US WOMEN’S CHESS CHAMPIONSHIP 2018 ROUND 9

Among the women in round 9, four of the six games were decisive – keeping the tournament average of 65% intact.

WIM Annie Wang drew her game with Black against Paikidze to maintain a full point lead over the only player who can realistically still challenge for the title.

GM Irina Krush rebounded from her shock loss to Wang in round 8 by beating Abrahamyan to join two other ladies 2 full points off the lead. But with only two rounds remaining, the chances of Krush adding an eighth title to her collection are virtually zero.

Paikidze,Nazi (2352) - Wang,Annie (2321)

US-ch Women 2018 Saint Louis (9), 27.04.2018

1.c4 e6 2.Nc3 d5 3.d4 Be7 4.cxd5 exd5 5.Bf4 Nf6 6.e3 0–0 7.Bd3 c6 8.Qc2 Nbd7 9.Nf3 Re8 10.h3 Nf8 11.0–0–0 Qa5 D35: Queen's Gambit Declined: Exchange Variation [11...Bb4 12.Kb1 Ng6 13.Bh2 Qa5 14.Rc1 Ne4 15.Bxe4 dxe4 16.Nd2 Bxc3 17.bxc3 Qf5 18.Nc4 Qb5+ 19.Qb3 0–1 (63) Vishnu,P (2518)-Ni,H (2697) Gibraltar 2016] 

12.Kb1 Bb4 13.Rc1 Ne4 14.Bxe4 [14.Nxe4? dxe4 15.Bxe4 Rxe4!–+] 

14...dxe4 

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15.Nd2 [Don't blunder 15.Nxe4? Rxe4! 16.Bc7 (16.Qxe4? too greedy. 16...Bf5–+) 16...Qd5–+] 

15...Be6N [15...Bxc3 16.Qxc3 Qd5 17.Nc4 Be6 18.Qa5 Ng6 19.Qxd5 Bxd5 20.Bd6 1/2–1/2 (20) Malisauskas,V (2459)-Zagorskis,D (2482) Vilnius 2013] 

16.Nb3 [Better is 16.Ndxe4² Rad8 17.g4] 

16...Qd8= 17.Rhd1 Bxc3 18.Qxc3 Qb6 19.Na5 Nd7 20.b3 Qa6 21.Qb4 Nb6 22.Bg3 Rad8 23.Rc5 Rd7 Hoping for ...Nd5. 

24.Qd2 Bd5 25.Qe1 Nc8 26.Rc2 Nb6 27.Rc5 Nc8 28.Rc2 Nb6 29.Rc5 Nc8 30.Rc2  ½–½

Krush,Irina (2422) - Abrahamyan,Tatev (2366)

US-ch Women 2018 Saint Louis (9), 27.04.2018

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.e3 0–0 5.Nf3 d5 6.Bd2 b6 7.Rc1 E51: Nimzo-Indian: Rubinstein: 4...0–0 5 Nf3 d5 

7...Ba6 [7...Be7 8.cxd5 exd5 9.Be2 c5 10.0–0 Bb7 11.Be1 Nbd7 12.Ne5 Nxe5 13.dxe5 Ne4 14.f4 Nxc3 15.Bxc3 1/2–1/2 (23) Riazantsev,A (2650)-Leko,P (2691) Riadh 2017] 

8.Qa4 Be7 9.cxd5 The position is equal. 

9...Bxf1 10.Kxf1 Hoping for dxe6. 

10...exd5 11.g3 

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11...c5N [11...c6 12.Kg2 Re8 13.Qc2 a5 14.e4 dxe4 15.Nxe4 Nxe4 16.Qxe4 Bb4 17.Qd3 Bxd2 18.Qxd2 Qd5 19.b3 Nd7 20.Rhe1 h6 21.Qc3 c5 1/2–1/2 (21) Concha,H (2271)-Van Enk,S (2286) ICCF email 2011] 

12.Kg2 Nbd7 13.Rhd1 a6 14.dxc5 Nxc5 15.Qd4 Qd6 16.Ne2 Rfe8 17.Bc3 Rad8 18.Nf4 Bf8 19.Qb4 Nce4 20.Qxd6 Rxd6 21.Bxf6 Nxf6 22.Rc7 h6 23.Rdc1 g5 24.Ne2 Ne4 25.g4 h5 26.h3 [¹26.gxh5 g4 27.Nfd4] 

26...hxg4± 27.hxg4 Nf6 28.Nxg5 Nxg4 Threatening ...Rg6. 

29.R1c6 [Inferior is 29.Rxf7 Rg6µ] 

29...Rxc6 30.Rxc6 Re5 [30...Bc5± was necessary.] 

31.Nf3+- Re6 32.Rxe6 fxe6± Endgame KBN-KNN 

33.Nf4 Bg7 34.b3 Kf7 35.Ng5+ Ke7 36.Ngxe6 Be5 37.Kf3 Nf6 38.Ng5 Bb2 39.Ke2 Kd6 40.Nd3 Bc3 41.f4 b5 42.Kf3 a5 43.f5 Bd2 [43...a4±] 

44.Ne6+- Ne4 45.Nd4 b4 46.Kf4! Nc3? 

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[46...Bc3 47.Nb5+ Kc6] 

47.f6 White is clearly winning. 

47...Nd1 48.Nf5+ Ke6 49.Kg5 Nxe3 50.Nf4+  1–0