Wednesday, March 25, 2015

Rien ne va plus, les jeux sont faits

Marie Rachel Sebag – Natalia Andreevna Pogonina
Women’s World Chess Championship; playoff game 1; Krasnaya Polyana, March 25, 2015
Spanish C65

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. d3 Bc5 5. 0-0 d6 6. h3 0-0 7. Bxc6 bxc6 8. Re1 Re8 9. Nbd2 Nd7 10. Nc4 Bb6 11. a4 a5 12. Nxb6 cxb6 13. d4 c5. Improving on Anand’s 13. ... Qc7 14. Ra3! Nf8 15. dxe5 dxe5 16. Nh4! as in Carlsen – Anand, World Chess Championship, Sochi 2014, match game 2. 14. dxe5. If 14. c3 then 14. ... cxd4 15. cxd4 Bb7 with equality. 14. ... Nxe5 15. Nxe5 dxe5 16. Qh5 Ra7 17. Ra3. Carlsen’s way. 17. ... Rd7 18. Rg3 Rd6 19. b3 Bb7 20. Bg5 Qd7 21. h4 Kh8 22. Qf3 Rf8 23. Qe2


23. ... Rd4! Pogonina strives to penetrate into the enemy camp. 24. f3. Now it is really hard to believe that the Rook on g3 “lifted” via the a1-a3-g3 route. 24. ... Rd6 25. Be3 Rd8 26. Kh2 Rd1 27. Rxd1 Qxd1 28. Qc4 Qd7 29. h5 h6 30. f4? A blunder, obviously in time pressure. 30. ... exf4 31. Bxf4 Qe7. The e4-Pawn is doomed. 32. e5?? Sebag decides to commit suicide. 32. ... Rd4 33. Bg5?? hxg5 0 : 1. “The first game developed in a relatively quiet way. I got a good position as Black and had enough time on the clock, while [Marie] was taking a lot of time – it seems she disliked something about her position. She understandably tried hard for a win, but blundered badly when she was very short on time. So there was no real commotion for me in the first game”, then Pogonina said.

Natalia Andreevna Pogonina
Photo: Anastasiya Karlovich

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