Arctic Diary

Sarasadat Khademalsharieh – Elena Borić
41st Women’s Chess Olympiad; Tromsø, August 4, 2014
Dutch Defence A85

1. d4 f5 2. c4 Nf6 3. Nc3 g6 4. h4! c6. Also 4. ... Bg7 5. h5! Nxh5 6. e4! fxe4 7. Rxh5! gxh5 8. Qxh5+ Kf8 9. Bh6! e6 10. Nxe4 Qe7 11. Bxg7+ Kxg7 12. 0-0-0 yielded White an overwhelming attack, M. O. Muzychuk – 袁元凌 (Yuán Yuánlíng), Women’s World Chess Championship Knockout Tournament, Krasnaya Polyana 2015, match game 2. A better try could be 4. ... d6 5. h5! Nxh5 6. Rxh5! gxh5 7. e4 fxe4 8. Qh5+ Kd7 with a more unclear situation. 5. h5! Nxh5 6. Rxh5! gxh5 7. e4! Qb6? This will turn out to be a fatal mistake as exposes Black’s Queen to wander around alone where only disgrace can await her. Much better appears to be 7. ... d6 8. Qxh5+ Kd7 9. Qxf5+ Kc7 leaving White with the task to prove her compensation surpluses. 8. Qxh5+ Kd8 9. c5! Qb4 10. Nf3! b6 11. a3 Qb3 12. Ne5. White’s attack develops itself; no wonder that the end is near. 12. ... Kc7 13. Bc4 Qc2

14. Nd3. With the threat of Nd3-b4 trapping Her Majesty. 14. ... bxc5 15. Bf4+ d6 16. dxc5 fxe4 17. cxd6+ exd6 18. Qa5+ Kb7. Or 18. ... Kd7 19. Nc5+! dxc5 20. Qc7+ Ke8 21. Bf7 mate. 19. Nc5+! 1 : 0. For if 19. ... dxc5 then 20. Qc7 mate.

Sarasadat Khademalsharieh. Photo: aritearu.com.