Up Ahead

Gunay Vugar qizi Mammadzada – Marina Brunello
20th European Individual Women’s Chess Championship; Antalya, April 16, 2019
Russian Defence C42

Marina Brunello cooly kept her nerve and cashed in a precious half a point, surviving a game which had not begun too well. 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Nxe5 d6 4. Nf3 Nxe4 5. Bd3!? This clumsy but venomous move used to be Alexander Sergeyevich Morozevich’s favourite, and could well have come as a surprise to Brunello. 5. ... Nf6 6. 0-0 Be7 7. c3 Bg4 8. Bc2 0-0 9. d4 c5 10. Qd3!? Here is a straightforward novelty instead of 10. h3 Bh5 11. Re1 Nc6 12. g4 Bg6 13. Bxg6 hxg6 14. d5 Ne5 15. Bf4⩲ Short – Đào Thiên Hải, 42nd Chess Olympiad, Baku 2016 — which, however, could still be regarded as a more fruitful approach on long terms. 10. ... Nc6 11. Bg5 g6 12. Na3 Kg7 13. h3. After 13. Qe3 Ng8! Black defends well enough. 13. ... Bxf3 14. Qxf3 h6 15. Be3 cxd4 16. cxd4 d5 17. Qf4 Ng8 18. Bb3 Nb4 19. Nb5 Qa5 20. Nc3 Rad8 21. Rad1 Rd7 22. Rfe1 Rfd8 23. h4 h5 24. Bc1 Bf6

25. Re3. Any appearance to the contrary notwithstanding, Black might even have never been in danger of losing the game, but White could probably still play for a win by 25. g4! — well, no one knows how it would have ended, thus all’s well that ends well. 25. ... Qb6 26. Rf3 Qe6 27. Rg3 Ne7 28. a3 Nbc6 29. Bc2 Kf8 30. Be3 Qd6 31. Qh6+ Bg7 32. Qg5 Bf6 33. Qh6+ Bg7 34. Qg5 Bf6 ½ : ½.

Seated in the forefront: Gunay Mammadzada (right) vs. Marina Brunello (left). Photo: Turkish Chess Federation.