If a tree falls in a forest

Aleksandra Yuryevna Goryachkina – Dmitry Vladimirovich Andreikin
74th Russian Chess Championship Superfinal; Ufa, October 20, 2021
Modern Defence A40

1. d4 g6 2. e4 Bg7 3. c4 e6. It’s all theory, yet the text leaves Black with a dubious Pawn configuration. 4. Nc3 Ne7 5. Nf3 d5 6. e5. Two years have passed, and time brought its changes: 6. exd5 exd5 7. Be2 0-0 8. 0-0 Nbc6 9. h3 h6 10. Bf4 Be6 11. Qd2 g5 12. Bh2 dxc4 13. Rad1 Nb4 14. a3 Nd3 15. Bxd3 cxd3 16. Qxd3 Nd5 with complex play and chances for both colours, Goryachkina – Stefanova, 3rd Women’s World Blitz Chess Championship, Doha 2016. 6. ... 0-0 7. Bg5 dxc4!? A new move instead of the old one: 7. ... c5 8. cxd5 exd5 9. Nxd5 (9. Bxe7 Qxe7 10. Nxd5 Qd8 11. dxc5 Nc6 is nothing special for White, Dragnev – Vavulin, 8th World Rapid Chess Championship, Moscow 2019) 9. ... Qxd5 10. Bxe7 Re8 (10. ... cxd4!?) 11. Bxc5 Nc6 12. Be2 (12. Qb3!?) 12. ... Bxe5 13. Ne5 Ne5 14. 0-0 b6 15. dxe5 Qxc5 16. Bf3 Rb8 17. Qa4 b5 18. Qa5 Rxe5 19. Qd8+ Kg7 20. Rac1 Qb6 21. Qd2 Bb7 22. Bxb7 Rxb7 23. Rfe1 Rbe7 24. Rxe5 Rxe5 25. b4 Re4 26. h3 ½ : ½ Dziuba – Grétarsson, 46th Icelandic Team Chess Championship, Reykjavík 2019. 8. Bxc4 h6 9. Be3 Nf5 10. Qd2

10. ... b6. 10. ... c5 11. dxc5 Nc6 (or also 11. ... Nd7) was probably more to the point. 11. Bd3 Bb7. Andreikin enters the dark wood. He ought to have taken the Bishop with the Knight. 12. Bxf5 exf5 13. Bxh6 Bxh6 14. Qxh6 Bxf3 15. gxf3 Qxd4 16. f4 Nc6

17. Rg1! The only winning move! 17. ... Rfd8 18. Rg3! With the brutal threat of Rg3-h3. 18. ... Nb4

19. Rxg6+. Goryachkina concludes her gender odyssey with a spectacular perpetual check — and on the other hand she can barely be blamed for overlooking the “computational” solution: 19. Kf1! Nd3 20. Rf3!+− (threat: Ra1-d1) winning in all lines. 19. ... fxg6 20. Qxg6+ Kh8 21. Qh6+ Kg8 22. Qg6+ Kh8 23. Qh6+ Kg8 24. Qg6+ ½ : ½.

“If a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?”. Photo: Eteri Kublashvili/Russian Chess Federation.