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.

You can follow his comments below;

Dear readers, before we actually going to proceed to review itself I’d like to announce the bigger (and hopefully betterJ) review of the opening stage of the tournament, which is coming tomorrow, so I’ll try to save my emotions and thoughts for this forthcoming text and today we’ll concentrate more on commented games. And I have to beg a pardon for being concentrated on first two boards of the Open section, but I’m convinced to do so till the end of the tournament (if they’ll keep the perfect score of courseJ) So, here we go!

Pavlidis, Antonios - Yu, Yangyi

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nc6 5.Nc3 d6



6.g4 Not the most popular but an interesting move - White is trying to get kingside initiative as soon as possible in spirit of Keres attack, although black's knight is not yet on f6. [6.Be3 is the most popular move there.] 6...h6 [Former World Champion (and U20 as well!) preferred to play 6...a6 7.Be3 Nge7 8.Nb3 b5 9.f4 Bb7 10.Qf3 Na5 11.0–0–0 Nxb3+ 12.axb3 Rc8 with typical complicated Sicilian play. The game continued 13.h4 Nc6 14.g5 Qa5 15.Kb1 Nb4 16.Bd4 d5 17.f5 dxe4 and here White could've achieved almost decisive advantage with 18.Qf4!± (in the game White played 18.Qh3 and after a lot of complications eventually it finished in a draw. 1/2 Shirov,A (2740)-Kasparov,G (2805)/Novgorod 1994/) ] 7.Be3 Nf6 8.h3 d5 Quite typical and logical reaction - break in the center against flank activity. 9.exd5 [Another possible try to find for an opening edge would've been 9.Bb5!? Bd7 10.exd5 exd5 11.Qe2 Be7 12.0–0–0 0–0 13.Nf5 were after 13...Bxf5 14.gxf5 a6 15.Bxc6 bxc6 16.Rhg1 White's chances to get to the opponents king seem more realistic.] 9...Nxd5 10.Nxd5 Qxd5 11.Rg1 Bd7 12.Bg2 Qa5+ 13.Qd2 Bb4 14.c3 Be7
 

 
So we got the structure which is more typical for Rubinstein French or c3 Sicilian. Position is roughly equal but a lot of fight of course, so both sides should've been happy with the openings results at that stage of a game. 15.Nb3 Qc7 16.Bc5?! Clarifies White's peaceful intentions, as Black could've repeat the position with Qe5+. [Natural 16.0–0–0 would've put some problems for Black, as it isn't easy to find a good place to hide the king. According to engine Black has to play 16...Rd8 17.Kb1 0–0 , which is of course a bit suspicious as White's chances for attack seem obvious: 18.Qe2 followed by f4 and g5. Well, I'm not claiming White to be really better there, but definitely that would've been logical follow up of the kingside assault started with 6.g4.] 16...Bg5 17.Qd6 0–0–0 18.Rd1 Bf4 19.Qxc7+ Kxc7 The endgame (queenless middlegame to be more precise) is balanced, but has to be a bit more careful. Till some point he was... 20.Ke2 g5 21.c4 h5



22.Be3? [22.Bxc6 Bxc6 23.Rxd8 Rxd8 24.Be3 would offer much better chances to achieve a draw.] 22...Bxe3 23.Kxe3 hxg4 24.hxg4 [There's no time for 24.Bxc6? as 24...Rxh3+ comes with check!] 24...Ne5! Black's knight on e5 turns into dominant global power! White's task is pretty tough (if manageable at all) and he couldn't stand the pressure for long... 25.Bf1 Rh4 26.Be2 Rdh8 27.Nd4 Rh3+ 28.Rg3 Rxg3+ 29.fxg3 Rh2 30.Rf1 Kd6 31.Rg1 a5 32.Nb3 a4 33.Rd1+ Ke7 34.Nd2 Bc6 35.b4 axb3 36.axb3



36...Rg2 37.b4 [In case of 37.Nf1 Black has 37...Rxe2+! 38.Kxe2 Bf3+ 39.Kd2 Bxd1 40.Kxd1 Nxg4 transposing into easily winning knight's endgame with extra pawn.] 37...Nxg4+!? Not essential but nice trick! [There was nothing wrong with 37...Rxg3+ 38.Kf2 Rg2+ etc.] 38.Bxg4 Rxg3+ 39.Kd4 Rxg4+ 40.Kc5 f5 41.Nb3 f4 42.Nd4 f3 0–1

Ipatov, Alexander - Grover, Sahaj

Alex Ipatov performs great so far in the tournament so I'm starting to believe he can defend the title (and that would be for the first time in the history!) 1.c4 e6 2.d4 Nf6 3.Nf3 d5 4.Bg5 Be7 5.Nc3 0–0 6.e3 h6



7.Bxf6 [7.Bh4 is still considered to be the main move there, but after Candidate's matches in Kazan in 2011 White has certain problems to get an advantage in Lasker variation - 7...Ne4 8.Bxe7 Qxe7 and so on.] 7...Bxf6 8.Qc2 c6 9.h4 This aggressive plan is well known, but not that popular in this particular position (perhaps for no reason, what makes me think Black's last move is a bit of inaccuracy) 9...Nd7 10.g4 g6?! [10...e5!? 11.g5 exd4 12.gxf6 dxc3 13.fxg7 Re8 14.Qxc3 Nc5 and Black seem to have descent counterplay as White's g7 pawn in fact protects Black king better than his own.] 11.g5 hxg5 12.hxg5



12...Bxg5? A novelty, but quite an unlucky one, as in couple of moves Black's going to regret his decision. [Safer was 12...Bg7 13.0–0–0 Qe7 where White's prospects are still much better of course.] 13.Bd3 Kg7?! I suspect this one to be a logical follow up of Black's previous play, albeit objectively Black's position is already tough. [Black could've tried 13...Bf6 but after 14.Bxg6 fxg6 15.Qxg6+ Bg7 16.Qh7+ Kf7 17.Rg1 Rg8 18.Qg6+ Ke7 19.Ng5 Qf8 20.Qxe6+ Kd8 21.cxd5 Nb6 22.dxc6 Bxe6 23.Nxe6+ Ke7 24.Nxf8 Raxf8 25.Ne4! White is still much better.] 14.cxd5 exd5 15.Rg1! Decisive move! [Less clear would've been 15.0–0–0 Bf6 16.Rhg1 Rh8! where Black is just in time to hide the king on f8.] 15...f6 [15...Bf6 16.Bxg6 Rh8 was another option, but obviously white is better after 17.Bd3+ Kf8 18.0–0–0±] 16.Bxg6 Rh8 17.0–0–0 Nf8 18.Bf5 The strongest! 18...Rh5



19.Ne2!? White is satisfied with an endgame pawn up, but why not if you're happy with your technic!? [19.Nd2! was a bit more blood lusty, opting to win the house with f2-f4.] 19...Bxf5 20.Qxf5 Qd7 21.Qxd7+ Nxd7 22.Nf4 Rh6 23.Nxg5 fxg5 24.Rxg5+ Kf6 25.Rdg1 Rah8 26.Kd2 R8h7 27.Rg8 Nb6 28.b3 Rh8



29.R1g6+! Rxg6 30.Rxh8 Rg1 31.Rf8+ And here Black decided he had enough. 1–0

Salem, A. R. Saleh - Bortnyk, Mykola

Another leader got a bit lucky winning seemingly equal endgame, what you can't normally do without a help from opponent: 


 
22...g5 Perhaps it's the best move objectively, albeit as an old-school guy I'm still not sure what's wrong with 22...Kf8, "bringing king to the center" as you can find out to be the good thing in all the endgame tutorials. After 23.f4 Nc6 24.Rd7 g6 25.Rb7 Na5 26.Rxa7 Nxb3 27.axb3 Rc5 28.Rd7 Rb5 I don't see any ideas for White. 23.f4 gxf4 24.exf4 Ng6?! But this is just wrong! Black is seeking sudden chance instead of heading into the comfortable rook endgame - 24...Nc6! 25.Rd7 Rd8 26.Rc7 (I don't really believe White may hope to win an endgame after 26.Rxd8+ Nxd8) 26...Nd4! 27.Rxa7 (27.Bc4 b5 28.Bd3 a6 followed by Rd6 with solid position for Black.) 27...Nxb3 28.axb3 Rd3= 25.f5! exf5?! [Black could've obtained much better chances to survive by defending d7 square - 25...Nf8 26.fxe6 fxe6 , intending to move the king to e7.] 26.Rd7 Ne5



27.Rxa7 White's chances to win have increased dramatically during the last sequence of moves. In the game Black couldn't solve the defensive task: 27...f4 28.Ra4 f3+ 29.Kg3 Kg7 30.Bd5 Rc2 31.Re4 Re2 [31...f6!? 32.Rb4 Rxf2 33.Kxf2 Nd3+ 34.Kxf3 Nxb4 35.Be6 is hard to evaluate - Black needs to eliminate a- and b-pawns at any possible cost (note the "wrong corner"!) but it's not clear if he's able to do so.] 32.Re3 Rxe3 33.fxe3 f5 34.b3 Kf6 35.Bxf3 Nd3 36.Bd1 Ke5 37.Kf3 h6 38.a3 Nc5 39.Bc2 Ne6 40.h4 Nc5 41.b4 Ne6 42.Bb3 Nc7 43.Bc4 Ne8 44.a4 Nd6 45.Ba6 f4 46.exf4+ Kd4 47.a5 b5



48.Bb7! Nice final touch! 48...Nxb7 49.a6 1–0

In girl’s tournament there’ve been a lot of spectacular games (as usualJ), albeit I couldn’t find anything better than to illustrate a talent of Deysi Cori (who’s, by the way, fighting for her second U20 title as she already were a champion in 2011). I was impressed how easily she got the winning position:

Cori, T. Deysi - Xiao, Yiyi

1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 e6 3.e3 The usual opening for Deysi (as well as for her brother, who’s playing in open section) - you can't claim an advantage by playing like this, but avoiding the theory with still enough material being on the board is already a huge achievement nowadays! 3...c5 4.Bd3 b6 5.0–0 Bb7 6.c4 Be7 7.Nc3 cxd4 8.exd4 d5 9.cxd5




9...Bxd5? [theoretical is 9...Nxd5 , for instance 10.Ne5 0–0 11.Qh5 g6 12.Qh3 with typical for isolated pawn structure position, where both sides relay on their trumps.] 10.Nxd5 Qxd5 11.Qa4+ Nbd7 12.Bb5! Rd8 13.Bc6 [Even stronger would've been 13.Ne5 as after 13...0–0 c6 square is available for White's knight - 14.Nc6 Rde8 15.Bf4! and Black can't move at all.] 13...Qd6 14.Ne5 0–0 15.Bf4


 
15...Nh5? [15...b5 was vital, where after 16.Bxb5 Nb6 17.Qb3 Qxd4 18.Bg3 White is "only" much better. After the move in the text Black's position collapses at once.] 16.Nxf7! Qxf4 17.Nxd8 Rxd8 18.Bxd7 and White had no difficulties to win. 18...Qd6 19.Bc6 Bf6 20.Bf3 Nf4 21.Qc6 Qxc6 22.Bxc6 Rxd4 23.Rad1 Rc4 24.Bd7 Kf7 25.Rd2 a6 26.Re1 e5



27.Bf5 g6 28.Be4 Rc7 29.Rd6 Be7 30.Rxb6 a5 31.g3 Bc5 32.Rb5 Nh5 33.Bd5+ Kf6 34.Rxa5 Bd4 35.Re2 Ng7 36.Ra6+ Kg5 37.h4+ Kf5 38.Kg2 1–0