On the Way to Damascus

Anna Olehivna Muzychuk – Pyotr Veniaminovich Svidler
4th Gideon Japhet Cup (25+10); Jerusalem, July 2, 2018
Sicilian Defence B51

The Muzychuk sisters stopped at Jerusalem, Israel under the ACP (Association of Chess Professionals) umbrella. Mariya Olehivna Muzychuk plays the 4th Gideon Japhet Memorial ACP Open Chess Tournament (classical time control), while Anna Olehivna Muzychuk tries her luck in the 4th Gideon Japhet Cup (rapid time control). Today, Anna Olehivna came very close to win in her first round game with eight-time Russian Chess Champion Pyotr Veniaminovich Svidler. 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. Bb5+. Muzychuk likes this line. 3. ... Nd7 4. 0-0 a6 5. Bd3 Ngf6 6. c3 b5 7. a4 c4 8. Be2 Bb7 9. axb5 axb5 10. Rxa8 Bxa8 11. Na3 Bxe4. The alternative is 11. ... Qb8 12. d3 cxd3 13. Bxd3 Bxe4 14. Nxb5 d5 15. Bg5 e5 16. Bxf6 Nxf6 17. Bxe4 dxe4 18. Qa4 exf3 19. Nc7+ Kd8 20. Rd1+ Kxc7 21. Qc4+ Kb6 22. Qb3+ Kc7 23. Qc4+ Kb6 24. Qb3+ Kc7 25. Qc4+ Kb6 ½ : ½ A. Muzychuk – Raja, 16th Tradewise Gibraltar Chess Festival, Catalan Bay 2018. 12. Nxb5 d5 13. b3! A significant improvement on 13. d3 cxd3 14. Bxd3 Bxd3 15. Qxd3 e5 16. Re1 e4 17. Nfd4 Bc5 18. Qg3 0-0 19. Bg5 Qb6 20. b4 Bxd4 21. Nxd4 Ra8 22. Nf5 g6 23. Nh6+ Kg7 24. Ng4 Nxg4 25. Qxg4 Qc6 26. Qg3 Rc8 27. Bd2 f6 28. h4 Ne5 29. h5 Nc4 30. Bf4 g5 31. Qg4 Re8 32. Ra1 ½ : ½ A. Muzychuk – P. Cramling, ACP European Women’s Rapid Chess Championship, Tbilisi 2018. 13. ... cxb3 14. Ba3 e6 15. Qxb3 Nc5 16. Qa2. 16. Qb4 could well be considered. 16. ... Bxf3 17. Bxf3 Be7. Svidler doesn’t succeed in “normalising” his position, seriously risking to lose the game. He ought to have played 17. ... Qa5(!) 18. Qb1 Be7 with a perfectly playable game. 18. c4 d4. This worsens the prognosis for Black. 18. ... 0-0 19. d4 Nce4 seems comparatively best.

19. Bc6+ Kf8 20. Bb4. Stockfish gives 20. Qa1 g6 (trying to keep the Pawn with 20. ... d3 21. Rb1! does not help at all) 21. Nxd4 Kg7 22. Bf3 which leaves White a Pawn up with the better game. Muzychuk’s choice, however, is not bad either. 20. ... g6 21. Qa7. 21. Qa3 would have been extremely unpleasant for Black, but Muzychuk, hard pressed by the lack of time, contents herself with a draw by repetition. 21. ... Nb3 22. Qa4 Nc5 23. Qa7 Nb3 ½ : ½.

Anna Olehivna Muzychuk (right) vs. Pyotr Veniaminovich Svidler (left). Photo: Vladimir Barsky.

Sermon on the Mount

Anna Olehivna Muzychuk, Boris Abramovich Gelfand, Vassily Mykhaylovych Ivanchuk, Georg Meier, Ian Aleksandrovich Nepomniachtchi, and Pyotr Veniaminovich Svidler will play the rapid (25+10) 4th Gideon Japhet Cup, organised by Jeruchess Club in partnership with the ACP (Association of Chess Professionals) and sponsored by the Japhet family, which will take place in the Annette and Theodore Lerner Family Indoor Sports Complex on the Mount Scopus campus of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in Jerusalem, Israel from July 1–6 2018.

The sunset glinting off the Hebrew University Mount Scopus campus. Photo credit: Leeor Bronis/The Times of Israel.

Pit Stop

Anna Olehivna Muzychuk from Ukraine, former Women’s World Rapid & Blitz Chess Champion and currently ranked number three in the women’s world rating list, has been invited to play the 12th International Rapid Chess Tournament in Alcubierre, province of Huesca, Aragon, Spain which will be held from 21–22 July 2018. Just earlier, from July 1–6 Muzychuk will play the 4th Gideon Japhet Cup in Jerusalem, Israel along with Boris Abramovich Gelfand, Vassily Mykhaylovych Ivanchuk, Georg Meier, Ian Aleksandrovich Nepomniachtchi, and Pyotr Veniaminovich Svidler.

Anna Olehivna Muzychuk (left) pictured with Ukrainian freestyle wrestler Yuliya Anatoliyivna Tkach (right) while taking part in the 2 km charity race of the 3rd Molokiya Lviv Half Marathon in Lviv, Ukraine on June 10, 2018. Photo: Anna Olehivna Muzychuk/News agency Vector News.

Rugelach

The pasionaria Anna Olehivna Muzychuk from Ukraine is one (and another) of the “dethroned Queens” who pass thru the changeless intervals of the live chess broadcasts on their way to gender justice. After refusing to sell herself out by playing chess in a “World Championship” in which not everyone was allowed to participate, she started a new life in Spain, especially in Catalonia, where she is always welcomed by the civil society as a honoured guest on various cultural events (not only chess-related). Although she became an icon of women’s rights, she regards herself more as an egalitarist than a feminist: “I would not like to be associated with radical feminism, but rather with reasonable egalitarianism, so that women and men are treated in the same way”, she told Javier Toledo, who interviewed her for Radio Montecarlo CX20-930 AM. Asked about the “machismo” in the world of chess, she prefers to emphasize the inequality of economic treatment, since a man can even win ten times the prize money of a woman. Then, finally, an invitation came. Muzychuk will play the 4th Gideon Japhet Cup to be held from 1–6 July in Jerusalem, Israel along with Boris Abramovich Gelfand, Vassily Mykhaylovych Ivanchuk, Georg Meier, Ian Aleksandrovich Nepomniachtchi, and Pyotr Veniaminovich Svidler. “It will be a challenge”, Muzychuk says, as the lowest Elo rating in the tournament belongs to her. On the other hand, she is only relatively interested in the final result. More important for her is “to make experience playing with the very best and learn”. Muzychuk, who speaks six languages, admits she does not have much free time to devote to her interests, because chess absorbs much of her life. When it is possible, however, she likes “to do what most people do: meet and go out with my friends, enjoy the company of my family, traveling, going to movies and doing sports”. Photo: EFE.