Clock Without Hands

谭中怡 (Tán Zhōngyí) – Rameshbabu Vaishali
Women’s Candidates Tournament 2024; Toronto, April 5, 2024
Richter–Veresov Attack D01

1. d4 Nf6 2. Nc3 d5 3. Bf4 c5 4. e3 cxd4 5. exd4 a6 6. Nf3 Nc6 7. h3 Bf5 8. Bd3 Bxd3 9. Qxd3 e6 10. 0-0 Bd6 11. Bxd6 Qxd6 12. Rfe1 0-0 13. a3 Qc7 14. Na2 Rac8 15. c3 Ne4 16. Qe2 Na5 17. Nb4 Nb3 18. Rad1 a5 19. Nd3 a4 20. Nfe5 Na5 21. f3 Nd6 22. Nf4 Nac4 23. Ned3 Rfe8 24. Qf2 Re7 25. Re2 Rce8 26. Rde1 b6

27. g4! 谭中怡 (Tán Zhōngyí) pushes at the right moment, when the hands of her opponent’s clock are falling.
27. ... Nb5?! A quite pointless counter-initiative.
28. Qh4! With the obvious threat of Nf4xd5.
28. ... Qd6 29. Nh5! And now the threat is Qh4-g5.
29. ... f6

30. g5! f5?? A ruinous mistake. Black had nothing better than 30. ... fxg5 31. Qxg5 Rf7 32. f4± with much the better game for White.
31. Rg2! Kh8 32. Ndf4! e5

33. Nf6! Threatening two mates, one by Qh4xh7# and another by Nf4-g6#.
33. ... gxf6 34. Ng6+! 1–0.

“I didn’t really prepare much for the opening today, but got a position that I was more familiar with than my opponent, and it led to a very good result for me”, 谭中怡 (Tán Zhōngyí) said afterwards. Photo: Michał Walusza/FIDE.