Goryachkina Wins Women's Candidates

Aleksandra Goryachkina is the clear winner of the 2019 Women’s Candidates Tournament in Kazan, Russia, topping the field by a point and a half with a 9.5/14 score. In the process she took home the first place prize of 50,000 euros, and she qualified to play a scheduled match against current World Champion Ju Wenjun later this year. But you knew that already, because this is old news. Goryachkina wrapped up her victory four days ago, and with two rounds to spare, after a twelfth round draw with Tan Zhongyi. Here she faced a motivational problem familiar to a handful of (very fortunate) top players, including our own Jennifer Shahade and current U.S. Women’s Champion Jennifer Yu. How do you ramp yourself up to play chess against elite competition – this is the Candidates, after all! – when you know in your heart of hearts that the result "doesn’t matter?" https://twitter.com/JenShahade/status/1118591320526852097 If you want to hear more about how the two Jennifers fared, check out the episode of Shahade’s new podcast Ladies Knight at the link in the tweet above. Now, back to Kazan, and to the final two rounds.  How did Goryachkina hold up under the pressure? Round 13 Gunina V. — Muzychuk A.               | 0 — 1 Kosteniuk A. — Muzychuk M.          | 1 — 0 Goryachkina A. — Dzagnidze N.      | draw Lagno K. — Tan Zhongyi                  | draw Goryachkina wasted no time splitting the point with Dzagnidze, as their game was drawn by repetition in 20 moves. The Lagno-Tan Zhongyi game was also drawn, after a heartier 49 moves of play. Valentina Gunina continued to suffer in Kazan with her loss to Anna Muzychuk, who ended up finishing in second place. Gunina’s 11.Nh7 and 13.Qf3 idea left her with a worse position that she could not salvage.

[pgn]

[Event "FIDE Women's Candidates"]
[Site "Kazan RUS"]
[Date "2019.06.16"]
[Round "13.1"]
[White "Gunina, Valentina"]
[Black "Muzychuk, Anna"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C58"]
[WhiteElo "2506"]
[BlackElo "2539"]
[PlyCount "134"]
[EventDate "2019.05.31"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Nf6 4. Ng5 d5 5. exd5 Na5 6. Bb5+ c6 7. dxc6 bxc6 8.
Bd3 Nd5 9. h4 h6 10. Qh5 Qf6 11. Nh7 Rxh7 12. Bxh7 g6 13. Qf3 Qxf3 14. gxf3 Nf6
15. d3 Nxh7 16. Bd2 Nb7 17. Bc3 Bd6 18. Nd2 Be6 19. Ne4 Bc7 20. O-O-O O-O-O 21.
Rde1 Bd5 22. Nd2 f6 23. Rhg1 Bf7 24. a4 Nc5 25. f4 exf4 26. Re7 Rd7 27. Rxd7
Nxd7 28. a5 Nhf8 29. b4 Ne6 30. Ne4 f5 31. Nd2 Be5 32. Kb2 Nd4 33. Re1 Bf6 34.
Nc4 Kc7 35. Nd2 a6 36. Rh1 Bd5 37. Re1 g5 38. hxg5 hxg5 39. Re8 g4 40. Nf1 Bg2
41. Nd2 g3 42. fxg3 fxg3 43. Rg8 Bd5 44. Rxg3 Ne2 45. Bxf6 Nxg3 46. Bh4 Ne2 47.
c4 Bg2 48. Nb3 f4 49. Kc2 Kd6 50. Kd2 Ng1 51. Kc3 Nf3 52. Bf2 Nfe5 53. Bh4 Bf1
54. b5 cxb5 55. cxb5 axb5 56. a6 Bxd3 57. Nd4 b4+ 58. Kxb4 Bxa6 59. Kc3 Kd5 60.
Nf5 Nc5 61. Ne7+ Ke6 62. Ng8 Nf3 63. Bd8 Ne4+ 64. Kb4 Ne5 65. Bh4 Nf3 66. Bd8
Nd4 67. Bh4 Nf5 0-1

[/pgn]

Alexandra Kosteniuk defeated the “other” Muzychuk, Mariya, in a very nice attacking game.

[pgn]

[Event "FIDE Women's Candidates"]
[Site "Kazan RUS"]
[Date "2019.06.16"]
[Round "13.2"]
[White "Kosteniuk, Alexandra"]
[Black "Muzychuk, Mariya"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B29"]
[WhiteElo "2546"]
[BlackElo "2563"]
[Annotator "Hartmann,John"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "2r3k1/3b1qpp/ppr1pbn1/3p4/N2P4/1P2RNB1/P4PPP/3RQ1K1 w - - 0 27"]
[PlyCount "31"]
[EventDate "2019.05.31"]

{True to her combative nature, and perhaps in light of her disappointing play
in Kazan, Kosteniuk decides to sharpen the game somewhat against the run of
play.} 27. h4 $5 Ne7 28. Ne5 Bxe5 29. Bxe5 Nf5 30. Rh3 Qe7 {A smart-looking
move, targetting the pawn on h4 and also the a3 square.} 31. Qe2 Qa3 $6 {
But it turns out that heading for queenside action is very risky for Black.} ({
Here} 31... Nxh4 {loses to} 32. Qh5) ({Perhaps Muzychuk should have tried}
31... Rc2 $5 32. Qxa6 Rxa2 (32... Be8 {(SF) with the idea of} 33. Qxb6 (33.
Nxb6 R8c6) 33... Bh5) 33. Qxb6 Rcc2 $5 34. Nc3 Rab2 $13) 32. Qxa6 Qxa2 33. Qb7
$1 {The seventh rank is tasty, with the hanging d7-bishop and the g7-pawn as a
long-term target.} Qe2 {Muzychuk makes the risky decision to go after the
d1-rook, which provides Kosteniuk with a lot of activity for the material.} 34.
Qxd7 Qxd1+ 35. Kh2 Qc1 $2 (35... Qh5 {prevents Rg3 (at least temporarily) and
gives Black a chance to hold after the apparently killing} 36. Nxb6 {(looks
like everything is hanging, yes?)} Qe8 $1 37. Qb7 Rxb6 38. Qxb6 Rc2 $132) 36.
Rg3 ({The computer prefers} 36. Rf3 $1 Qh6 37. g3 {and Black can't meet all
the threats}) (36. g4 {also looks crushing.}) 36... Qh6 37. Rg4 $1 Rc2 $2 {
The final mistake.} (37... g6 {is necessary but after} 38. Nxb6 Nxh4 39. Bf4 $1
Qh5 40. Nxc8 $1 {it's game over.}) 38. Nc5 $1 {Disconnecting the rooks (and
unprotecting c8!) and readying Nxe5!} Ra8 39. Nxe6 {Four attackers, three
defenders. It's just math.} Rxf2 40. Qxd5 $1 {Setting up the discovery and
hitting the undefended rook on a8.} ({Kosteniuk could also try} 40. Nxg7 Ne3 {
but she'd have to see the crazy-looking} 41. Kh3 $3 Nxg4 42. Qxd5+ $18 {
to brave it.}) 40... Ra5 41. Qd8+ Kf7 42. Ng5+ 1-0

[/pgn]

Round 14 Muzychuk A. — Kosteniuk A.           | draw Muzychuk M. — Goryachkina A.      | 1 — 0 Dzagnidze N. — Lagno K.                 | draw Tan Zhongyi — Gunina V.                 | 1 — 0 Most of us tire after a playing a five-round weekender, so consider the mental strain accumulated after an eighteen day playing schedule. And then there’s the matter of a £200,000 prize fund, the chance to play for a World Championship, etc., etc. One can imagine just how wiped out these players must be. Anna Muzychuk’s early draw against Kosteniuk is thus understandable, especially given her tournament situation, while the Dzagnidze-Lagno game was drawn fairly tamely, and Gunina collapsed in the second time control, losing to Tan Zhongyi. The real story of the round, however, was Goryachkina’s loss to Mariya Muzychuk. More accurately, it wasn’t just that Goryachkina lost – a wholly understandable event given the psychology of the situation – but it was how she lost that really caught the chess world’s eye. Mariya Muzychuk played brilliant tactical chess to win the game, and she was awarded the “most beautiful game” prize at today’s closing ceremonies. https://twitter.com/FIDE_chess/status/1140978741079732224

[pgn]

[Event "FIDE Women's Candidates"]
[Site "Kazan RUS"]
[Date "2019.06.17"]
[Round "14.2"]
[White "Muzychuk, Mariya"]
[Black "Goryachkina, Aleksandra"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B12"]
[WhiteElo "2563"]
[BlackElo "2522"]
[Annotator "Hartmann,John"]
[PlyCount "77"]
[EventDate "2019.05.31"]

1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. e5 Bf5 4. Nf3 e6 5. Be2 c5 $5 {Objectively fine, but one
wonders how wise it was to repeat this tricky line after playing it two rounds
earlier against Tan Zhongyi.} 6. Be3 Qb6 7. Nc3 Nc6 8. O-O ({In Round 12 Tan
Zhongyi tried} 8. Na4 Qa5+ 9. c3 cxd4 10. Nxd4 Nxd4 11. Bxd4 Ne7 12. O-O Nc6
13. b4 Qc7 14. Rc1 {1/2-1/2 (55) Tan Zhongyi (2513)-Goryachkina,A (2522) Kazan
RUS 2019}) 8... Qxb2 {Challenge accepted!} 9. Qe1 (9. Nb5 c4 10. Nc7+ Kd7 11.
Nxa8 Bxc2 {has a great score for Black.}) 9... cxd4 10. Bxd4 Nxd4 11. Nxd4 Bb4
12. Rb1 (12. Ndb5 Ba5 13. Rb1 Qxc2 14. Rb3 Ne7 15. Nd6+ Kf8 16. Nxb7 Bb6 17.
Nd6 Ba5 18. Nb7 Bb6 19. Nd6 Ba5 20. Nb7 {1/2-1/2 (20) Vachier Lagrave,M (2773)
-Anand,V (2774) Karlsruhe/Baden Baden GER 2019}) 12... Bxc3 13. Rxb2 Bxe1 14.
Rxe1 b6 15. h4 Be4 $6 {A new move, and probably not the best.} (15... h5 {
is known to theory:} 16. Nb5 (16. Nxf5 exf5 17. c4 Ne7 18. Rd2 O-O-O {1/2-1/2
(31) Pessoa,F (2520) -Ozmen,H (2425) ICCF email 2016}) 16... Kf8 17. Nd6 Ne7
18. c4 dxc4 19. Bxc4 Rd8 {1/2-1/2 (39) Wachinger,N (2292)-Molchanov,A (2350)
Bremen 2018}) 16. Bb5+ $1 Kf8 ({After} 16... Kd8 {the "barbarian approach" with
} 17. Nc6+ Kc7 18. c4 a6 (18... Bd3 19. Rc1) 19. Ba4 {seems promising for
White.}) 17. f3 Bg6 18. Re3 $1 {The rook jumps into action with decisive
effect.} Ne7 (18... Rc8 {is no better, i.e.} 19. Ra3 Rc7 (19... a5 20. Bd7 Rc7
21. Rxb6 Rxd7 $4 22. Rb8+ {and mate is inevitable}) 20. Be2 {with the idea of
Nd4-b5!}) 19. Rc3 h5 (19... Rc8 20. Rxc8+ Nxc8 21. Rb3 {and the other rook
leaps into the fray}) 20. Rc7 a6 21. Bd7 b5 22. a4 bxa4 23. Bxa4 Nf5 24. Ra7 $1
Rd8 (24... Rxa7 $2 25. Rb8+ Ke7 26. Nc6+) 25. Nc6 Re8 (25... Rc8 26. Rc7 $1 {
echos the previous note.} Ra8 27. Nb8 $1 Kg8 28. Bc6) 26. Ne7 $1 {Everything
is working in Muzychuk's favor.} Rd8 27. Nxg6+ fxg6 28. Bd7 Kg8 29. Bxe6+ Kh7
30. Rbb7 Nd4 31. Bd7 {Now the e-pawn gets mobile.} Rb8 32. e6 Nf5 33. Ba4 Rbc8
34. e7 Nd6 35. Rb6 Ne8 36. Rbxa6 Kg8 37. Ra8 Rxa8 38. Rxa8 Kf7 39. Kf2 1-0

[/pgn]

So Aleksandra Goryachkina moves on to become the official Challenger for the Women’s World Championship, which (if I read the FIDE website correctly) is scheduled for sometime later this year. There she will meet a very impressive Champion. Ju Wenjun became Women’s World Champion in May 2018 by winning a match against Tan Zhongyi, and retained it with her November victory in the Women’s World Championship Knockout. She followed that up by taking the World Women’s Rapid Championship in Saint Petersburg. Suffice to say that Ju Wenjun, the second ranked woman by FIDE ratings behind Hou Yifan, will present stiff competition for the new Challenger, and the match should be one to watch.