18th European Film Awards

The 18th European Individual Women’s Chess Championship starts today in Riga, Latvia. 146 participants will compete for the title of Miss Europe and even to share a total money prize of €75,000 €uros. The top seeds are Anna & Mariya Muzychuk, Kateryna Aleksandrovna Lagno, Nana Dzagnidze, Antoaneta Stefanova, and so on in Elo-rating order.

No Ban, No Wall

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Antoaneta Stefanova will play the 18th European Individual Women’s Chess Championship in Riga under the ECU flag. For further details, see http://chess-news.ru/node/22941. 10th Women’s World Chess Champion Antoaneta Stefanova will play the impending 18th European Individual Women’s Chess Championship in Riga, Latvia (10–23 April 2017) under the ECU flag, as a consequence of the expulsion of the Bulgarian Chess Federation from the European Chess Union, which was deliberated by the ECU General Assembly held in Baku, Azerbaijan on September 10, 2016. The participants list is headed by the Muzychuk sisters, Anna Olehivna and Mariya Olehivna, with Stefanova being seeded fourth.

The Cucumber Queen

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“Five with a plus”. Evgeny Ellinovich Sveshnikov sums up both his match as well as the tournament in Jūrmala (pictures, games). See http://chess-news.ru/node/22902. A merciless Sveshnikov closed his friendly six game Rapid chess match against Gaprindashvili by a score of 5 to 1. “Nona Terentevna played interesting chess”, Sveshnikov afterwards argued. “She only lacked that extra bit of energy. But strangely, after two days of play I feel tired, while she is fresh like a cucumber. I am admired!”.

Evgeny Ellinovich Sveshnikov – Nona Terentevna Gaprindashvili
Exhibition Rapid chess match game 6; Jūrmala, March 26, 2017
Owen Defence B00

1. e4 b6 2. d4 Bb7 3. Nd2 e6 4. Ngf3 g6 5. Bd3 Bg7 6. h4!? A novelty but no fundamentally new concept. On the other hand, the position after Black’s 5th move may be well regarded as a theoretical tabiya with respect to Gaprindashvili’s opening repertoire. Here is just one reference: 6. c3 d6 7. Nf1 Nd7 8. Ng3 Ne7 9. h4 h6 10. Bd2 a6 11. b4 c5 12. Rb1 Qc7 13. a4 e5 14. bxc5 bxc5 15. h5 g5 16. d5 c4 17. Bc2 a5 18. Be3 Ba6 19. 0-0 Nc5 20. Nh2 0-0 21. Ng4 Rfb8 22. Qf3 Bc8 23. Nf6+ Kf8 24. Nh7+ Kg8 25. Nf6+ Kf8 26. Nh7+ Kg8 ½ : ½ Jonkman – Gaprindashvili, 1st BDO Chess Tournament, Haarlem 2005. 6. ... h6 7. Nf1 d6 8. Ng3 c5 9. c3 Ne7 10. Be3 Nd7 11. Qd2 Qc7 12. 0-0 Nf6 13. e5!? dxe5 14. Nxe5 Nfd5 15. Bb5+ Nc6. 15. ... Kf8 was also possible, and maybe even better. 16. Bf4 Nxf4 17. Qxf4 Rc8? I think that she should have first played 17. ... 0-0(!) in order to unpin the Knight. 18. Ne4! Now this is possible, and may become quite annoying. 18. ... 0-0 19. Bxc6 Bxc6 20. Nf6+ Kh8? Gaprindashvili had, by now, lost the match, so maybe it was worth trying 20. ... Bxf6 21. Qxf6 Qd8 22. Qf4 g5!? (22. ... Qd5 23. f3).

21. g4! Now White launches a vehement attack on the Kingside, that between ups and downs arrives at its destination. 21. ... cxd4 22. cxd4 Qe7 23. g5 Rfd8 24. Rac1 Bb7 25. Nfg4. Even stronger seems 25. d5!+− for if 25. ... exd5 then 26. Rfe1 Rxc1 27. Rxc1 (Δ Rc1-c7) 27. ... Rc8 28. Re1 finis. 25. ... Kg8. It is not a panacea, but 25. ... Kh7 26. Rxc8 Rxc8 27. gxh6 Qxh4 28. f3 Bxe5 29. dxe5 Kh8 30. Qf6+ Qxf6 31. Nxf6 Rc2 32. Rf2 (Stockfish) is only good to hold on just a while longer – the White Knight paralyses Black’s Kingside. 26. gxh6 Bxe5? Gaprindashvili should, at any cost, have tried 26. ... Rxc1 27. Rxc1 Rxd4! 28. Qxd4 Qxh4 forcing her opponent to find 29. Kf1! – in fact the only potentially winning move. 27. dxe5. Stronger was 27. Qxe5 Qf8 (or 27. ... f5 28. Nf6+ Kf7 29. Nh7!+−) 28. Nf6+ Kh8 29. Nd7+ f6 30. Nxf6 Qxh6 31. Ne8+ Kg8 32. Qxe6+ Kf8 33. Nd6+−, but Sveshnikov is content with playing the cat and mouse game. 27. ... Ba6 28. Rxc8 Bxc8 29. Rc1 Bb7 30. Qg5 1 : 0.

Measure for Pleasure

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“I really do get a lot of pleasure out of it!”. Evgeny Ellinovich Sveshnikov cracked down on Nona Terentevna Gaprindashvili (pictures, games). See http://chess-news.ru/node/22897. Evgeny Ellinovich Sveshnikov is actually leading 2½–½ after the first three games of his exhibition six game Rapid chess match with Nona Terentevna Gaprindashvili, which started yesterday in Jūrmala, Latvia. The five-time Women’s World Chess Champion almost invariably suffered her opponent’s deeper theoretical preparation, even though in the second game she missed a great chance to win the whole point:

Evgeny Ellinovich Sveshnikov – Nona Terentevna Gaprindashvili
Exhibition Rapid chess match game 2; Jūrmala, March 25, 2017
2r2k2/1r2pp2/p4bp1/1p1P2Np/1B3Pnn/3B4/PP2RP1P/4R1K1 w - - 10 29

Position after 28. ... Bd4-f6

29. d6! A quite interesting Exchange sacrifice in the breathlessly time scramble. 29. ... Bxg5 30. fxg5 Nf3+ 31. Kf1 Nxe1 32. dxe7+? Going astray. After 32. Rxe1 exd6 33. h3 Nxf2 34. Kxf2 White remains with Rook, two Bishops (even though two Pawns down) against two Rooks, but – by far more important – with a much better position. 32. ... Ke8 33. Rxe1 Rd7 34. Be2 Ne5 35. f4? I guess Sveshnikov should have played, for bad or for good, 35. Bxb5 Nc6 36. Bxa6 Ra8 37. Bb5 Nxb4 38. Rd1 Ra7 39. a3 Na6 40. Rxd7 Rxd7 41. Bxd7+ (or even 41. Bxa6) trying to make the opponent’s task harder (and possibly harder and harder). 35. ... Nd3 36. Bxd3 Rxd3. Now White is (should be) finished. 37. Re2 Rd4 38. Bc3 Rxf4+ 39. Ke1 Rxc3. There is nothing wrong about it, except that 39. ... Rc6! (intending ... Rc6-e6) would have been infinitely simpler. 40. bxc3 Rc4. You’d think that she had given back the Exchange just to play 40. ... Rg4! without fearing the ghost-Bishop going to f6, but rapid chess is not an exact science. 41. Kd2 Rc7. 41. ... Rg4! was still the simplest way to do the job. 42. Re4 Rxe7? The last careless inaccuracy that indeed throws away the win. It took just an intermediate check: 42. ... Rd7+! 43. Kc2 Rxe7 44. Rb4 Re2+ and Black must win. 43. Rb4 Kd7 44. a4! Kc6 45. axb5+ axb5 46. c4! bxc4 47. Rxc4+ Kd5. After all, it has remained on the board only a drawish 3 vs. 2 same side Pawn ending. 48. Rf4 Ke5 49. Ke3 Ra7 50. Rf6 Ra3+ 51. Kf2 Ra7 52. h4 Ra4 53. Kg3 Rg4+ 54. Kh3 Rf4 55. Ra6 Rf3+ 56. Kg2 Rd3 57. Rf6 Rd4 58. Kg3 Rg4+ 59. Kh3 Rf4 60. Ra6 f6 61. gxf6 Rxf6 62. Ra5+ Kf4 63. Rg5 Ra6 64. Rg3 Kf5 65. Rg5+ Kf6 66. Rb5 Ra3+ 67. Kg2 Ra4 68. Kg3 Rg4+ 69. Kh3 Re4 70. Rg5 Re5 71. Rg3 Rb5 72. Rf3+ Rf5 73. Rg3 Kg7 74. Ra3 Kh6 75. Ra7 Rf3+ 76. Kg2 Rb3 77. Rc7 ½ : ½.

Restless Youth

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Former Soviet and Latvian Grandmaster Evgeny Ellinovich Sveshnikov meets the Queen – in pictures. For further details, see http://chess-news.ru/node/22889. Former Soviet and Latvian Grandmaster Evgeny Ellinovich Sveshnikov today welcomed and greeted personally the five-time Women’s World Chess Champion Nona Terentevna Gaprindashvili at the Riga International Airport in Riga, Latvia. But, of course, it was not just a matter of gallantry. In fact, tomorrow (and the day after tomorrow) they will play an exhibition six game Rapid chess match in Jūrmala, so don’t miss the live coverage of Chess-News.ru!