Mosaics in an Afternoon

居文君 (Jū Wénjūn) – Mateusz Bartel

1st Prague International Chess Festival; Challengers Tournament; Prague, March 11, 2019

Spanish Game C78

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. 0-0 b5 6. Bb3 Bb7 7. d3 Be7 8. a4 0-0 9. Nc3 Na5 10. axb5 Nxb3. Probably best is 10 ... axb5 11. Nxb5 Nxb3 12. Rxa8 Qxa8 13. cxb3 Rb8 14. Na3 d5 15. Nxe5 dxe4 16. dxe4 Bxe4 17. f3 Bd5 18. Nac4 Qb7 19. Bg5 ½ : ½ Ljubojević – Planinc, 3rd Milan Vidmar Memorial, Ljubljana/Portorož 1975. 11. cxb3 axb5. Apparently Bartel is not interested in repeating 11. ... d6 12. bxa6 Rxa6 13. Bg5 which didn’t leave Black with enough for the Pawn, Naiditsch – Bartel, Before Trzcianka GM Blitz 2014, Poznań 2014. 12. Rxa8 Bxa8 13. Nxb5 c5 14. Nc3 d6 15. Bg5 Nh5 16. Bxe7 Qxe7 17. Nd2 Nf4 18. Nc4 d5!? This and the next move are as much ambitious as unsound, weakening the light squares in the centre. 19. Nb6 d4 20. Ne2 Ne6 21. Nc4 Qc7 22. Qd2 Rb8 23. f4!? White’s splendid Knight pair as well as her “half Pawn” up could have well justified the entering into an endgame by 23. Qa5. 23. ... exf4 24. Nxf4 Bc6? This indifferent move — no doubt a grave mistake — should have lost the game. Black had to play 24. ... Nxf4 25. Qxf4 Qxf4 26. Rxf4 Rxb3 (on 26. ... g6 27. Rf6! can be annoying) 27. Rf5 Bb7 28. Rxc5 g6 with good drawing chances.

25. Nxe6? 居文君 (Jū Wénjūn) performs her task too scholastically, without even suspecting that she was very near to a win: indeed, 25. Nd5! Qd8 (25. ... Bxd5 26. exd5 Nf8 27. Qf2!+−) 26. Qf2! Rb7 27. b4! would have given White an overwhelming advantage. 25. ... fxe6 26. Qg5 Be8! 27. Ra1 h6 28. Qg3. 28. Qg4 Bf7 29. Ra3 keeps alive the illusions of advantage, but nothing decisive is likely to happen. 28. ... Qxg3 29. hxg3 Kf8 30. Ra3 Bb5 31. Ne5 Ke7 32. Ra7+ Kd6 33. Nf7+ Kc6 34. Ne5+ Kd6 35. Nf7+ ½ : ½.

“Some GMs find 居 (Jū) vs. Bartel game very interesting 😊”. Caption and photo: Prague Chess Festival (@PragueChess).