Revue

居文君 (Jū Wénjūn) – 赵骏 (Zhào Jùn)
51st Chinese Chess Championship; 兴化 (Xīnghuà), December 22, 2020
Slav Defence D12

1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. e3 Bf5 5. Nc3 e6 6. Nh4 Bg6 7. Be2 Nbd7 8. g3 Bd6 9. Nxg6 hxg6 10. Qc2 Qe7 11. Bd2 a6!? Maybe a new move, but certainly not an epochal concept. In a previous game there followed 11. ... dxc4 12. Bxc4 e5 (Nguyễn Huỳnh Minh Huy – Arngrímsson, First Saturday GM November 2008, Budapest 2008) and now White’s best is probably to castle Queenside at once. 12. c5 Bc7 13. f4 Ba5 14. Nb1 Bc7 15. Bf3 g5 16. Nc3 gxf4 17. exf4 b6 18. b4 a5 19. Na4 axb4. Black now gives up a Pawn for a dynamic way to balance the game. 20. cxb6 Bd6 21. Qxc6 0-0 22. 0-0 Rfb8 23. Rfc1 Qf8?! It makes for a clumsy redeployment of Bishop and Queen. Better seems 23. ... g6 as after 24. Rab1 Kg7 Black will soon recover the Pawn with more or less equality. 24. Be2 Be7. As they say, “If you have said A, you must also say B”, but maybe it was not too late for the Black Queen to retrace its steps.

25. Rab1? Here, once again, 居文君 (Jū Wénjūn) proves to be too cautious. With 25. b7 Ra7 26. Ba6 she would have consolidated both her extra Pawn and her own positional advantage. 25. ... g6? Luckily for her, however, Black misses 25. ... Nxb6! 26. Nxb6 Rxa2 regaining the piece with much interest (27. Rd1 Qd8). 26. Be1 Kg7 27. Bf1. Still very strong was 27. b7 Ra7 28. Ba6 with a powerful bind. 27. ... Rxa4 28. Qxa4 Nxb6 29. Qa7 Nc4 30. Bxc4 Ra8 31. Qb7 Rb8 32. Qc6 dxc4 33. Qxc4 Nd5 34. Qe2 Ra8 35. Rc2 Bf6 36. Qe4 Ra4 37. Rd1 Qa8 38. Qe2 Qa7 39. Kh1 Qa8 40. Kg1 Qa7 41. Rd3 Nc3

42. Rcxc3 bxc3 43. Bxc3 Rxa2 44. Rd2 Ra3 45. Bb2 Rb3 46. Kf1. Of course White cannot make any use of her extra Pawn and has to content herself with equality — it is interesting to note that 46. Rd3 could also serve well her purpose. 46. ... Qb7 47. Qg2 Rf3+ 48. Kg1 Qe4 49. Rf2 Qe1+ 50. Qf1 Qe3 51. Kg2 Rxf2+ 52. Qxf2 Qe4+ 53. Qf3 Qc2+ 54. Qf2 Qe4+ 55. Qf3 Qc2+ ½ : ½.

And 居文君 (Jū Wénjūn) stoically continues her “fight for right” in the man’s world. Photo: Chinese Chess Association.