A Fight to a Better End

Alexandra Konstantinovna Kosteniuk – Anna Muzychuk

Knockout Women’s World Chess Championship Tournament; match game 1; Tehran, February 23, 2017

French Defence C07

1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nd2 c5 4. exd5 Qxd5 5. dxc5 Nf6 6. Ngf3 Bxc5 7. Bc4 Qc6 8. Qe2 O-O 9. Nb3 Bd6 10. Nbd4!? For 10. Bg5 Nbd7 11. 0-0-0 h6 12. Nbd4 Qe4 13. Be3 Bf4 see Vallejo Pons – E. Hansen, World Rapid Chess Championship, Berlin 2015. 10. ... Qc7 11. Nb5 Qa5+ 12. Bd2 Bb4 13. c3 Be7 14. Bf4. “Kosteniuk could go 14. b4 instead of 14. Bf4 and then Bd2-f4 with pleasant advantage for White”, Grandmaster Teimour Radjabov tweeted. 14. ... a6 15. b4? A dubious intermezzo with respect to the planned 15. Nc7 Ra7 16. Nxe6! which, however, might have happened once more! 15. ... Qa4? “After 15. b4? Black could play 15. ... Bxb4! 16. cxb4 Qxb4+ 17. Bd2 Qb2! 18. 0-0 axb5 19. Rfb1 Qc2 20. Rxb5 Rd8!? for example and Black is safe and even little better”, says Radjabov. 16. Nc7 Ra7

17. Nd4? A half step. Stockfish’s attacking line 17. Nxe6! Bxe6 18. Bxe6 fxe6 19. Qxe6+ Kh8 20. Bxb8 Rxb8 21. Ne5 appears to be very promising and, from a human point of view, nearly winning. 17. ... Nc6! 18. Nc2! Making a necessity of virtue. White threatens of trapping the Black Queen by Bc4-b3. 18. ... Nb8? After very long thought, Muzychuk does not dare to play 18. ... Nxb4! 19. cxb4 Bxb4+ 20. Nxb4 (even worse would be 20. Kf1 Bc3 followed by ... b7-b5) 20. ... Qxb4+ 21. Bd2 Qd6 when Black regains the piece with an extra Pawn. 19. Nxa6! bxa6. Not 19. ... Nxa6?? 20. Bb5 winning the Black Queen. 20. Bxb8 Ra8 21. Be5 Bb7. Muzychuk is quite dramatically already short of time, and Kosteniuk attempts to exploit this element with the most “raw” possible moves. 22. Nd4 Bd5. Not 22. ... Bxg2?? 23. Rg1 Bb7 24. Qe3 with an overwhelming attack. 23. Bb3 Bxb3 24. Nxb3 Rfc8 25. 0-0 Qb5 26. Qe1. Kosteniuk boldly refuses to exchange Queens. 26. ... Rc4 27. Nd2 Rc6 28. a4 Qd3 29. Nf3 Rac8 30. Bd4 Nd7 31. Rd1 Qf5 32. Qe2 Rc4. The drama of Zeitnot. 33. Kh1. Kosteniuk will probably regret of playing a bit too much on her opponent’s lack of time. Here 33. Bc5! Bxc5 34. bxc5 Qxc5 35. Rxd7 seems to win quite easily. 33. ... R4c6 34. Rd3 g6 35. Rfd1 R6c7 36. h3 h5 37. Re3 Bf6 38. Bxf6 Nxf6 39. Nd4 Qg5 40. Rg3. Kosteniuk is happy enough with her extra Pawn, and probably wrongly she decided to delay cashing in the second one: 40. Qxa6! (20. ... Rxc3? 41. Nxe6!+-). 40. ... Qh4. Muzychuk finally reached time control, certainly not well, but still alive! 41. Nxe6! Rxc3. Not 41. ... fxe6? because of 42. Qxe6+ Kg7 43. Rd4 Ng4 44. Rd7+ Kh6 45. Rd6 Qg5 46. f4! and wins. 42. Rxc3 Rxc3 43. Nd4? After losing too much time and nerve on an almost won game, it’s understandable that Kosteniuk didn’t notice 43. Kg1! fxe6 44. Qe5!+- (44. ... Rc2 45. g3) – that’s Stockfish’s tricky stuff. 43. ... Rc8 44. Nf3 Qxb4 45. Qxa6 Qc3 46. Qb7 Re8 47. Kg1 Qc2 48. Ra1 Qc3 49. Rb1 Kg7 50. g3 Qa5 51. Rb4 Rd8 52. Qb5 Qa8 53. Qe2 Re8 54. Qd1 Ne4 55. Qd4+ Kg8 56. Ne5?? Too much concerned, or not too concerned, or not at all concerned about the threat of ... Ne4xg3, Kosteniuk seems not notice the other, more serious Black’s threat (... Ne4-g5), and makes an irreparable blunder. If nothing else, something like 56. Kh2 would have left White a not too meaningful Pawn ahead in a not so clearly winnable situation. 56. ... Ng5! Turning tables! The deadly threat is ... Re8xe5. 57. Rb3 Nxh3+ 58. Kh2 Nxf2. Again threatening ... Rxe5. 59. Qxf2 Rxe5 60. Qb2 Qxa4 61. Rf3 Qb5 62. Qc3 Re2+ 63. Kg1 Qb1+ 64. Rf1 Qb6+ 0 : 1. For after 65. Kh1 Qe6 66. Kg1 Qh3 the win is easy to demonstrate. A dramatic derby between two great Slav talents! We can be sure that the return game will be eagerly awaited.

Alexandra Konstantinovna Kosteniuk vs. Anna Muzychuk
Photo © David Llada