Friday, October 9, 2009 Issue 5 ChampionshipChampionship ChronicleChronicle 2009 US Women’s Chess Championship Zatonskih Extends Lead with Grinding Victory IM Anna Zatonskih extended her when accurate defense was re- tournament, Rusudan Goletiani. lead to a full point after grinding quired gifted Baginskaite the The game was an entertaining out a win in round 5 against WFM point. Inside this issue: affair with Goletiani missing a Tatev Abrahamyan. couple of opportunities to pressure The opening was very tame and the young WIM. However, the Ben’s Best: 2 the game was a slow, maneuver- ending was probably drawn, de- Krush-Zenyuk ing affair that was brought to life spite Goletiani’s material advan- Melekhina-Goletiani 3 when Abrahamyan decided to tage, and Melekhina held on to open it up approaching the time secure yet another impressive control. result. Baginskaite-Fan 4 Zatonskih ended up winning a In the other two games, IM Irina pawn but even that may not have Krush and WIM Iryna Zenyuk been enough to win but Abra- played an interesting draw which Tsagaan-Foisor 5 hamyan could not find the tough- the IM should have converted est defense and her position col- towards the end of the first time Abrahamyan-Zatonskih 6 lapsed very quickly. Leader, IM Anna Zatonskih control, while WIM Battsetseg (Photo Betsy Dynako) Tsagaan managed to beat WGM WGM Camilla Baginskaite moved Sabina Foisor who blundered a into a share of second place as she Photo Gallery 7 piece in an interesting ending that beat Yun Fan. Fan again was up WIM Alisa Melekhina is the other involved each side having unop- to the challenge of her higher player in second place after she posed, connected passed pawns rated opponent but a bad blunder drew with her second IM in the FM Mike Klein’s Daily 8 on opposite sides of the boards. Wrap-Up Current Standings: Round 6 Match-Ups 1 Anna Zatonskih, 4½ 2-3 Camilla Baginskaite, 2½ Anna Zatonskih and Alisa Me- draw for her norm chances or In the other games, Sabina Foisor 2-3 Alisa Melekhina, 3½ lekhina meet in what is undoubt- whether she goes all out for the will have to pull herself together 4-7 Irina Krush, 2½ edly the most important game of win to have a shot at the title. after today’s loss as she plays 4-7 Rusudan Goletiani, 2½ round 6. Rusudan Goletiani, Battsetseg 4-7 Sabina Foisor, 2½ Camilla Baginskaite has the black Tsagaan will have white against 4-7 Battsetseg Tsagaan, 2½ Zatonskih has a full point lead over pieces against Iryna Zenyuk and Irina Krush and Yun Fan has the 8 Iryna Zenyuk, 2 Melekhina with just 4 games to will no doubt employ the fighting white pieces against Tatev Abra- 9 Tatev Abrahamyan, 1 play although it will be interesting chess she has shown throughout hamyan in a battle of the bottom to see if Melekhina is happy with a her previous games. 10 Yun Fan, ½ two. Page 2 Championship Chronicle Ben’s Best: Krush vs Zenyuk GM-Elect Ben Finegold Picks His Game of the Day Krush,Irina (2490) − 15...Rdd8, which seems quite The only chance. Black has too 36...Kd5 Zenyuk,Iryna (2271) [D02] stable. many weak pawns otherwise. Now a tactical melee ensues, XIIIIIIIIY 1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 g6 3.c3 15...Nd6 and the time trouble simply 8-+-+-vl-+0 An unusual system against the XIIIIIIIIY added to the tension. 7zp-+-+-+p0 King's Indian. Krush did not 8-+r+-+k+0 6L+-zP-zpp+0 want to walk into Zenyuk's prep, 24.Bxb5 bxc2 25.Ba6 Rb1 so she decides to leave the 7zpp+rzppvlp0 26.Bxc8 5+-zPkzp-+-0 main paths early, and try to fight 6-wq-sn-+p+0 XIIIIIIIIY 4-+-+-+-+0 for an edge in the middlegame. 5+-+p+l+-0 8-+L+-+k+0 3+-+-zPP+P0 3...Bg7 4.Bf4 0-0 5.Nbd2 d5 4-+pzP-vL-+0 7zp-+-zppvlp0 2l+-+-+-+0 Black can also play 5...d6, and if 3+-zP-zP-+P0 6-+-+l+p+0 1+-+-vL-mK-0 white chooses 6.e4, the game 2PzP-sNLzPP+0 5+-+-+-+-0 xabcdefghy has more of a Pirc feel. 1tR-wQ-tR-mK-0 4-+-zPp+-+0 37.Bb4?? 6.e3 Bf5!? xabcdefghy 3+-zP-zP-vLP0 In time trouble, Krush missed Usually black refrains from 16.Bg3?! 2-+p+-zPP+0 37.d7 Be7 38.Ba5! winning. moving the c8 bishop, until the c I did not understand this move She simply did not think about pawn and knight have moved. 1tRr+-tR-mK-0 when doing live commentary, a5 as a square for the bishop. Now Krush thinks she should xabcdefghy and when Krush came into the 37...Kc6! 38.Kf2 Be6 39.h4 f5 have played 7.Qb3, so her commentary room, she said it 26...Ba2!! 40.Ba3 h6 queen is active, and Zenyuk's was terrible. She had some This is what Zenyuk was count− queen would be passive on c8. The players make the time con− variation in mind, where white ing on when playing 23...cxb3 trol, both with less than 20 sec− 7.h3 Nbd7 8.Be2 c5 9.0-0 Qb6 plays b3 and e4, and the there 27.Raxb1! cxb1Q 28.Rxb1 onds. Now Krush goes into a 10.Qc1 Rac8 were sacrifices on d4 and Bf4 Bxb1 29.c4 long think, but, the win has In the commentary room, Krush was loose. But, clearly, 16.Bg3 White is clearly better, but both slipped away. was not happy with her play up is too slow. players have less then one 41.Bd3 to this point, and felt, as did Jen 16...Qc6! 17.Bf3 Ne4 18.Nxe4 minute to get to move 40! and I, that black had easily dxe4 19.Be2 b5 20.Qc2 Be6?! XIIIIIIIIY equalized. 29...e5!? Krush thought this was unnec− 8-+-+-vl-+0 11.Ne5 Rfd8 12.Re1 essary, and, during the live Zenyuk needs counterplay, 7zp-+-+-+-0 commentary, I was also puzzled otherwise the two connected XIIIIIIIIY pawns are too strong. Also 6-+kzPl+pzp0 by this move. Black should get 5+-zP-zpp+-0 8-+rtr-+k+0 to business on the queenside, interesting was 29...a5. 7zpp+nzppvlp0 with something like 20...a5 or 30.d5! Ba2 4-+-+-+-zP0 6-wq-+-snp+0 20...Rb7. XIIIIIIIIY 3vL-+LzPP+-0 5+-zppsNl+-0 21.a4 Rb7?! 8-+L+-+k+0 2-+-+-mK-+0 4-+-zP-vL-+0 Zenyuk simply overlooked 7zp-+-+pvlp0 1+-+-+-+-0 3+-zP-zP-+P0 Krush's powerful 23rd move. xabcdefghy Best is 21...a6 with equality. 6-+-+-+p+0 2PzP-sNLzPP+0 5+-+Pzp-+-0 41...Bg7! 1tR-wQ-tR-mK-0 22.axb5 Qxb5 4-+P+p+-+0 White wanted to play 42.Bc2 xabcdefghy XIIIIIIIIY 3+-+-zP-vLP0 and 43.Ba4+. If black counters 12...Ne8!? 8-+r+-+k+0 2l+-+-zPP+0 with 43...Kb5, as in the game, I like this repositioning of the 7zpr+-zppvlp0 1+-+-+-mK-0 then the Bf8 would be loose knight to d6. Black also has 6-+-+l+p+0 after 44.c6! Kxc6 45.d7! threat− chances to play e5 later. xabcdefghy ening the Bf8 and to simply 5+q+-+-+-0 31.Ba6?! promote with 46.d8. So, 13.Nxd7 Rxd7 14.Nb3 4-+pzPp+-+0 Krush misses a nice idea with... Zenyuk makes her bishop safe. Here I expected 14...cxd4, but 3+-zP-zP-vLP0 31.d6! Bxc4 (31...Bf8 32.c5+−) With the possibilities of passed both players felt 14...c4 was the 2-zPQ+LzPP+0 32.Bh4!! pawns on both sides and an way to go. As usual, Rybka 1tR-+-tR-mK-0 active Kc6, Krush decides a does not agree with me. 31...f6 32.d6 Kf7 33.c5 Bf8 draw is the right result, and the 34.f4! exf3 35.gxf3 Ke6 14...c4 15.Nd2 xabcdefghy game ends in repetition. A very Black should have played exciting game for the specta− I expected this move, because I 23.b4! 35...Bd5. With the clock ticking tors, and the commentators as thought white wanted to play e4 Krush must have had an easy down, so to speak, moving the ASAP. Of course, both players time finding this move, after a well. king towards the passed pawns looked at the more "aggressive" similar unusual b pawn move seems more natural. 42.Bc2 Kb5 43.Bd3+ Kc6 15.Nc5. Krush thought black played against her by Zaton− 44.Bc2 Kb5 45.Bd3+ Kc6 ½-½ *might* sacrifice the exchange skih! 36.Be1 with 15...Rxc5!?, but, Zenyuk 23...cxb3! 36.e4! said she would have played Issue 5 Page 3 Melekhina Remains Unbeaten but Goletiani Gives Her a Scare Melekhina,Alisa (2301) − 16.Nxc6 bxc6²; or 14.c4 this position. Goletiani,Rusudan (2437) which leads to a lot of XIIIIIIIIY complications after 20.Rae1 Rc6 8-+-+-+-+0 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 14...Bb4 15.Re3 Bc3 20...Qxb3!? 21.Nxb3 Nd5 7tR-+-+kzpp0 16.Rb1 Nxe5 17.Rxe5 Is Melekhina going to play 22.Rxe6 Nxc3³ White can− 6-+-+-zp-+0 Qd8÷ an open Sicilian? not defend the a−pawn but 5zp-+-+-+-0 has some play in compen− 2...e6 3.c3 14...Ba4 4-+-+-+-+0 sation. 3+n+-+PvL-0 No! Melekhina continues XIIIIIIIIY 21.c4 Qxd4 22.c5 Bxc5 2-+-+r+PzP0 with the c3 Sicilian that she 8-+r+kvl-tr0 1+-+-+-mK-0 played earlier in the event. 7zpp+n+pzpp0 The queen sacrifice with xabcdefghy 6-+-+p+-+0 22...Qxd2 23.Rd1 Qxd1+ 3...Nf6 4.e5 Nd5 5.d4 5wq-+-vL-+-0 24.Qxd1 Bxc5 would have 32...Ke6 cxd4 6.cxd4 d6 7.Nc3 4l+-zP-+-+0 produced an interesting Nxc3 8.bxc3 Bd7 How else is black going to 3+-zPLtRN+-0 imbalance, at least from a spectator's perspective! get her a−pawn further up A rare continuation, possi− 2P+-+-zPPzP0 the board? bly in the hope that Me− 1tR-+Q+-mK-0 23.Rxe6 Qd5 24.Rxc6 lekhina hadn't seen it be− xabcdefghy bxc6 33.Rxg7 a4 34.Ra7 Ra2 fore since she is fairly new 35.Ra6+ Kd5 36.Bd6 Nc1 to this line.