Thursday, December 28, 2017

Collectible Barbies

So Magnus Carlsen was kicked off the King Salman World Rapid Chess Championship’s podium by Viswanathan “Vishy” Anand – on the other hand, acting as a “sandwich man” for FIDE’s macabre remake of the 1936 Olympiad could not bring good luck to anyone not even him.
The other half of sky, instead, was filled by the star of 居文君 (Jū Wénjūn), who, after an oblivion of months, has come back in the limelight as a worthy challenger – she is the No. 3 best female player in the world – of 谭中怡 (Tán Zhōngyí). But, indeed, there is nothing sure as to the date of the wedding and the location. I’d rather feel that FIDE, after sacrificing two Queens – namely, 侯逸凡 (Hóu Yìfán) and Anna Muzychuk, who are, respectively, the No. 1 and No. 2 best players in the world – won’t resist the temptation to sacrifice the third Queen, too, so as to compose the podium of (their) World Witch-hunt Championship.

居文君 (Jū Wénjūn) – Nana Dzagnidze
King Salman World Women’s Rapid Chess Championship; ar-Riyāḍ (Riyadh), December 28, 2017
Catalan Opening E04

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. g3 d5 4. Nf3 Bb4+ 5. Bd2 Bd6 6. Bg2 0-0 7. 0-0 dxc4 8. Qc2 Nc6 9. Qxc4 e5 10. d5 Ne7 11. Nc3 h6 12. Rfd1 a6 13. a4. 13. e4 b5 14. Qe2 b4 15. Na4 Bd7 16. b3 Bb5 17. Qe1 Bxa4?! (17. ... a5 seems to offer better chances to equalise) 18. bxa4 a5 19. a3! may also give White an edge, 谭中怡 (Tán Zhōngyí) – Dauletova, 14th Asian Continental Women’s Championship, al-’Ayn (Al Ain) 2015. The text, however, constitutes the most critical line. 13. ... c6 14. dxc6 Nxc6 15. Be3. The alternative was 15. Qh4 Bf5 16. Bxh6 gxh6 17. Qxh6 Qe7? (Vaganian – Zvjaginsev, 3rd Karpov Tournament, Poikovsky 2002)) and now 18. Nh4! Bh7 (or 18. ... Bc2 19. e4!) 19. Bh3! would have been terribly strong. It’s quite clear, however, that Black could have done better. 15. ... Be6 16. Qh4 Bb3 17. Rd2 Qe7 18. g4!? 居文君 (Jū Wénjūn) now takes another path from 18. Bxh6 gxh6 19. Qxh6 Ne8? 20. Nh4 Be6? (Krylov – R. Bagirov, Victory Day Chess Tournament, Moscow 2008) and now 21. Ne4! would have put Black on the cross. Even in this case, however, Black could have substantially improved his play. 18. ... e4? Dzagnidze doesn’t guess her lucky number. Probably she should have gone for 18. ... Nh7!? 19. g5! f5!? 20. gxh6 e4(!) with very unclear play.


19. g5! exf3 20. gxf6 Qxf6 21. Qxf6 gxf6 22. Rxd6 fxg2 23. Bxh6 Rfe8 24. Rxf6. White is to have two Pawns more – too much for Dzagnidze to bear. The rest is quite easy. 24. ... Rad8 25. Kxg2 Rd4 26. h3 Kh7 27. Be3 Rh4 28. Rf4 Rh5 29. Kh2 Be6 30. h4 Ne5 31. Ne4 Rh6 32. Rg1 Rg8 33. Ng5+ Rxg5 34. Rxg5 Ng6 35. Rd4 Nxh4 36. Rg7+ 1 : 0.

居文君 (Jū Wénjūn) (pictured left) vs. Nana Dzagnidze (pictured right). Photo: Salah Malkawi/Getty Images.

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