Sunday, May 10, 2020

Or Else

Irina Borisivna Krush – 侯逸凡 (Hóu Yìfán)
1st Online Nations Cup; Superfinal China – United States; time control: 25 minutes plus 10 minutes; chess.com, May 10, 2020
French Defence C01

The drawn Superfinal match ended in China being declared winner as they won the first round-robin stage.
1. d4 e6 2. e4 d5 3. exd5. Krush is glad and satisfied with a draw.
3. ... exd5 4. Nf3 Bd6 5. Bd3 Nc6 6. 0-0 Nge7 7. Re1 0-0 8. c3 Bf5 9. Bg5 Qd7 10. Qc2. Another way toward peace is 10. Bxe7 Nxe7 11. Bxf5 Nxf5 12. Nbd2 Rfe8 13. Qc2 c6 14. Rxe8+ Rxe8 15. Re1 Rxe1+ 16. Nxe1 ½ : ½ Levin – Zilberman, 33rd Ukrainian Chess Championship, Kiev 1964.
10. ... Bxd3 11. Qxd3 h6!? Maybe it’s an own personal move, but it’s no “game changer” either. A previous game went 11. ... Qf5 12. Qxf5 Nxf5 13. Nh4 Nxh4 14. Bxh4 Rfe8 15. Nd2 f6 16. Bg3 Bxg3 17. hxg3 a5 18. a4 Kf7 with approximate equality, 杜雨馨 (Dù Yǔxīn) – Đồng Khánh Linh, 15th ASEAN+ Age Group Championships – Girls 14 Standard Chess, Taipa 2014.
12. Bh4 Nf5 13. Bg3 Nxg3 14. hxg3 Rae8. “In the Exchange Variation of the French Defence with the Knights posted at f3 and f6, the pinning moves Bg5 and ... Bg4 furnish one of the leading motifs for both players. Here, however, this motif is ruled out by h2-h3 and ... h7-h6, and we see and hear nothing but the e-file“, Aron Nimzowitsch wrote in “My System & Chess Praxis: His Landmark Classics in One Edition”, New In Chess, Alkmaar, 2016, pp. 99-100 — and his words perfectly illustrate this game as well, though in this case not everything went like that.
15. Nbd2 Nd8 16. Rxe8 Rxe8 17. Re1 Rxe1+ 18. Nxe1 Qa4 19. Qb1 Ne6 20. Ndf3 c5 21. Nc2 Qb5 22. dxc5 Bxc5 23. Ncd4 Bxd4 24. Nxd4 Nxd4 25. cxd4 Qc4


26. Qf5 g6 27. Qe5 Qc1+ 28. Kh2 Qxb2 29. Qxd5 Qxf2 30. Qd8+ Kg7 31. d5 Qb6. Also after 31. ... Qxa2 32. d6 Qe2! 33. d7 g5! White cannot avoid perpetual check.
32. Qe7 Qb5 33. d6 Qh5+ 34. Kg1 Qc5+ 35. Kh2 Qh5+ 36. Kg1 Qc5+ 37. Kh2 Qh5+ ½ : ½.

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