The Queen’s Cake

谭中怡 (Tán Zhōngyí) – Anna Muzychuk

Knockout Women’s World Chess Championship Tournament; match game 2; Tehran, February 28, 2017

Semi-Slav Defence D43

1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. Nc3 e6 5. Qd3 dxc4 6. Qxc4 b5 7. Qd3 a6 8. e4 c5 9. dxc5 Bxc5 10. Qxd8+ Kxd8 11. Bd3 Bb7. For 11. ... Nbd7 12. 0-0 Bb7 13. e5 Nd5 14. Ne4 Ke7 15. Bg5+ f6 16. exf6+ gxf6 17. Bh6 Kf7 18. Rae1 Be7 19. Bb1 Rad8 20. Re2 Nf8 21. g3 e5 see Tregubov – Gelfand, 12th Russian Team Chess Championship, Sochi 2005. 12. e5 Ng4? The Knight looks misplaced here. Both 12. ... Nd5 and 12. ... Nfd7 13. Ne4 Be7 were worth considering. 13. Ne4 Bb4+ 14. Ke2 Nd7 15. Bf4. All is perfectly consolidated, so White can enjoy her much more harmonious position. 15. ... Nc5. Both 15. ... f5!? and 15. ... f6!? (Stockfish) might have been a little less committal. 16. Nxc5 Bxc5

17. Rhc1! White’s elegant deployment of the Rook marks a Black’s difficulty on both wings. 17. ... Bb6 18. Ng5! Ke7 19. Ne4 Bxe4 20. Nxe4 Rhc8 21. f3 Nh6 22. g4 Ng8 23. Nd6 Rxc1 24. Rxc1. The threat is Nd6-c8+. 24. ... Kd7. The decision to give up a Pawn for vitalizing her Knight makes sense. 25. Nxf7 Ne7. With the threat of ... Ra8-f8. 26. Be3! White feels confident in relying upon her own technique. 26. ... Bxe3 27. Kxe3 Ng6. 27. ... Nd5+ might have been better, even though after 28. Kd4 Rf8 29. Ng5 Rf4+ 30. Ne4 White’s extra Pawn and her more enterprising pieces make things a bit unpleasant for Black (for instance: 30. ... Rxf3? 31. Nc5+ Ke7 32. Nxe6!). 28. h4? A strange omission on 谭中怡 (Tán Zhōngyí)’s part, even though, from a psychological viewpoint, it turns out to be the decisive blow. White ought to play 28. f4! Nxf4 29. Kxf4 Rf8 30. Rd1+! Ke7 31. Rd6 Rxf7+ 32. Ke3! with a much better ending for her. 28. ... Rf8? In a critical moment, and under time pressure, Muzychuk doesn’t feel like playing 28. ... Nxh4! 29. Rh1 Ng2+ 30. Kf2 Ke7 31. Nd6 Nf4 32. Rxh7 Nd3+ 33. Kg3 Nxe5 which apparently would have made things very unclear. 29. h5! Ne7 30. Ng5 Nd5+ 31. Kf2 h6 32. Ne4 Ra8 33. a3 a5 34. Nc3 Rc8 35. Rd1 Ke7 36. Nxd5+ exd5 37. Rxd5 Rc2+ 38. Ke3 Rxb2 39. Ke4. Now it is a totally won endgame for White, and 谭中怡 (Tán Zhōngyí) is gonna win it with elegant technique. 39. ... a4 40. f4 Rb1 41. Kf5 Rb3 42. Rc5 Kd7 43. Kg6 b4 44. axb4 Rxb4 45. Kf5 Ke7 46. Rc7+ Kf8 47. Ra7 Kg8 48. g5 hxg5 49. fxg5 Rb6 50. Rxa4 g6+ 51. hxg6 Rb1 52. Ra8+ Kg7 53. Ra7+ Kg8 54. g7 Rf1+. Game over, so it’s time to look for stalemate tricks. 55. Kg6! Ra1! 56. Rf7! 1 : 0. Muzychuk finally resigns, for after 56. ... Ra6+ 57. Rf6 Re6!? 58. Kh6! there is no stalemate. 谭中怡 (Tán Zhōngyí) gave her a party on her birthday day.

谭中怡 (Tán Zhōngyí) vs. Anna Muzychuk
Photo © David Llada