On a raft in storm on Volga

Ekaterina Atalik – Mariya Olehivna Muzychuk

Knockout Women’s World Chess Championship Tournament; match game 2; Khanty-Mansiysk, November 7, 2018

Benkö Counter-Gambit A57

Aleksandra Yuryevna Goryachkina didn’t succeed in getting a chance to save herself in tomorrow’s tie-breaks, while two former Women’s World Chess Champions, Alexandra Konstantinovna Kosteniuk (the twelfth Queen) and Mariya Olehivna Muzychuk (the fifteenth Queen) seriously risked being eliminated. The younger Muzychuk sister, in particular, needed all her coolness and courage to keep believing in a tomorrow. 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 c5 3. d5 b5!? In a win–win situation, Muzychuk decides to challenge her fate with the Benkö Counter-Gambit, thus renouncing her usual and much favoured Grünfeld. 4. Qc2 Na6 5. a3 bxc4 6. e4 g6 7. Bxc4 Nc7 8. Nf3 Bg7 9. 0-0 d6 10. h3 0-0 11. Nc3 Rb8 12. Rb1 Nd7!? Muzychuk introduces her new idea. Previous theory gave 12. ... e6 13. dxe6 Bxe6 14. Bxe6 Nxe6 15. Be3 d5 16. exd5 Nxd5 17. Nxd5 Qxd5 18. b4 cxb4 19. axb4 a5 20. Rfd1 Qb5 21. bxa5 ½ : ½ Kállai – Adrian, French Team Chess Championship (Group A1), Strasbourg 1997. 13. Bf4 Nb6 14. Ba2 Ba6 15. Rfd1 Qd7 16. e5 Nb5 17. Ne2 Rfc8 18. e6 fxe6 19. dxe6 Qb7 20. Qd2 c4!? 21. Bh6 Bf6 22. Ng5 d5 23. Qf4 Nd6 24. Ng3 Qc7 25. Qg4

25. ... c3! 26. bxc3 Qxc3? Objectively this can’t bring anything but disaster, but by now Muzychuk had no other chance than to transfer the duty to win to her opponent, who was short of time already. After the correct 26. ... Bc4! 27. Bxc4 Qxc4 there would have arisen a position of uncertain balance, and it’s very likely Atalik would have gone through to 1/8 final. 27. Nf7!+− Qxa3. Not 27. ... Nxf7 because of 28. exf7+ Kxf7 29. Ne4! with irresistible attack. 28. Nh5! It’s quite clear that Atalik has all intentions to deliver a brilliant mate. 28. ... Ne4. Spes ultima dea, as 28. ... Qxa2 29. Nxf6+ loses right off. 29. Nf4?? Lured by a mirage of mate, Atalik falls in a terrible miscalculation. Simply 29. Bb3 would have left Black alone in her drama. 29. ... Qxa2! 30. Nxg6 Qxf2+ 31. Kh1. Likewise, 31. Kh2 Qg3+! leads to a shocking reversal, which White probably saw when playing 29. Nf4. What she probably overlooked, instead, is Black’s next move, which tragically opens a black hole in her previous calculations. 31. ... Qe1+! Tables turned. 32. Rxe1 Nf2+ 33. Kh2 Nxg4+ 34. hxg4 hxg6 35. g5 Bc3 36. Re3 d4 37. Rh3 d3 38. Rf1 d2 39. Rf6 exf6 40. gxf6 Bxf6 0 : 1. “Today I played with the Black pieces and I had to win today so therefore I chose the Volga Gambit to make the game complicated. In the beginning I liked everything but then something went wrong”, Muzychuk eventually told the press service of the Women’s World Chess Championship 2018.

Mariya Olehivna Muzychuk in yesterday’s game. Photo: Eteri Kublashvili/Russian Chess Federation.