Tuesday, October 13, 2009 Issue 8 ChampionshipChampionship ChronicleChronicle 2009 US Women’s Chess Championship Zatonskih Clinches Second Straight Crown IM Anna Zatonskih secured her Krush and Baginskaite are now in possible with best play but in the second straight US Women’s a tie for second place with just one end Melekhina made the final Inside this issue: Championship title with one round game to play and if the round 9 mistake and Zenyuk wrapped up to spare after she eventually won results are the same for both play- the full point. in the longest game of the day ers then we’ll see a tie-break play- Yun Fan scored an upset win Ben’s Best: against WGM Sabina Foisor. off for the other Women’s World 2 against IM Rusudan Goletiani. Fan Championship qualification spot, Tsagaan-Abrahamyan Zatonskih managed to win a pawn managed to play her way through with Zatonskih taking the other. Fan-Goletiani 3 with pressure in the middle game some inaccuracies from her higher and then converted an opposite WIM Iryna Zenyuk put paid to rated opponent and finished the colored bishop ending, finishing WIM Alisa Melekhina’s norm game off in style with some neat Zenyuk-Melekhina 4 with a neat sacrifice of her bishop. chances as she beat her in an tactics. entertaining, topsy turvy, encoun- The win itself would not have been In Ben Finegold’s Game of the ter. enough if it weren’t for IM Irina Day, WFM Tatev Abrahamyan Krush-Baginskaite 5 Krush beating WGM Camilla Bagin- Playing the King’s Indian, Me- scored a win with the black pieces skaite in their round 8 encounter. lekhina seemed to secure an ad- against WIM Battsetseg Tsagaan. Foisor-Zatonskih vantage out of the opening only to 6 A small inaccuracy from Bagin- Abrahamyan snatched a couple of allow Zenyuk a chance to ex- skaite in the opening was enough pawns in the opening and man- change her queen for two rooks for Krush to build and maintain a aged to hang on to eventually Photo Gallery 7 and a strong attack. Blunders lot of pressure on Baginskaite’s force Tsagaan to resign when her from both players towards the position, which she eventually attack went nowhere and she was time control meant that any of the converted into a win on move 31. faced with a mating attack. FM Mike Klein’s Daily 8 three results would still have been Wrap-Up Current Standings: Round 9 Match-Ups 1 Anna Zatonskih, 7½ 2-3 Irina Krush, 5½ With the Championship decided, all Camilla Baginskaite will try to In the other two games, Anna 2-3 Camilla Baginskaite, 5½ attention turns to the Women’s recover from her first loss when Zatonskih will look to crown her 4 Alisa Melekhina, 4½ World Championship qualification she has the white pieces against Championship in style when she spots. Sabina Foisor. has white against Yan Fun, while 5 Sabina Foisor, 3½ Rusudan Goletiani will have the 6-7 Tatev Abrahamyan, 3 Irina Krush has the black pieces Alisa Melekhina, still with an out- white pieces against Iryna Zenyuk 6-7 Iryna Zenyuk, 3 against Tatev Abrahamyan, with side shot of making it into a tie- with just pride, and some extra 8-10 Rusudan Goletiani, 2½ both players currently on a win- break depending on results, has prize money, at stake. 8-10 Battsetseg Tsagaan, 2½ ning streak. white against Battsetseg Tsagaan. 8-10 Yun Fan, 2½ Page 2 Championship Chronicle Ben’s Best: Tsagaan vs Abrahamyan GM-Elect Ben Finegold Picks His Game of the Day Battsetseg,Tsagaan (2265) − XIIIIIIIIY 19.Bc3 ..and white has the with 30.Nc6 Abrahamyan,Tatev (2342) 8-+q+k+ntr0 initiative. 30...Bg5? 1.e4 e6 7wQp+lvlp+p0 17...Bxa4 18.Qxa4+ Kf8 30...Kh8! ..Tatev misses her Tatev says "Homes, should I 6-+-+p+p+0 19.Rxc3 Qxc3 20.Rc1 chance to attack along the g play the French or Sicilian?" 5+-+pzP-+-0 20.Rb1 Kg7 21.Rxb7 Qa3÷ file immediately. The text She asks everyone she 4-+-+-+-+0 20...Qb4 21.Qd7 move allows white to maintain knows, and decides just a few an equal game, but, with both minutes before the game to 3+P+LvLN+-0 21.Qxb4 Bxb4 22.Rb1 Be7 sides having less than 3 min− stick to her beloved French. 2-tr-+-zPPzP0 23.Rxb7 h6= utes, the moves were fast and Probably only GM Kaidanov is 1tR-+-mK-+R0 21...Kg7 22.h4 h6! furious. more beloved. xabcdefghy Black defends the weak g5 31.Qe8 2.d4 d5 3.Nd2 Be7 4.e5 14.0-0?! square and gives herself the 31.Bxg5! hxg5 32.Qe8= h7 square to maneuver her More popular are 4.Ngf3 and I could not help myself, and 31...Kh8! 4.Bd3. Tsagaan, as usual, must say this move is an er− pieces. plays the most aggressive ror. White has the edge if she 23.Rc7 Qb1+! 24.Kh2 Qf5 XIIIIIIIIY move. plays an immediate 14.Rc1! 25.Rxb7 8-tR-+Q+nmk0 4...c5 5.Qg4 g6!? The ladies have often not Now both players were in time 7+-+-+p+r0 castled, or castled late, in this Usually, I like Kf8 when my g trouble, and, both players 6-+-+p+qzp0 event, so, it is nice to see that have played excellently. Now, 5+-+pzP-vl-0 pawn is attacked. Black may Rybka prefers delaying cas− or may not castle, but g6 per− Tatev gives herself more 4-+-sN-+-+0 tling, instead, preferring to room, and, somehow, takes manently weakens the dark attack! 3+-+-vL-+P0 squares.GMs play both over the initiative! 14...Rxb3 2-+-+-zP-mK0 moves, but, 5...Kf8 is more XIIIIIIIIY 1+-+-+-+-0 common. No more bread for Tatev. Can 8-+-+-+ntr0 xabcdefghy 6.dxc5 Nd7 7.Ngf3 Nxc5 she stop the onslaught that is 7+R+Qvlpmk-0 sure to come with her king 32.Nc6?? Looking at the games in my 6-+-+p+pzp0 stuck on e8? 32.Nxe6! In the commentary database, black has an excel− 5+-+pzPq+-0 room, we thought this was lent score in this position. 15.Rfc1 Bc6 16.Bc2 4-+-+-+-zP0 quite strong for white, but, Chris Bird informed us in the I was quite surprised by this 3+-+-vLN+-0 Rybka, as usual, shows that commentary room, that Tsa− move during the live com− black has a great position gaan thought 46 minutes in mentary! But, it actually is 2-+-+-zPPmK0 after... 32...Bxe3! 33.fxe3 h5!! this position! She plays a new quite interesting, as white 1+-+-+-+-0 34.h4 Qg4 35.Qxg8+ Qxg8 move, but, black still seems to wants to play Ba4 and destroy xabcdefghy 36.Rxg8+ Kxg8∓ be doing well. back's defenses. Tatev was 25...g5! 26.Kg1 worried now about her posi− 32...Bxe3 33.Ne7 Bf4+ 8.Qd4!? Bd7 9.Nb3 Rc8 White should sacrifice her e tion, but, she was quite happy 34.Kh1 Qe4+ 35.Kg1 Rg7+ The game would be about pawn to open up more ave− about having an hour advan− An incredible turnaround! equal if white played the solid nues (a1-h8 diagonal) to the tage on the clock! Tsagaan White seemed to be attacking 10.c3. Instead, Tsagaan sac− black king. 26.Nd4! Qxe5+ had less than 20 minutes to the whole game, but, in mu− rifices a pawn, and gets a 27.Kg1 Qd6 28.Qe8² make time control at this point. tual time trouble, black is the strong initiative. 26...gxh4 27.Nd4 Qg6 16...Rc3 one who seized the initiative 10.Be3!? Nxb3 11.axb3 Rxc2 28.Kh2?! with some imaginative tactics. 12.Qxa7 Qc8! XIIIIIIIIY 28.Kf1!= What was white's error? An excellent move, protecting 8-+q+k+ntr0 28...h3! Maybe she did not realize that 7wQp+-vlp+p0 castling has not done well this b7, and making a nice battery Tatev's one minute battles event? One can only *guess* on the c file. 6-+l+p+p+0 with a certain GM−elect have that Tatev was awake until 13.Bd3 5+-+pzP-+-0 paid off. Black now can park 2:30AM doing tactics prob− Here I expected 13...Bb4+ so 4-+-+-+-+0 her king in the h8 "chair" lems on ICC! that black can use e7 for her 3+-tr-vLN+-0 whilst she swings her rook to knight. Tatev decides to be 2-+L+-zPPzP0 the g file via h7, and take over 0-1 greedy and take all she can. 1tR-tR-+-mK-0 the initiative! Reminds me of the bread at xabcdefghy 29.gxh3 Rh7! 30.Rb8? Olive Garden! 17.Ba4 White needed to put more 13...Rxb2 pressure on the black pieces 17.Bd4! Rc4 18.Nd2! Rb4 Issue 8 Page 3 Fan Scores Upset Victory Over Goletiani Fan,Yun (2201) − putting his bishop on the 14.0-0-0! Bc5 15.Nf5 19.Ne7+! Qxe7 20.Qxf4 Goletiani,Rusudan (2437) e5 square 8...Nxd4 9.Qxd4 dxe4 21.Rhg1 Kh7 Bd6 10.Bg5 Be5 11.Qe3 15.b4 Be7 16.Nf3 Qe6 22.Qg5 Rg8 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.d4 h6 12.Bh4 b5 13.cxb5 17.e5! Nh7 (17...Nxe5 cxd4 4.Nxd4 a6 5.c4 Nf6 Bxc3+ 14.bxc3 Nxe4 18.Nxe5! Qxe5 19.Bf4 Qf5 XIIIIIIIIY 6.Nc3 Qc7 15.Bf3 f5 16.Bxe4 fxe4 20.Bd3 Qe6 21.Rhe1 Qc6 8r+l+-+r+0 17.b6 Qc6 18.0-0 0-0 22.Qe3+−) 18.Nd5 Bd8 7+-+-wqpzpk0 Goletiani normally plays 19.Bd3+− intending Qc2.