嚴酷的學校 (The Austere Academy)

Nana Dzagnidze – 谭中怡 (Tán Zhōngyí)
4th “心桥杯” (“Xīnqiáo Cup”); match game 3; 温州 (Wēnzhōu), August 13, 2018
Spanish Game C83

And thus – at least today – 谭中怡 (Tán Zhōngyí) did not succeed in making her coaches regret the choice of excluding her from the national Olympic team. On the other hand, she has little to regret about, because her coaches would never have changed their mind in any case. 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. 0-0 Nxe4 6. d4 b5 7. Bb3 d5 8. dxe5 Be6 9. c3 Be7 10. Nbd2 0-0 11. Bc2 f5 12. exf6 Nxf6 13. Qe2 Qd7 14. Re1 Bf5. Another way is 14. ... Bg4 15. h3 Bh5 16. Qe6+ Qxe6 17. Rxe6 Bd6 18. Bb3 Bf7 19. Re1 Rae8= Hmadi – Zafar, 24th Chess Olympiad, Valletta 1980. 15. Bxf5 Qxf5 16. Nf1!? Dzagnidze’s alleged improvement on 16. Nb3 Rae8 (Black, however, could have considered 16. ... Bd6!? so as to maintain some tension) 17. Qe6+ Qxe6 18. Rxe6 Bd6= van Baarle – Westra, 24th Dutch Open Chess Championship, Velp 1978. 16. ... Bd6 17. Be3 Rae8 18. Rad1 Ne5 19. Nxe5 Rxe5 20. f3 Rfe8 21. Qd2 Qe6 (21. ... Nd7!? 22. b4 c6=) 22. Bf2 Bc5! 23. Rxe5 Bxf2+ 24. Qxf2 Qxe5 25. Qc5 h5 26. b4 h4 27. Rd3 Qe2 28. Re3 Rxe3 29. Qxe3 Qxa2 30. Qe6+ Kf8 31. Qc8+ Ne8 32. Qf5+ Nf6 33. Qc8+ Ne8 34. Qf5+ Ke7!? Black has hardly anything better than a draw by repeating moves with 34. ... Nf6 35. Qc8+ Ne8, but 谭中怡 (Tán Zhōngyí) decides to play all out. 35. Qg5+ Kd7 36. Qg4+ Kc6 37. Qxh4 Nd6!? Still playing sharply. Simpler and safer was 37. ... Nf6 in order to answer 38. Qd4 by 38. ... Qc4 with quite an even game. 38. Qd4! a5! Not 38. ... g6? on account of 39. Ne3! heavily overloading Black’s position. 39. bxa5 Qxa5 40. Ne3! Of course, after 40. Qxg7? Qa7+! 41. Qd4 (41. Kh1?? Qf2−+) 41. ... Qxd4+ 42. cxd4 Nf5 Black regains her Pawn with interest.

40. ... Qa2? No wonder that on the last move before time control 谭中怡 (Tán Zhōngyí) misses a hidden drawing resource: 40. ... Qa1+! 41. Kf2 Qa2+ 42. Kg3 Qc4!! 43. Qxg7 (the pointe is 43. Nxc4 Nf5+ 44. Kf2 Nxd4 45. Ne5+ Kc5 46. cxd4+ Kxd4 and Black at least draws) 43. ... Qc5! 44. Qd4 (if 44. Qe5 then 44. ... Ne4+! 45. Kf4 Nxc3=) 44. ... Qxd4 45. cxd4 b4 46. Kf4 b3 47. Nd1 Kb5! and Black should draw. 41. h4! Now White’s Kingside majority meets no obstacles on its way to the crown. 41. ... g6. Black’s Knight can no longer take its step back, as if 41. ... Ne8 then 42. h5 Nf6 43. h6! and finis. 42. Kh2 Qb3 43. Kh3 Qa2 44. Kg4 Nf5! 45. Nxf5 gxf5+ 46. Kg3! Qe2 47. h5 Qe1+ 48. Kf4 Qh4+ 49. g4 fxg4 50. fxg4 Qh2+ 51. Kg5 Kd6 52. h6 Qc2 53. Kf6 c5 54. Qe5+ Kc6 55. Kg7 b4 56. h7 1 : 0.

Nana Dzagnidze (left) vs. 谭中怡 (Tán Zhōngyí) (right). Photo: qipai.org.cn.