Best by Test

沈阳 (Shěn Yáng) – Aleksandra Yuryevna Goryachkina
43rd Women’s Chess Olympiad; Batumi, October 5, 2018
1r4k1/1qb3p1/2p1nn2/p1Pp4/P2Pp3/1NQ1Pp1P/2KB1P2/5B1R b - - 1 33

Position after 33. Be2-f1

A consoling feature for the Russian women’s team may lay, however, in the great form shown by Aleksandra Yuryevna Goryachkina in her last Olympics games. Here is how she closed matters with 沈阳 (Shěn Yáng): 33. ... Nxc5! 34. dxc5 Be5! 35. Ba6 (35. Qxe5 Qxb3+ 36. Kc1 Qb1 mate) 35. ... Qxa6 36. Qxe5 Qd3+ 37. Kc1 Qxb3 38. Qa1 d4! 39. exd4 e3! 40. Bxe3 (40. fxe3 Ne4−+) 40. ... Rb4 41. Rg1 Rc4+ 0 : 1.

Aleksandra Yuryevna Goryachkina (seated, left) has all reasons to feel lucky as the newly elected FIDE President Arkady Vladimirovich Dvorkovich (standing, centre), beneath the deferential gaze of the Russian Chess Federation President Andrey Vasilievich Filatov (standing, right), makes the first move on Alexandra Konstantinovna Kosteniuk’s board. Photo: batumi2018.fide.com.