ 59.Kf3 Qd3+ 60.Kg2 c2 61.Qf8+ Kh5 62.Qc5+ f5 63.a7 Qd2+ 64.Qf2 Qd5+ 65.Kh2 c1Q
66.a8Q Last hope (see Socko - Ju Wenjun from the previous round). 66...Qc7+! [66...Qxa8?? 67.Qh4+ Kxh4=] 0–1
Cmilyte,Viktorija - Stefanova,AntoanetaFIDE Women's Grand Prix Ankara, 19.09.2012
Victorija went for relatively rare variation in Anti-Meran Slav. Antoaneta once again tryed to invent her own way in the opening but ended up in really unpleasent position, so the game went rather onesided. 1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.Nc3 e6 5.e3 Nbd7 6.Qc2 Bd6 7.Bd2
7...Qe7 Already slightly suspitious. [More to the point seems to be 7...0–0 8.0–0–0 e5 (or even 8...b5 ) ] 8.0–0–0 dxc4 9.Bxc4 b5 10.Bd3 Bb7 11.e4 e5 12.dxe5 Bxe5 [In case of 12...Nxe5 13.Nxe5 Bxe5 14.f4 White is getting promising initiative in the center.] 13.Nxe5 Nxe5 14.Bg5 Qe6 15.f4 Nxd3+ 16.Qxd3 0–0 17.Qd6 Qxd6 18.Rxd6 Ng4 19.h3 Ne3 20.Rd3
The key moment of the game. Black carelessly played 20...Nc4? and after 21.Be7 Rfe8 22.Bc5 White had no dificulties to convert her huge positional advantage. Instead of that 20...f6! would offer Black sufficient counterplay - 21.Rxe3 fxg5 22.fxg5 b4 23.Na4 c5! with mutual chances.1–0
Munguntuul,Batkhuyag - Socko,MonikaFIDE Women's Grand Prix Ankara, 19.09.2012
Monika suffered another defeat after she blundered the knight in a balanced position.
33...Kg7?? Missing White's only treat! [33...Qe1! 34.Ng4 Ne2 35.Nxh6+ Kg7 36.Qxf7+ Kxh6 with perpetual.] 34.g3! Qxh3+ 35.Kg1 and Black is losing the knight. Socko continued to fight for another twenty moves, but didn't got another smile from Lady Luck. 35...h5 36.gxf4 Qf5 37.Qxh5 Qxf4 38.Ng4 Kf8 39.Ne3 Qe4 40.a5 Qb1+ 41.Kg2 Qxb3 42.Qxg5 Qb2 43.Qd8+ Kg7 44.Qc7 Qb4 45.a6 Qb1 46.Qf4 f5 47.Qc7+ Kf6 48.Qxa7 Qe4+ 49.Kg1 f4 50.Ng4+ Kg5 51.Qg7+ Kh4 52.Nh2 Qb1+ 53.Nf1 1–0
Ruan,Lufei - Zhao,XueFIDE Women's Grand Prix Ankara, 19.09.2012
One more game played with Scotch opening, this time a long teoretical line had been played, so they went straight into the complex balanced endgame. One of those seemingly "boring" games wich in fact was of very high quality from both sides.
46...d4 [Perhaps the only moment in the game where Black could try to improve her play with 46...g5 47.hxg5 hxg5 48.Nh3 Kf6 and Black has some pressure as knightis purely placed at the edge of the board.] 47.bxc6 Rc3+ 48.Kb1 Rxb2+ 49.Kxb2 Rxc6 50.Ne2! d3 51.Nc3 d2 52.Be2 d5 53.Bf3 Rc5 54.Nb1 f4 55.g4 Ke6 56.Nxd2 Ke5 57.Be2 d4 58.Bd3 Rc6 59.Nf3+ [59.g5!? hxg5 60.Nf3+ Kd5 61.hxg5 would give White some advantage but unlikely would change the result of the game.] 59...Kd5 60.Nd2 Ke5 61.Nf3+ Kd5 62.Nd2 Ke5 63.Nf3+ 1/2
Ju,Wenjun - Yildiz,Betul CemreFIDE Women's Grand Prix Ankara, 19.09.2012
The game was transfered into the ending rather quickly. White had slight pressure but nothing concrete and till some point Betul had reasonable chances for a draw. However after few passive moves White's advantage became obvious and Black had to suffer untill Ju Wenjun gave her opponent an unexpected chance...
42...Nb6+? This clears d6 for the white king, making Black's mission of saving the impossible. [Strange-looking 42...Re8 would promice Black even chances, as the threat of Ne7+ is not that easy to avoid - 43.Nd3 (43.Nf7+ Kd7 44.Ne5+ Kd8=) 43...Ne7+ 44.Ke6 Rf8 45.Rf2 Rf6+ 46.Ke5 Nc6+ and Black has to be fine.] 43.Kd6 Now it's all over as Black is completly paralyzed. 43...a6 [43...Nd7 44.Rc7 Rxe5 45.Rxd7+ Ke8 46.Rxb7 Rxf5 47.Rxa7+-; 43...Nc8+? 44.Rxc8+; 43...Re8? 44.Nf7#; 43...Ke8 44.a4!+-] 44.a3 White don't want to hurry up. [44.a4!? Nxa4 45.Rc8+ Kxc8 46.Kxe7 Nc3 47.Kf7 g6 48.f6+-] 44...h6 45.Rc1 Ke8 [45...Nd7 46.Rc7 Rxe5 47.Rxd7+ Ke8 48.Rxg7 Rxf5 49.Ke6! Kf8 50.Kxf5 Kxg7 51.Ke5+-]
46.Rc7! Rxc7 47.Kxc7 Nd5+ 48.Kxb7 Ke7 49.Kxa6 Kf6 50.Nc4 Kxf5 51.b5 1–0
Muzychuk,Anna - Ozturk,Kubra
