Kosteniuk, Krush & Gunina Pull Ahead in Cairns Cup

The strongest Women's tournament on U.S. soil, the Cairns Cup (February 6-16) reached its midway point on Sunday, February 10th with three players well ahead of the pack. Top seed, Alexandra Kosteniuk of Russia emerged as the tournament leader with a massive 4.5/5 score. Kosteniuk was relentless throughout the competition, scoring a particularly aesthetic victory against 19-year-old Zhansaya Abdumalik in round three.

[pgn]

[Event "Cairns Cup"]
[Date "2019.02.08"]
[White "Abdumalik, Zhansaya"]
[Black "Kosteniuk, Alexandra"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C78"]
[WhiteElo "2468"]
[BlackElo "2532"]
[PlyCount "76"]
[EventDate "2019.??.??"]
[WhiteTeam "Kazakhstan"]
[BlackTeam "Russia"]
[WhiteTeamCountry "KAZ"]
[BlackTeamCountry "RUS"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O b5 6. Bb3 Bc5 7. c3 d6 8. d4
Bb6 9. Be3 O-O 10. Nbd2 h6 11. Re1 Ng4 12. Nf1 exd4 13. cxd4 Na5 14. Bc2 c5 15.
h3 Nxe3 16. Nxe3 cxd4 17. Nd5 Nc4 18. Nxb6 Qxb6 19. b3 Ne5 20. Rc1 b4 21. Bb1
a5 22. Nxd4 Bxh3 23. Nc6 Nxc6 24. Qxd6 Ra6 25. gxh3 Rd8 26. Qg3 Nd4 27. e5 Qb5
28. Rc4 Qd5 29. Qg2 Nf3+ 30. Kh1 Qxe5 31. Rec1 Qe2 32. Rc8 Rad6 33. Rxd8+ Rxd8
34. Qf1 Qe5 35. Qg2 Qf4 36. Rf1 Rd2 37. Rg1 g5 38. Rf1 Kg7 0-1

[/pgn]

In round five, Kosteniuk had a wild game against GM Bella Khotenashvili of Georgia. In time pressure, Alexandra allowed a draw by repetition in a position where she actually held more than enough compensation, but did not have the time to work out the complications. Instead Khotenashvili refused the silent draw offer, giving Kosteniuk an easy win.

[pgn]

[Event "Cairns Cup"]
[Date "2019.02.10"]
[White "Kosteniuk, Alexandra"]
[Black "Khotenashvili, Bela"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D94"]
[WhiteElo "2532"]
[BlackElo "2491"]
[PlyCount "107"]
[EventDate "2019.??.??"]
[WhiteTeam "Russia"]
[BlackTeam "Georgia"]
[WhiteTeamCountry "RUS"]
[BlackTeamCountry "GEO"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 d5 4. Nf3 Bg7 5. e3 O-O 6. cxd5 Nxd5 7. Bc4 Nb6 8.
Bb3 c5 9. O-O cxd4 10. exd4 Nc6 11. d5 Na5 12. h3 Nxb3 13. axb3 e6 14. d6 Bd7
15. Nd4 Qf6 16. Ndb5 a6 17. Nc7 Rad8 18. Ra5 h6 19. Ne4 Qh4 20. f3 f5 21. Nc5
Qb4 22. Qd2 Bd4+ 23. Kh1 Bxc5 24. Qxh6 Rf6 25. Bd2 Qd4 26. Bc3 Qd3 27. Raa1
Rdf8 28. Qh4 Kg7 29. Rad1 Qc2 30. Rc1 Qd3 31. Rcd1 Qe2 32. Rde1 Qd3 33. Rd1 Qc2
34. Rc1 Qxb3 35. Bxf6+ Rxf6 36. Rxc5 Qd3 37. Rcc1 Qxd6 38. Rfd1 Qe7 39. Qf2 e5
40. Qc5 Qxc5 41. Rxc5 Rc6 42. Rxc6 Bxc6 43. Ne6+ Kf6 44. Nd8 Bd5 45. Nxb7 e4
46. fxe4 fxe4 47. Nc5 Ke5 48. Nxa6 e3 49. Nb4 Bc4 50. Kg1 e2 51. Re1 Ke4 52.
Kf2 Nd7 53. b3 Bb5 54. Na2 1-0

[/pgn]

Valentina Gunina also pulled away from the pack in round five with an absolutely outstanding victory- one of the most spectacular games that I've called in the decade of working with GMs Maurice Ashley and Yasser Seirawan at the Saint Louis Chess Club. Can you find Valentina's best move in this position? How did Gunina finish off here? Play through the game for the answers.

[pgn]

[Event "Cairns Cup"]
[Date "2019.02.10"]
[White "Gunina, Valentina"]
[Black "Sebag, Marie"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B90"]
[WhiteElo "2501"]
[BlackElo "2476"]
[PlyCount "59"]
[EventDate "2019.??.??"]
[WhiteTeam "Russia"]
[BlackTeam "France"]
[WhiteTeamCountry "RUS"]
[BlackTeamCountry "FRA"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Nb3 e6 7. g4 b5 8. g5
Nfd7 9. Bg2 Bb7 10. f4 Nc6 11. h4 Nb6 12. Qg4 b4 13. Ne2 Nc4 14. O-O a5 15. c3
e5 16. fxe5 dxe5 17. Qf3 Qc7 18. cxb4 Nxb4 19. Nc3 a4 20. Nb5 Qd7 21. Bh3 Qxb5
22. Qxf7+ Kd8 23. g6 h6 24. Bxh6 gxh6 25. Rad1+ Nd5 26. g7 Bxg7 27. Qxg7 axb3
28. Rf7 Qc5+ 29. Kh2 Ke8 30. Rf8+ 1-0

[/pgn]

GM Irina Krush, who calls Saint Louis a second home also joined the top of the cross table with a solid positional victory over the young Abdumalik.

[pgn]

[Event "Cairns Cup"]
[Date "2019.02.10"]
[White "Abdumalik, Zhansaya"]
[Black "Krush, Irina"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B13"]
[WhiteElo "2468"]
[BlackElo "2435"]
[PlyCount "90"]
[EventDate "2019.??.??"]
[WhiteTeam "Kazakhstan"]
[BlackTeam "United States"]
[WhiteTeamCountry "KAZ"]
[BlackTeamCountry "USA"]

1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. exd5 cxd5 4. Nf3 Nf6 5. Ne5 g6 6. Bb5+ Nbd7 7. O-O Bg7 8.
c3 O-O 9. f4 Ne4 10. Bd3 Ndf6 11. Nd2 Bf5 12. Ndf3 e6 13. Qe1 Nd6 14. Be2 b5
15. h3 Qc7 16. b3 Be4 17. Ba3 Bxf3 18. Rxf3 Nfe4 19. Rc1 Rfc8 20. Kh2 a5 21.
Bd3 Qa7 22. Rc2 b4 23. cxb4 Rxc2 24. Bxc2 axb4 25. Bxb4 Qxa2 26. Bd3 Qb2 27.
Bxd6 Nxd6 28. Qb4 Bf8 29. Qb6 Qd2 30. Bf1 h5 31. Qc6 Ra1 32. Qd7 Qxd4 33. Nc6
Qf6 34. b4 Ne4 35. Bd3 h4 36. Qc7 Ng3 37. Rxg3 hxg3+ 38. Kxg3 Ra3 39. Ne5 Bh6
40. Qc1 Kg7 41. Qe3 Rb3 42. b5 Rb4 43. Ng4 Bxf4+ 44. Kf3 Qc3 45. Qe2 e5 0-1

[/pgn]

At the opening ceremony, I announced a generous $100,000 gift from the STL Chess Club to our Women's Programs. You can now find a video from the ceremony on the YouTube channel. I also recorded a series of "Fireside Chats" with GM Yasser Seirawan, including my favorite, a look into the lives of the first Women's World Champions. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XQr71jcjHzM&t=46s Monday, February 11th is a free day at the Cairns Cup. Tune in to uschesschamps.com on February 12th for round six, which is headlined by Krush-Kosteniuk.