Cover Story
Creative defense. A more passive defense like 60. Nf1 will lose to 60. ... h5 61. Nd2 Kxa2 62. Kd3 Bf2 and White’s pawns all fall.
60. ... Bxc5 61. Nc4+ Kxa2 62. Nxa5 Bb6 63. Nc4 Bf2
Anna probably missed this move or
she would have played 59. h5. I kind of stumbled upon it because I definitely did- n’t see it after 60. c5.
64. d6 Anna finds another creative defense,
which is probably White’s last hope. Alas, I fall for it.
64. ... cxd6 65. Nxd6 Bxh4?? At this point I realized that White’s
idea is to trade the knight for the b-pawn forcing a draw. I am having a hard time explaining this, since compared to 65. ... Kxb3, 65. ... Bxh4 seems very counter- intuitive, since the b-pawn is far more advanced and close to queening. 65. ... Kxb3 66. Kd3 (66. h5 Kc2 67. Nc4 Kc3 68. Ne5 b3 69. Nd3 Bd4) 66. ... Bxh4 67. Nc4 Bg5 68. Na5+ Ka4 69. Nc4 h5 and this is just overwhelming for White.
66. Nf5 Kxb3 67. Nxh4 Ka2 68. Nf3 Kb2 69. Nd4 h5 70. Nc6, Draw agreed.
Fittingly, the two rapid games were still
not enough to crown a champion. In game one, Abrahamyan again faced Zatonskih’s French. She chose the Advance Variation but had to sacrifice an Exchange early. The counterplay was modest and resulted in a pawn-down ending where she also ceded the bishop pair. With a fortress in mind, Abrahamyan slipped and moved her king left instead of right. Zatonskih’s bishops infiltrated the rear guard to break through for the win. Impressively, Zaton- skih played the final 15 moves relying solely on the five-second increment.
French Defense,
Advance Variation (C02) WFM Tatev Abrahamyan (2424) IM Anna Zatonskih (2616) U.S. Women’s Championship (Knock-out), 04.28.2011 Notes by Zatonskih
1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. e5 c5 4. c3 Nc6 5. Nf3 Qb6 6. a3
In the first game of the final Tatev tried
6. Bd3 to little effect so she returns to one of the main continuations.
6. ... Nh6 7. b4 cxd4 8. cxd4 Nf5 9. Bb2 Bd7 10. g4 Nfe7 11. Nc3 Na5 12. Qc2 Nc4 13. Bxc4 dxc4 14. Nd2 Qc6 15. Nce4 c3 16. Bxc3?!
Apparently unfamiliar with this line, White reacts in a slightly clumsy manner.
34 Chess Life — July 2011
Better would be 16. Nd6+ Kd8 17. Nxf7+ Ke8 18. Nd6+ Kd8 19. Nf7+ or 16. Qxc3 Nd5 17. Qb3 Rc8 as in a previous game.
16. ... Nd5 17. 0-0
r+-+kvl-tr zpp+l+pzpp -+q+p+-+ +-+nzP-+- -zP-zPN+P+ zP-vL-+-+- -+QsN-zP-zP tR-+-+RmK-
After 17. 0-0
17. ... h5 There were many other nice options
such as 17. ... Rc8 18. Qd3 f5 (an impor- tant resource, otherwise White is better) 19. exf6 e.p. gxf6 20. Rfc1 f5 21. Nc5 Nf4 22. d5 Qxc5 23. Qf3 Qxd5 24. Qxd5 exd5 25. Re1+ Kf7 26. Bxh8 fxg4; 17. ... Be7; 17. ... f5!? A sharp attempt to get to White’s king 18. exf6 e.p. gxf6 with ideas ... Rg8 and ... f6-f5; I really like Black’s position here.
18. g5 Rc8?!
I should have played 18. ... Nf4, but I missed this Qd3! trick. 19. Rac1?! It was better not to allow 19. … Nf4 with
19. Qd3! Nxc3 20. Rfc1 Qb5 21. Rxc3 Qxd3 22. Rxd3 Be7 23. h4.
19. ... Nf4 The try 19. ... Qa6!? is interesting, com-
bining threats to the queenside pawns with ... Qe2 ideas; 20. g6!? fxg6 21. Kh1 Nf4 22. f3 b6.
20. Kh1?
A blunder. But after 20. Rfe1 Be7 21. Re3 Qa6 Black has a nice position.
20. ... Ne2 21. Qd3 Nxc1 22. Rxc1 Be7 23. f3 Qd5 24. Rg1
-+r+k+-tr zpp+lvlpzp- -+-+p+-+ +-+qzP-zPp -zP-zPN+-+ zP-vLQ+P+- -+-sN-+-zP +-+-+-tRK
After 24. Rg1 Having lost the Exchange, White
keeps her cool and creates unpleasant counterplay.
24. ... g6? At this point I had some time issues. The
g5-g6 thrust is not as dangerous as it looks: 24. ... Bc6 25. g6 (25. Qe3 Qa2 Black prepares exchanges, and White lacks the material to attack. A sample is 26. g6 fxg6 27. Rxg6 Bxe4 28. Nxe4 0-0 29. Qh6 Rf7 30. Nf6+ Bxf6 31. exf6 Qb1+ 32. Kg2 Rcc7 33. fxg7 Qxg6+ 34. Qxg6 Rxg7) 25. ... 0–0! (25. ... Rf8) A brave but hard move to find with little time. 26. Nf6+ (26. gxf7+ Rxf7 27. Qe3 Kh8) 26. ... Bxf6! (26. ... gxf6? 27. gxf7+ Kh8 28. Qg6 Qxf3+ 29. Nxf3 Bxf3+ 30. Rg2 Bxg2+ 31. Qxg2! a) 31. Kg1 Be4 32. Qxe4 (32. Qh6+
Bh7 33. exf6 Rxf7 34. d5 Rxc3 35. fxe7 Rc8 wins for Black) 32. ... Rxf7 is equal; b) 31. Kxg2 Rg8 32. fxg8=Q+ Rxg8 33.
Qxg8+ Kxg8 is level; 31. ... Rxf7 32. Qg6 Rg7 33. Qxh5+ Rh7 34. Qf3 and White is better) 27. exf6 Qf5 28. Qxf5 exf5 29. fxg7 Rfd8 30. gxf7+ Kxf7 and White’s attack is over.
25. Qe3?! Better was 25. Nd6+ with a complex
fight: 25. ... Bxd6 26. exd6 Bc6 27. Ne4 Kd8 28. Qe3 Rf8 29. Rc1 b6 30. Kg1 Qf5÷.
25. ... Qa2?! Alternatively 25. ... Ba4!?; maybe d5-
breaks should not have been allowed 26. Rc1 (26. Nd6+ Bxd6 27. exd6 Bc2!) 26. ... Kf8 27. Nd6 Rc7 28. Qf4 Rh7 29. N2e4 Kg8 is unclear.
26. d5!? A nice, natural move; White tries to
bring her bishop to life—though there were other options. 26. Nd6+! this move poses problems which would be hard to solve at the board 26. ... Bxd6 27. exd6 Qxa3 28. Qe5! Rg8 29. Ne4 Rxc3 30. Nf6+ Kd8 31. Nxg8 Rc1 32. Rxc1 Qxc1+ 33. Kg2 Qd2+ 34. Kg3 Be8!! and apparently there is no mate.
26. ... Qxd5 27. Nd6+ Kf8 This diagonal really shouldn’t be opened!
28. Nxc8 Bxc8 29. Ne4 Bd7 30. Nd6 Bc6 31. Rf1 Kg7 32. Rf2 Qb3 33. Qf4 Rf8 34. Bd4?!
(see diagram on next page)
34. ... b6?! There is a nice and not-so-obvious trick
here: 34. ... Bxg5! 35. Qxg5 Bxf3+ 36. Rxf3 Qxf3+ 37. Qg2 Qxa3 38. Qxb7 Qd3 39. Qe4 Qxe4+ 40. Nxe4 a6.
35. Kg2?!
White should have calmly defended the pawn with 35. Bb2.
uschess.org
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