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Maria Elena Rodríguez Arrieta – Aleksandra Yuryevna Goryachkina
43rd Women’s Chess Olympiad; Batumi, September 24, 2018
King’s Indian Attack C00

As always happens at Olympiads, outsiders make headlines, with Sabina-Francesca Foişor from United States losing to Andreina Quevedo from Uruguay in the women’s arena, and 李超 (Lǐ Chāo) from China losing to Mohamed-Mehdi Aithmidou from Morocco in the unisex camp — luckily for them both without damages for their teams. Two-time Russian Women’s Chess Champion Aleksandra Yuryevna Goryachkina also ran big risks against Costa Rica’s Maria Elena Rodríguez Arrieta: 1. e4 e6 2. d3 d5 3. Nd2 Nf6 4. Ngf3 c5 5. g3 g6 6. Bg2 Bg7 7. 0-0 0-0 8. c3 Nc6 9. Re1 b6 10. e5 Nd7 11. d4 a5. It’s never too late to take a look at Leonid Zakharovich Stein’s games: 11. ... f6 12. exf6 Qxf6 13. Nb3! Ba6? 14. Be3 Bc4? 15. dxc5 Bxb3 16. axb3 Nxc5 17. Ng5 Rfe8 18. b4 Nb7 19. Bxd5! Rad8 20. Bxc6! Rxd1 21. Rexd1 Rb8 22. Rxa7 Nd8 23. Bg2+− L. Z. Stein – Sokolsky, Semifinal of 27th Championship of USSR, Odessa 1960 — it is remarkable the resemblance to the actual script! Furthermore, another of his game is not too dissimilar either: 11. ... Qc7 12. Nf1 Ba6 13. Bf4 Rac8 14. Ne3 Qb7 15. Qd2 Rfe8? 16. Ng4 cxd4 17. cxd4 f6 18. exf6 Nxf6 19. Nxf6+ Bxf6 20. Bh3 Nd8 21. Ne5± L. Z. Stein – Zhukhovitsky, 37th USSR Chess Championship, Moscow 1969. 12. Nf1 Ba6 13. Bg5 Qc7. If, instead, 13. ... Qb8 there might follow 14. Ne3 cxd4 15. cxd4 h6 16. Bf4 g5 (Rotstein – A. Rombaldoni, 3rd International Open, Forni di Sopra 2012) and now after 17. Nxg5! hxg5 18. Bxg5 f6 19. Rc1! White should keep a powerful initiative. 14. Qd2 Rfe8 15. Bh6 Bh8? Goryachkina might have paid dear for her reluctance to get rid of the fianchettoed Bishop. The immediate 15. ... Rac8 was quite called for. 16. h4 Rac8 17. Rac1 Qb7 18. a3 b5 19. N1h2 b4 20. axb4 axb4 21. Qf4 Bd3 22. Ng5 Re7 23. Ng4. Most engines argue that White could have played even more strongly somewhere, but what she’s got so far is just impressive enough: Black has fallen deep into a nightmare.

23. ... Qb8 24. Nf3. The Costa Rican player concentrates herself on aiming and getting an imposing ending a Pawn up, but... will she have sufficient technique to win by it? 24. ... f5 25. exf6 Qxf4 26. Bxf4 Nxf6 27. Nge5 Nxe5 28. Nxe5 Bb5 29. cxb4 c4 30. Bh3 Ree8 31. Kg2 Nd7 32. Nf3! Rc6 33. Ra1 Nf8 34. Ra5 Rb6 35. Bc7! Rb7 36. Bd6 Bd7 37. Rea1 Bf6 38. Ra8. 38. Ra7 seems even more merciless. 38. ... Be7 39. Rxe8 Bxe8 40. Bxe7 Rxe7 41. Ra6. 41. Ne5! followed by Ra1-a8 would have put an end to any further resistance. 41. ... Rb7 42. Bxe6+? Rodríguez Arrieta feels only too happy to win a draw. 42. Ne5! followed by Ra1-a8 was still quite conclusive — the b4-Pawn being obviously taboo. What instead follows is quite consistent with White’s ultimate goal: 42. ... Nxe6 43. Rxe6 Bd7 44. Re5 Rxb4 45. Rxd5 Bc6 46. Rc5 Bb7 47. d5 Rxb2 48. Rxc4 Bxd5 49. Rc3 h5 50. Rd3 ½ : ½.