Monday or Tuesday

Lela Javakhishvili – Tea Gueci
20th Women’s European Chess Club Cup; Skopje, October 18, 2015
Modern Benoni A61

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 c5 3. d5 e6 4. Nc3 exd5 5. cxd5 d6 6. Nf3 g6 7. Bf4 Bg7. In my not always good old times someone explained to me that Black should play here 7. ... a6 in order to force 8. a4, thus avoiding the Queen check at a4. Needless to say, it’s likely that something has changed in the meanwhile (:. 8. Qa4+ Bd7 9. Qb3 Qc7 10. e4 0-0 11. Nd2 Re8. Another try is 11. ... Nh5 12. Be3 f5 13. exf5 gxf5 14. Be2 Nf6 (after 14. ... f4 15. Bxc5 f3 16. Bxf3 Rxf3 17. gxf3! Qxc5 18. Qxb7 Black’s attack fails: 18. ... Bxc3 19. bxc3 Nf4 20. Rg1+ Kf7 21. Ne4 Qxd5 22. Qxd5+ Nxd5 23. Rd1 Bc6 24. c4 Ne7 25. Nxd6+ Ke6 26. Ne4 Bxe4 27. fxe4 Nd7 28. f4 Nf6 29. e5 Ne4 30. Rd4 Kf5 31. Rg7 Nc6 32. Rf7+ Ke6 33. Rdd7 Rb8 34. Ke2 Rb4 35. Rxh7 Rxc4 36. Kd3 Ra4 37. Ke3 Kf5 38. Rdf7+ Ke6 39. Rc7 Kd5 40. Rhd7+ Kc5 41. Rd8 1 : 0 Kortschnoi – Nunn, 3rd Phillips & Drew Kings Chess Tournament, London 1984) 15. h3 Na6 16. a3 Qf7 17. Rd1 Nc7 18. Nc4 Rad8 as occurred in the game Loiseau – Abasov, 54th World Junior Chess Championship, Khanty-Mansiysk 2015. 12. Be2 Na6. The double-edged alternative 12. ... b5!? 13. Bxb5 Nxe4 14. Ncxe4 f5 15. Be2 fxe4 16. Nc4 appears very unclear and substantially favourable to White, Uhlmann – Milić, Zonal Tournament, Mariánské Lázně 1961. We feel, however, it’s worth exploring in a little more detail. 13. 0-0 Rad8. Also 13. ... Rab8 14. Rfe1 clearly favours White: 14. ... Re7 15. Bb5 Nh5 16. Bg5 f6 17. Be3 Rbe8 18. Be2 Bh8 19. Bxh5 gxh5 20. Bf4 Rd8 21. e5 fxe5 22. Bg5 Rg7 23. Bxd8 Qxd8 24. Nce4 b5 25. Re3 c4 26. Qa3 Bc8 27. Qxd6 Rd7 28. Rg3+ 1 : 0 Uhlmann – Dely, Erfurt 1955. 14. Rfe1 Bc8? This is a bad mistake after which Black’s position disintegrates. Tea ought to have tried harder to improve on 14. ... Nb8 15. h3 a6 16. a4 Bc8 17. a5 Nfd7 18. Nc4 Ne5 19. Ne3 Nbd7 20. Bg5 f6 21. Bf4 g5 22. Bg3 Ng6 23. Bg4 Nde5 24. Bxc8 Rxc8 25. Nf5 Bf8 26. Re3 h5 27. Ne2 Ne7 28. Bxe5 Nxf5 29. exf5 c4 30. Qd1 dxe5 31. Nc3 Bc5 32. Ne4 Qf7 33. Rc3 Red8 34. Rac1 Bb4 35. Rxc4 Rxc4 36. Rxc4 Bxa5 37. Qb3 Kg7 38. Rc5 b6 39. Rc6 Rxd5 40. Rxf6 Qd7 41. Rg6+ Kf8 42. Qa3+ 1 : 0 Kovalenko – Venevtsev, King’s Gambit B, Lipetsk 2008. 15. Nb5 Qe7 16. Nxa7 Nb8

17. Bb5! Bd7 18. Nc4! Bxb5. If 18. ... Nxd5 then 19. Bxd6 and Black’s position falls apart. 19. Nxb5 Nxe4. Again, if 19. ... Nxd5 there follows 20. Bxd6 with devastating effect. 20. Nbxd6 Qf6 21. Nxe8 Rxe8. This is tantamount to resignation, but 21. ... Qxf4 is equally met by 22. Qf3 with an easy win for White. 22. Qf3 1 : 0.

Lela Javakhishvili in 2012
Photo: Stefan64