15 September 2015
The TASS Has the Authority to Intimidate
Vladimir Barsky examined the 9th round of the Junior World Championship in Khanty-Mansiysk.
It was a strange day as both boys and girls were seen making a lot of unusual blunders and were often committing themselves to rather incomprehensible and impulsive decisions. It cannot be said whether it was due to fatigue or due to a magnetic storm that had swept over the Ugra. It is quite possible, though, that the overall number of errors has not exceeded its usual quantity, only that they were so very conspicuous, literally striking.
Asaubayeva – Sazonova
The young talent from Kazakhstan handled the opening part of the game in an original fashion and achieved a promising position, but then could not find the way to improve it and began executing the wrong plan, having in particular redeployed the knight from f4 to the edge of the board without any purpose. The situation remained within the realms of rough equality, when White made an strategic error as she embarked on a poorly prepared advance of her pawns.
21.b3 Re7 22.e4 Rde8 23.a4 Qc7
Black creates a nasty threat of 24…Nb5! 25.Qxc7 Nxc3+ 26.Kb2 Nxd1+. Bibisara must have noticed it, but went on defending against it in the most unsuccessful manner.
24.Kb2?? Nc4+ Now the deadly check is given immediately, without any prior subtleties! White resigns.
Drogovoz – Lingur
This example comes from the Russian derby. Maria Drogovoz cleverly outplayed Zalina Lingur in a complicated Sicilian middlegame to win three pawns. However, a single hasty move was enough to spoil the fruits of many hours’ labor.
52.g6?? Qxc2+! The opponents agreed to a draw as there is no escaping the stalemate (53.Ka3 Qxb3+!).
Johansson – Kori
20…Qxc3
So far everything was played correctly as the queen needs to be allowed to take part in the defense, and the e5-pawn is to be taken aim at to start with. The subsequent game is forced.
21.Bxe6 fxe6 22.Qg4+ Kf7 23.Qh5+ Kg7 24.Qg4+ Kf7 25.Qh5+ Kg7 26.Qg4+
Well, is it going to end in a draw? No, Jorge is not willing to go along with it…
26…Kh7 27.Qxe6 Qb4 28.Rab1 Qc5 29.Rxb7 Rde8
Frankly speaking, it remains unclear what Black was counting on when he rejected the perpetual check. Now he finds himself in a grim position being down a pawn, whereas the Swedish Junior finds a chance to grab another one.
30.Qd6! Black resigns.
Goryachkina – Chigaev
On the eve of the game the TASS circulated throughout the world important news that the Russian junior Maxim Chigaev is determined to win all five of his remaining games in Khanty-Mansiysk so that even Jan-Krzysztof Duda would not be able to escape this fate. In order to do so he needed to start right from this encounter. Black's position at the moment does not seem to be cut out for any heroic deeds, to put it mildly, as he is down two pawns without much of a compensation.
It is White to move, and she could have won in a forced manner: 27.Rxg7! Kxg7 28.Rg1+ Kf8 (quite grim-looking is 28...Kh8 29.Rg6 Ne4 30.Rxh6+ Kg7 31.Rg6+ Kh7 32.Qd1 f3 33.Qc1, whereas now the king can at least enjoy his central stroll!) 29.Rg6 Ke7 30.Rg7+ Kd6 31.Rf7 Ke5 (31...Ne8 32.Rd7+) 32.Qe2+ Ne4 33.Rd7, and White gets through to the black king.
If the Russian champion was not willing to find her way through the extensive lines of calculation (quite an understandable desire in such a luxurious position as this one!), she could have just defended the pawn via 27.Rd2.
27.Rg6 Qxf2 28.Rdg1
28.Nxd5 Rd8 29.Qc3 was winning in this position. Although the main line is rather long, it is more or less straightforward: 29…Rdc8 30.Qd4 Qxd4 31.Rxd4 Nxd5 32.Rxd5 a4 33.Rd7 Be5 (or 33...Rg8) 34.f6.
28...Rb7 29.Qa6 Rcb8 30.Qf1
White loses the thread of the game and it is difficult to comprehend the real purpose of her queen swinging back and forth along the board. Now Black features enough counterplay for just one missing pawn.
30…Qe3 31.Ka1 d4 32.Na4 Rc8 33.Bc4 Rb4 34.Nb6?
The computer-suggested line 34.b3 Rcxc4 35.Rxg7 Rxa4 36.Qb1 or the simple human approach 34.Bb3 Rb7 35.Bc4 are both enough to maintain equality. Aleksandra, however, had the misfortune of detecting a mating combination…
34...Rxb6 35.Rxg7 Rbc6 36.Qg2
37.Rh7+! followed by mate on g7 is in the air now, but Black has an elegant way to defend at his disposal.
36…Qxg1+! 37.Qxg1 Rxc4
Due to the weakness of the first rank White has to part ways with his queen.
38.b3 Rc1+ 39.Kb2 Rxg1 40.Rxg1 Rc5 White resigns.
Thus, Maxim has four more games to win and no updated information has so far been circulated by the TASS agency.
The leader of the open tournament Jan-Krzysztof Duda, playing White, was acting in an extremely careful, I could even say a gentle manner against Mikhail Antipov. The Polish GM managed to get a slight edge after all, but Black defended accurately. Duda retained on the top, and a group of his pursuers was joined by GM Nijat Abasov (Azerbaijan).
Abasov – Bok
Although White has two extra pawns, his king is cut off, and thanks to this nuance Black could have bailed out: 49...Rb6! 50.Ra6 (50.d7 Rb7+ with the perpetual check to follow) 50...Rxa6+ 51.Kxa6 Rd3, when both the rook and pawn endgames are drawish: 52.Kb5 Rxd6 53.Kc4 Rd1 54.Rh7 Rg1 or 52.d7 Rxd7 53.Rxd7+ Kxd7 54.Kb5 Ke6 55.Kc4 Kf5 56.Kd3 h4 – and Black is just in time to make a draw.
49...Rd3? 50.Ra6! Rbb3 51.f5 Rxg3 52.f6! Rxg7+ 53.fxg7 Rg3
54.Kb6!
This nice move could have been overlooked by Black in his prior calculations. Now 54…Ke7 55.Ra8! Rxg7 56.Ra7+ skewers the king against the rook, therefore Black resigned.
Makarenko – Bivol
White handled the French defence rather poorly and had to leave her king in the center and allow the penetration of her opponent’s pieces into her camp as a result. However, this pawn structure affords the knight such superiority over the bishop that even in this position White could have put up a successful resistance after 25.Nf3! exf5 26.Qb6 h6 27.Qd8+ Kh7 28.Qe7, etc. Only 28.Qxd5? Bc6 must be avoided at all costs as it lets the black bishop to join decisively to the assault.
However, the game saw 25.Kf3? Re1 26.Qg5 h6 27.Qh4 Rf1+ 28.Ke2
28.Rf2 Qe1! 29.Ne2 Bd1! would have failed to bring any relief either as White pieces are tied down with deadly ties.
28...Rg1 29.Qg3 Qxd4 30.f6 g5 31.Qe3 Re1+ White resigns.
