馴悍記 (The Taming of the Shrew)

Nana Dzagnidze – Antoaneta Stefanova
Women’s Grand Prix 2013–2014; 4th stage; Khanty-Mansiysk, April 19, 2014
Dutch Defence A90

1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nf3 e6 4. Nbd2 f5. Alina l’Ami: “Starting with a Triangle-system move order, the game soon transposed to a genuine Stonewall Dutch. Although there is no forced theory in this setup, we cannot call Black’s play experimental. It may be that on her birthday Antoaneta decided to play something very classical?”. 5. g3 Nf6 6. Bg2 Bd6 7. 0-0 Nbd7 8. b3 Qe7. Alina l’Ami: “Curiously, both ladies thought an awful while in the opening, around half an hour each for just eight moves”. 9. Bb2 b6. Alina l’Ami: “Black’s 9. ... b6 might have been premature, forcing Black to answer 10. cxd5 with 10. ... cxd5 (since 10. ... exd5 loses a Pawn to 11. Qc2). The symmetrical re-capture is known to favour White and, indeed, Nana Dzagnidze managed to develop strong Queenside initiative soon”. 10. cxd5 cxd5 11. Ne5 b5 12. Nc6 Qf7 13. Nf3 0-0 14. Qd3 a5 15. Bc1. Alina l’Ami: “And yet, which should be the right approach to maneuver your way out of these long, strategical battles? The Georgian came up with the very original, but perhaps slow, plan: 15. Bc1, trying to reroute the Bishop and exchange it on the stronger colleague from d6. Stronger might have been to increase the pressure with 15. Rfc1, Nf3-e5 etc.”. 15. ... Bb7 16. Nce5 Qe7 17. Bf4 Ne4 18. Rfc1 Nxe5 19. Nxe5 g5 20. Bd2 b4 21. Be1 Ba6 22. Qc2 Rac8 23. Qb2 g4 24. Bxe4! dxe4 25. Bd2 Bxe5. Alina l’Ami: “In the end though, the game continuation favoured White, as Antoaneta couldn’t restrain her aggressive style, choosing the double-edged plan with ... g7-g5, followed by ... g5-g4, weakening the dark squares. The Georgian didn’t let her chance vanish, played precisely: 24. Bxe4! and 25. Bd2, increasing her advantage. Probably Antoaneta should have gone later on for 25. ... Bxe2!? 26. Bh6 Bf3! with excellent compensation. With the clock ticking the time away, Black’s dark squares suffered more and more of loneliness [...]”. 26. dxe5 h5 27. Bh6 Rfd8. We would have preferred 27. ... Rxc1+ 28. Rxc1 (or 28. Qxc1 Rc8 29. Qd2 Qd8) 28. ... Rd8 with with more drawing chances. 28. Rxc8 Rxc8 29. Rd1 Bb7 30. Rd6 Bd5 31. Qd2 Kh7 32. Be3 Qc7

33. Rxd5! Alina l’Ami: “Although not a necessary [Exchange sacrifice], as White could have continued with the more quiet 33. Kg2, the game move was even more difficult for Black, from a practical point of view”. 33. ... exd5 34. Qxd5 Rd8 35. Qe6 Qd7? A more tenacious resistance could be basted with 35. ... Qg7(!). Now it’ all over. 36. Qh6+ Kg8 37. Qg5+ Kh7 38. Qxh5+ Kg8 39. Qg5+ Kh7 40. e6 Qd1+ 41. Kg2 Rd5 42. Qe7+ 1 : 0. Alina l’Ami: “Soon Antoaneta couldn’t hold her position together and got one of the most unpleasant ‘presents’ for a chess player’s birthday: a defeat. For the Georgian player though, today’s win is very important, as it propels her all the way up to a shared third place”.

Nana Dzagnidze. Photo: Nikolay Bochkarev & Alina l’Ami.