Doomsday Clock

Volodar Arturovich Murzin – Vladislav Mikhailovich Artemiev

9th Chess World Cup; tie-break game 1; time control: 25 minutes plus 10 seconds per move; Krasnaya Polyana, July 17, 2021

4b3/kp5p/p7/P3q1K1/1PB3Q1/8/6P1/8 w - - 2 41

Position after 40. ... Qh2-e5+

In the position of the diagram, White’s King (in check) should quite easily find his way towards survival, but, needless to say, both the contestants were short of time. 41. Qf5? (41. Kh6! Bg6=) 41. ... h6+! 42. Kg4 Qg7+? Black, in turn, misses the subtle 42. ... h5+! 43. Kg5 Qg7+ winning the Bishop. 43. Kf3?! Safer seems 43. Kh3 and if 43. ... Bd7 then 44. Be6 with roughly even chances. 43. ... Qc3+ 44. Qd3 Bc6+ 45. Kf4 Qf6+ 46. Ke3 Qg5+ 47. Kd4 Qxg2 48. Qe3 h5 49. Kc5? White’s instinct goes wrong again. His best was 49. Kc3+ Ka8 50. Qe5! with a very probable draw. 49. ... Qe4? The exchange of Queens leads to an ending which White just holds by a hair. Black had to play 49. ... h4! 50. b5 axb5 51. Bxb5 Ka8! with a win in sight. 50. Qxe4 Bxe4 51. Kd4 Bc6 52. Ke3 h4 53. Kf4 Bd7 54. Bd5 Kb8 55. Be4 Kc7 56. Bf3

56. ... Bc8. Apparently Black can’t make any progress. For instance: 56. ... Bc6 57. Be2 Bb5 58. Bd1! Kd6 59. Kg4 Ke5 60. Kxh4 Kd4 61. Bf3 Bc6 62. b5!! forcing a book draw. 57. Be2 Kc6 58. Bd3 Kc7 59. b5 axb5 60. Bxb5 Bd7 61. a6 bxa6 ½ : ½.

Murzin, 14, left the scene only after he lost his 2nd tie-break game against a formidable opponent such as Artemiev, thus confirming himself to be a rising star of Russian chess. Photo © Eric Rosen.