Ephemera

Aleksandra Yuryevna Goryachkina – Olga Alexandrovna Girya

70th Russian Women’s Chess Championship Superfinal; Moscow, December 12, 2020
Queen’s Gambit Accepted D27

1. Nf3 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 d5 4. d4 dxc4 5. e3 a6 6. a4 c5 7. Bxc4 Nc6 8. 0-0 Be7 9. Qe2 0-0 10. Rd1 Qc7 11. dxc5 Bxc5 12. h3 b6 13. e4 Bb7 14. Be3 Rfd8. A juvenile game between two chess celebrities continued 14. ... Nd7 15. Rac1 Bxe3 16. Qxe3 Nc5 17. Ba2 Qe7 18. Nd4 Nb4 19. Bb1 g6 20. e5 Rad8 21. Be4 Na2!= 卜祥志 (Bǔ Xiángzhì) – Gashimov, 13th World Youth Chess Championship Boys U-14, Cannes 1997. 15. Rxd8+ Rxd8. Goryachkina said afterwards she felt she “got nothing out of the opening”, but “then Olga Alexandrovna made the rather strange decision to sacrifice the a6-Pawn. I just thought that the follow-up play wasn’t easy for her”. 16. Bxa6 Bxa6 17. Qxa6 Bxe3 18. fxe3 Na5 19. Qb5 h6 20. Ne5 Rd2. Girya has already envisioned her next Exchange sacrifice, which, instead, upset Goryachkina because — ipse dixit — “I have missed the move 24. ... Nc5”. 21. Rf1 Rc2 22. Rd1 Nb7 23. Qb3

23. ... Rxg2+ 24. Kxg2 Nc5 25. Qc2 Qxe5 26. Qf2 Nfxe4 27. Qf4 Qxf4 28. exf4 Nxc3 29. bxc3 Nxa4. “The endgame with the Exchange against two Pawns proved an easy win for me mostly because she was short of time”, Goryachkina eventually said. 

30. c4 Nb2 31. Rd8+ Kh7 32. Rc8 g5 33. Kf3 Kg6 34. Ke4 gxf4 35. Kxf4 Nd3+. 35. ... Kh5 36. Rc6 Na4 37. Rc7 Nb2 appears to hold for Black. 36. Ke4 Nf2+? Black’s Knight starts wandering astray. 36. ... Nc5+ 37. Ke5 Kg5! gives a tough challenge to White, as after 38. Kd6 Kf4 39. Rb8 (or 39. Rh8 Ke3 40. Rxh6 f5) 39. ... Na4 the eventual loss of the b6-Pawn is counterbalanced, after ... Kf4-e3, by the f-Pawn rush. 37. Ke5 Nd3+ 38. Kd4 Nb2. After 38. ... Nc5 39. Rb8 Na4 40. Ke5 Kg5 the position is apparently identical to that given above, but with the Knight on a4 instead of on c5, which allows White to play 41. Rf8 Nb2 42. Kd4 e5+ 43. Kd5 f6 44. Rg8+ Kf5 45. Rg3 h5 46. Rb3 Na4 47. Kc6 winning the b-Pawn and the game. 39. Kc3 Nd1+ 40. Kb3 Kf5 40. Kb4

40. ... Nb2? Thus, the Knight gets trapped, but after 40. ... Nc5 41. Rc6 Nd7 42. Rd6 the b-Pawn falls, and with it the game. 41. Rd8! f5 42. Rd2 Nxc4 43. Kxc4 f4 44. Kd3 Kf5 45. Rb2 e5 46. Rxb6 e4+ 47. Kd4 1 : 0.

Thanks to her win against Girya, Goryachkina narrowed the gap with Polina Sergeevna Shuvalova (who brought home her first draw after six consecutive wins) by half a point and kept pace with her purpose. Photo: Eteri Kublashvili/Russian Chess Federation.