Round Again

Daiva Batytė – Marina Brunello
19th European Individual Women’s Chess Championship; Vysoké Tatry, April 11, 2018
English Opening A28

Today Marina Brunello bounced back with remarkable temper after her yesterday’s drama. 1. c4 e5 2. Nc3 Bb4 3. Nd5 Bc5 4. e3 Nf6 5. Nc3!? d5 6. cxd5 Nxd5 7. Nf3 Nc6 8. d3 Be6 9. Be2 0-0 10. 0-0 Be7 11. e4 Nb6 12. Be3 Bf6. This seems even stronger than 10. ... f6 11. d4 exd4 12. Nxd4 Nxd4 13. Bxd4 c6 which yet led Black to an approximate equality, Kovalevskaya – 沈阳 (Shěn Yáng), 4th Torch Real Estate Chinese Chess League, 无锡 (Wúxī) 2008. 13. Na4 Nxa4 14. Qxa4 Qd6 15. Rac1 Rfd8 16. Ng5. 16. Rfd1 would seem a wiser course. 16. ... Bxg5 17. Bxg5 Nd4 18. Bd1 f6 19. Be3 Qe7 20. Qa5 b6 21. Qc3 c5 22. a3 a5 23. f4 h6 24. Qe1 Kh8 25. Qh4 Ra7 26. Kh1 Kh7 27. Bh5. White loses her last opportunity to play 27. fxe5 fxe5 28. Qg3, thus abandoning the backward d-Pawn to its doom. 27. ... exf4 28. Qxf4 Nc6 29. Rcd1 Rad7 30. Qg3 Ne5. Black’s bombing produced its effect: the d-Pawn falls. 31. d4 cxd4 32. Bf4 Bc4. Now Black’s win should be quite easy. 33. Rf2 a4 34. h3 b5 35. Rfd2 Bf7 36. Bxf7 Nxf7 37. Qd3 Rb7. Brunello’s trembling time management was about to make another bad joke. She should have obviously moved the King at g8 or h8, as White could not play Qd3xb5 due to ... Qe7xe4. 38. e5+ Kg8 39. exf6 Qxf6 40. Qf3. 40. Bg3(!) would have made things hugely harder for Black. 40. ... Rbd7 41. Qg3 Rd5. Everything’s again alright. 42. Bc7 R8d7 43. Re2 Qg5 44. Qxg5 Nxg5 45. Bb6 R7d6 46. Ba7 Kf7 47. Rd3 Kg6 48. Kh2 Ne6 49. Re4 Kf5 50. Rg4 g5

51. Bb8. Brunello plays and wins the ending in grand style: 51. ... h5 52. Rf3+ Nf4 53. Rgg3 h4 54. Rg4 d3 55. Bxd6 Rxd6 56. Rf1 Re6 57. Rc1 Re5 58. Rd1 Re2 59. Rxf4+ gxf4 60. Rxd3 Ke4 61. Rd7 f3 62. Kg1 Rxg2+ 63. Kf1 Rxb2 64. Rh7 Ke3 65. Re7+ Kf4 66. Rg7 b4 67. axb4 a3 68. b5 a2 69. Ra7 Rb1+ 0 : 1.