A Day On

Gulrukhbegim Tokhirjonova – 居文君 (Jū Wénjūn)

Women’s World Chess Championship Knockout Tournament; match game 2; Khanty-Mansiysk, November 13, 2018

Russian Defence C42

And finally 居文君 (Jū Wénjūn), the last pro tempore Women’s World Chess Champion, who, regardless of how well she will do, has today earned a semi-final place, a day off on tomorrow, and, dulcis in fundo, a wild card for the “coming soon” Women’s Candidates Tournament. In short, she was offered a forfeitable refund for damage in case she loses her title at the Wheel of Fortune. Today she played stranger than usual. 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Nxe5 d6 4. Nf3 Nxe4 5. Nc3 Nxc3 6. dxc3 Be7 7. Be3 Nd7 8. Qd2 0-0 9. 0-0-0 c6 10. h4 Re8 11. c4!? The alternative is 11. Bd3 d5 12. Kb1 Bc5 13. Bd4 Bxd4 14. cxd4 Nf6 15. Rde1 Ne4 16. Qf4 Qf6 with a solid defence, Karjakin – Giri, 4th Grand Chess Tour, Rapid YourNextMove, Leuven 2018. 11. ... a6!? 11. ... Nc5 12. Bd3 Nxd3+ 13. Qxd3 Qa5 was also fine for Black, Korbut – Lagno, 12th European Women’s Chess Club Cup, Kemer 2007. 12. h5 h6 13. Bd3 Nf6 14. Bd4 b5 15. Rde1 Be6

16. Nh4? A terrible mistake that loses almost at once. Best was 16. g4! bxc4 17. g5! cxd3 18. gxh6! with quite an unclear play. 16. ... bxc4 17. Bf5 Nd5! 18. Bxe6 Bg5. Game over. 19. f4? This is clearly a serious miscalculation, but there were no good moves. 19. ... Bxf4 20. Bxf7+ Kxf7 21. Ref1 Re1+! This refutation has been probably overlooked by Tokhirjonova. 22. Rxe1 Bxd2+ 23. Kxd2 Qg5+ 24. Kd1 Qxh5+ 25. Kc1 Kg8 26. Kb1 c5 27. g4 Qxg4!? 居文君 (Jū Wénjūn) initiates her own ordeal, which will drive her to disperse in a cupio dissolvi most of her material plusses. 28. Bxg7 Kxg7 29. Rhg1 Qxg1? Of course, 29. ... h5(!) was the best way to keep playing in the moonlight. 30. Rxg1+ Kh7 31. Nf5 Rf8 32. Nxd6 c3 33. bxc3 Nxc3+ 34. Kb2 Ne2 35. Rg2 Nf4 36. Rd2 Rd8 37. Kc3 h5 38. Kc4 Ne6 39. Kd5 Ng5 40. Rh2 Nf7 41. Kxc5 Rxd6 42. Rxh5+ Kg6 43. Rd5 Re6 44. a4 Kf6 45. c4? 45. Rd7 Ng5∓ would have made it harder and harder for 居文君 (Jū Wénjūn) to say good bye to her opponent. Now she may labour long, but not in vain 45. ... Ke7 46. Rd1 Ne5 47. Rh1 Nd7+ 48. Kb4 Kd6 49. Rh5 Kc7 50. Rh7 Rc6 51. Rg7 Kc8 52. Rg8+ Kb7 53. Rg5 Rc7 54. Rh5 Nb8 55. Rh4 Nc6+ 56. Kc5 Na5+ 57. Kb4 Kb6 58. Rg4 Nc6+ 59. Kb3 Re7 60. Rg3 Kc5 61. Kc3 Re4 62. Rg5+ Ne5 63. Rh5 Rxc4+ 64. Kb3 Re4 65. Kc3 a5 66. Rf5 Re3+ 67. Kd2 Kd4 68. Rf8 Nc4+ 69. Kd1 Kc3 70. Rc8 Kb3 71. Rb8+ Kxa4 72. Kc2 Na3+ 73. Kd2 Rh3 74. Rg8 Kb4 75. Rb8+ Nb5 76. Kc2 a4 77. Kb2 a3+ 78. Ka2 Rh2+ 79. Ka1 Ka4 80. Rc8 Kb3 81. Rc1 Nc3 0 : 1.

居文君 (Jū Wénjūn). Photo © Press service of the Women’s World Championship 2018.