Mountain Holiday

Anna Olehivna Muzychuk – 谭中怡 (Tán Zhōngyí)

1st Women’s Chess World Cup; tie-break game 1; time control: 25 minutes plus 10 seconds per move; Krasnaya Polyana, August 3, 2021

Russian Defence C42

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Nxe5 d6 4. Nf3 Nxe4 5. Nc3 Nxc3 6. dxc3 Nd7 7. Be3 Nf6 8. Qd2 g6!? Black’s fianchetto, actually an innovation at this point, appears strategically sound. The “old normal” is 8. ... Be7 which can eventually transpose into a Großmeister-Remis: 9. 0-0-0 0-0 10. Bd3 c5 11. Bg5 Be6 12. Qf4 h6 13. Bxh6 gxh6 14. Qxh6 Re8 15. Qg5+ Kf8 16. Qh6+ Kg8 17. Qg5+ Kf8 18. Qh6+ Kg8 ½ : ½ 居文君 (Jū Wénjūn) – 徐译 (Xú Yì), 52nd Chinese Chess Championship, 兴化 (Xīnghuà) 2021. 9. 0-0-0 Bg7 10. Bg5 0-0 11. Qf4 d5 12. h4!? c6

13. h5?! Muzychuk hurries to open the h-file, betraying her nervousness. On the other hand, such highly speculative arguments might well work in a tie-break game. It is interesting to note that in the interview which 谭中怡 (Tán Zhōngyí) gave afterwards, she said that “in an unfamiliar situation, [Muzychuk] rushed her attack and I felt she made a bigger mistake. From the perspective of the clock I was well prepared for this game”. 13. ... Nxh5 14. Qh4. Here Muzychuk spent much of her time looking for Godot (apparently without success): 14. Rxh5!? f6 15. Rxh7!? fxg5! 16. Qh2 g4 17. Nd2 Qg5 18. f3 g3! 19. Qh1 c5 with the upper hand for Black. 14. ... f6 15. Be3 f5 16. Bg5 Qa5 17. Kb1 Re8 18. Bd3 c5 19. Rhe1 Be6 20. Ne5 d4 21. c4 Bf7 22. Bd2 Qd8.

Rather than contenting herself with merely staying in the game (⌓ 23. Bg5), Muzychuk, with less than a minute left on the clock, throws herself in the mud: 23. Qh2? Qc7 24. f4 b5?! It will be soon clear why 24. ... Nf6! first would have been better. 25. Nxf7 Qxf7 26. b3 b4 27. g3? Due of her lack of time, White misses her last chance: 27. g4! fxg4 28. f5 Rxe1 29. Rxe1 g3 30. Qh3 Re8 31. Rxe8+ Qxe8 32. fxg6 hxg6 33. Qg4 Be5 34. Bxg6 Nf6 35. Qg5 Qe7 with a volatile balance. 27. ... Nf6 28. Qg2 a5 29. a4 bxa3 30. Rxe8+ Rxe8

31. Bxa5? Contingently speaking, this only worsens things, but also after 31. Qc6 Ne4 White stands quite badly. 31. ... a2+! 32. Ka1 Qa7 33. Bd2 Ng4 34. Qd5+ Kh8 35. Qc6 Ra8 36. Bc1 Ne3 37. Rd2 Qa5. Threatening 38. ... Qc3+ 39. Bb2 Qxb2+! followed by mate. 38. Bb2 h6 39. Re2?! A little better is 39. g4!? though after 39. ... Qa6 Black remains a Pawn ahead with a clear superiority — not to say of the time situation. 39. ... Kh7 40. g4 Nxg4 41. Re7 Ra7 42. Rxa7 Qxa7 43. Qa4 Qc7 44. Kxa2 Qxf4 45. Qc6 Qe5 46. b4 cxb4 47. c5 Ne3 48. Kb3 h5 49. Kxb4 h4 0 : 1. Muzychuk finally lost on time, but her position was irreparably hopeless.

谭中怡 (Tán Zhōngyí), the only Chinese in the Women’s World Cup, won the tie-breaker for 3rd place, thus succeeding at being the last to leave the stage! Photo © Anastasia Korolkova.