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Ni Hua 2670
Alexander Morozevich 2737
Saratov 2011
White to move
Unity Chess Club
Ni Hua 2670 Alexander Morozevich 2737 Saratov 2011 White to move
The black minor pieces are hanging, but White’s queen prevents him from taking them. At first glance, the queen has no good retreat squares. If it goes to g3, his own rook is pinned, whilst after 23.Qf2, Black has 23...Bh3!, and on 23.Qg2 Qe3+, there is the same idea of ...Bg4-h3.
It did not occur to the Chinese player to retreat the queen away from all attacks by means of 23.Qh1!!, which immediately wins a piece.
In the game, after...
23.Rxg4 Nxg4 24.Qxg4 Rbd8
White retained the advantage, although he eventually lost.
Alina Kashlinskaya 2389
Aleksandra Goryachkina 2333
Moscow 2012
White to move
Unity Chess Club
Alina Kashlinskaya 2389 Aleksandra Goryachkina 2333 Moscow 2012 White to move
For the piece, White has three pawns and a serious initiative, so the advantage is on her side. But it is another matter how to develop this initiative. The black king is vulnerable, and her pieces are poorly placed, with the exception of the queen and the Nf5, which cover entry squares in her camp. The white Rh3 does not yet take part in the attack and her king on f1 is also badly placed, being better on a dark square nearer the corner. There is no forcing way to win. Thus, we use the method of exclusion, looking for a way to improve the worst placed piece. The most energetic, strong and tempo-gaining move is:
34.Ra3!!
Having seen this, it is impossible not to play it.
If one asks what other candidate moves deserve consideration in so sharp a position, then in the first instance, there is 34.Rf3, creating the threat of 35.Rxf5. But then, one has to see 34...Qd1 35.Ra3!.
In the game, there followed 34.a4, which is clearly bad – White prepares to drive the knight from b6, where it is so badly placed. At the same time, there is still a long way to go to create a passed pawn. After 34...Qd1, the game continued in a complicated endgame, but without any advantage for White.
After the text, the pawn can only be defended by...
34...Qc7
but here the queen is under an X-ray from the white rook. If Black does not defend the pawn, but puts it under attack with 34...a6, the most direct and forcing win is as follows: 35.bxa6 Qxc6 36.Rxf5 Kg8 37.Rc5 – the pawn gets to a7, whilst all the pieces are attacking.
35.Rc5! Qe7 36.Qxe7+ Nxe7 37.Rxa7 Kf8 38.a4+–
The white pawns easily promote.
Alexei Dreev 2694
Alexander Riazantsev 2714
France 2012
Black to move
Unity Chess Club
Alexei Dreev 2694 Alexander Riazantsev 2714 France 2012 Black to move
Naturally, the black knight would like to come to d5, but if it does so at once, he must reckon on the exchange on d5, creating a kingside pawn majority for White. There is also the idea of the bishop coming to g4, followed by the advance of the h-pawn. In both cases, White obtains counterplay. Therefore, Black goes in for a sacrifice, with the help of which he obtains an excellent post for his knight on d5, whilst also devaluing the white kingside pawn structure.
21...Rxf3! 22.gxf3 Nd5 23.h4 Rf8
Black will transfer his rook to f5, from where it both defends and attacks.
24.h5 gxh5 25.Kg2 b5 26.Rh1 Rf5 27.f4 Bf8 28.Rhd1 c6
The Bg3 is terrible, and Black’s position is winning.
29.a4 a6 30.axb5 axb5 31.Ra1 Qe7 32.Ra8 Qb7 33.Rd8 Kg7 34.Qe4 Be7 35.Re8 Kf7 36.Rh8 Kg7 37.Re8 Kf7 38.Rh8 Bf8 39.Rxh7+ Bg7 40.Qf3 c5 41.Rd1 Kg8 42.Rxg7+ Kxg7 43.Kh2 Qf7 44.Qg2 Kh7 45.Ra1 h4 46.Bxh4 Rh5 47.Qe4+ Qg6 48.Ra7+ Kh6 49.Qxg6+ Kxg6 50.Kg3 Nxc3 51.Re7 Ne2+ 52.Kg4 Rxh4+ 53.Kxh4 Nd4 54.Rc7 c3 55.Rxc5 c2
White resigned.