Late Afternoon

Tea Gueci – Marina Brunello
44th Italian Women’s Chess Championship; Cosenza, December 4, 2017
Sicilian Defence B90

As it was expected the game between Tea Gueci and Marina Brunello was a hard fight, back and forth, with some crazy side effects on both sides. 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. f3 e5 7. Nb3 Be6 8. Be3 Be7 9. Qd2 0-0 10. 0-0-0 a5 11. a4 Nc6 12. g4 Nb4 13. Kb1 Nd7. Varying from 13. ... Rc8 14. g5 Nh5 15. Rg1 f5 16. gxf6 Rxf6 17. Bg5 Rf7? (17. ... Rxf3) 18. Bxe7 Qxe7 19. Qxd6 which left Black a Pawn down for no compensation, Abrahamyan – M. Brunello, 32nd Reykjavík Open, Reykjavík 2016. 14. Rg1!? A new, but not very useful move. More to the point is 14. h4 Nb6 15. Qf2 Nc4 16. Bxc4 Bxc4 17. f4; for instance: 17. ... exf4 18. Bxf4 Bxb3 19. cxb3 Qd7 20. Qf3 Rfe8 21. Nb5 Ra6 22. g5 Bf8 23. Rhf1 Rc6 24. Bxd6! Bxd6 25. Nxd6 Rf8 26. Qf5 Qe7 27. Nxf7! Rc5 28. e5 Rd5 29. Rc1 Rdd8 30. e6 Rd5 31. Qe4 Re8 32. Nh6+! Kh8 33. Rf7 1 : 0 Lastin – Iskusnyh, 60th Russian Chess Championship Higher League, Krasnoyarsk 2007. 14. ... Nb6 15. Qf2 Nc4 16. Bxc4 Bxc4 17. Bb6 Qb8. Black sacrifices temporarily a Pawn in order to seize the initiative. 18. Nxa5 Be6 19. Nd5 Nxd5 20. exd5 Bd7 21. b3 Rc8 22. Rge1?! Gueci is not interested in Stockfish’s line 22. f4 Bd8 23. Nc4 Rxc4 24. bxc4 Rxa4 25. Bxd8 Qxd8 26. fxe5 Qa5 with a very likely draw by perpetual check. 22. ... Ra6! 23. Re4 Qa8 24. Nc4 f5?! A little too prudent. It came natural to dare 24. ... Bxa4! 25. bxa4 Rxa4 26. Na5 Rxa5 27. Bxa5 Qxa5 28. Qd2 Rc3! with plenty of compensation for the Exchange. 25. gxf5 Bxf5 26. a5! Bxe4 27. fxe4. Curiously enough, White ended up sacrificing the Exchange for only a Pawn, but quite good chances of counterplay on both wings. 27. ... Rf8 28. Qg2 Rf6 29. Qh3 Qe8 30. Ne3. Aiming for tricky tactics. 30. ... Ra8 31. Nf5 Bd8? This ambitious move is really antithetic. The place for the Bishop was at f8 (31. ... Bf8). 32. Rg1. And now, probably due to time pressure, Brunello commits harakiri: 32. ... Rg6? 32. ... g6∞ was imperatively called for. 33. Rxg6 Qxg6 34. Qc3? Gueci, too, must have been short of time, for otherwise she would have realized that 34. Bxd8 Qg1+ 35. Kb2 Rxd8 36. Nxd6! was completely winning. 34. ... Qf6 35. Qb4 g6 36. Nh6+ Kg7 34. Qc3 Qf6 35. Qb4 g6 36. Nh6+ Kg7 37. Be3? Both opponents are under time pressure. Here 37. Ng4 Qe7 38. Ne3 was still tenable. 37. ... Qe7 38. Bg5!? A last-ditch trick. 38. ... Qxg5? It worked! 38. ... Qd7 would have left White with no future. 39. Qxb7+ Kxh6 40. Qxa8. The ending is now extremely unclear, since White’s united passed Pawns excellently compensate for her material deficit. 40. ... Kh5 41. b4 Qg1+ 42. Ka2 Bg5 43. Qc8 Qd4 44. Qh3+ Bh4 45. Qf3+ Kg5 46. Kb3 h5 47. a6 Qb6 48. Qd3 Bf2 49. Qc4 Kf4 50. Qc6 Kxe4

51. a7? Gueci’s nerves eventually broke and she made her final mistake by throwing away the a-Pawn. Instead 51. Ka4 would seem naturally to grant at least a draw. Now Brunello does no longer miss her chance: 51. ... Qxa7 52. Qxd6 Qd4 53. Qxg6+ Kxd5 54. Qf7+ Ke4 55. Qxh5 Ke3 56. Qh6+ Ke2 57. Qa6+ Kd2 58. Qh6+ Be3 59. Qc6 e4 60. c3 Qd3 61. b5 Bd4 62. b6 Qxc3+ 63. Qxc3+ Bxc3 0 : 1.

Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close

Joanna Majdan-Gajewska – Tea Gueci
12th European Women’s Team Chess Championship; Hersonissos, November 1, 2017
8/p4Qpk/6rp/2p5/2P1P3/3qnN2/P5P1/4R1K1 b - - 0 36

Position after 36. Qf5xf7

Yesterday must have been a very hard day’s night for men’s Italy team, crushed today by Ukrainian team 4 – 0. For the girls instead, there was no such bad news as they scored the equaliser against the very strong Polish team. There is just one little regret that Tea Gueci came very close to win, but just could not make it! It all looks very easy: 36. ... Rxg2+ 37. Kh1 Rg3? 2 minutes and 37 seconds left are not enough for Gueci to appreciate the strength of 37. ... Rg4! 38. Qh5 Rg3! 39. Kh2 g6! and White has no more moves. 38. Kh2? Majdan-Gajewska has time, but no inspiration. 38. Qf4 was called for. 38. ... Rg2+!? (38. ... Rg4!−+) 39. Kh1. 39. Kh3?? Qxe4 is the best way to self-mate. 39. ... Rg3? (39. ... Rg4!−+) 40. Qf4. There is not given a third chance. 40. ... Ng2 41. Qf5+ Kg8 42. Qc8+ Kh7 43. Qf5+ ½ : ½.

Monday or Tuesday

Lela Javakhishvili – Tea Gueci
20th Women’s European Chess Club Cup; Skopje, October 18, 2015
Modern Benoni A61

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 c5 3. d5 e6 4. Nc3 exd5 5. cxd5 d6 6. Nf3 g6 7. Bf4 Bg7. In my not always good old times someone explained to me that Black should play here 7. ... a6 in order to force 8. a4, thus avoiding the Queen check at a4. Needless to say, it’s likely that something has changed in the meanwhile (:. 8. Qa4+ Bd7 9. Qb3 Qc7 10. e4 0-0 11. Nd2 Re8. Another try is 11. ... Nh5 12. Be3 f5 13. exf5 gxf5 14. Be2 Nf6 (after 14. ... f4 15. Bxc5 f3 16. Bxf3 Rxf3 17. gxf3! Qxc5 18. Qxb7 Black’s attack fails: 18. ... Bxc3 19. bxc3 Nf4 20. Rg1+ Kf7 21. Ne4 Qxd5 22. Qxd5+ Nxd5 23. Rd1 Bc6 24. c4 Ne7 25. Nxd6+ Ke6 26. Ne4 Bxe4 27. fxe4 Nd7 28. f4 Nf6 29. e5 Ne4 30. Rd4 Kf5 31. Rg7 Nc6 32. Rf7+ Ke6 33. Rdd7 Rb8 34. Ke2 Rb4 35. Rxh7 Rxc4 36. Kd3 Ra4 37. Ke3 Kf5 38. Rdf7+ Ke6 39. Rc7 Kd5 40. Rhd7+ Kc5 41. Rd8 1 : 0 Kortschnoi – Nunn, 3rd Phillips & Drew Kings Chess Tournament, London 1984) 15. h3 Na6 16. a3 Qf7 17. Rd1 Nc7 18. Nc4 Rad8 as occurred in the game Loiseau – Abasov, 54th World Junior Chess Championship, Khanty-Mansiysk 2015. 12. Be2 Na6. The double-edged alternative 12. ... b5!? 13. Bxb5 Nxe4 14. Ncxe4 f5 15. Be2 fxe4 16. Nc4 appears very unclear and substantially favourable to White, Uhlmann – Milić, Zonal Tournament, Mariánské Lázně 1961. We feel, however, it’s worth exploring in a little more detail. 13. 0-0 Rad8. Also 13. ... Rab8 14. Rfe1 clearly favours White: 14. ... Re7 15. Bb5 Nh5 16. Bg5 f6 17. Be3 Rbe8 18. Be2 Bh8 19. Bxh5 gxh5 20. Bf4 Rd8 21. e5 fxe5 22. Bg5 Rg7 23. Bxd8 Qxd8 24. Nce4 b5 25. Re3 c4 26. Qa3 Bc8 27. Qxd6 Rd7 28. Rg3+ 1 : 0 Uhlmann – Dely, Erfurt 1955. 14. Rfe1 Bc8? This is a bad mistake after which Black’s position disintegrates. Tea ought to have tried harder to improve on 14. ... Nb8 15. h3 a6 16. a4 Bc8 17. a5 Nfd7 18. Nc4 Ne5 19. Ne3 Nbd7 20. Bg5 f6 21. Bf4 g5 22. Bg3 Ng6 23. Bg4 Nde5 24. Bxc8 Rxc8 25. Nf5 Bf8 26. Re3 h5 27. Ne2 Ne7 28. Bxe5 Nxf5 29. exf5 c4 30. Qd1 dxe5 31. Nc3 Bc5 32. Ne4 Qf7 33. Rc3 Red8 34. Rac1 Bb4 35. Rxc4 Rxc4 36. Rxc4 Bxa5 37. Qb3 Kg7 38. Rc5 b6 39. Rc6 Rxd5 40. Rxf6 Qd7 41. Rg6+ Kf8 42. Qa3+ 1 : 0 Kovalenko – Venevtsev, King’s Gambit B, Lipetsk 2008. 15. Nb5 Qe7 16. Nxa7 Nb8

17. Bb5! Bd7 18. Nc4! Bxb5. If 18. ... Nxd5 then 19. Bxd6 and Black’s position falls apart. 19. Nxb5 Nxe4. Again, if 19. ... Nxd5 there follows 20. Bxd6 with devastating effect. 20. Nbxd6 Qf6 21. Nxe8 Rxe8. This is tantamount to resignation, but 21. ... Qxf4 is equally met by 22. Qf3 with an easy win for White. 22. Qf3 1 : 0.

Lela Javakhishvili in 2012
Photo: Stefan64