Pride and Prejudice

Antoaneta Stefanova – Inna Grigoryevna Gaponenko-Yanovska
20th European Individual Women’s Chess Championship; Antalya, April 22, 2019
French Defence C09

Five players ended up tying for first place in the 20th European Individual Women’s Chess Championship, each with 8/11, by virtue of the victory of 10th Women’s World Chess Champion Stefanova over Gaponenko-Yanovska. Now, irony of fate (or of the tie-breaks), they finished respectively 5th and 4th, with Alina Anatolyevna Kashlinskaya winning gold, Marie Rachel Sebag silver, and Elisabeth Pähtz bronze. 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nd2 c5 4. Ngf3 Nc6 5. exd5 exd5 6. Bb5 Qe7+ 7. Be2 Qc7 8. dxc5 Bxc5 9. Nb3 Be7 10. c3 Nf6 11. Bg5 0-0 12. 0-0 Be6 13. Nfd4 Rad8. More usual and better is 13. ... Rae8 14. Re1 Ne4 as played recently in Erenburg – Shtembuliak, 12th Philadelphia International, Philadelphia 2018. 14. Bh4 Bc8 15. Bd3 Ne4. 15. ... Rfe8 first would have been perhaps safer. 16. Bxe7 Nxe7 17. Re1 f5 18. f3 Nd6 19. Ne6 Bxe6 20. Rxe6 Qb6+ 21. Kh1 Ng6 22. Qd2. In sum, White’s centralisation is already quite too heavy, whatever ideas Black had in mind when playing 13. ... Rad8. 22. ... Rde8 23. Rae1 Rxe6 24. Rxe6 Rf7 25. Nd4 Qd8 26. Qe3 Nf8 27. Re5 Ng6 28. Rxd5 Re7 29. Qd2 Nf4

30. Rxd6! Qxd6 31. Nxf5 Qxd3 32. Nxe7+ Kf7 33. Qxf4+ Kxe7. The most Gaponenko-Yanovska was able to get is a Queen endgame two Pawns down, which Stefanova, with careful play, must win. 34. Qb4+ Ke6 35. h4 b6 36. Kh2 Qd2 37. Qc4+ Ke7 38. b4 g5 39. Qe4+ Kd6 40. hxg5 Qxg5 41. c4 Qh6+ 42. Kg3 Qg7+ 43. Kh3 Qh6+ 44. Qh4 Qc1 45. Qd8+ Kc6 46. Qc8+ Kd6 47. c5+ Kd5 48. Qd7+ Ke5 49. Qe7+ Kd4 50. Qd6+ Kc4 51. c6 Kb5 52. c7 Ka6 53. Qd7 Qh6+ 54. Kg3 Qg6+ 55. Kf2 Qc2+ 56. Ke3 Qc1+ 57. Ke4 Qe1+ 58. Kf5 Qb1+ 59. Ke5 Qe1+ 60. Kf6 Qa1+ 61. Kf7 1 : 0.