Wednesday, January 24, 2024

A Hard Nut To Crack

居文君 (Jū Wénjūn) – Parham Maghsoodloo
86th Tata Steel Chess Tournament; Wijk aan Zee, January 24, 2024
Queen’s Gambit Declined D44

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 dxc4 5. e4 b5 6. Nxb5. 居文君 (Jū Wénjūn) is not in the mood for what she may consider superstition; 6. e5 Nd5 7. Nxb5 Nb6 8. Be2 Nc6 9. 0-0 Be7 10. Be3 0-0 11. Nc3 Rb8 12. b3 cxb3 13. axb3 Bb7 14. Qb1 Nb4 15. Ne4 h6 16. Rxa7 N6d5 17. Bd2 Nc6 18. Ra1 Ndb4 19. Be3 Nd5 20. Bc1 Ra8 with a dynamically balanced game, 居文君 (Jū Wénjūn) – 雷挺婕 (Léi Tǐngjié), Women’s World Chess Championship 2023, 上海 (Shànghǎi) 2023, match game 4.
6. ... Nxe4 7. Qa4 c6 8. Nc3 Nxc3 9. bxc3 Ba6 10. Bxc4 Bxc4 11. Qxc4 Bd6 12. 0-0 Qc7


13. Rd1!? A “mysterious” Rook move! White usually prefers to put the Rook on the open e-file.
13. ... 0-0 14. Qd3 Nd7 15. c4 c5 16. Be3 Rfd8 17. dxc5 Bxc5 18. Bxc5 Nxc5 19. Qe2 f6 20. Nd4 e5 21. Nf5 Ne6 22. Qg4 Kh8 23. h3 g6 24. Ne3 Nd4 25. Nd5 Qg7 26. Qe4 Rac8 27. Rac1 f5 28. Qd3 Ne6 29. Qa3 e4 30. Ne7 Ra8 31. Rxd8+ Rxd8


32. Rb1! Not yet 32. Qxa7 because of 32. ... Re8 33. Nc6 Qxa7 34. Nxa7 Ra8 recovering the Pawn with equality.
32. ... Nf4 33. Qxa7 Qd4. Black estimates, or hopes, that without the Queens, he might be able to hold the ending despite his Pawn minus.
34. Qxd4+ Rxd4 35. Rb8+ Kg7 36. Rb7 Kf8 37. c5 Rc4 38. c6 Ne6 39. g3 Nd8 40. Rc7 Rc1+ 41. Kg2 Rc2 42. Kf1 Ke8. Obviously Black cannot play 42. ... Rxa2? due to 43. Nd5! winning material.
43. a4 Ne6 44. Rb7 Kd8 45. Rd7+ Ke8 46. Ng8 Rxc6 47. Nf6+ Kf8 48. Nxh7+ Ke8 49. Nf6+ Kf8 50. Rd1 Ra6 51. Nd7+ Ke7 52. Ne5 Kf6 53. Nd7+ Ke7 54. Ne5 Kf6 ½ : ½.

2 comments:

  1. She seems happy with the result.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Rww6wIbDx8

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  2. Once again, she showed her uncommon recovery ability, so hats off to her!
    In the post game interview (thank you for the link!) she opines that maybe 35.c5 at once (instead of 35.Rb8+) might give her better chances, who knows?

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