Lose to Win

Divya Deshmukh – Polina Sergeevna Shuvalova

1st Online Chess Olympiad Final India – Russia; Match 2; time control: 15 minutes plus 5 seconds per move. chess.com, August 30, 2020

King’s Indian Attack A07

Here is one of the two games India forfeited on time due to Internet connection shut down in yesterday’s Olympic Final, and that motivated the injured party to present an appeal to FIDE President Arkady Vladimirovich Dvorkovich, who, after a carefuly scrutiny, decided to split the gold medal among both finalists. 1. Nf3 Nf6 2. g3 d5 3. Bg2 e6 4. 0-0 b5 5. d3 Be7 6. Nbd2 Bb7 7. c3 0-0 8. Qc2 c5 9. Re1 Nc6 10. e4 Qc7 11. Nf1 Rfd8 12. e5 Nd7 13. Bf4 a5 14. h4 a4 15. a3 h6 16. Ne3 Nb6? Rather than going West, Shuvalova ought to bring her Knight closer to the Kingside with 16. ... Nf8, as 17. Ng4 h5 18. Nf6+! gxf6 19. exf6 Bd6 20. Qd2 Nh7 (not 20. ... Bxf4?? because of 21. gxf4 followed by f4-f5) 21. Bh6 Ne5! 22. Nxe5 Bxe5 23. Bg7 Bxg3! 24. fxg3 d4∞ would result in a complex but rather balanced game. 17. Ng4 Bf8. The sense of this move may be questionable, for that does not prevent at all White from playing Bf4xh6. 18. Qd2. Of course, 18. Bxh6! was the most obvious move, but Deshmukh’s one is very strong as well. 18. ... Kh7 19. d4 Nd7 (19. ... Nc4? 20. Qc2+ Kh8 21. Bxh6!+−)

“The Nagpur girl was in the middle of this picturesque maneuver when she got logged out of the server! She was all set to launch a massive attack on the Kingside, piling up on the b1-h7 diagonal with Bg2-f1-e2-d1-c2-b1 and Qd2-c2!”, Satanick Mukhuty writes in his report for ChessBase India. 20. Bf1!! c4 21. Be2 Ne7. If 21. ... Na5 then 22. Bd1! Nb3 22. Bc2+ Kh8 23. Qe3 Nxa1 24. Rxa1 and, though the Exchange down, White has an overwhelming attack. 22. Bd1 Nf5 23. Bc2 Ra6 24. Kg2 Qc8 25. Rh1. Deshmukh, who was almost out of time, failed to spot 25. Nxh6! gxh6 26. g4 winning immediately. 25. ... Kg8 0 : 1. White dominates the board, but her time expired. “The first reaction was of disappointment and we did not know that server had crashed. I had a really good position”, Deshmukh finally told Asian News International (ANI).