2009 US Women's Ch. (2) |
2009 US Women's Ch. (2) |
1. Nf3 d5 2. g3 c6 3. Bg2 Nf6 4. c4
Irina said she had not fully prepared for 4.c4. Krush expected some kind of Reti, but was not sure what move order Rusa would try. The text move is aggressive, and a good choice, especially as a surprise.
4... Bg4 5. Ne5 Bf5 6. cxd5 cxd5 7. Nc3
Black has to be careful of three things: (1) Her d pawn can be attacked, (2) her b pawn can be attacked and (3) the bishop on f5 can get pushed around with a later g4! Rusa tries to execute these ideas, but, especially the third one!
7... Nbd7?!
The least common move played in this variation. More common are 7...Nc6 or 7...e6. Now Goletiani goes for the throat!
8. Qa4!
The strongest and most aggressive continuation! White must be quick to punish the unusual Nbd7 before black gets to complete her development with e6, Bd6, 0-0, etc... Black must now defend d5... so...
Surprisingly, I have 74 games in my database in this position, with white scoring very heavily. To her credit, Krush defends well, and makes the most principled move.
During the live commentary, I was thinking white was doing quite well. But, I also thought white must keep up the aggression, or, eventually, black will complete development, and have a reasonable game. Rusa and Irina both thought white was better here, but, as Goletiani acknowledged after the game, white is not doing as well as she thought. Rusa was quite confident here that her position was close to winning, but could not find the knockout blow.
12. Qc2
I thought this was an odd move during the game, but, it turns out to be the most common continuation! White scores over 70% with 12.g5 hxg5 13.hxg5 Rxh1 14.Bxh1. Rusa saw this variation, but thought the g5 pawn might be too loose after 14...Nh7. During the live commentary, I thought 12.Qc2 was a bit strange. Somehow, I thought the black king was better on f7 then e8! Castling has not been a top priority for many of the players this event!
During the game, one of the live spectators suggested 13.h5. I did not like this move due to 13..g5 closing up the kingside. In fact, 13.h5 is the most common move (!), but, black scores quite well! Goletiani's 13.d4 is best.
13... Bb4 14. g5 hxg5 15. Bxg5
Krush was more worried about 15.hxg5. I expected Rusa's play with Bxg5, Rh3, etc. Krush defends well, and it seems she may have been right about 15.Bxg5 being somewhat innocuous.
15... Qa5
A novelty. Gareev won a nice game in 2007 when he faced 15...Rc8. I thought black's counterplay on the queenside this game was excellent. Krush plays very aggressively in the counter-attack and causes white all sorts of problems.
Krush was critical of this move, and thought Rusa should try 17.Bd2 instead. During the live commentary, I thought 17.Kf1 was normal, and I liked white's game. Perhaps Goletiani and I both underestimated black's counterplay.
I was shocked by this move, and expected 18.Qd3 breaking the pin. For once, Rybka agrees! This is too slow. Now black seizes the initiative, and white must think about getting equality.
18... Bd6!!
Jen and I almost fell out of our chairs after this move! Simply brilliant! It prevents white from playing Rg3 and, at the same time, prepares 19...b4. I have rarely seen a move which puts ones queen in the line of fire of the enemy bishop (d2), but concrete variations are more important than strategical dogma!
I expected 20.Nb5, although white probably thought this could be unsafe, with the knight having no flight squares. The text move is passive, but solid.
20... Qa4 21. Bg5 Qc2 22. Qa6 Qc6 23. Qxc6 Rxc6
Rybka thinks it is about equal, but, I was sure, during the game, that black was better. The white pieces are not well coordinated, and black's king is perfectly safe. After white's next, black gets the better rooks, with nice open files.
24. a3 bxa3 25. bxa3 Rb8 26. Rd3 Rc4 27. f3?
Weakening the dark squares to try to activate her game with e4. Better was 27.Nc3 and white is only slightly worse.
Better was 28...Nf4. Both sides were in time trouble after the titanic middlegame struggle.
29. Rd2?
Rusa should play 29.Ne3! and she can untangle. Now black is, once again, much better.
29... Rxd2 30. Bxd2 Rb3! 31. exd5 exd5 32. f4 Ndf6 33. Nc3 Bxf4 34. Be1 Ke6 35. Ra2 Kd6 36. a4 a6!
Controlling b5.
37. a5 Bg3 38. Bd2 Bxh4 39. Bf3 Bg3?
In time trouble, Irina misses 39...Ne4! 40.Bxe4 Ng3+! 
Finally time trouble is over! Black is much better, but, white has good drawing chances once again.
41. Ke1?!
Better was.. 41. Bxa6! Bxd2 42. Nb5+ Kd7 43. Rxd2 ..and white has good chances for a draw.
41... Ne4! 42. Nxe4+ dxe4 43. Bxf4+?! Nxf4 44. Bxa6 e3! 45. Kd1! Rb4 46. Kc1
46... Rxd4 47. Bb5 Kc5 48. Bf1 Rd7! 49. a6 Kb6!
Brilliant endgame play by Krush leaves her with an easily winning position. Now both players had less than 10 minutes to finish the game, and Rusa plays on to the bitter end. A great fight from two of the favorites.
50. Be2 Ka7 51. Rb2 g5 52. Ra2 g6 53. Rc2 Re7 54. Kd1 Rh7! 55. Bf3 Kxa6
55... g4!
56. Rc3 Re7 57. Rb3 Ka5 58. Ke1 Ka4 59. Rb6 e2 60. Rd6 Re3 61. Bc6+ Kb4 62. Bh1 Nd3+ 63. Rxd3 Rxd3 64. Kxe2 Rd4 65. Ke3 Rf4 66. Be4 Rf6 67. Bd5 Kc5 68. Be4 Kd6 69. Bd3 Ke5 70. Be2 Rf4 71. Bd3 g4 72. Be2 g3 73. Bf3 Kf5 74. Ke2 Rb4 75. Bc6 Kf4 76. Bd5 Rb2+ 77. Kf1 Ke3 78. Kg1 Rd2 79. Bc6 Kf4 80. Bb7 Rd7 81. Bc6 Re7 82. Bd5 Kg4 83. Kg2 Re2+ 84. Kf1 Rd2 85. Bg2 Rxg2 86. Kxg2 Kf4 87. Kg1 Kf3 88. Kf1 g2+ 89. Kg1 g5 90. Kh2 Kf2 91. Kh3 g4+
A great game by both players, who showed a great fighting spirit.
0-1 [Finegold B. IM]
Goletiani R.
Game(s) in PGN