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 By GM Evgenij Miroshnichenko
Cmilyte,Viktorija - Ruan,Lufei
FIDE Women's Grand Prix Ankara, 23.09.2012
This endgame position arose from one of the Semi-Slav lines. Black's position is solid but rather passive, so her main aim is to equalise slowly and achieve a draw, what was succesfully accomplished in the game. 14.Rd1 Not the most popular, but doesn't change much - Black is able to keep the balance with precise play. [14.Ke2 Rg8 15.Rhd1 Rc8 16.b3 Bc5 17.a5 Ke7 18.Na4 Bb4 19.Nb6 Nxb6 20.Bxb6 f6 21.Rd3 Rc6 22.h4 Rgc8 23.g4 Bc5 24.Rad1 Bxb6 25.Rd7+ Kf8 26.axb6 Rxb6 27.R1d6 Rxd6 28.Rxd6 Rc6 29.Rxc6 bxc6 30.b4 e5 31.Bxa6 1/2 Topalov,V (2813)-Kramnik,V (2743)/Elista 2006/] 14...Rg8 Defending g7, so the bishop from f8 gets a chance to be developed. 15.h4 h6 16.h5 Bh7 Bishop is going to be stuck there for a longwhile, however it's problematic for White to make use of this fact. 17.Bb3 Bc5 18.a5 Bb4 19.Ba4 0–0–0 20.Bxd7+ Rxd7 21.Bb6 Bxc3+ 22.bxc3 Rxd1+ 23.Kxd1 Re8 [23...Kd7 24.Kc2 Rc8 25.Rd1+ Ke8 followed by f7-f6 and e6-e5 with comfortable equality for Black.] 24.Ke2 f6 25.Rd1 Bg8 [Not 25...e5? 26.Rd5± and Black can't prevent White's rook invasion to c7.]
26.e5!? At least spoiling Black's pawn structure. 26...fxe5 27.Ke3 Bh7 28.g4 Bc2 29.Rd2 Ba4 30.Bc5 Bc6 31.c4 Rg8 32.Bd6 Rd8 33.c5 Rd7 White finally managed to get slightly more pleasent position but was unable to convert it into something real... 34.Rf2 Kd8 35.Bxe5 Ke8 36.f4 Kf7 37.Bd6 g6 38.Rh2 gxh5 39.Rxh5 Kg6 40.Re5 Kf6 41.Kf2 Rh7 42.Kg3 Bd7 43.Kh4 Kg6 44.Rh5 Be8 45.Kg3 Kf6 46.Be5+ Kg6 47.Kf2 Ba4 48.Ke2 Bb5+ 49.Ke3 Ba4 50.Rh2 Bc6 51.Bd6 h5 52.gxh5+ Rxh5 53.Rxh5 Kxh5 54.Kd4 Kg6 55.Ke5 Kf7 56.Bc7 Bh1 57.Bb6 Bg2 58.Bc7 Bh1 59.Bb6 Bg2 60.Bc7 Bh1 1/2
Koneru,Humpy - Ju,Wenjun
FIDE Women's Grand Prix Ankara, 23.09.2012
Humpy tricked her opponent in the opening with a smart order of moves so Ju Wenjun had to play the position which seemed to be barely familiar to her. As the result White has got an advantage very quickly and eventualy managed to win.
16...c6 17.Nb6 Bf5 18.Qe2 Nc4!? Black desides to change a charachter of the game with exchange sacrifise. [Computer suggests 18...f6 , but the position after 19.Bxe5 fxe5 20.Be4 is realy a nightmare for Black.] 19.Bxb8 Qxb8 20.Nd7 [20.Nxc4?! bxc4 21.Qxc4 Bxb2 22.Bxc6 Bxa1 23.Rxa1 Qe5 24.Rc1 Rd8 would offer Black sufficient counterplay.] 20...Bxd7 21.Rxd7 Bxb2 22.Rad1 Bf6 23.f4
23...e6?! [White's dubbled rooks are realy powerfull on d-file, so Black could try 23...Nb2! which turns to be annoying for the opponent - 24.R1d2 (24.Rb1 Qc8!³) 24...Nc4 and it's not clear how to avoid repetition.] 24.Qe4 Qc8 25.Qxc6 Qxc6 26.Bxc6 Rc8 27.Bb7 Rxc5 28.Bxa6 In this endgame Black still had reasonable chances to escape, but few inaccurate moves from Ju Wenjun finally brought Humpy a win and a sole lead in the tournament... 1–0
Yildiz,Betul Cemre - Ozturk,Kubra
FIDE Women's Grand Prix Ankara, 23.09.2012
Four Knights opening with 5. d4 was played in this game between two turkish chess stars. While being by far not the most popular, this line couldn't be considered absolutely harmless, however Kubra managed to defend well.
38.g3 It may seem White has got chances, but Kubra finds forced way to equalise: 38...fxg3!? 39.hxg3 [Of cource not 39.Bxg5?? g2 40.Rf5+ Ka4–+] 39...Rd5 40.Rxf7 [40.Ke2 f5 , and it's not clear who's better there.] 40...c3! 41.Rxc7 Rxd2+ 42.Kc1 Rxf2 43.Rxc3 Rh2 44.Kb2 h4 45.Rb3+ Ka4 46.Ra3+ Kb4 47.gxh4 Rxh4=
Betul tried to make use of her extra pawn for another 35 moves, but failed to make any progress. 48.Rd3 Ka4 49.a3 Rg4 50.Rd2 Kb5 51.Kb3 a4+ 52.Kb2 Kc5 53.Rh2 Rg5 54.Rh4 Kb5 55.Rd4 Rg3 56.Rd5+ Kb6 57.Rd3 Rg4 58.Rh3 Rg5 59.Rh4 Kb5 60.Rb4+ Ka5 61.Rd4 Rg3 62.Rb4 Rh3 63.Rb8 Rg3 64.Rd8 Kb5 65.Rd5+ Kb6 66.Rd3 Rg4 67.Kc3 Kc5 68.Rf3 Rc4+ 69.Kd2 Rd4+ 70.Rd3 Rh4 71.Rc3+ Kb5 72.Kc1 Rg4 73.Kb2 Rh4 74.Re3 Rh5 75.Re4 Rh3 76.Re5+ Kb6 77.c4 Rb3+ 78.Ka2 Rc3 79.Rb5+ Kc6 80.Rb4 Kc5 81.Rxa4 Rxc4 82.Rxc4+ Kxc4 1/2
Stefanova,Antoaneta - Munguntuul,Batkhuyag
FIDE Women's Grand Prix Ankara, 23.09.2012
Exchange Slav had been played by Stefanova, however her intentions were far from being peaceful. In diagrammed position she seem to have some prospects to get an advantage...
18.f3 exf3 19.Qxf3 Qd5 20.Qf2 [Desirable 20.e4 fxe4 21.Bxe4 in fact find a proper reaction from Black - 21...Qxd4+ 22.Be3 Qxe3+! (But not 22...Qf6 23.Bxh7+ , and White is winning.) ] 20...Nxa2 A bit risky but very ambitious decision, which perfectly illustrates the fighting spirit of Munguntuul. 21.Be5 Rf8 22.Qg3 Bf6 23.e4 [23.Bxf6 Rxf6 24.Bxa2 Qxa2 25.Qb8+ Rf8 26.Qxb7 leads nowhere.] 23...Bxe5 24.Qxe5 Qxe5 25.dxe5 Nb4 26.exf5 exf5 27.Bxf5
The resulting endgame is equal and after few moves minor pieces were exchange, all the queenside pawns were gone, and so was white's e-pawn, so a draw was agreed. 1/2
Zhao,Xue - Muzychuk,Anna
FIDE Women's Grand Prix Ankara, 23.09.2012
Anna prepared a novelty in the opening and got acceptable position, but than failed to find the best setup and got into both positional and time trouble. She decided the position on diagram to be a critical one where a counterplay is desperately needed...
26...d4!? While being objectively dubious, this move changes the charachter of the position and therefore is quite unpleasentrof White, who was enjoing a stable advantage without any risc and all of a sudden has to calculate and be aware of Black's rising activity. [26...Nd7? fails to 27.Nxc6 Qxc6 28.f5 with huge advantage for White.] 27.Qxd4 Bb3! 28.Bd3! So far Zhao Xue plays precisely! [28.Be4 Qh3 29.Bxc6 Qh2+ 30.Ke3 Qxg3 , and Black's counterplay shouldn't be underestimated.] 28...Rd8 29.Qe3 Natural solid move. [Intermediate 29.Bf5! , taking control on c8-h3 diagonal, would secure an edge for White - 29...Qc7 30.Qe3 and White's advantage is obvious.] 29...Qh3 30.Bf1 Qe6 31.Kg1 Qd5?!
32.Qf2?! Once again an attempt to be "rock-solid" drops the advantage for White. [32.Qd3! Nd7 33.Qxd5 Bxd5 34.Rd1 Nxe5 35.fxe5 and I don't think Black would save that, even taking into account Anna's fabulous endgame technique.] 32...Nd7 33.Bh3 Nxe5 34.fxe5 Qd3 Black's control on d-file fully compensates the pawn. At the end that was White who had to look for the perpetual. 35.Qe3 Be6 36.Bxe6 fxe6 37.Kf2 Qc4 38.Qe4
38...Rd4 39.Qxc6 Rd2+ 40.Kg1 Qd4+ 41.Kh1 Qf2 42.Qe8+ Kh7 43.Qxh5+ Kg8 44.Qe8+ Kh7 45.Qh5+ Kg8 1/2
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