Monday, May 2, 2016

Dry Land

Olga Alexandrovna Girya – Almira Fyodorovna Skripchenko
Women’s Grand Prix; third stage; Batumi, May 2, 2016
Philidor Defence C41

1. d4 d6 2. Nf3 Bg4 3. e4 Nd7 4. Nc3 e5 5. Be2 Ngf6 6. Be3 c6 7. Nd2 Bxe2 8. Qxe2 Be7 9. a4 0-0 10. 0-0 Re8 11. d5 cxd5. The start of a very dubious plan. For 11. ... Qc7 12. a5 Rec8 13. Rfc1 h6 14. g3 Bd8 15. a6 bxa6 16. Qxa6 cxd5 17. exd5 Nc5 18. Qe2 a5 19. Nb5 Qd7 see Franco Ocampos – Rivas Pastor, Salamanca 1989. 12. exd5 Nb6 13. Qb5 Ng4 14. Bxb6 axb6 15. Nc4 Ra6 16. a5! bxa5 17. Qxb7 Ra8 18. Qb5 Rc8 19. Nxa5. “Black has lost a Pawn and her Queenside is about to fall. Since the endgame would be hopeless, Almira’s last chance lays in a counter-attack on the Kingside”, writes Europe Échecs’ editor-in-chief Grandmaster Bachar Kouatly. 19. ... Bh4 20. Qe2 f5 21. Nc6 Qf6 22. Ra4!? e4. “Almira has 8 minutes left, while Olga has 26 minutes left”. (Kouatly). 23. h3. “Now also White has 8 minutes left!”. (Kouatly).


23. ... e3! Black’s best practical chance. 24. fxe3 Nxe3. “Here the computer prefers 24. ... Rxe3 with a confused position”. (Kouatly). 25. Re4!? Bg5 26. Rxe8+ Rxe8 27. Nd1 Re4 28. Nxe3 Bxe3+ 29. Kh1 Qxb2. Almira did the miracle. However, both players have only a minute left to make 10 moves. 30. Qa6. On 30. Rxf5 Bf4! 31. Qf1! g5 the position is unclear but dynamically balanced. 30. ... g6 31. Qc8+ Kg7 32. Qd7+ Kh6 33. Qxd6. Black has gained a Pawn but her passed Pawn on the d-file will have little effect due to Skripchenko’s strong rejoinder: 33. ... Qb5! 34. Qf8+. “With a few seconds left, Girya prefers to repeat the position”. (Kouatly). 34. ... Kg5 35. Qd8+ Kh6 36. Qf8+ Kg5 37. Qd8+ Kh6 ½ : ½.

Olga Alexandrovna Girya
Photo: Eteri Kublashvili

Almira Skripchenko
Photo: Eteri Kublashvili

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