[Event "4th Cairns Cup 2024"] [Site "Saint Louis USA"] [Date "2024.06.14"] [Round "2.3"] [White "Dzagnidze, Nana"] [Black "Zatonskih, Anna"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "A13"] [WhiteElo "2506"] [BlackElo "2327"] [Annotator "Monokroussos,Dennis"] [PlyCount "129"] [GameId "502348000475"] [EventDate "2024.06.13"] [EventType "tourn"] [EventRounds "9"] [EventCountry "USA"] [EventCategory "9"] [SourceTitle "The Week in Chess 1545"] [Source "Mark Crowther"] [SourceDate "2024.06.17"] [SourceVersion "1"] [SourceVersionDate "2024.06.17"] [SourceQuality "2"] {[%evp 0,129,25,-25,0,4,4,1,1,-20,13,14,6,16,0,-9,-18,-2,15,14,18,3,7,6,1,-3,6,6,11,-13,3,5,-30,-22,-16,-35,-18,-14,14,12,-8,-8,-17,13,42,20,162,147,147,135,140,148,134,159,163,148,175,170,194,194,184,197,250,225,225,256,307,307,367,499,509,205,219,238,238,101,105,206,206,206,242,362,418,542,576,576,578,360,592,688,816,690,816,816,816,816,816,712,712,1126,1015,1015,1015,1243,1392,1884,1894,1395,1884,1954,2208,2710,2128,2710,29959,29960,29963,29960,29963,29956,29957,29958,29959,29960,29961,29962,29963,1012,29967,29968,29969,29970]} 1. c4 e6 2. Nf3 d5 3. e3 Nf6 4. b3 Be7 5. Bb2 O-O 6. d4 c5 7. Nbd2 cxd4 8. Nxd4 Nc6 9. Nxc6 bxc6 10. Be2 Bd6 11. O-O e5 12. Qc2 Qe7 13. Rfd1 a5 14. Nf1 a4 15. bxa4 Bd7 16. cxd5 cxd5 17. Bb5 Rfb8 18. Ng3 Bxb5 19. axb5 Rxb5 20. Nf5 Qc7 21. Rdc1 Qb8 22. Rab1 Bf8 23. Bxe5 Qb6 24. Rxb5 Qxb5 25. Nh6+ gxh6 26. Bxf6 Bg7 27. Bxg7 Kxg7 28. h3 d4 29. exd4 Qd5 30. Qc5 Qxa2 31. Qe5+ Kg8 32. d5 Rd8 33. Rc3 Qxd5 34. Rg3+ Kf8 35. Qh8+ Ke7 36. Re3+ Kd7 37. Qxh7 Qd1+ 38. Kh2 Qd6+ 39. g3 Qg6 {Black's chances of survival in the heavy piece ending were close to nil, so it's hard to be too harsh on her decision to allow White to swap into a king and pawn ending. That said, the ending is a fairly elementary win for White.} 40. Qxg6 fxg6 41. Rd3+ Ke7 42. Rxd8 Kxd8 43. Kg2 Ke7 44. Kf3 Kf6 45. Kf4 {Black has four options: leave the pawns where they are, push only the g-pawn, push only the h-pawn, or push both. Let's try them all.} Ke6 {Trying to avoid pushing any pawns.} (45... g5+ 46. Ke4 {Only pushing the g-pawn:} Ke6 ({Pushing both pawns:} 46... h5 47. g4 hxg4 (47... h4 48. Kd5 {and White's king zigzags its way to a two-pawn meal.} Kf7 49. Ke5 Kg6 50. Ke6 Kg7 51. Kf5 Kh6 52. Kf6 Kh7 53. Kxg5 Kg7 54. Kxh4 $18) 48. hxg4 Ke6 49. f3 {is a mutual zugzwang, and since it's Black's move she loses.} Kf6 50. Kd5 $18 {and the king zigzags in, just as in the 47...h4 line.}) 47. f4 gxf4 (47... Kf6 48. f5 {White will initially treat this like king and f-pawn vs. king, except instead of delivering stalemate she'll collect Black's remaining pawns.} h5 49. g4 h4 50. Kd5 Kf7 51. Ke5 Ke7 52. f6+ Kf7 53. Kf5 Kf8 54. Kxg5 $18 {etc.}) 48. gxf4 Kf6 49. f5 Kf7 50. Ke5 Ke7 51. f6+ Kf8 52. Kf5 ({Purely for the instructive value:} 52. h4 Kf7 53. h5 Kf8 {is an ending everyone should know. White to move and win:} 54. Kf4 $1 {The direct path via e6 or f5 fails. White triangulates, making three moves while Black makes two to reach the same position but with Black, in zugzwang, to move.} Ke8 55. Ke4 $1 {White's last two moves could have been played the other way around.} Kf8 56. Ke5 $1 {It's the same position we saw after 53...Kf8, but now it's Black's turn, and whatever she does will cost her.} Kf7 (56... Ke8 57. Ke6 Kf8 58. f7 Kg7 59. Ke7 {and promotes. Be sure to avoid a small trap, though:} Kh7 {and now don't make a queen, which would be stalemate. The best solution is} 60. Kf6 $1 Kh8 61. f8=Q+ Kh7 62. Qg7#) 57. Kf5 Kf8 58. Kg6 $18) 52... h5 (52... Kf7 53. h4 Kf8 54. Kg6 $18) 53. h4 Kf7 54. Kg5 $18) ({Only pushing the h-pawn:} 45... h5 46. h4 Kf7 47. Kg5 Kg7 48. f4 Kf7 49. f5 gxf5 50. Kxf5 $18 {White's king collects the h-pawn next, and it's over.}) 46. Ke4 Kd6 47. h4 Ke6 (47... h5 48. Kf4 Ke6 49. Kg5 Kf7 50. f4 {followed by f5 is easy - the same idea we saw in the 45...h5 line.}) 48. g4 Kd6 49. f4 Ke6 50. Kd4 (50. h5 {could reach the triangulation position we saw above.} gxh5 (50... Kf6 {lets us see another useful trick in king and pawn endings: the quasi-stalemate.} 51. hxg6 Kxg6 52. Ke5 Kf7 53. f5 Ke7 54. f6+ Kf8 55. Ke6 Ke8 56. f7+ Kf8 57. Kf6 $1 {Black's king is stalemated, but she can still push a pawn. The trick, of course, is not to take the pawn, but to push past it and mate Black's king.} h5 58. g5 h4 59. g6 h3 60. g7#) 51. gxh5 Kf6 52. f5 Kf7 (52... Kg5 53. Ke5 Kxh5 54. f6 Kg6 55. Ke6 $18) 53. Ke5 Ke7 54. f6+ Kf8 $1 {The best try, and now we see the winning triangulation method:} 55. Kf4 $1 Ke8 56. Ke4 $1 Kf8 57. Ke5 $1 {with zugzwang.(See the 45...g5, 52.h4 line above for further details, if necessary.)}) 50... Kf6 (50... Kd6 51. f5 gxf5 52. gxf5 Ke7 53. Ke5 h5 (53... Kf7 54. f6 Ke8 $5 55. h5 Kf8 {and it's triangulation time once more. Let's reverse the order this time:} 56. Ke4 Ke8 57. Kf4 Kf8 58. Ke5 $18) 54. f6+ $18) 51. Kd5 Kf7 52. Ke5 Ke7 53. g5 (53. f5 {also works, as we've seen several times.}) 53... h5 (53... hxg5 54. hxg5 Kf7 55. Kd6 $18 {wins with the zigzag method. To illustrate a point I make in the note to White's 55th move in the game, let's continue from here and pretend that White doesn't have an f-pawn:} Kf8 56. Ke6 Kg7 57. Ke7 Kg8 58. Kf6 Kf8 59. Kxg6 Kg8 {Again, pretend there's no f-pawn.} 60. Kh6 $1 (60. Kf6 {doesn't throw away the win, but it doesn't make any progress due to the neat trick} Kh7 $1 {, when White must play Kf7 and Kg6 to get back to the starting position (followed by Kh6).} 61. g6+ $4 (61. Kf7 $1 Kh8 62. Kg6 $1 Kg8 63. Kh6 $1 $18) 61... Kh8 $1 {draws (again, we're pretending there's no f-pawn).} 62. g7+ (62. Kf7 $11) 62... Kg8 63. Kg6 $11) 60... Kh8 61. g6 Kg8 62. g7 Kf7 63. Kh7 $18) 54. f5 Kf7 55. fxg6+ (55. f6 {also wins (and seems much simpler than Dzagnidze's treatment), and would win even if there were no h-pawns. This is another instructive method:} Kf8 56. f7 $1 {This will be necessary sooner or later, so let's do it immediately.} Kxf7 (56... Ke7 57. f8=Q+ Kxf8 58. Kf6 $18) 57. Kd6 {and the zigzag wins. This wins even without the h-pawns, as a king on the 6th rank in front of its pawn always wins (unless it's an a- or h-pawn) - see the note to Black's 53rd move.}) 55... Kg7 56. Kd6 Kf8 (56... Kxg6 57. Ke6 Kg7 58. Kf5 Kh7 59. Kf6 {followed by Kg6 and Kxh5.}) 57. g7+ Kf7 58. Kd7 {Playing with her food? Just get it over with.} (58. g8=Q+ Kxg8 59. Ke6 Kg7 60. Kf5 $18 (60. Ke7 $18)) 58... Kg8 59. Kd8 Kf7 60. g8=Q+ Kxg8 61. Ke8 Kg7 62. Ke7 Kg6 63. Kf8 Kh7 64. Kf7 Kh8 65. Kg6 1-0 [Event "4th Cairns Cup 2024"] [Site "?"] [Date "2024.06.16"] [Round "4.2"] [White "Tan, Zhongyi"] [Black "Zatonskih, Anna"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "C13"] [WhiteElo "2540"] [BlackElo "2327"] [Annotator "Monokroussos,Dennis"] [PlyCount "39"] [GameId "2057277709729321"] [EventDate "2024.06.16"] {[%evp 0,37,38,21,51,30,22,47,49,28,27,28,42,21,49,46,54,31,31,13,11,-1,-1,-9,-11,-69,-30,-62,-28,-38,-15,0,14,1,13,3,29995,29996,29997,29996]} 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Bg5 dxe4 5. Nxe4 Be7 6. Bxf6 Bxf6 7. Nf3 O-O 8. Nxf6+ Qxf6 9. Bd3 c5 10. dxc5 Qxb2 11. O-O Nd7 12. Rb1 Qxa2 {Up to now, one side or the other, or both, have had significant alternatives to the move chosen. Now the game is on the verge of breaking new ground - there is only one predecessor.} 13. Rb4 $146 (13. Ng5 h6 14. Ne4 Qd5 15. Qe2 f5 16. c6 Qxc6 17. Ng3 Nc5 18. Bb5 Qc7 19. Rfd1 b6 20. Nh5 g6 21. Ng3 Bb7 22. h4 f4 23. Qg4 Qf7 24. Nf1 Rad8 25. Rxd8 Rxd8 26. Rb4 Rf8 27. Rd4 Qf5 28. Qd1 h5 29. Nh2 Qf6 30. Be2 Qxh4 31. Nf3 Qf6 32. c3 g5 33. Qb1 Kg7 34. Nd2 g4 35. f3 g3 36. Nf1 Rd8 37. Qb4 e5 38. Rxd8 Qxd8 39. Qb1 Qd7 40. Bb5 Qe6 41. Qd1 Qd5 42. Qe2 e4 43. Bc4 Qe5 44. Ba2 Nd3 45. Nd2 Qc5+ 46. Kf1 Qxc3 47. Bb3 Ba6 48. Kg1 Qd4+ 49. Kf1 Qa1+ {0-1 Polgar,J (2665)-Bareev,E (2655) Geneve PCA-GP Credit Suisse rapid 1996 (2.2)}) 13... Qd5 (13... Qa5 $1 $15 {It seems crazy to do this with Black's kingside so unguarded, but there doesn't seem to be any way to take advantage of it.} 14. Rc4 ({Direct approaches don't work:} 14. Rh4 $6 h6 15. Qc1 $2 Nxc5 $19) (14. Bxh7+ $2 {doesn't work either.} Kxh7 15. Rh4+ (15. Ng5+ Kg8 16. Rf4 (16. Qh5 Nf6 17. Qh4 e5 $19) 16... g6 $19) 15... Kg8 16. Qd3 Nf6 17. Ne5 Rd8 $1 18. Qh3 Kf8 $19) 14... h6 15. Qe1 Qc7 16. Nd4 a5 $15) 14. Re1 $11 h6 (14... Qxc5 15. Qd2 Qe7 16. Rh4 h6 17. Rxh6 gxh6 18. Qxh6 f5 19. Rxe6 Rf6 20. Qg5+ Qg7 21. Re8+ Nf8 22. Bc4+ Kh8 23. Qh4+ Rh6 24. Qd8 Rf6 25. Ne5 b5 26. Ng6+ Qxg6 27. Rxf8+ Rxf8 28. Qxf8+ Kh7 29. Qe7+ Kh6 30. Qh4+ Qh5 31. Qf6+ Qg6 $8 32. Qh4+ Qh5 $11) 15. Qd2 Nxc5 $2 (15... Re8 16. Rg4 Kf8 17. Qc3 e5 18. Rc4 a5 $11) 16. Re5 $6 (16. Rg4 $1 f5 (16... Kh8 17. Qc3 $1 f6 18. Nh4 Re8 (18... Rd8 19. Ng6+ $18 {followed by another knight check wins the queen.}) 19. Ng6+ Kg8 20. Nf4 Qd7 21. Nh5 $18) (16... Qh5 17. Rh4 Qd5 18. Re5 Qa2 19. Rxc5 $18) 17. Qxh6 $1 fxg4 18. Qh7+ Kf7 19. Bg6+ Kf6 (19... Ke7 20. Qxg7+ $18 {White regains the rook and keeps on attacking.}) 20. Ne5 {Threatening 21.Qh4#.} Qxe5 21. Rxe5 Kxe5 22. Qxg7+ Rf6 23. h3 $1 {If Black takes, then 24.f4+ forces Black's king from the defense of the f6-rook.} Nd7 24. Be8 $1 gxh3 25. Bxd7 Bxd7 26. g4 $1 (26. f4+ $2 Kd6 $1 27. Qxf6 hxg2 $11) 26... Rg8 27. Qxg8 h2+ 28. Kxh2 Rxf2+ 29. Kg3 Rxc2 30. Qb8+ Kd5 31. Qxb7+ Kd6 32. Qb8+ Ke7 33. g5 $18 {White's g-pawn will win more material, and there won't be any fortresses for Black with a rook and pawn against the lone white queen.}) 16... Qc6 $2 {Now Black's position collapses as if eaten away by exploding termites.} (16... Nxd3 $1 17. Rxd5 Nxb4 18. Rd8 $1 Nc6 $1 19. Rxf8+ Kxf8 20. Ne5 $1 Ke8 $1 $16 {White retains some advantage thanks to her initiative, but Black stays in the game and is doing fine as far as material goes.}) 17. Rg4 Nxd3 $2 {Either an extraordinary oversight, or else a plea to be put out her misery. Let's split the difference and give it a single question mark, just in case it was a case of opponent-assisted suicide.} (17... f5 {would still force White to prove something.} 18. Qxh6 fxg4 19. Rg5 Rf7 20. Qh7+ Kf8 21. Ne5 Qc7 (21... Qa4 22. Ng6+ Ke8 23. Qg8+ Kd7 24. Qxf7+ $18) 22. Ng6+ Ke8 23. Bb5+) (17... Kh8 {also forces White to make a good move or two to force an immediate win.} 18. Reg5 $1 {The cleanest (and most appealing) of White's winning moves.} e5 (18... hxg5 19. Qxg5 g6 20. Qh6+ Kg8 21. Rh4 {mates next move.}) 19. Rxg7 Bxg4 20. Rh7+ Kg8 21. Rxh6 f6 (21... Nxd3 22. Qg5+ Qg6 23. Rxg6+ fxg6 24. Qxg6+ Kh8 25. Qh6+ Kg8 26. Qg5+ Kf7 (26... Kh7 $2 27. Qh4+ $18) 27. Qxg4 $18) 22. Rh8+ $1 Kf7 (22... Kxh8 23. Qh6+ Kg8 24. Qh7#) 23. Rh7+ Kg8 (23... Ke8 24. Bg6+ $18) 24. Qh6 Ne6 25. Qg6+ Ng7 26. Qxg7#) 18. Qxh6 g6 19. Rxg6+ {While moving either rook to the h-file mates a move faster, experienced players have seen versions of this combination so many hundreds of times it's difficult to stop and look for alternatives.} (19. Rh5 {mates next move, as does}) (19. Rh4 {.}) 19... fxg6 20. Qxg6+ (20. Qxg6+ Kh8 21. Rh5#) 1-0 [Event "4th Cairns Cup 2024"] [Site "Saint Louis USA"] [Date "2024.06.17"] [Round "5.2"] [White "Krush, Irina"] [Black "Kosteniuk, Alexandra"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [ECO "E49"] [WhiteElo "2415"] [BlackElo "2501"] [Annotator "Monokroussos,Dennis"] [PlyCount "96"] [GameId "502349800486"] [EventDate "2024.06.13"] [EventType "tourn"] [EventRounds "9"] [EventCountry "USA"] [EventCategory "9"] [SourceTitle "The Week in Chess 1545"] [Source "Mark Crowther"] [SourceDate "2024.06.17"] [SourceVersion "1"] [SourceVersionDate "2024.06.17"] [SourceQuality "2"] 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. e3 O-O 5. Bd3 d5 6. a3 Bxc3+ 7. bxc3 dxc4 8. Bxc4 c5 9. Ne2 Qc7 10. Ba2 b6 11. Bb2 Ba6 12. c4 cxd4 13. Nxd4 Nc6 14. Nb5 Qe7 15. O-O Rac8 16. Qe2 Bb7 17. a4 Ne4 18. Qg4 f5 19. Qe2 Nc5 20. Bb1 Rfd8 21. Bc2 Nb4 22. f3 Nxc2 23. Qxc2 a6 24. Nd4 Nd7 25. Qb3 Qf7 26. Rfd1 e5 27. Ne2 Rxc4 $2 {Either an oversight or a serious misassessment.} (27... a5 $11) (27... Qg6 $11) 28. Qxb6 $1 $16 Rb8 29. Qd6 Bc6 30. Bxe5 Rc8 31. Bf4 (31. Bc3 $1) 31... Bxa4 $14 32. Rd2 Bb5 33. Nd4 Rc1+ (33... Nf8 $1) 34. Rxc1 Rxc1+ 35. Kf2 Nf8 36. Nxb5 (36. Qd8 $1) (36. Qe5 $1) 36... axb5 37. Qb8 Qc4 $2 (37... Qf6 38. Qxb5 h5 $14 {With all the pawns on one flank and White's king not wholly safe, Black should draw despite her slight material deficit.}) 38. Rd8 $18 Rc2+ 39. Kg3 Qf7 40. h4 (40. Qxb5) 40... h6 41. Kh3 Rc1 {The key moment: White to move and win.} 42. Bd6 $2 {The obvious move, but it fails. I was able to quickly calculate the problem with this and I'm sure Krush managed to as well, but she probably didn't manage to find anything better.} (42. Kh2 $2 {occurred to me, but it also fails, in this case to} Qf6 $1 43. Bg3 Rc4 $1 $14 {and although it's not a clear-cut draw, Black is no longer losing.}) (42. Qd6 $1 {was the way to win, keeping Black's queen restricted. The pin on f8 will eventually prove terminal as long as Black has no tricks, and that's what this is about. If Black temporizes, White will play something like Be5-b2-a3 or Be5-d4-c5 or take whatever other route is available to the bishop to safely reach the a3-f8 diagonal.} Rh1+ 43. Kg3 Ra1 44. Be5 Ra7 45. Bd4 Re7 {Just in time to prevent an immediate loss after Bc5, but White can trump this defensive idea:} (45... Rd7 46. Rxf8+ $18) 46. Rc8 $1 (46. Bc5 $2 Re8 $14) 46... b4 (46... Re8 47. Rc7 $18) 47. Qb8 $1 {Taking ...Re8 ideas off the table for good. Now Bc5 is coming, and Black has no (good) defense.} b3 48. Bc5 $18) 42... Rh1+ 43. Kg3 f4+ $1 44. exf4 (44. Bxf4 Qf6 $1 {This threatens 45...Qxh4#, leaving White with nothing better than the exchange sac} 45. Rxf8+ Qxf8 46. Qxb5 $11) 44... Qg6+ 45. Kf2 Qc2+ 46. Kg3 Qg6+ 47. Kf2 Qc2+ 48. Kg3 Qg6+ 1/2-1/2