Saturday, October 14, 2017

Curtain Falls

Nino Batsiashvili – Elena-Luminița Radu-Cosma
22nd European Women’s Chess Club Cup; Göynük, October 14, 2017
2q2rk1/R1rn1pp1/1p2p3/1Q4p1/2pP4/1P3N1P/5PPK/R7 w - - 0 36

Position after 35. ... Nb8xd7

The last round of the European Chess Club Cup(s) did not produce any substantial changes, and in the end, both in men’s and women’s competitions, the favoured teams ended up winning. Nino Batsiashvili finally knew the bitter taste of defeat, really doing her best to motivate her team to win even without her daily help. In the position of the diagram it is almost impossible to think that White may lose after 36. Ra8, but, as everyone knows, there is always more than one way to throw away anything! 36. bxc4?? Rxa7 37. Rxa7 Qb8+. Apparently Batsiashvili overlooked this trivial check! The follow-up is instructive: 38. Ne5 Nxe5 39. Ra3 Nf3++ 0 : 1. Mate follows next move.

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