Giant in a Vintage Dress

Polina Sergeevna Shuvalova – Alisa Mikhailovna Galliamova
70th Russian Women’s Chess Championship Superfinal; Moscow, December 13, 2020
Spanish Game C65

Today, Shuvalova showed the first signs of fatigue in eight rounds, and, as an effect of a grave oversight at move 28, she got herself into an endgame two Pawns down, which Galliamova won elegantly. 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. d3 Bc5 5. Bxc6 dxc6 6. Nbd2 Nd7 7. 0-0 0-0 8. c3 Re8 9. Nc4 b5!? Apparently a novelty. A recent game continued 9. ... Bf8 10. Be3 a5 11. Qc2 a4 12. d4 exd4 13. cxd4 Nb6 14. Ncd2 h6 15. Ne5 Bb4 with more or less equality, Anand – Aronian, 5th Grand Chess Tour, 7th stage Tata Steel India Blitz, Kolkata 2019, while 9. ... a6 transposes to well known paths; for instance: 10. b4 Bd6 11. Qb3 Nf8 12. Bg5 Qd7 13. Be3 Ng6 14. Nfd2 Bf8 15. d4 Qe7 16. dxe5 (16. Nxe5 seems more to the purpose) 16. ... Be6 with a very comfortable equality, Karjakin – Aronian, Candidates Tournament 2014, Khanty-Mansiysk 2014. 10. Na5 Qf6 11. a4 a6. Of course more than one of White’s following moves may be of quite questionable merit, as Shuvalova soon ends up struggling to save the day: 12. b4 Bf8 13. Nb3 Nb6 14. axb5 cxb5 15. Be3 Bg4 16. h3 Bh5 17. g4 Bg6 18. Nfd2 Na4 19. Qc2 Qc6 20. Rac1 Rad8 21. Rfd1 Rd7 22. f3 Red8

Now White finds a creative way out of her discomfort, though at the cost of a Pawn: 23. d4! exd4 24. cxd4 Qxc2 25. Rxc2 Bxb4 26. Rdc1 Ba3 27. Ra1 Bb4

28. f4? A grave error, which loses a second Pawn. White ought to play 28. Rc6 a5 29. d5 f6 30. Nd4 Nc3 31. Nc2 with fair compensation for the Pawn. 28. ... Bxd2 29. Nxd2 Bxe4 30. Nxe4 Re7 31. Bf2 Rxe4 32. Rxc7 Rxf4. The endgame, with two Pawns more, proves a win for Black. 33. Ra7 h5! 34. gxh5 Rd5 35. Ra3 Rxh5 36. Rxa6 Rg5+ 37. Rg3 Rxg3+ 38. Bxg3 Rxd4 39. Ra8+ Kh7 40. Rb8 Rd5 41. Kg2 Rf5 42. h4 Nb2 43. Kh3 Nd3 44. Kg4 Kg6 45. Rb6+ f6 46. Rb7 b4 47. Bb8 Rd5 48. Kf3 Rd8 49. Bg3 Rd4 50. Ke3

50. ... Nc5! Easy but pretty. 51. Rb6. Or 51. Kxd4 Nxb7 52. Kc4 Nc5! 53. Kxb4 (53. Kxc5 b3−+) 53. ... Ne4 winning easily. 51. ... Rd3+ 52. Kf4 b3 0 : 1.

Despite her bad day, Shuvalova still leads the dance, but only by half a point ahead of Aleksandra Yuryevna Goryachkina, who contented herself by drawing with Marina Evgenievna Guseva. Photo: Vladimir Leonidovich Barsky/Russian Chess Federation.