 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.
I have to beg a pardon as for a second consecutive time in my reports I’m not paying attention to the girls tournament, while things there are getting tense round after round, but I promise to fix this issue in forthcoming overall report of rounds 4-8.
While Yu Yangyi has slowed down his pace in the 8th round and drew his game, the defending champion managed to score another important win to catch Chinese in the race for a title:
Sethuraman, S.p - Ipatov, Alexander
1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Be7 4.cxd5 exd5 5.Bf4 c6 6.e3 Nf6 [Much more popular is 6...Bf5 , but I guess I've already admitted Alex has his own opinion about the opening theory.] 7.Bd3 Bg4 8.Nge2 Bh5 9.f3 Bg6
10.e4 0–0 11.e5 Ne8 12.Be3 [Interesting was 12.Bxg6 hxg6 13.0–0 trying to claim an advantage without implementing any radical measures (as long castle definitely is).] 12...Qd7 13.h4 White's play looks quite logical. 13...Nc7?! 14.h5 This move slows White's attack a bit and allows Black to start his own counterplay. [Much more to the point seems to be 14.Bxg6 fxg6 (14...hxg6 15.h5± where Black hardly can hope to get f7-f6.) 15.Qb3 Ne6 16.0–0–0 b5 but the resulting position is still far from being clear] 14...Bxd3 15.Qxd3
15...f6! 16.f4 [After 16.exf6 Bxf6 Black seems to be in a good shape, as his king is relatively safe now - 17.0–0–0 Nba6 18.g4 Rae8 19.g5? Nb4 20.Qd2 Bd8µ and White has hard time defending his far advanced pawns.] 16...fxe5 17.dxe5 Tempting recapture, as [17.fxe5 Qg4 18.0–0–0 Nba6 seems quite solid for Black - White still can't open any file on the kingside.] 17...c5! 18.0–0–0 After this brave but not properly calculated decision advantage goes to Black. [18.Rd1 d4 19.Ne4 Qg4 20.Bc1 Nc6 (Too dangerous would've been 20...Qxg2 21.Rg1 Qh2 22.Qf3 Qh4+ 23.Nf2 Bd8 24.f5 with strong initiative.) 21. h6 g6 with rather unclear position] 18...d4 19.Ne4 [An alternative - 19.Kb1 Qf5 20.Qxf5 Rxf5 21.Nxd4 cxd4 22.Rxd4 is hardly sufficient - after all, a piece is a piece! 22...Rf8 23.g3 Ne6 24.Rc4 Nc6 and Black should consolidate soon with descent winning chances.]
19...Qe6! 20.Bd2 Qxa2 21.f5 White's attack looks dangerous, but all of a sudden it's Black who's going to create the decisive threats! 21...Nc6! It turns out that White can't defend his e-pawn. 22.N2c3 Desperate try to fight for initiative which loses rather quickly, albeit any alternative would've been depressing as well... [22.f6 Nxe5 23.Qg3 Bxf6 24.Nxf6+ Rxf6 25.Qxe5 Rb6!–+; 22.Bf4? Nb4 23.Qa3 Qc4+ 24.Kb1 Qc2+ 25.Ka1 Qxe4–+] 22...dxc3 23.Bxc3
23...Rad8! 24.Nd6 Bg5+ 25.Kc2 Na6 26.Qe4 c4 [26...Ncb4+ 27.Bxb4 cxb4 28.Qd5+ Qxd5 29.Rxd5 Rxf5! was just as good as the move in the game.27.Nxc4 [Relatively better was 27.Qxc4+ Qxc4 28.Nxc4 Rxf5 but of course you can't hope to save an endgame piece down.] 27...Qa4+ 28.b3 Qxb3+ Black choses the way of simplicity [Stronger would've been 28...Qa2+ 29.Bb2 Ncb4+ 30.Kc3 Nc5 with mate in few moves.] 29.Kxb3 Nc5+ 0–1
Baghdasaryan, Vahe - Indjic, Aleksandar
This game wasn't the one from the leading group, but definitely caught my eye with rather unusual opening pattern. 1.c4 e5 2.g3 h5 Quite aggressive but not that popular (and not for no reason - after the simplest 3.h4 I'd say inclusion of h4-h5 is in White's favor.)
3.Nf3?! Provocative reaction which lead to disaster quite quickly. 3...e4 4.Nd4 d5 5.Bg2?! [I guess 5.d3 was the move to play (at least judging on the basics of chess), although after 5...h4 6.dxe4 hxg3 7.fxg3 dxc4
White's position doesn't look as solid as it should be after the properly played English opening.:)] 5...h4 6.cxd5 Qxd5 7.Qa4+ Bd7 8.Nc3 Qe5 9.Ndb5?! [Perhaps better would've been 9.Qc4 Nf6 10.d3 hxg3 11.fxg3 and at least White manages to finish the development, as 11...Rxh2 is not that scary for him - 12.Bf4 Rxh1+ 13.Bxh1 Qc5 14.Nxe4 Nxe4 15.Bxe4 Qxc4 16.dxc4 c6 and White looks even slightly better.] 9...c6 10.Na3 f5
11.Qb3? [11.d4! Qf6 12.Bf4 b5 13.Qc2 has been the correct moves order to proceed, as now 13...Qxd4 would lead to enormous complications after 14.Rd1 Qc5 15.Bxe4! fxe4 16.Naxb5 cxb5 17.Qxe4+ Kf7 18.Qxa8 Bc6 19.Qxb8 Bxh1 20.Rd7+ Ne7 21.g4! and it's still hard to say who's better there.] 11...b5 12.d4 Qxd4 Now White gets the position from our previous note with the Bishop being still on c1, which is of course significant difference. 13.Bd2 h3 14.Bf1 Nf6 15.0–0–0 Qe5
Black is simply winning, as in addition to his extra pawn all White pieces are poorly placed and it's hard to imagine White to create any serious threats. 16.Qc2 Na6 17.Bf4 Qe6 18.e3 Nb4 19.Qb1 a6 The picture is getting more and more exciting, with almost no moves for White. 20.Nc2 c5 21.a3 Nc6 [21...Nd3+!? 22.Bxd3 exd3 23.Rxd3 b4 would've brutally won some material, while in the game White is suffocating slowly.]
22.Bxb5 desperate try to create at least a hint of counterplay, which obviously fails (and I don't think I have to spell the reasons - just take a look on white pieces "coordination" on the last rank) 22...axb5 23.Nxb5 Rc8 [Black could've saved all the material with "humiliating" 23...0–0–0 , but of course the move in the game is sufficient to win.] 24.Nc7+ Rxc7 25.Bxc7 Be7 26.Na1 Nd5 27.Bf4 g5 And here White decided he had enough. What a defeat! 0–1
Idani, Pouya - Grover, Sahaj
A nice example of tactical play at its finest:
24.Bxh7+!? This gets an exclamation mark for the courage! [Objectively speaking, better would've been 24.Rhe1 Qc5 25.Nxe6 fxe6
26.Be3! Qa5 27.Bxh7+ Kxh7 28.Qh3+ Kg8 29.Qxe6+ with perpetual, as 29...Kf8 turns to be just bad after 30.Bf4 (But not 30.g6 Ne5 31.Bf4 Bd7–+) 30...Re8 31.g6+-] 24...Kxh7 25.g6+ Kg8 [25...fxg6! 26.Qxg6+ (26.Qh3+ Kg8 27.Nxg6 Qf6–+) 26...Kh8! (26...Kg8 27.Rhe1 would lead to the game.) 27.Qf7 Qf5+ 28.Qxf5 exf5 29.Ng6+ Kh7 30.Nxe7 Bxf3 with decisive advantage for Black.] 26.gxf7+ Kxf7 27.Qg6+ Kg8 28.Rhe1 Qc5! 29.Qxe6+ Kh7 30.Qxe7 Qc2+ 31.Ka1
31...Nc5! Strictly the only move, as otherwise White will defend his own monarch with Rd2 before starting the hunt on opponents king, which definitely lacks protection. 32.Rd2 Otherwise Rxa3 with mate would follow. 32...Rxa3+ 33.bxa3 b2+! 34.Bxb2 Nb3+ 35.Ka2 Nc1+! 36.Ka1! Brilliant perpetual and a credit goes to both players for such an entertaining game![36.Rxc1 Rxb2+ 37.Ka1 Ra2#] 1/2 |
