BATSIASHVILI vs ZHAI – FIDE WOMENS WORLD CHESS CHAMPIONSHIP 2018 ROUND 2

Nino Batsiashvili

This game is from round 2 of the 2018 FIDE Women’s World Chess Championship. It is between Nino Batsiashvili with White against Mo Zhai with Black.

This game features a Reti Opening. To learn more about the Reti Opening, here is the best instruction book I could find on Amazon.

Batsiashvili,Nino (2465) - Zhai,Mo (2352)

FIDE WCC 2018 Khanty-Mansiysk (2.2), 07.11.2018

1.Nf3 d5 2.e3 Nf6 3.c4 dxc4 4.Bxc4 e6 5.0–0 [5.b3 c5 6.Bb2 Nc6 7.a3 Be7 8.Qc2 Bd7 9.Be2 h6 10.0–0 0–0 11.d3 b6 12.Nbd2 Qb8 13.Rac1 Rc8 14.Nc4 Be8 15.Qb1 b5 16.Nce5 a5 17.Bd1 Ra6 18.Qa1 Rd8 19.Bc2 Qb7 Krasenkow,M (2702)-Rausis,I (2551)/Germany 2000/CBM 082 ext/½–½] 

5...a6 A09: Réti Opening: 1 Nf3 d5 2 c4

XABCDEFGHY
8rsnlwqkvl-tr(
7+pzp-+pzpp'
6p+-+psn-+&
5+-+-+-+-%
4-+L+-+-+$
3+-+-zPN+-#
2PzP-zP-zPPzP"
1tRNvLQ+RmK-!
xabcdefghy

6.b3 [6.Qe2 c5 7.Rd1 b5 8.Bb3 Bb7 9.a4 b4 10.d3 Nc6 11.Nbd2 Qc7 12.Nc4 Ng4 13.g3 Nge5 14.Nfxe5 Nxe5 15.Nxe5 Qxe5 16.e4 Rc8 17.Bc4 Be7 18.f4 Qc7 19.Rf1 Bf6 20.f5 e5 Tomashevsky,E (2624)-Ganguly,S (2571)/Moscow 2007/CBM 117/1–0] 

6...b5N Black threatens to win material: b5xc4 [6...Be7 7.Bb2 c5 8.d4 cxd4 9.Nxd4 ½–½ Hegde,R (2397)-Deshmukh,A (2430)/Nagpur 1999/CBM 069 ext] 

7.Be2 Bb7 

XABCDEFGHY
8rsn-wqkvl-tr(
7+lzp-+pzpp'
6p+-+psn-+&
5+p+-+-+-%
4-+-+-+-+$
3+P+-zPN+-#
2P+-zPLzPPzP"
1tRNvLQ+RmK-!
xabcdefghy

8.a4 White threatens to win material: a4xb5 

8...b4 Black has a new backward pawn: c7 

9.Bb2 c5 10.Ne5 Be7 11.d3 Secures e4 

11...0–0 12.Nd2 Nbd7 13.f4 

XABCDEFGHY
8r+-wq-trk+(
7+l+nvlpzpp'
6p+-+psn-+&
5+-zp-sN-+-%
4Pzp-+-zP-+$
3+P+PzP-+-#
2-vL-sNL+PzP"
1tR-+Q+RmK-!
xabcdefghy

13...Nd5 Black threatens to win material: Nd5xe3 

14.Ndc4 A valuable piece 

14...Nxe5 

XABCDEFGHY
8r+-wq-trk+(
7+l+-vlpzpp'
6p+-+p+-+&
5+-zpnsn-+-%
4PzpN+-zP-+$
3+P+PzP-+-#
2-vL-+L+PzP"
1tR-+Q+RmK-!
xabcdefghy

15.fxe5 White has new doubled pawns: e3+e5 

15...Bg5 Black threatens to win material: Bg5xe3 

16.Qd2 a5 17.Rae1 Ba6 18.Rf3 Rb8 19.Rc1 Bh6 20.Rg3 Qh4 

XABCDEFGHY
8-tr-+-trk+(
7+-+-+pzpp'
6l+-+p+-vl&
5zp-zpnzP-+-%
4PzpN+-+-wq$
3+P+PzP-tR-#
2-vL-wQL+PzP"
1+-tR-+-mK-!
xabcdefghy

21.Bf1?? releasing the pressure on the opponent [¹21.Kh1² would save the game] 

21...Bxc4–+ 22.Rxc4 

XABCDEFGHY
8-tr-+-trk+(
7+-+-+pzpp'
6-+-+p+-vl&
5zp-zpnzP-+-%
4PzpR+-+-wq$
3+P+PzP-tR-#
2-vL-wQ-+PzP"
1+-+-+LmK-!
xabcdefghy

22...Qxg3!! Decoy: f2 

23.hxg3 Bxe3+ 24.Qxe3 [24.Qf2 Bxf2+ 25.Kxf2 Rfd8–+] 

24...Nxe3 25.Rxc5 [25.Re4 a fruitless try to alter the course of the game 25...Nxf1 26.Kxf1 Rfd8–+] 

25...Rbc8 [¹25...Rfd8!? makes it even easier for Black 26.Be2 Rbc8 27.Rxc8 Rxc8 28.Kf2–+] 

26.Rxa5 Rfd8 27.Rb5 Nd1 28.Ba1 Rc1 29.Bd4 f6 30.Ba7 Ra8 31.Bb6 [31.Bd4 Nc3 32.Rc5 Rb1 33.Bxc3 bxc3 34.Rxc3 fxe5–+] 

31...Rf8 [31...Nc3!? might be the shorter path 32.Ra5 Rxa5 33.Bxa5–+] 

32.Bc5 Rc8 33.Ba7 Ra8 34.Bb6 Nc3 35.Rxb4 [35.Be3 does not solve anything 35...Rb1 (‹35...Nxb5 36.Bxc1 Nd4 37.Bd2–+) 36.Rb7 fxe5–+] 

35...Nd5 36.Rb5 Nxb6 37.Rxb6 fxe5 38.g4 [38.Kf2 is no salvation 38...Rf8+ 39.Ke3 Rcxf1–+] 

38...Rf8 39.a5 Rfxf1+ 40.Kh2 Ra1 41.a6 Rf2 42.b4 [42.Rxe6 hardly improves anything 42...Rfa2–+] 

42...Raa2 43.Kh3 Rxg2 44.Rxe6 Rgd2 45.Kh4 Rxd3 46.Kg5 [46.Rxe5 Rh2+ 47.Kg5 Rf2 48.Kh4 h6 49.g5 Rf4+ 50.Kh5 Kf7 51.gxh6 g6+ 52.Kg5 Rxb4 53.Re7+ Kxe7 54.Kxg6 Rd6+ 55.Kf5 Rxa6 56.h7 Ra5+ 57.Kg6 Rb6+ 58.Kg7 Rg5+ 59.Kh8 Rb8#] 

46...Rf3 47.Rb6 [47.Rc6–+ is the last straw] 

47...Rf6! Decoy: f6 

48.Rb8+ [48.Rxf6 h6+ Double attack(48...h6+ Decoy) ] 

48...Rf8 49.Rb6 h6+ 50.Kh4 Rf6 51.Rb8+ [51.Rxf6 otherwise it's curtains at once 51...gxf6 52.b5–+] 

51...Kh7 52.b5 [52.Rg8 cannot change destiny 52...Kxg8 53.a7 g5+ 54.Kg3 e4 55.a8Q+ Rxa8 56.Kh2 Ra2+ 57.Kg1 Rc6 58.b5 Rc1#] 

52...Rf3 53.g5 [53.Rh8+ does not improve anything 53...Kg6 54.Rxh6+ gxh6 55.a7 Rh2#] 

53...Ra4+ [53...Ra4+ 54.Kh5 g6#]  0–1