Ray of Light

Mariya Olehivna Muzychuk – Humpy Koneru

Women’s World Chess Championship Knockout Tournament; match game 1; Krasnaya Polyana, March 26, 2015

Scotch Game C45

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 exd4 4. Nxd4 Bc5 5. Be3 Qf6 6. c3 Nge7 7. g3 d5 8. Bg2 dxe4 9. 0-0 0-0 10. Nd2 Bb6 11. Re1. “I thought I prepared this opening well. I reviewed all my games in this variation (Koneru haven’t played it before). 11.Rе1 is a new move in my practice, I never used it before. However, I was not aware of 12. ... Qf5, so I had to take my time”, then Muzychuk said. 11. ... Nxd4 12. Nxe4 Qf5 13. Bxd4. “After 13. cxd4 I didn’t like 13. ... Nd5 — I did not want to give up the e3-Bishop and continue with worse Pawn structure and without the Bishop pair”, Muzychuk said. 13. ... Nc6 14. Bxb6 axb6 15. f4. “I decided to play aggressively — 15. f4, intending h2-h3 and g3-g4. Maybe this plan is unsound, I don’t know”, Muzychuk said. 15. ... Be6 16. b3. “I could play 16. a3. White is probably not better anyway, and after 17. ... Ra3 I realized that my position could become really bad. I needed to sacrifice something, to take risks!”, Muzychuk says. 16. ... h6 17. h3 Ra3 18. Qd2 Qa5 19. b4 Qa4 20. g4 Rd8. “I think Black needed to take the Pawn immediately. On 20. ... Rxа2 21. Rxa2 Qxa2 I would choose between 22. Qе3 and trading the Queens and suffering for a draw”, Muzychuk said. 21. Qf2 Rxa2 22. Rxa2 Bxa2. “If my opponent took on a2 with the Queen (22. ... Qxa2), I would play 23. Qh4 with various threats like b4-b5 or g4-g5. She would probably have to reply by 23. ... Qc4, and then 24.g5. The position would be unclear, but I liked its character”, then Muzychuk pointed out. 23. b5. “By that time we were already under the time pressure. I could not find the right continuation for a while, then discovered this idea of playing 23. b5 to drive the Knight away and make her Rook unprotected. If 23. ... Ne7, I have 24. Nf6+, so I considered 24. ... Na5”, Muzychuk said. 23. ... Na7 24. g5 hxg5 25. Nxg5 f6?? “I thought Koneru has just one move – 25. ... Rd1. I planned to proceed by 26. Bf1 Rxe1 27. Qxe1, and I saw that after 27. ... Kf8 I can make a draw: 28. Nh7+ Kg8 29. Ng5. Maybe 29. Bd3 works too, although it looks a bit weird”, Muzychuk said.

26. Qd2!! A bolt from the blue! 26. ... Rf8. Or 26. ... fxg5 27. Qxd8+ Kh7 28. Qe8! Qxf4 29. Qh5+ Kg8 30. Re8+ Qf8 31. Be4 and White mates in three moves. 27. Bd5+ Bxd5. 27. ... Kh8 28. Qe2 also leads to mate. 28. Qxd5+ Kh8 29. Qf7!! 1 : 0. A very pretty game.

Muzychuk vs. Koneru. Photo: Eteri Kublashvili.