Three Times and Out

Aleksandra Yuryevna Goryachkina – Polina Sergeevna Shuvalova

70th Russian Women’s Chess Championship Superfinal; Armageddon game; time control: 5 minutes for White, 4 minutes for Black; Moscow, December 16, 2020

Queen’s Pawn Game D01

Goryachkina inscribed her name for the third time on the roll of honour of the Russian Women’s Chess Championship, but not before defeating Shuvalova in the final Armageddon following two “incomprehensible” draws in the rapid tie-breaks. 1. d4 Nf6 2. Nc3 d5 3. Bf4 e6 4. Nb5 Na6 5. e3 Be7. The last classical game of the Women’s World Championship match between 居文君 (Jū Wénjūn) and Goryachkina continued instead: 5. ... Bb4+ 6. c3 Be7 7. a4 0-0 8. Bd3 c6 9. Na3 c5 10. Nf3 Ne4 11. h3 f5 12. Nb5 c4 13. Bxe4 fxe4 14. Ne5 Nb8 15. 0-0 a6 16. Na3 Nd7 17. Nc2 Qe8= Goryachkina – 居文君 (Jū Wénjūn), Vladivostok 2020, Women’s World Chess Championship match game 12. In the end Goryachkina managed to win and take the match to the tie-breaker. 6. Nf3 0-0 7. Be2 c6 8. Nc3 c5 9. 0-0 Bd7 (9. ... Nb4 10. Nb5 a6 11. Bc7 Qe8= Rodríguez Vila – Fier, 5th Floripa Chess Open, Florianópolis 2019) 10. Ne5 Rc8 11. a3 Nc7 12. dxc5 Bxc5 13. Bd3 a6 14. Qf3 Nb5 15. Bg5

15. ... Nxc3 16. Bxf6 Qxf6?? Blundering the Exchange at least. Instead, 16. ... gxf6! would have maintained equality, both materially and positionally, moving Shuvalova closer to a draw — and hence to the title. 17. Nxd7 Qxf3 18. gxf3 Rfd8?? Another error, turning the Exchange into a clear piece down. 19. Nxc5 Rxc5 20. bxc3 Rxc3 21. a4 Rd7 22. Rfb1 g6 23. Rb6 Kg7 24. f4 Kf6 25. Rab1 Rcc7 26. Kg2 h5 27. Kf3 1 : 0. “Polina Sergeevna Shuvalova has set the bar high. In the first half she scored six out of six, but in the second half I managed to equalise the score and get through to the tie-breaker, where I played quite well, even though I wasn’t able to win the second game, which disappointed me very much. But, on the other hand, I was lucky enough in the Armageddon”, Goryachkina said afterwards.

So here they were, at the Armageddon grand finale (which, after all, was not the end of the world). Photo: Eteri Kublashvili/Russian Chess Federation.