Ironing

Ivan Bocharov – Aleksandra Yuryevna Goryachkina
69th All-Russian Higher League; Kolomna, June 29, 2016
8/4k1p1/3N1pb1/2P1n2p/8/4P1P1/4BK1P/8 w - - 1 45

Aleksandra Yuryevna Goryachkina, at her first experience in a men’s high contest, has already fulfilled the expectations of those who trusted her skill enough to know that she could have done it. Today, however, after entering a Bishop and Knight endgame down a Pawn, was not able to put up the toughest resistance – that’s quite strange for her! 45. Nc4 Nd3+? This, in fact, is a serious mistake, which clears the way for an easy win for White. It would seem that 45. ... Nd7! 46. c6 Ne5 47. Nxe5 fxe5 would have led her a bit closer to the possibility of a draw – even though drawing would have been all but easy. 46. Bxd3 Bxd3 47. Nd6 f5. Prevents e3-e4 followed by Kf2-e3-d4. 48. Kf3. Now White keeps both the passer and the free entrance on the Kingside. 48. ... Ke6 49. Kf4 g6 50. h4 Bc2 51. Nb5 Kd5 52. c6! 1 : 0. For if 52. ... Kxc6 then 53. Nd4+ finis.

Aleksandra Yuryevna Goryachkina
Photo: chtn.ru

Light It Up

Daniil Dimitriyevich Dubov – Daniil Aleksandrovich Yuffa
69th All-Russian Higher League; Kolomna, June 27, 2016
Alekhine Defence B02

1. e4 Nf6 2. e5 Nd5 3. Nc3 c6 4. d4 d6 5. f4 Bf5 6. Bd3. For 6. Nxd5 cxd5 7. Nf3 Nc6 8. Bd3 Bxd3 9. Qxd3 g6 10. 0-0 Bg7 11. Bd2 Qd7 12. Rae1 see I. A. Zaitsev – Vesterinen, Moscow 1982. 6. ... Qd7. Also 6. ... Nxc3 7. bxc3 Bxd3 8. Qxd3 e6 9. Nf3 d5 10. f5 seems to give White a very powerful attack, Glinert – McLaren, 76th Canadian Chess Championship, Richmond 2002. 7. a3 Nxc3 8. bxc3 Bxd3 9. Qxd3 Qg4

10. Nh3! Dubov is a very creative player and you can be sure that he is always ready to invent something dangerous. Here he sacrifices a Pawn for a powerful initiative. 10. ... Qxg2 11. Rg1 Qd5. Not 11. ... Qxh2? 12. Bd2! followed by long castling, with very sad consequences for Black. 12. c4 Qa5+ 13. Bd2 Qc7 14. Ng5 e6 15. f5 h6 16. exd6! There were many interesting possibilities, but Dubov chooses the soundest and probably the best one. 16. ... Qxd6? Probably 16. ... Bxd6 was a little better, although after 17. Ne4 Nd7 (17. ... Bxh2 18. Rxg7 is decidedly bad, while after 17. ... exf5 18. Nxd6+ Qxd6 19. 0-0-0 White totally dominates the board, in spite of his two Pawns minus) 18. 0-0-0 White still has powerful compensation for the Pawn. 17. Ne4 Qxh2 18. 0-0-0 Nd7 19. fxe6 fxe6 20. Rh1. Now White easily demolishes any resistance. 20. ... Qc7 21. Ng5 0-0-0 22. Nxe6 Qd6 23. Nxd8 Qxa3+ 24. Qxa3 Bxa3+ 25. Kb1 Rxd8 26. c5. That’s the point! The Black Bishop is in trouble. 26. ... b5 27. Ba5 Re8 28. Rhe1 Nf6 29. Rxe8+ Nxe8 30. Ka2 1 : 0. For if 30. ... b4 then 31. c3.

Daniil Dimitriyevich Dubov. Photo: chesspro.ru.

Gifted Hands

Denis Rimovich Khismatullin – Aleksandra Yuryevna Goryachkina
69th All-Russian Higher League; Kolomna, June 24, 2016
English Opening A28

1. c4 Nf6 2. Nc3 e5 3. g3 Nc6 4. Bg2 Bb4 5. e4 Bxc3 6. bxc3 d6 7. d3 0-0 8. Nf3 Bd7 9. 0-0 Qc8. Goryachkina goes for unfianchettoing. The alternative was 9. ... Kh8 10. Nh4 Ng8 11. Be3 Be6 12. Qd2 Nge7 13. f4 exf4 14. Bxf4 f6 15. Be3 Qd7 16. Rab1 b6 17. Nf5 Ne5 18. Nxe7 Qxe7 19. h3 Rae8 20. g4 Qd7 21. Kh2 Bf7 22. Bf4 Bg6 23. Qe2 c6 24. Rbe1 Bf7 25. Bg3 Kg8 26. Qd1 Re7 27. Rf5 ½ : ½ Uhlmann – Kortschnoi, Interzonal Tournament, Leningrad 1973. 10. Rb1 Rb8 11. Nh4 Bh3 12. f4 Bxg2 13. Kxg2 Qg4 14. Qc2 Qd7 15. Qe2 Ne7 16. fxe5 dxe5 17. Ba3 Rfe8 18. Rf3 b6 19. Rbf1 c5 20. Bc1 Ng6 21. Nf5 Re6. In spite of coriaceous defence by Goryachkina, the open f-file seems to offer White a definite initiative.

22. Nxg7?! A controversial choice among many interesting possibilities. The simplest could be 22. h4! h5 23. Ne3 with very promising prospects; for instance: 23. ... Nf8 24. Rxf6! Rxf6 25. Rxf6 gxf6 26. Nd5 and White’s position appears dominant. 22. ... Kxg7 23. Qf2 Kg8?! Chess-News.ru’s commentator Alexey Borisovich Yarovinsky recommends 23. ... Qd6! 24. Bg5 Nd7 25. Rxf7+ Kh8 with unclear variations, in his opinion, more favourable to Black. 24. Bg5?? An awful blunder. After 24. Rxf6 Nf4+ 25. Rxf4 exf4 26. Qxf4 both material and dynamic assets more than compensate White for the Exchange. 24. ... Nh5 25. Qe2. Yarovinsky suspects that Khismatullin may have overlooked — after 25. Rxf7 — the trivial refutation 25. ... Ngf4+! which wins instantly. 25. ... f6 26. Bc1 Rd8 27. Bh6 Rd6 28. Rf5 Ng7 29. Rxf6 Nf4+ 0 : 1.

Aleksandra Yuryevna Goryachkina. Photo: Chess-News.ru.