A Bona Fide Diva

居文君 (Jū Wénjūn) – Alina Anatolyevna Kashlinskaya
FIDE Women’s Grand Prix 2019–2020; 1st stage; Skolkovo, September 16, 2019
French Defence C18

The Women’s Grand Prix 2019–2020 is another “bona fide story” scripted in absentia of four-time Women’s World Chess Champion and world’s No. 1 woman player 侯逸凡 (Hóu Yìfán), who, on her part, has been spending her last year more profitably on a Rhodes Scholarship at Oxford University. If nothing else, the Grand Prix’s first stage, hosted in the Skolkovo Innovation Centre outside Moscow, features the world’s No. 2 woman player, who, incidentally, is also the current Women’s World Champion. 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. e5 Ne7 5. a3 Bxc3+ 6. bxc3 c5 7. Qg4 Kf8. Black’s monarch sits on a precarious throne, but praxis (idem to say theory) showed that he is quite justified in thinking his realm quite safe. 8. h4 Qa5 9. Bd2 Qa4 10. h5 h6 11. Rh3 Nbc6 12. Qf4 b6 13. Rf3 Nd8 14. dxc5 Qxc2?? A disastrous novelty that precipitates Black’s King into an abyss. Best was 14. ... Qxf4 15. Rxf4 bxc5 16. Be3 c4 17. Rb1 Ndc6 18. Nf3 g5!? 19. hxg6 Nxg6 20. Rg4 Kg7 21. Nh4!?⩲↑ Atlas – Psakhis, 6th International Open, Geneva 1992. 15. Bd3 Qb2 16. Rb1 Qxa3

17. cxb6 axb6 18. Rxb6. It is a temptation hard to resist, but even stronger seems 18. c4! with the devastating threat of Bd2-b4. 18. ... Qa1+. After 18. ... Ra4! 19. c4!± White obviously stands much better. 19. Rb1 Qa2? The most tenacious is 19. ... Qa4! after which White should probably content herself with aiming at a much better ending (by 20. Qb4!). 20. Ne2 Ba6 21. Nc1 Bxd3. Desperation, but 21. ... Qa5 22. c4 Qc7 23. Bb4 also results in a catastrophe. 22. Nxa2 Bxb1 23. Nb4 Be4 24. Rg3. The plot is by now none too original, as what is pure amusement for one is pure torment for the other. 24. ... Nf5 25. Rg4 Kg8 26. f3 Bb1 27. Qh2 Kh7 28. Rf4 Ra1 29. Kf2 Ba2 30. g4 Ne7 31. Qh4 Re8 32. g5 Nf5 33. Rxf5! exf5 34. gxh6 Bc4 35. hxg7 Rxe5 36. Qxd8 Re2+ 37. Kg3 Kxg7 38. Bg5 Re6 39. h6+ Kh7 40. Qf8 Rg1+ 41. Kf4 1 : 0.

居文君 (Jū Wénjūn) did her best so far to break the siege by her opponents. Photo © David Llada.