Between Worlds

Besides 侯逸凡 (Hóu Yìfán), the only other woman who managed to keep pace with men was Aleksandra Yuryevna Goryachkina, who, in spite of her great talent, has few opportunities to shine beyond national borders. Before the war and the pandemic, she was courted by organisers of most European countries, but in the last two years her marketability ended up swallowed almost whole in the Western embargoes and reprisals against Russia.

Seyyed Mohammad Amin Tabatabaei – Aleksandra Yuryevna Goryachkina

4th Rapid “Tournament of Stars”; time control: 15 minutes plus 10 seconds per move; Moscow, June 28, 2024

Queen’s Pawn Game D04

1. d4 d5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. e3 c5 4. dxc5 e6 5. b4 a5 6. c3 axb4 7. cxb4 b6 8. Bb5+ Bd7 9. Bxd7+ Nbxd7 10. a4 bxc5 11. b5 Bd6 12. Bb2 Qc7 13. Nbd2. 13. 0-0 was preferred by 居文君 (Jū Wénjūn) in the 12th game of her Women’s World Championship match against 雷挺婕 (Léi Tǐngjié), but even then Black could have played 13. ... g5!? with sharp play.
13. ... Rg8 14. h3 g5

15. g4. White can hardly abstain from this move without falling into serious trouble: 15. Qc2 h5 16. Bc3? g4!∓ Nguyễn Huỳnh Minh Huy – Droin, BSSZ One Week GM-A, Budapest 2023.
15. ... c4 16. Qc2 Bb4 17. Bc3 Qa5 18. Bxb4 Qxb4 19. 0-0 h5

20. e4? This opens up the game to Black’s favour. 20. Rfb1 Qf8 21. Kg2 (allowing the Rook to move to h1 in case, for example, of ... Qf8-h6) 21. ... hxg4 22. hxg4 and if 22. ... Nxg4 then 23. Nxc4! dxc4? 24. Qe4 regaining the piece with interest.
20. ... hxg4 21. hxg4 c3 22. Rfb1 Qc5 23. Nb3 Qc4 24. Rd1 Nxe4 25. Rd4 Qc7

26. Rxe4. A sad necessity for otherwise ... Qc7-f4 follows.
26. ... dxe4 27. Qxe4 Rc8 28. a5. White hopes that his united passed Pawns will repay him for the Exchange, but the Black c-Pawn runs faster than White’s ones.
28. ... c2 29. Rc1 Qf4 30. Nfd2 Qxe4 31. Nxe4 Ke7 32. b6 Rc4 33. f3 Rb4 34. Ned2 Rc8 35. Kf2 Rc3 36. Na1 Rb5 37. Ne4 Rc4 38. Rxc2 Rxc2+ 39. Nxc2 Rb2 40. Ke3 Rxc2 41. b7 Ra2 42. Nc5 Nb8 43. a6 Kd6. 43. ... Rxa6! is much simpler, but Goryachkina’s way works too.
44. Ne4+ Kc7 45. Nxg5 Rxa6 46. Nxf7 Nd7 47. g5 Kxb7 48. f4 Kc7 49. g6 Nf6 50. g7 Kd7 51. Nh6 Ra8 52. f5 e5 53. Nf7 Rg8 54. Nxe5+ Ke7 55. Kf4 Rxg7 56. Ng6+ Kf7 57. Kg5 Nd7 58. Kh6 Kf6 59. Nf4 Rg1 0–1.

侯逸凡 (Hóu Yìfán) and Goryachkina at the gala dinner in honour of the opening of the 4th “Tournament of Stars” on the evening of Wednesday, June 26, 2024. Photo: Sergey Sergeevich Moiseev.