Bullet time

Natalia Andreevna Pogonina – Mariya Muzychuk
Women’s World Chess Championship; match game 1; Krasnaya Polyana, April 2, 2015
Queen’s Gambit Declined D45

1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. e3 e6 5. Nf3 Nbd7 6. Qc2 Bd6 7. Bd3 0-0 8. 0-0 dxc4 9. Bxc4 b5 10. Be2 a6 11. Rd1 Qc7 12. e4 e5 13. dxe5 Nxe5 14. h3 Re8. The alternative was 14. ... h6 15. Be3 Nxf3+ 16. Bxf3 Bb7 17. g3 Rfe8 18. Bg2 Rad8 19. f4 Nd5 20. Bf2 Nxc3 21. Qxc3 c5 22. e5 ½ : ½ Sasikiran – Cheparinov, 9th Aeroflot Open, Moscow 2010. 15. Bg5 Nxf3+. Departing from 15. ... Qe7 16. Nd4 b4 17. Na4 c5 as in the game Morovic Fernández – Salgado López, 9th Aeroflot Open, Moscow 2010. 16. Bxf3 Be6 17. Rac1 Rad8 18. b3 Bh2+ 19. Kf1 Be5 20. Be3. “To be honest, I did not expect 20. Be3. Of course I repeated everything during my preparation, but there were so many variations, they all got mixed, and I could not recall the exact response”, then Mariya Muzychuk said. 20. ... h6 21. Ne2 Rxd1+ 22. Rxd1 Bc8 23. Kg1. “After Mariya retreated her Bishop to c8 on the move 22, White got an advantage. Natalia had a very interesting idea 23. Nc1, intending to bring the Knight to с5 and block the Black Pawns”, Grandmaster Sergey Rublevsky said. 23. ... Bb7 24. g3 Rd8 25. Rxd8+ Qxd8 26. Bg2 Bc7. More circumspect would be 26. ... Bd6 27. f4 Bf8 with fairly equal chances.

27. Nf4. “I was told I could play 27. Nd4 instead of 27. Nf4. I saw that move but evaluated the resulting position incorrectly”, Natalia Andreevna Pogonina said. “I was short on time. After 27. Nd4 I planned to play 27. ... Qd7, but cannot say I studied it deeply, because it was unclear what move Natalia chooses. My idea was to carry out ... Bc7-b6 and ... c6-с5”, Muzychuk pointed out. 27. ... Nd7 28. Nd3 Bb6 29. Nc5 Bc8 30. Nxd7 Bxd7 31. Bc5 Bxc5 32. Qxc5 Qa5. Preenting b3-b4. 33. a3 Be6. The game is now perfectly equal. 34. e5 Qe1+ 35. Kh2 Bxb3 36. Bxc6 Be6 37. Bg2 Qe2 38. Qb6 Qxe5 39. Qxa6 Qc5 40. Qa8+ Kh7 ½ : ½.

Natalia Andreevna Pogonina vs. Mariya Muzychuk
Photo: Anastasiya Karlovich

Natalia Andreevna Pogonina vs. Mariya Muzychuk
Photo: Eteri Kublashvili