|
 By GM Evgenij Miroshnichenko
Only two rounds have passed and we already got everything one can expect from the interesting tournament - a sole leader (Ruan Lufei), an unexpected result (in Cmilyte - Yildiz), an opening tabia (two white games of Munguntuul) and of course a lot of interesting ideas on 64 squares! More to follow!
Munguntuul,Batkhuyag - Muzychuk,Anna
FIDE Women's Grand Prix Ankara
Elo favorite had got a suspicious position from the opening, however her opponent didn't play it the most precise way so Anna had her chance in time trouble...
11...Qd7 So far they've repeated Munguntuul's game from the first round against Kosintseva. 12.Re1 Bf8 13.Ba2 h6 14.exd5 Nxd5 15.Ne4 Kh8?! [All White's pieces seeking an opportunity to attack Black's king, so that was a good moment to simplify the position by means of 15...Nf4!? 16.Bxf4 exf4, where after 17.Qd2 Qf5 18.Re2 Rad8 19.Rae1 Ne5 Black's position seems to be fine.] 16.Nfg5!? [Another interesting possibility would've been knight's jump to the edge of the board - 16.Nh4!? , where 16...Nd8 17.Qh5 Ne6 is refuted with 18.Bxd5 Bxd5 19.Nf6! gxf6 20.Bxh6 with decisive attack, for instance 20...Kg8 21.Qg4+ Kh7 22.Bxf8 Rxf8 23.Nf5 Ng5 24.f4+- , so Black would have to find another way to neutralize opponents initiative.] 16...f6?! Playing with fire! [Less ambitious played would be satisfied with the draw after 16...f5!? 17.Qh5 fxe4 18.dxe4 Nf6 and White doesn't have more than repetition after 19.Nf7+ Kh7 20.Ng5+] 17.Nf3 Nd8 18.Nh4 Ne6! 19.Qg4 Qf7! After she felt she's in trouble Anna found the best defensive setup. 20.Qf5 [More promising seems to be 20.Ng3 , increasing control on light squares - 20...g5 21.Nhf5 Rad8 22.h4 and Black's defensive task is still unpleasant, particularly in a practical game.] 20...Rad8 21.Ng6+ Kg8
22.Bxh6?! Most probably played as "a final blow", but in fact White could get into trouble after this move. [To be honest 22.Nxf8 Rxf8 23.Be3 Kh8 doesn't promise much either, so White should look for improvement at earlier stage.] 22...Bc8!! Only move! Now advantage goes to Black. 23.Nxf8 Rxf8 24.Qf3 gxh6 25.Bxd5 Rxd5 26.Nxf6+ Qxf6 27.Qxd5 Qxf2+ 28.Kh1 Qf5?! Objectively dubious, but quite understandable decision to keep the queen closer to the kingside. [Engine claims advantage for Black after 28...Qxb2 , but this seems to be "unhuman".] 29.Qxe5 Qxe5 30.Rxe5 Rf2
Resulting endgame position is balanced, and after few more moves both sides decided they had enough for today... 31.b3 Kf7 32.Kg1 Rc2 33.Rf1+ Ke7 34.d4 Kd6 35.Re3 Bb7 36.Rf2 Rc1+ 37.Rf1 Rc2 38.Rf2 Rc1+ 39.Rf1 Rc2 40.Rf2 Rc1+ 41.Rf1 1/2
(3) Cmilyte,Viktorija - Yildiz,Betul Cemre
FIDE Women's Grand Prix Ankara
Victorija played an interesting game till some point, but then just shown "too much creativity", while Betul had no mercy in converting her advantage.
12.g4!? fxg4 13.Nxe4 Nd5 14.N2g3 Perhaps already a step in a wrong direction. [One of the interesting options was 14.Nc1!?, heading to e5.] 14...Qe8 15.Nc5 Nac7?! [15...Nxc5 16.dxc5 Be6 would promise Black clearly better chances.] 16.Qc2 [Once again White could rich e5 with the knight after 16.Nd3 , for instance 16...Ne6 17.Ne5 h5 (intresting as well would've been 17...Ng5 18.Nxg4 h5 19.Ne5 Nh3+ 20.Bxh3 Bxh3 21.Qxh5 Qxh5 22.Nxh5 Bxf1 23.Rxf1 with mutual chances.) 18.Ne4! with slightly better position.] 16...Ne6 17.Nxe6?! Bxe6 18.Be4 h5 Black's chances are already better, and after few careless moves White finds herself in completely lost position. 19.Ne2 Bd6 20.Kh1 Rf6 21.Nc3? Nxc3 22.Bxc3 Bd5
23.f3?! This allows some fireworks, but [23.Bxd5+ cxd5 was hopeless either.] 23...Rxf3 24.Bxf3 Bxf3+ 25.Rxf3 gxf3 26.e4 Qf7 27.Qf2 Rf8 28.Rg1 Qf4 29.e5 Be7 30.Be1 Qe4 31.Bd2 Bh4 32.Qe3 Qd5! The strongest! [32...Qxe3 33.Bxe3 f2 34.Rf1 Rf3 would win as well, but would postpone the end for another twenty-thirty moves.] 33.Rxg7+ Kxg7 34.Qh6+ Kf7 35.Qxh5+ Ke6 36.Qg4+ Rf5 37.Qg6+ Ke7 38.Qh7+ Ke8 0–1
Ruan,Lufei - Socko,Monika
FIDE Women's Grand Prix Ankara
Monica got very unpleasant position right after the opening but showed patience and good defensive skills until the time trouble ruined everything.
35...Rf8? Loses the pawn and most probably the game. [35...Re7 36.Kd2+ Kf6 37.Rxe7 Kxe7 38.Bxf5 Bxa4 would offer Black reasonable chances to ho;d the position.] 36.Kd2+ Kf6 37.Bxf5 Re7 Sadly played...Till the rest of the game Black was fighting but failed to do anything. [37...Kxf5 38.Rf1++-] 38.Bc2 Rxe1 39.Kxe1 Ke5 40.Rd2 Rd8 [40...Rf3!? 41.Re2+ Kf6 42.Rf2 Rxf2 43.Kxf2 Ke5 44.Ke3 and still White should be winning there.] 41.Re2+ Kf6 42.Kd2 d4 43.cxd4 Rxd4+ 44.Kc3 Rd7 45.Bb3 Kg7 46.Re5 Rc7 47.Kd4 Rd7+ 48.Ke3 Rc7 49.Re6 Bh1 50.Bc2 a5 51.Rg6+ Kf8 52.Rxh6 axb4 53.Rh8+ Ke7 54.Rh7+ Kd8 55.Rxc7 Kxc7 56.Kd4 Kc6 57.Kc4 b6 58.cxb6 Kxb6 59.Kxb4 Bf3 60.h4 gxh4 61.gxh4 Bh5 62.Be4 Ka6 63.a5 Ka7 64.Bd3 Kb7 65.Kc5 Kc7 66.Bb5 Bf3 67.Be8 Bb7 68.h5 Kd8 69.Bc6 Bc8 70.h6 1–0
Ju,Wenjun - Ozturk,Kubra
FIDE Women's Grand Prix Ankara
The game turns to be rather one-sided - Black showed an interesting creative idea in the opening and got descent position, but after inaccurate 14...c5 was doomed to the passive defense without many chances to survive. Finally Kubra forfeit on time in position which could hardly be saved. 1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 e6 3.g3 b6 4.Bg2 Bb7 5.0–0 Be7 6.c4 0–0 7.b3 d6 8.Bb2 Nbd7 9.e3 Ne4 10.Ne1 f5 11.Nd3 Bf6 12.Re1 Qe8 13.Nd2 e5 14.Nb4
14...c5 [There was nothing wrong for Black after 14...Qf7!? 15.Nd5 Bxd5 16.cxd5 Nxd2 17.Qxd2 e4! 18.Bf1 Rae8 19.Qc2 Bd8 20.Bb5 Re7 hoping to get some play on the kingside.] 15.Nxe4 Bxe4 16.Nd5 Bxg2 17.Kxg2 Rd8 18.dxc5 Nxc5 19.Qe2 Rd7 20.Rad1 Bg5 21.Ba3
21...Ne4 [Much more stubborn was 21...e4!? 22.Bxc5 dxc5, however after 23.Rd2 Qf7 24.h4 Be7 25.Nxe7+ Qxe7 26.Rxd7 Qxd7 27.Rd1 Qc8 28.Qd2 Black would have to suffer a lot defending position without any hint if counterplay.] 22.f3!? Nf6? [No matter what, Black had to play 22...Nc5 ] 23.Nxf6+ Rxf6 24.f4! Bh6 25.Qd3 Now White's advantage is obvious. 25...e4 26.Qd5+ Qf7 27.Qa8+ Qf8 28.Qc6 Qe7 29.Rd2 g6 30.Red1 Bf8 31.Bb2 Re6 32.Qd5 Qf7 33.a4 h6 34.Qb5 Rc7 35.Ba3 Qf6 36.Rd4 Qf7 37.Bxd6 Bxd6 38.Rxd6 Rc5 39.Rd8+ Kg7 40.Qd7 1–0
Kosintseva,Tatiana - Stefanova,Antoaneta
FIDE Women's Grand Prix Ankara
Berlin defense in Ruy Lopez is a rare guest in women chess, so this game was one of the exceptions. Still, Tatiana went for 4.d3 instead of entering the endgame. A typical position on the diagram considered to be marginally better for White.
12.Nf1 This allows Black to simplify position and equalise by force. [12.Bc2 was played in Kosintseva,T (2524)-Skripchenko,A (2456)/ Rijeka 2010/] 12...exd4! 13.Nxd4 Re8 14.Bc2 d5 15.exd5 Rxe1 16.Qxe1 Bxd4!? 17.cxd4 Qxd5 18.Bxg6 [In case of 18.Qb4 Nh4 19.Ne3 Qd8 Black even has a slight pressure as the knight on h4 is perfectly placed.] 18...fxg6 19.Be3 Be6 20.b3 a5
21.Nd2 a4 22.Rc1 [22.bxa4?! Rxa4 23.Qb1 b5 24.Qxg6 Qf5 25.Qxf5 Bxf5 and White's could only be worse there.] 22...Nd7 23.Nc4 axb3 24.axb3 Ra2 25.Qb4 b5 26.Na5 Nb8 27.Nb7 Na6 28.Qe7 Qd7 29.Qxd7 Bxd7 30.Nc5 Nxc5 31.Rxc5 The rest wasn't really needed... 31...Rb2 32.d5 cxd5 33.Rxd5 Be6 34.Rxb5 Rxb3 35.Rxb3 Bxb3 1/2
Koneru,Humpy - Zhao,Xeu
FIDE Women's Grand Prix Ankara
Not a lot could be said about this game - this time Humpy faced hedgehog setup with White, and despite the fact she managed to get quite promising position, she decided not to take the risk and repeated the moves. Zhao Xue had no reasons to refuse "silent draw offer".
28...Qc7 29.Rd3 [Possible active plan for White could be connected with 29.Qg2 and Nc3-e2-d4, however Black's position is still rather solid.] 29...Qb8 30.R3d2 Qc7 31.Rd3 Qb8 32.R3d2 1/2
|
