The Third Eye

居文君 (Jū Wénjūn) – Aleksandra Yuryevna Goryachkina

Women’s World Chess Championship match; tie-break game 3; time control: 25 minutes plus 10 seconds per move; Vladivostok, January 24, 2020

Réti Opening A07

The tie-breaker consists of a mini-match of four rapid games (25 minutes + 10 seconds increment per move, starting from move 1). If the score should be equal after the four games, well, let’s talk another time. 1. Nf3 d5 2. g3 c6 3. Bg2 Bg4 4. 0-0 Nd7 5. h3 Bh5 6. d4 e6 7. c4 Be7 8. cxd5 exd5 9. Nc3 Bxf3 10. exf3!? In the first game of tie-break 居文君 (Jū Wénjūn) recaptured with the Bishop, but after 10. Bxf3 Ngf6 11. Bf4 Nf8 12. Qb3 Qd7 13. Bg2 Ne6 14. Be3 0-0 15. Rad1 Ne8 16. Qa4 Qd8 17. Qc2 Nd6 White achieved nothing special. 10. ... Ngf6 11. h4 0-0 12. Bh3 Nb6 13. Qd3 Re8 14. b3 Nfd7 15. Re1 Bf6 16. Bd2 a5 17. Kg2 Nf8 18. Rxe8 Qxe8 19. Re1 Qd8 20. Nd1 Nbd7. Who knows, maybe it was better to re-route the Knight to d6 via c8. 21. Ne3 Qb6 22. Bc3 a4 23. b4 Ne6. Maybe 23. ... g6 should have been considered, making room for the Bishop at g7. 24. Bxe6 fxe6 25. Ng4 Re8 26. f4. White can be satisfied here due to the weakness of the e6-Pawn and the e5-square 26. ... Qd8 27. h5± h6?? This blunder nonsensically creates an awful “black hole” in g6, thus surrendering also the Kingside. Black’s mission was anything but easy anyway, but 27. ... b5 was a must, whether good or not good enough.

28. Re3. This “reinforcing” was probably not necessary, since White could play immediately 28. b5! breaking through as in the game. 28. ... Kh8. Black was still in time for 28. ... b5, even though now White can switch to the weakened light squares on the Kingside (for instance, by 29. Qg6 Kh8 30. Nh2!?). 29. b5!+− Nb8 30. Qe2 cxb5 31. Qxb5 Qc8 32. Qxa4 Nc6 33. Bb2 Re7 34. Qc2 Qe8 35. Nxf6 gxf6 36. Ba3 Rg7 37. f5 e5 (37. ... Nxd4 38. Qd3 Nxf5 39. Qxf5!+−) 38. dxe5 fxe5 39. f6 Rg5. Likewise after 39. ... Rg8 40. Rb3 Qf7 41. Rb6 Black ends up in zugzwang. 40. f4 Rxh5 41. fxe5 Qe6 42. Kg1 d4. This loses instantly, but neither 42. ... Qh3 43. Qg2+− nor 42. ... Rf5 43. Qc5+− can give Black any hope of survival. 43. Qg6 Qd7 44. e6 Qc7 45. Qxh5 1 : 0. Thanks to this easy victory 居文君 (Jū Wénjūn) successfully defended her Women’s World Chess Championship title against Goryachkina.

“The third tie-break game turned out to be decisive. In the first, Goryachkina had her chances somewhere before move 25, but eventually I managed to restore the situation”, 居文君 (Jū Wénjūn) said. “Overall, the match was extremely balanced”. Photo © Yuri Smityuk/TASS.