BATUMI CHESS OLYMPIAD 2018 ROUND 11 – KOSTENIUK vs JU

Ukraine came so close to winning the Gold medal at the 2018 Chess Olympiad. But in the end it all came down to the last game to finish that decided the champion. Board one on table one was Kosteniuk vs Ju. The Chinese player converted with Black to give her team the crown. The game was not without controversy when the Russians clamed a threefold repetition that was in fact only twofold – details in the game below.

This game is from round 11 of the 2018 Batumi Chess Olympiad. It features Alexandra Kosteniuk with White against Wenjun Ju with Black.

Today’s game features a Petroff Defence.

Kosteniuk,Alexandra (2559) - Ju,Wenjun (2561)

43rd Olympiad Batumi 2018 Women Batumi (11.1), 05.10.2018

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.Nxe5 d6 4.Nf3 Nxe4 5.d4 d5 6.Bd3 Bf5 7.0–0 C42: Petroff Defence: 3 Nxe5 and unusual White 3rd moves [7.c4 c6 8.0–0 Be7 9.Qc2 0–0 10.Ne5 Bd6 11.a3 Na6 12.b4 Qh4 13.Nc3 Rae8 14.cxd5 Nxc3 15.Bxf5 Bxe5 16.dxe5 Nxd5 17.g3 Qh5 18.Bb2 f6 19.exf6 Nxf6 20.Rae1 Nc7 21.h4 Ncd5 Areshchenko,A (2570)-Mamedyarov,S (2657)/Moscow 2005/CBM 106/1–0] 

7...Be7 

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8.Nbd2N [8.Bf4 Nc6 (8...0–0 9.c3 Nc6 10.Re1 Nd6 11.Bxf5 Nxf5 12.Qd3 Nd6 13.Nbd2 Qd7 14.Ne5 Nxe5 15.Rxe5 c6 16.Rae1 Rfe8 17.R5e2 Bf6 18.Bxd6 Rxe2 19.Qxe2 Rf8 20.Bxf8 Kxf8 21.Nb3 b6 22.Nc1 Qe7 23.Qxe7+ Jasik,K-Simons,R/Duisburg 1992/TD/1–0 (39)) 9.Re1 0–0 10.Nbd2 ½–½ Velicka,P (2442)-Campos Gambuti,L (2453)/Albacete 2003/CBM 096 ext; 8.Re1 Bg6 9.c4 Nf6 10.Nc3 Bxd3 11.Qxd3 dxc4 12.Qe2 h6 13.Bf4 Nbd7 14.Nb5 Kf8 15.Bxc7 Qe8 16.Qxc4 Kg8 17.Bd6 Bxd6 18.Rxe8+ Nxe8 19.Re1 Kh7 20.Rxe8 Bxh2+ 21.Kxh2 1–0 Klein,G (2000)-Bykovski,S (1827)/Moehnesee 2005/CBM 108 ext] 

8...Nd6 9.Nb3 0–0 Black castles and improves king safety 

10.Bf4 Bxd3 11.Qxd3 White has an active position 

11...Nd7 12.Rfe1 Ne4 13.c4 Bd6 Black threatens to win material: Bd6xf4 

14.Be5 

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14...dxc4 [Less advisable is 14...Nxe5 15.dxe5 (15.Nxe5?! Qh4 16.g3 Qh3²) 15...Bc5 16.Nxc5 Nxc5 17.Qd4±] 

15.Qxe4 cxb3 16.Qxb7 bxa2 17.Bxd6 cxd6 18.Rxa2 a5 19.h3 h6 Prevents intrusion on g5 

20.Re3 Nf6 21.Rea3 Re8 22.Qb5 Qc7 23.Rc3 White threatens to win material: Rc3xc7 

23...Qb8 Black threatens to win material: Qb8xb5 

24.Rb3 Qc8 25.Rc3 White threatens to win material: Rc3xc8 

25...Qe6 26.Rxa5 Rxa5 27.Qxa5 White has a new passed pawn: b2 

27...Qe2 Black threatens to win material: Qe2xb2 

28.Qa4 Qxb2 29.Qc2 Qa1+ 30.Qc1 Qa8 31.Rc6 Ne4 32.Qc2 Qb7 33.Rc7 Qd5 34.Rc8 Rxc8 35.Qxc8+ Kh7 36.Qc2 g6 37.Nd2 Ng5 38.Qc4 Qf5 39.Qe2 Kg7 40.Qe3 Qd5 41.h4 White threatens to win material: h4xg5 

41...Ne6 

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Exerts pressure on the isolated pawn on e4 

42.Nf3 g5 43.hxg5 hxg5 44.Kh2 Kg6 45.Qd3+ Qf5 46.Qc3 Qe4 47.Qc8 Kf6 48.Qh8+ Ke7 49.Qh5 Qf5 50.Kg1 Qb1+ 51.Kh2 Qe4 52.Kg1 f6 Covers e5 

53.Qh8 g4 54.Nh2 f5 55.Qh7+ Kd8 56.Nf1 

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56...Nxd4 [Not 56...Qxd4 57.Qxf5 Qe5 58.Qxe5 dxe5 59.Kh2²] 

57.Ne3 Kc8 58.Qg8+ Kd7 59.Qf7+ Qe7 Black threatens to win material: Qe7xf7 

60.Qd5 White threatens to win material: Qd5xd4 

60...Qe5 61.Qb7+ Ke6 62.Qc8+ Kf7 63.Qc4+ Ne6 64.g3 Kg6 65.Qc8 Nd4 66.Qg8+ Qg7 67.Qe8+ Qf7 68.Qc8 Nf3+ 69.Kg2 Ng5 70.Kf1 Qe6 Black threatens to win material: Qe6xc8 

71.Qd8 

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71...Nf3 A beautiful square! 

72.Qb8? [¹72.Qa8!?³ would keep White in the game] 

72...d5µ 73.Kg2 d4 74.Nc2 d3 75.Ne3 d2 76.Qd8 Kf7 77.Qc7+ Kf6 78.Qd8+ Kf7 79.Qc7+ Ke8 80.Qb8+ Kd7 81.Qb7+ Kd6 82.Qb6+ Ke7 83.Qc7+ 

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83...Kf6 Twofold repetition 

84.Qd8+ Kg6 85.Nd5?? a blunder in a bad position [85.Kf1 Qa6+ 86.Kg2 Qb7 87.Qg8+ Qg7 88.Qe6+ Qf6 89.Qg8+ Kh6³] 

85...Qf7 [¹85...Ne1+ and Black has prevailed 86.Kh2 Kg7 87.Qg5+ Kf7 88.Qh5+ Qg6 89.Qxg6+ Kxg6–+] 

86.Qd6+ 

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86...Kg7 [¹86...Kh7 87.Nf6+ Kg7–+] 

87.Nf4?? further deteriorates the position [¹87.Ne3µ] 

87...Kh7–+ 88.Ne6 [88.Qd8 cannot undo what has already been done 88...Qb7 89.Nd5 d1Q 90.Nf6+ Kg6 91.Qxd1 Kxf6–+] 

88...d1Q! Deflection: d1.  

89.Nf8+ [89.Qxd1 Qxe6 Deflection; 89.-- Qg1# Mate threat] 

89...Kg8 90.Qxd1 Kxf8 91.Qa1 Kg8 92.Qa8+ Kh7 93.Qa5 Ng5 94.Qb5 Kg6 95.Qc6+ Qe6 [95...Qe6 96.Qc5 Qe4+ 97.Kf1 Nf3 98.Qd6+ Kh5–+]  0–1