West Side Story

Aleksandra Yuryevna Goryachkina – Çisel Anaçoğlu
20th European Individual Women’s Chess Championship; Antalya, April 13, 2019
King’s Indian Defence E84

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. e4 d6 5. f3 0-0 6. Be3 Nc6 7. Nge2 a6 8. Qd2 Rb8. The interesting alternative is 8. ... Na5 9. Nf4 b5 10. h4 h5 11. g4 e5 12. dxe5 dxe5 13. Nfd5 b4 14. Na4 Nc6 15. 0-0-0 Nd4 16. Qxb4 Nxd5 17. cxd5 Qf6 18. Bxd4 exd4 19. gxh5 Qxf3 20. Bd3 Qxh5 21. Kb1 Bd7 22. Nc5 Bb5 23. Bxb5 axb5 24. Qxb5 d3 25. Qxd3 Rfb8 26. Rd2 Ra5 27. Nb3 Ra4 28. Rc2 Qe5 29. h5 gxh5 30. Re2 Rbb4 31. Qc3 Rxe4 32. Qxe5 Bxe5 33. Rxe4 Rxe4 34. Nd2 Rb4 35. Rxh5 Bxb2 36. Nb3 Ba3 37. d6 Rb7 38. dxc7 Rxc7 39. Ra5 Bb4 40. Rb5 Rc4 41. a4 Be1 ½ : ½ Goryachkina – Chigaev, 13th Ugra Governor’s Cup, Khanty-Mansiysk 2017. 9. Rc1 Bd7 10. Nd1 e5. If 10. ... b5 then 11. c5! with a distinct space advantage for White, Caruana – Jones, 13th European Individual Chess Championship, Plovdiv 2012. 11. d5 Ne7 12. Nf2 Ne8. Of course, Black cannot but go ahead with the thematic push ... f7-f5. 13. g4!? It appears to be a crude novelty, and indeed, from a strategic standpoint, 13. g3(!) should make more sense, as after 13. ... c5 14. b4 b6 15. Bg2 f5 16. 0-0 Nf6 17. Rb1⩲ White can enjoy his Queenside positional initative without fear of being mated on the other flank, Rowson – Arakhamia-Grant, 91st British Chess Championship, Scarborough 2004. 13. ... f5 14. gxf5 gxf5 15. Bg5 Nf6 16. Rg1 Rf7. Also worth considering was 16. ... Kh8! eventually followed by ... f5-f4. 17. Ng3 c5 18. Bd3 Qc8 (18. ... f4 19. Nf5 Nxf5 20. exf5 Kh8∞)

19. Kd1!? Looking for safety, White’s King walks for an artificial way of castling Queenside. Curiously, White is caressing the idea of an attack on the Kingside. 19. ... f4 20. Ne2 b5 21. Kc2 Qb7 22. Kb1 bxc4. 22. ... b4 was possible, either here or at the previous move, but Black apparently feared — probably not wrongly — that White’s Kingside attack might eventually succeed. 23. Bxc4 a5 24. Ka1 Qb4 25. Qc3 Nc8 26. Nd3 Qxc3 27. bxc3 Nb6 28. Rb1 Bc8? In spite of any previous clues of mistakes, this, and only this, appears to be Black’s decisive error. Instead, 28. ... Kf8! (in order to reply to 29. Rb2 with 29. ... Be8! 30. Rgb1 Nfd7 31. Bb5 Rc8!=) seems to be very playable for Black. 29. Bb5! Sic et simpliciter. Now White is ready to continue with c3-c4, Ne2-c3, Rb1-b2, and Rg1-b1, decisively crushing Black’s position, who seems to have no defence. 29. ... Nfd7 30. c4! Nf8 31. Rb2 Bd7 32. Ba6 Ba4 33. Rgb1 Nfd7 34. Nc3 Ra8 35. Rxb6 Nxb6 36. Rxb6 Be8 37. Rxd6 Bf8 38. Rb6 Rg7 39. h4 Bh5 40. d6 h6 41. Bf6 1 : 0.

Aleksandra Yuryevna Goryachkina (left) vs. Çisel Anaçoğlu (right). Photo: Turkish Chess Federation.