The Last Empress

Nino Batsiashvili – 居文君 (Jū Wénjūn)
Women’s Grand Prix: fifth stage; Khanty-Mansyisk, November 30, 2016
Queen’s Gambit Declined D38

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. cxd5 exd5 5. Nc3 Bb4 6. Bg5 h6 7. Bh4 0-0 8. e3 Bf5 9. Bd3 Bxd3 10. Qxd3 c6 11. 0-0 Nbd7 12. a3 Bd6 13. b4 Qe7 14. Rfe1 Qe6 15. Nd2 Qg4 16. Bg3 Bxg3 17. hxg3 Rfe8 18. Nf1 h5 19. Rac1 a5 20. b5 c5 21. Na4 c4 22. Qc2 Qe6 23. f3 Qd6 24. Ra1 Nh7 25. Nc3 Nb6 26. a4 Qd7 27. Rad1 f5 28. e4 fxe4 29. fxe4 dxe4 30. Nxe4 Qf5 31. Nfd2 Rac8 32. Nf3 Nd5

33. Ne5? A really bad move, after which White’s position quickly disintegrates. Stockfish’s line 33. Re2! Nb4 34. Qb1 Nf6!? seems good enough to maintain a precarious balance. 33. ... Ng5! 34. Rc1 Nxe4 35. Rxe4. 35. Qxe4 Qxe4 36. Rxe4 c3 was completely hopeless, too. 35. ... Nc3! 36. Rf4? Batsiashvili should have played 36. Rh4, although after 36. ... Qxc2 37. Rxc2 Nxa4 38. Rxh5 c3∓/-+ it would have been anyway hard to hope for a salvation of her own. 36. ... Qxc2 37. Rxc2 Nd5 38. Rf3 c3 39. Kf2 Re7 40. b6. Black goes from bad to worse while desperately trying to prevent ... Re7-c7 followed by ... Nd5-b4 as well ... Rc8-c4xa4. 40. ... Re6. The rest is easy. 41. Nd7 Rd6 42. Nc5 Rxb6 43. Ke2 Re8+ 44. Kd3 Nb4+ 45. Kxc3 Nxc2 46. Kxc2 Rb4 47. Kc3 b6 48. Nd3 Rc8+ 0 : 1.

Nino Batsiashvili (R.) vs. 居文君 (Jū Wénjūn)
Photo: wgp2016.fide.com

居文君 (Jū Wénjūn) won the Women’s Grand Prix Series 2015-2016 (the saddest one and perhaps the last one of women’s chess history), thus gaining the right to play a match against the next knockout Women’s World Chess Champion. Photo: Evgeniy Atarov.