 Evgenij Miroshnichenko (born 28th of December 1978), or "Miro", as he likes to be called, is international Grandmaster since 2002, two times Ukrainian Champion (2003 and 2008) and a winner of numerous international tournaments. Growing expert of women chess, as you can remember his reports and comments during the World Women Team Championship, 2012 European Womens Individual. Also 2012 Chess Olympiad and many others. Evgenij is going to provide us with analysis of the most interesting moments happened in the games during the WJCC as well.
The tension is rising round after round and today’s hasn’t been an exception – the sole leader in the Open section was held for a draw and immediately has been caught by one of the pursuers, so you can see the game of the round below:
Stukopin, Andrey - Sethuraman, S.P
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Be3 e6 7.f3 b5 8.Qd2
8...b4!? This line became quite popular since 2006 after being implemented in a few games by Veselin Topalov and still seems to be sound. 9.Nce2 [More popular is 9.Na4 , for instance 9...Nbd7 10.c4 (Much sharper is 10.0–0–0 Qa5 11.b3 Bb7 12.g4 Nc5 13.a3 Nxa4 14.axb4 Qc7 15.bxa4 with total mess all over the board, albeit for some it's just a starting position of their analyses.) 10...bxc3 11.Nxc3 Bb7 12.Be2 Be7 13.0–0 0–0 14.Rac1 Qb8 15.Rfd1 Rd8 16.Kh1 d5 17.exd5 Nxd5 18.Nxd5 Bxd5 and Black has solved all the opening problems in Leko,P (2753)-Topalov,V (2780)/Morelia/2008] 9...e5 10.Nb3 Nc6 11.c4 a5 12.Ng3?! A novelty, but quite a dubious one. [If White ever has something in this line, it has to be 12.a4!? Be6 (Perhaps 12...bxa3 13.Rxa3 Be7 is worth a try as well. White's pawn structure is obviously better, but he has to spend some time to organize his pieces.) 13.Ng3 Qc7 14.Bd3 g6 15.0–0 Bg7 16.Rfd1 0–0 17.Nf1 Nh5 18.Bf2 Nf4 19.Ne3 Bh6 20.Bf1 Rad8 21.g3 Nh5 22.Nd5 Bxd5 23.Qxd5 and White has got an advantage in Pietruszewski,M (2037)-Sowul,B (2081)/Rewal 2009/] 12...a4 13.Nc1
13...h5! Disturbing another knight from it's awkward position to even more awkward! 14.Bd3?! [Was it good or bad, in my opinion White at least should've secured some space by playing 14.h4 , although after 14...Be6 15.Nd3 Qa5 16.Be2 g6 Black's position seems preferable to me.] 14...h4 15.Nf1 Be6 16.Ne2 Nd7 17.Bf2?! [Ugly looking 17.h3 was perhaps the least of evils, although to make such a move one should already realize he’s in trouble which I doubt to be the case in this particular game.] 17...h3 18.g4 [Hardly better would've been 18.g3 Qf6 19.Qe3 g6 and after black bishop's appearance on h6 White is going to lose at least a pawn.] 18...g6 19.Rg1 White has to make another artificial move in order to be able to defend f3 after Black's Qf6. 19...Be7 Black, on contrary, makes natural developing moves, so it's no wonder his position is getting more and more attractive. 20.Ne3 Bg5 21.Qd1
21...Bh4!? Changing the only defender of White's weakened dark squares. 22.Nd5 Bxd5 23.cxd5 Bxf2+ 24.Kxf2 Qb6+ 25.Kg3? Just look at the position - if your most advanced piece is the king that means something went wrong! [White could still fight with 25.Kf1 Nd4 26.Rg3 Nxe2 27.Qxe2 , although with such a weaknesses all over the board it's quite a hard task to keep everything together, at least for a practical game.] 25...Ne7! Preparing f7-f5! [Perhaps 25...Nd4? was what White had been expected, where 26.Nxd4 Qxd4 27.Bb5! leads to equality.] 26.Qd2
26...f5! Now White is losing as he has to give a piece in order to defend his most developed piece:) 27.exf5 [27.g5 is obviously bad - 27...f4+ 28.Kg4 Qf2–+; Perhaps White should've tried 27.f4 where only 27...g5! looks convincing enough 28.exf5 exf4+ 29.Nxf4 gxf4+ 30.Qxf4 Ne5–+] 27...gxf5 28.Qg5 [28.f4 is well met with 28...Nf6 and White king won't survive for long.] 28...f4+ 29.Nxf4 exf4+ 30.Qxf4 Ne5 31.Be4 Kd7 32.Rgf1 Raf8 33.Qd2
33...Nc4! Nice little combination which finishes the game quickly. 34.Qc2 Ne3! 35.Qxa4+ Kc7 36.Rfc1+ Kb8 37.Qd7 N3f5+ [37...N3f5+ 38.Bxf5 Nxf5+ 39.gxf5 Rfg8+ 40.Kf4 Rh4#] 0–1
While there surely have been a lot of interesting games in the open section, I’d like to preset you a couple of games from the girls tournament and thus reward the ladies for uncompromised fight, as none of the top boars had finished in a draw, so there’ve been a lot of fighting spirit!
Saduakassova, Dinara - Kashlinskaya, Alina
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0–0 Be7 6.d3 b5 7.Bb3 d6 8.a4 b4 9.a5 0–0 10.Nbd2 Be6 11.Nc4 Rb8 12.c3
12...Qc8!? An interesting idea of queen's transfer to b7 in order to force White to release the tension on the queenside. [World's highest rated player chose a bit different way with Black - 12...bxc3 13.bxc3 h6 14.Re1 Qc8 15.Bc2 Rd8 16.Qe2 Bf8 17.Ne3 d5 18.exd5 Nxd5 19.Nxd5 Rxd5 20.h3 Bf5 21.Rd1 Qe6 22.Bb1 Qd7 23.Be3 e4 24.Nd4 Nxd4 25.Bxd4 exd3 26.Bxd3 Bxd3 27.Rxd3 c5 28.Be5 Rxd3 29.Bxb8 c4 30.Be5 Bc5 31.Rb1 Qd5 32.Rb8+ Kh7 33.Qh5 Qe4 34.Rb2 Rd5 35.Re2 Qb1+ 36.Kh2 f6 0–1 Svidler,P (2747)-Carlsen,M (2872)/London ENG 2013/The Week in Chess 959] 13.Be3?! [The most critical would've been 13.d4 bxc3 (13...exd4 14.cxd4 d5 15.exd5 Bxd5 16.Nce5 could be a bit more pleasant for White.) 14.d5
14...Bh3!! 15.gxh3 (15.dxc6? Bxg2 16.Kxg2 Qg4+ 17.Kh1 Rxb3 18.bxc3 (18.Qxb3? Qxf3+ 19.Kg1
19...cxb2!! 20.Qxb2 Qg4+ 21.Kh1 Qxe4+ 22.f3 Qxc4 with huge advantage for Black.) 18...Rxc3 19.Nfd2 Qxd1 20.Rxd1 Nxe4 21.Kg2 Nxd2 22.Nxd2 Rb8 23.Nf1 Rxc6 24.Ne3 with four pawns for the piece Black has to be fine.) 15...Qxh3
16.Bc2 (16.Ra3? Nd4 17.Nxd4 Ng4 18.Bf4 (18.Nf3 f5–+) 18...exf4 19.Nf3 cxb2µ) 16...cxb2 17.Bxb2 Nb4 18.Bb1 Nfxd5! with very sharp unbalanced play, where both sides would have their trumps.; Black doesn't have to worry much about 13.Ng5 Bg4 14.f3 Bd7 15.f4 exf4 16.Bxf4 Qb7 and Black has even chances to say the least.] 13...Qb7! 14.Bc2?! [Perhaps 14.Rc1 would've been the least of evils, as after 14...bxc3 15.Rxc3 d5 16.Ncxe5 Nxe5 17.Nxe5 d4 18.Bxe6 dxc3 19.Nxf7 Rxf7 20.bxc3 White's position is far from being hopeless. Curiously, now it's White who's going to have a bunch of pawns for the piece (see previous notes.)] 14...b3?! Now White is given a chance to come back in the game. [More precise way to win the pawn would've been 14...Nxe4 15.dxe4 Bxc4 16.Bd3 Bxd3 17.Qxd3 bxc3 18.bxc3 Qb5µ] 15.Bb1 Nxe4 16.dxe4 Bxc4 17.Bd3 Qb5 18.Bxc4 Qxc4 19.Qd5! Qxd5 20.exd5 Nd8
21.Nd2 Black has won a pawn but his pieces are not perfectly placed as well as b3-pawn need permanent protection, so White has definitely got some chances to escape. 21...c6?! [21...f5 22.f3 Rb5 23.c4 Rb4 24.Ra3 Nf7! followed by Rf8-b8 was perhaps Black's best option to preserve an advantage.] 22.Bb6? [After the correct 22.dxc6 Nxc6 23.Bb6 it would be hard for Black to claim an advantage as his b3 pawn would be about to fall.] 22...cxd5 23.Nxb3 Nc6 24.Rfd1
24...Nxa5!? The pawn on a5 was defended 3 times, but still not enough! 25.Nxa5? Wrong capture! [White could put much tougher resistance with 25.Bxa5 Rxb3 26.Rxd5 Rxb2 27.Bb4 with pretty high probability to arrive into 4 vs 3 rook endgame with all the chances to escape.] 25...Rxb6 26.Rxd5 Rc8 27.Ra2? Rxc3 0–1
And to finish today’s report – an example of nice attacking play from the girls tournament:
Cori, T. Deysi - Petrova, Irina
13.g4! Typical way to get to black king in Dragon Sicilian and Saemisch King's Indian seems to work here as well! 13...hxg4 [13...Na5 14.b3 c5 15.Nc2 hxg4 16.f4 Nf3 17.Bxf3 gxf3 18.h5 doesn't change much compared to the game as White's attack is still very dangerous.] 14.f4 Nf3 [Hardly better would've been 14...Nd7 15.Nxc6 bxc6 16.h5 , for instance 16...gxh5 17.Rxh5 Nf6 18.Rg5 Nh7 19.Rxg4 Bxg4 20.Bxg4 and White's attack is decisive.] 15.Bxf3 gxf3 16.Nxc6 bxc6 17.h5
17...Be6?! [Black could try 17...Bg4 although the following line seems convincing enough and not so hard to find at the same time: 18.hxg6 fxg6 19.Rdg1 Bh5 20.f5 Qf6 21.Rxh5! gxh5 22.Bd4 f2 23.Qxf2 Qh6+ 24.Be3 Qf6 25.Qh2!+-] 18.f5?! [White could've won easier with 18.Rdg1, preparing f5 with all the comfort!] 18...Bxc4? [It would've been much trickier for White to prove an advantage after the correct 18...gxf5!? as even somewhat sophisticated 19.Rdf1!? (19.Rdg1 Kh7 leads nowhere; 19.Bh6 would be met with 19...Be5! 20.Bxf8 Kxf8 where Black seem to have descent counterplay.) doesn't win immediately after 19...Kh7 20.Rxf3 Rg8! 21.exf5 Bxc4 and Black is still alive.] 19.Bd4 Be2 [19...c5 20.Bxg7 Kxg7 21.hxg6 Rh8 22.b3 Bb5 23.Nd5+-] 20.Rdg1!? [Once again there was more straightforward way to win - 20.hxg6 Bxd1 21.Bxg7 Kxg7 22.Qd4+ f6 23.Rh7+ Kg8 24.Qd2+-] 20...Bxd4 21.Qxd4 g5 [21...c5 22.Qe3 g5 23.Rxg5+ Kh7 24.Rg6+-] 22.f6 [22.h6!? f6 23.Rxg5+! Kh8 24.h7 followed by Rg8+.] 22...c5 23.Rxg5+ Kh7
24.Qd2? Perhaps this move doesn't deserve a question mark objectively, but the alternative was so nice so I'm using my authority to punish White a bit for not playing in the most spectacular way. :) [24.Rg7+ Kh8 25.Rg6!! Kh7 (25...cxd4 26.Rh6+ Kg8 27.Rg1#) 26.Qd2 and this is the end, as Black is forced to take the rook, which leads to forced mate: 26...fxg6 27.hxg6+ Kxg6 28.Rh6+ Kf7 29.Qd5+ Ke8 30.Qe6+ Qe7 31.Qxe7#] 24...Qxf6 25.Nd5 Qh6 26.Rhg1
26...Rg8?! [Much more stubborn would've been 26...f6!? 27.Rg7+ Qxg7 28.Rxg7+ Kxg7 29.Nxc7 Rad8 30.Ne6+ Kf7 31.Nxf8 Kxf8 and White has to show some technique to take the point.] 27.Rxg8 Rxg8 28.Qxh6+ Kxh6 29.Rxg8 f2 30.Ne3 f1Q+ [Black could've eliminated the dangerous pawn at once, nevertheless his position would be hopeless after 30...Kxh5 31.Rg7 f1Q+ 32.Nxf1 Bxf1 33.Rxf7 Bc4 34.Rxc7 Bxa2 35.Rc6+-] 31.Nxf1 Bxf1 32.Rh8+ Kg5 33.h6 The rest is easy and doesn't really need any comments. 33...Bd3 34.h7 Kg6 35.Kd2 Bb1 36.a4 Kg7 37.Rf8 Kxh7 38.Rxf7+ Kg6 39.Rxc7 Bxe4 40.Rd7 d5 41.Rc7 c4 42.Kc3 Kf6 43.Kd4 Ke6 44.Rc6+ Kd7 45.Rxa6 Kc7 46.Ra5 Kc6 47.Rc5+ Kb6 48.Rxd5 0 - 1
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