Roller coaster

袁元凌 (Yuán Yuánlíng) – Mariya Muzychuk
Women’s World Chess Championship; Krasnaya Polyana, March 17, 2015
Caro-Kann Defence B15

Yesterday Grandmaster Kevin Spraggett wrote: “Canada is fortunate to have youngster Yuán Yuánlíng (born 1994) represent its colours. The super-busy Yale undergraduate has recently come back to active chess after a 2 and a half year absence between January 2011 and the summer of 2013. She scored an excellent 7½ points at the Tromsø Olympiad in 2014, and has played in several tournaments already this year as a warm up for Sochi. Yuán’s first round opponent in the knockout event is the Ukrainian Mariya Muzychuk, one of the top females in the world, and sister of world number three Anna Muzychuk. I am certain that all of my readers wish her the best of success in Sochi!”.

1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 dxe4 4. Nxe4 Nf6 5. Nxf6+ exf6 6. Nf3 Bd6 7. Bd3 O-O 8. O-O Bg4 9. h3 Bh5 10. Be4. For 10. Re1 Nd7 11. c4 c5 see Marshall – Tartakower, Karlsbad 1929. 10. ... Na6. For 10. ... Nd7 11. Qd3 Bg6 see Boruchovsky – Mammadov, World’s Youth Stars, Kirishi 2012. 11. c3 Nc7 12. Qd3 Bg6 13. Bxg6 hxg6 14. c4 Qd7 15. Be3 g5 16. Nd2 g4 17. hxg4 Qxg4 18. Ne4 Be7 19. Ng3 g6 20. Qe4 Qd7 21. Rad1 Kg7 22. d5 cxd5 23. cxd5 Nb5 24. Qf3 Rh8 25. Ne4. The Knight’s exploration loses time for White – time which Black utilizes to grab the initiative. 25. ... f5 26. Ng3 Rh4 27. Bf4 Rah8 28. Rfe1 Bd6 29. Bg5 Rg4 30. Bc1 Qc7 31. Rd3? A tactical faux pas. After 31. b3 f6 Black stands better, but White can still keep playing. 31. ... Rgh4 32. Bg5 Rg4? Much stronger was 32. ... Rh2! renewing the menacing situation (... Bd6xg3) and if 33. Rdd1 then 33. ... Qc4! threatening 34. ... Rh1+! 35. Nxh1 Bh2 mate. 33. Bd2? Now it’s White’s turn to go wrong. The most consistent was 33. Nxf5+! gxf5 34. Qxf5 Rxg5 35. Qxg5+ Kf8 36. Rh3 with an edge. 33. ... Qd8 34. b3. If 34. Nf1 then 34. ... Nd4 with advantage to Black. 34. ... Qh4 35. a4 Nc7? Cupio dissolvi. After 32. ... Bc5! 33. Kf1 Nd4 Black’s win appears almost forced. 36. Bc3+ f6 37. Kf1 Rf4 38. Qd1 Bc5 39. Rf3

39. ... Qg4? Oblivious to the danger of passed d5-Pawn. After 39. ... Rd8 Black cannot lose. 40. d6!+- Rxf3 41. Re7+. The pointe. 41. ... Kf8 42. gxf3 Qh3+ 43. Ke2 Qg2 44. Be1 Ne8 45. Qd5 Nxd6 46. Qe6 1 : 0.

袁元凌 (Yuán Yuánlíng) vs. Mariya Muzychuk
Photo: Eteri Kublashvili