2009 US Women's Ch. (5) |
2009 US Women's Ch. (5) |
An unusual system against the King's Indian. Krush did not want to walk into Zenyuk's prep, so she decides to leave the main paths early, and try to fight for an edge in the middlegame.
3... Bg7 4. Bf4
Black can also play 5...d6, and if white chooses 6.e4, the game has more of a Pirc feel.
Usually black refrains from moving the c8 bishop, until the c pawn and knight have moved. Now Krush thinks she should have played 7.Qb3, so her queen is active, and Zenyuk's queen would be passive on c8.
7. h3 Nbd7 8. Be2 c5 9.
In the commentary room, Krush was not happy with her play up to this point, and felt, as did Jen and I, that black had easily equalized.
I like this repositioning of the knight to d6. Black also has chances to play e5 later.
Here I expected 14...cxd4, but both players felt 14...c4 was the way to go. As usual, Rybka does not agree with me.
I expected this move, because I thought white wanted to play e4 ASAP. Of course, both players looked at the more "aggressive" 15.Nc5. Krush thought black *might* sacrifice the exchange with 15...Rxc5!?, but, Zenyuk said she would have played 15...Rdd8, which seems quite stable.
I did not understand this move when doing live commentary, and when Krush came into the commentary room, she said it was terrible. She had some variation in mind, where white plays b3 and e4, and the there were sacrifices on d4 and Bf4 was loose. But, clearly, 16.Bg3 is too slow.
16... Qc6! 17. Bf3 Ne4 18. Nxe4 dxe4 19. Be2 b5 20. Qc2 Be6?!
Krush thought this was unnecessary, and, during the live commentary, I was also puzzled by this move. Black should get to business on the queenside, with something like 20...a5 or 20... Rb7.
Zenyuk simply overlooked Krush's powerful 23rd move. Best is 21...a6 with equality.
Krush must have had an easy time finding this move, after a similar unusual b pawn move played against her by Zatonskih!
23... cxb3!
The only chance. Black has too many weak pawns otherwise. Now a tactical melee ensues, and the time trouble simply added to the tension.
24. Bxb5 bxc2 25. Ba6 Rb1 26. Bxc8 Ba2!!
This is what Zenyuk was counting on when playing 23...cxb3
27. Raxb1! cxb1=Q 28. Rxb1 Bxb1 29. c4
White is clearly better, but both players have less then one minute to get to move 40!
29... e5!?
Zenyuk needs counterplay, otherwise the two connected pawns are too strong. Also interesting was 29...a5.
Krush misses a nice idea with... 31. d6! Bxc4 (31... Bf8 32. c5
)
32. Bh4!!
31... f6 32. d6 Kf7 33. c5 Bf8 34. f4! exf3 35. gxf3 Ke6
Black should have played 35. ..Bd5. With the clock ticking down, so to speak, moving the king towards the passed pawns seems more natural.
36. Be1
36. e4!
In time trouble, Krush missed 37.d7 Be7 38.Ba5! winning. She simply did not think about a5 as a square for the bishop.
37... Kc6! 38. Kf2 Be6 39. h4 f5 40. Ba3 h6
The players make the time control, both with less than 20 seconds. Now Krush goes into a long think, but, the win has slipped away.
White wanted to play 42.Bc2 and 43.Ba4+. If black counters with 43...Kb5, as in the game, then the Bf8 would be loose after 44. c6! Kxc6 45.d7! threatening the Bf8 and to simply promote with 46.d8. So, Zenyuk makes her bishop safe. With the possibilities of passed pawns on both sides and an active Kc6, Krush decides a draw is the right result, and the game ends in repetition. A very exciting game for the spectators, and the commentators as well.
42. Bc2 Kb5 43. Bd3+ Kc6 44. Bc2 Kb5 45. Bd3+ Kc6 1/2-1/2 [Finegold B. IM]
Krush I.
Game(s) in PGN