Another Time

Alexandra Konstantinovna Kosteniuk – Andreas Junk
20-board simultaneous chess960 exhibition; Mainz, August 6, 2010
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Position #888

1. c4 Nf6 2. Ng3 e6?! Better seems 2. ... c5, even though after 3. Nf3 Bxg3?! 4. hxg3 d6 5. d4!⩲ White took the upper hand in Kosteniuk – Herbold, ibidem. 3. d4 d5? (⌓ 3. ... c5 4. Nf3 cxd4 5. Nxd4 Ng6 6. Bc3±) 4. e4. Of course 4. Bb4 was also very strong. 4. ... h6?! 5. e5 Ng8 6. cxd5 exd5 7. Nf5 Bd7

8. Ne3 (8. Bb4+−) 8. ... c6 9. Bb4 Ne7 10. Nf3 Re8 11. 0-0 g5 12. Ne1 Nhg6 13. Nd3 Nf5 14. Nxf5 Bxf5 15. Qd1 Bxd3 16. Bxd3 Nf4 17. Bc2 Bc7. Black hopes to finally complete his development on the a-side, but things will go very differently instead.

18. g3 Nh3+? This loses material right off. Black’s only move was 18. ... Ne6, although 19. Bf5 would leave White with a dominating position. 19. Kg2 g4 20. f3! Qe6? (21. ... Ng5 22. fxg4 Qd7 23. Bf5 Ne6 24. Qa4+−) 21. fxg4 Ng5 22. Bf5 1 : 0. Her Majesty is trapped.

As a special highlight of the 17th Chess Classic Mainz, Kosteniuk gave a Fischerandom chess simultaneous exhibition on 20 boards, featuring 4 different starting positions, each on 5 boards. Eventually she concluded it in 3 hours and 13 minutes with the final score of +16 =4 –0. Photo: Carsten Straub/Chess Classic Mainz.