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居文君 (Jū Wénjūn) – Jiří Štoček

1st Prague International Chess Festival; Challengers Tournament; Prague, March 13, 2019

Sicilian Defence B52

After two or so days of headaches, today 居文君 (Jū Wénjūn) finally breathed a sigh of relief and came back to win. 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. Bb5+ Bd7 4. Bxd7+ Nxd7 5. 0-0 Ngf6 6. Qe2 e6 7. c3 Rc8 8. d4 cxd4 9. cxd4 d5 10. e5 Ne4 11. Be3 Be7. Another modus vivendi is 11. ... Nb6 12. Ne1 f5 13. f3 Ng5 14. b3 Nf7 15. Nd3 Nd7 16. Nd2 Be7 17. Rac1 0-0 18. Rxc8 Qxc8 19. Rc1 Qb8 20. Nf4 Re8 21. g4 fxg4 22. fxg4 Bg5 23. Nd3 Bxe3+ 24. Qxe3 Nd8 25. Nf4 Nc6 26. Nf3 Qd8 27. Rf1 Qe7 28. h4 Nf8 29. Rf2 Rc8 30. Kg2 ½ : ½ Mamedov – Ivanchuk, 23rd Türkiye İş Bankası Chess League, Kocaeli 2017. 12. Ne1 f5 13. f3 Ng5 14. Nd3 0-0 15. Nc3. In his book “The Sicilian for the Tournament Player”, Batsford, London, 1989, p. 223, Grandmaster Eduard Yefimovich Gufeld mentioned 15. Nf4 Rc6! (Ghinda – Chandler, 1st World Team Chess Championship, Lucerne 1985) as quite satisfactory for Black. 15. ... Qb6 16. Rfc1 Nf7 17. Rc2 Rc6 18. Na4 Qa6 19. Rxc6 Qxc6 20. b3 Ba3 21. Bc1 Be7 22. Bd2

22. ... b5? Štoček becomes too ambitious and, not surprisingly, soon gets into trouble. Black had to be content with 22. ... Ba3(!) 23. Bb4 (23. Bc1 Be7 just repeats moves) 23. ... Bxb4 14. Nxb4 Qc7 holding White’s edge within more reasonable bounds. 23. Rc1! Qa6. 23. ... Qb7 24. Nac5 is also discouraging for Black. 24. Nf4 Nb8 25. Nc5 Bxc5 26. Rxc5 Nd8 27. Rxb5. The b5-Pawn has fallen, and Black’s whole position will soon fall as well. 居文君 (Jū Wénjūn) meets no obstacles on her way to the win: 27. ... Nbc6 28. Be3 g5 29. Nh5 f4 30. Bf2 Rf7 31. Nf6+ Kh8 32. a4 Ne7 33. Qc2 Ndc6 34. h4 gxh4 35. Bxh4 Nf5 36. Bf2 Rf8 37. Qd2 Qc8 38. Qxf4 Qc7 39. Qd2 1 : 0.

居文君 (Jū Wénjūn) vs. Jiří Štoček. Photo: Vladimír Jagr.