US WOMEN’S CHESS CHAMPIONSHIP 2018 ROUND 11

The women’s championship will be going to playoffs thanks to a dramatic final round. Paikidze was choosing moves based on what was happening in Wang’s game. While Wang was pressing the advantage of her promising attack, Paikidze was creating complications on her board.

Then the young tournament leader stumbled for the first time in two weeks making a game losing blunder. When Wang was resigning, Paikidze was completely ignoring her own game and had turned to wait for the confirmation of the loss. The moment that the loss registered on the score board, she turned to IM Rusa Goletiani and offered a draw in their unclear position. Goletiani accepted the draw – giving us playoffs on Monday afternoon.

Krush,Irina (2422) - Yu,Jennifer (2367)

US-ch Women 2018 Saint Louis (11), 29.04.2018

1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 c6 4.e3 Nf6 5.Nbd2 Nbd7 6.Bd3 Bd6 7.0–0 0–0 8.b3 b6 D30: Queen's Gambit Declined: Systems without Nc3 

9.Bb2 Bb7 10.Ne5 [10.Qe2 c5 11.Rad1 Ne4 12.cxd5 exd5 13.Ba6 Bxa6 14.Qxa6 Re8 15.dxc5 Ndxc5 16.Qe2 Rc8 17.Rc1 Bf8 18.Rfd1 Qe7 1/2–1/2 (45) Radjabov,T (2710)-Ding,L (2773) Moscow 2017] 

10...Rc8 11.f4 c5 12.Nxd7 Qxd7 [12...Nxd7= 13.Qg4 (13.cxd5 exd5 14.Qf3 c4=) 13...Nf6] 

13.dxc5!² 

XABCDEFGHY
8-+r+-trk+(
7zpl+q+pzpp'
6-zp-vlpsn-+&
5+-zPp+-+-%
4-+P+-zP-+$
3+P+LzP-+-#
2PvL-sN-+PzP"
1tR-+Q+RmK-!
xabcdefghy

13...Be7N [Of course not 13...Bxc5?! 14.Bxf6 gxf6 15.Qg4+ Kh8 16.Qh4+-; or: 13...Bxc5 14.Bxf6 dxc4 15.Bxh7+ 1–0 (40) Stojanovski,S (2277)-Andersen,S (2111) Ballerup 2017] 

14.cxb6 axb6 15.Qe2 g6 16.Bd4 Qd6 17.Rfd1 Nd7 18.cxd5 Bxd5 19.Nc4 Qb8 20.Ne5 Nxe5 21.Bxe5 Qa8 22.Bd4 Qa5 23.Rac1 Bb7 24.Rxc8 Rxc8 25.Bc4 Ba3 26.Qg4 [26.Ba1±] 

26...Re8 [26...Bc5²] 

27.h3± Be4 28.Kh2 h5 29.Qe2 Rc8 30.Be5 Qa8 [30...b5± was called for.] 

31.Qf2 Qb7 

XABCDEFGHY
8-+r+-+k+(
7+q+-+p+-'
6-zp-+p+p+&
5+-+-vL-+p%
4-+L+lzP-+$
3vlP+-zP-+P#
2P+-+-wQPmK"
1+-+R+-+-!
xabcdefghy

32.Bb5 Rd7 is the strong threat. 

32...Rc2 33.Rd2 Rxd2 34.Qxd2 White wants to mate with Qd8+. 

34...Qd5 35.Qxd5 exd5 Endgame KBB-KBB 

36.Bd4 Bb1 37.Bxb6 [White should try 37.Bc6± ] 

37...Bxa2² 38.Ba4 Kf8 39.Bd4 Ke7 40.g3 [Better is 40.Bc3± ] 

40...Bb4= 41.Kg2 Bb1 42.g4 hxg4 43.hxg4 Bd3 44.Kf2 Ke6 45.Be5 Ke7 46.Bc6  ½–½