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Here are the two strongest teams of the Womens' "Bundesliga":
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SC 1957 Bad Königshofen
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OSG Baden Baden
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Both teams had won all their matches in this season, with 18 match points after nine rounds. The decider was round ten, when the two leading teams played each other. There was only one draw, and Bad Königshofen won three games to Baden Baden's two. Here are the individual results:
| Baden Baden |
2½:3½
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Bad Königshofen |
| Muzychuk,Anna |
1:0
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Sebag,Marie Rachel |
| Cmilyte,Viktorija |
1:0
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Paehtz,Elisabeth |
| Muzychuk,Mariya |
½:½
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Gunina,Valentina |
| Zatonskih,Anna |
0:1
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Mkrtchian,Lilit |
| Kachiani-Gersinska,Ketevan |
0:1
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Girya,Olga |
| Moser,Eva |
0:1
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Tania,Sachdev |
With that Bad Königshofen had practically clinched the title. In the final round they beat SF Deizisau 5:1, while Baden Baden scored 4:2 in their match against SF 1891 Friedberg. Click here for all games of rounds ten and eleven. The final table showed a clear victory for SC 1957 Bad Königshofen, in match and board points:
| # | Team |
MP
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BP
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| 1. | SC 1957 Bad Königshofen |
22
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53
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| 2. | OSG Baden Baden |
20
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47½
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| 3. | SF 1891 Friedberg |
15
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34
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| 4. | Rodewischer Schachmiezen |
14
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40½
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| 5. | USV Volksbank Halle |
13
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35½
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| 6. | SK Großlehna |
11
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34½
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| 7. | Schachverein Mülheim Nord |
9
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32
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| 8. | SF Deizisau |
9
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30½
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| 9. | Hamburger SK von 1830 |
8
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33
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| 10. | BSV Weissblau Allianz Leipzig |
7
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24½
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| 11. | SK Lehrte |
4
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14
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| 12. | TSV Schott Mainz |
0
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17
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1.b3? Our friend IM Tania Sachdev, who kindly sent us her annotations of one
of the key games of round ten, was completely unprepared for this opening.
[Event "Women's Bundesliga"] [Site "?"] [Date "2014.03.29"] [Round "?"] [White "Moser, Eva"] [Black "Sachdev, Tania"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "A01"] [WhiteElo "2430"] [BlackElo "2423"] [Annotator "Sachdev,Tania"] [PlyCount "96"] {In the words on our captain Jurgen Mueller this was the most important match in the history of our club. We had had a good season so far beating all other teams and this was the final leg of the league. Though we had won all our matches we knew this was the weekend that really truly mattered. We had to play Baden Baden. They have been champions eight out of the last nine times, finishing second once. This season they too had won all there previous matches. Our team knew we had tough opponents, but all of us were ready to fight it out, and no matter what the result we were going to give it our best shot} 1. b3 {We had no time to prepare (which turned out for the better, as I would have never prepared for 1.b3 anyway!) as we only got to know the pairings about 15 minutes before the start of the game.} e5 2. Bb2 d6 3. e3 Nf6 4. g3 {[%csl Ge3,Gg3] I am not a fan of e3 and g3 so early on. Just looks weakening.} Bg4 {Immediately making use of White's pawn moves.} 5. f3 (5. Ne2 $6 Bf3) (5. Qc1 {Also doesn't help White's development.}) 5... Be6 {White's opening doesn't seem like its gone too well. I knew beforehand my opponent often got into time trouble, so I was aiming for a complicated middlegame, and I couldn't have asked for a better start.} 6. Nh3 Qd7 (6... h6 {Was probably better and at first what I had wanted to play. For some reason I decided to provoke White with Ng5, thinking it would lead to an interesting position. Interesting yes, but good? Not so sure!}) 7. Ng5 Bf5 8. e4 Bg6 9. Bh3 (9. Bg2 { Was better as White must come back to g2 anyway to vacate the h3 square for the knight. As for Black's queen it's better on e7 as it helps Black long castle without running into a pin on the h3-c8 diagonal.}) 9... Qe7 10. Bg2 Nc6 11. c4 {Against a d5 break, which was my idea after long castling} O-O-O 12. Nh3 h5 13. Nc3 Kb8 14. O-O (14. Nd5 Qd7 15. O-O Be7 {[%cal Gh5h4,Gf6h7,Gh7g5]}) 14... Qd7 15. Ne2 Nh7 16. d4 f5 17. d5 (17. dxe5 $6 dxe5 18. Qxd7 Rxd7 19. Rad1 Bc5+ 20. Kh1 Rxd1 21. Rxd1 fxe4 22. fxe4 Nf6 $17 {[%csl Ge4]}) 17... Ne7 18. f4 $5 (18. c5 $5 h4 19. Rc1 hxg3 20. Nxg3 (20. hxg3 fxe4 21. fxe4 Nf6 22. Nf2 Bh5 $13) 20... f4 21. Ne2 Bf7 {[%cal Gg7g4]}) 18... fxe4 19. fxe5 dxe5 20. Bxe5 Nf5 21. Nhf4 Bc5+ (21... Ne3 $2 {Doesn't work because of} 22. Qc1 Nxf1 23. Nxg6 Bc5+ 24. Bd4 $18) 22. Bd4 (22. Kh1 Bf7 (22... Ne3 {Still doesn't work.} 23. Qc1 Bf5 24. b4 $1 {With huge problems for black}) 23. Bh3 Ng5 24. Bxf5 Qxf5 25. Nd3 Nf3 26. Nxc5 Qxe5 27. Nxe4 Nxh2 (27... Qxe4 28. Nc3 $16) 28. Kxh2 Qxe4 29. Nc3 (29. Rxf7 h4 {with a winning attack.}) 29... Qg6 {I like Black here. White's king is exposed.}) 22... Nxd4 23. Nxd4 Bf5 24. b4 Bg4 (24... Bxd4+ $142 25. Qxd4 h4 26. Bxe4 Bxe4 27. Qxe4 hxg3 28. hxg3 Ng5 29. Qg2 Qg4 30. Rae1 Rde8 31. Rxe8+ Rxe8 {[%cal Ge8e3]}) 25. Qd2 Bxd4+ 26. Qxd4 Ng5 27. Bxe4 h4 {I was sure Black has huge compensation here. Also my opponent was very short on time, making it even more difficult.} 28. Bg2 (28. Ng6 $1 hxg3 29. Nxh8 (29. hxg3 $4 Qd6 30. Nf4 Qh6 $19) 29... Rxh8 30. Bg2 (30. hxg3 Qd6) 30... Be2 31. Qf4 $1 ( 31. Rf4 Nh3+ {Looks very dangerous.}) 31... gxh2+ 32. Kh1 Bxf1 33. Rxf1 $14 { [%csl Gg5][%cal Ga8h8]}) 28... hxg3 29. hxg3 Nh3+ 30. Bxh3 Bxh3 $15 {Due to White's weak king Black has more than compensation for a pawn.} 31. Rf3 Bf5 { [%csl Gg6][%cal Gg7g5,Gd7h7]} 32. Re1 g5 33. Ng2 Qh7 34. Qf6 $4 {White was in severe time trouble and this move loses immediately} Be4 (34... Bg4 {was even stronger, but Be4 is good enough!}) 35. Rxe4 Qxe4 {The rest is easy.} 36. d6 cxd6 37. Rf5 Qb1+ 38. Rf1 Qxb4 39. Qxg5 Qxc4 40. Rc1 Qxa2 41. Qe7 Qa5 42. g4 Qb6+ 43. Qe3 Qxe3+ 44. Nxe3 d5 45. Kf2 d4 46. Nf5 d3 47. Kg3 d2 48. Rd1 Rhe8 { Somewhere in the middle of my game out team was down 2.5-0.5. Soon after my win Olga Girya won a nice convincing game on her board, and we levelled the score. The only game and the decisive one remaining was Zatonskih-Mkrtchian. Lilit played a brilliant endgame and won after a long tough fight – and Bad Koenigshofen became the Women's Bundesliga Champion!} 0-1
IM Evi Moser from Austria
The winners celebrate: SC 1957 Bad Königshofen
The whole team in uniform: René Gabel, Julia Gromova, Anastasia Savina, Elisabeth Pähtz,
Tania Sachdev, Marie Sebag, Lilith Mkrtchian, Olga Girya, Valentina Gunina, Jürgen Müller
Last August Tania Sachdev paid us a visit in Hamburg, to get to know our company and staff, and to record her first ChessBase DVD. She felt a bit insecure about the recording, since she had never done anything like it before. And we too have occasionally encountered strong players who simply freeze in front of the camera in our recording studio.
Tania, it turned out, was not the "butterfly" some had expected, but a highly intelligent and talented young lady who is a "natural" in front of the camera. It did take her a number of minutes to master our technical equipment, but then she started to record and store the segments independently, producing almost six hours of material in three days spent at the office.
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One important factor was that Tania clearly enjoyed what she was doing. Her first DVD is aimed at amateurs – between 1000 and 2150 approximately – and is intended to teach you how to improve your game. This involves general strategic principles, tactical alertness, long-range planning – all elements she illustrates mainly with examples from her own games. We predict that people are going to love this DVD, which is now available and can be ordered in the ChessBase shop.
Improve your chess with Tania SachdevEven less experienced chess players have learnt how to develop their pieces in the opening, or even know certain opening variations by heart. But when the middlegame starts, they don’t know how to judge positions and develop their play – and their chess stagnates.
On this DVD, well-known Indian IM and WGM Tania Sachdev shows you how to evaluate certain positions and then find the right concepts and plans on the basis of her own games. Tania explains her own thoughts and recounts how she arrived at successful decisions and, as a result, played good moves. These illustrative and instructive examples explain a lot of the basic elements of middlegame play, such as pawn structures, piece play and making the right exchanges. The games cover a broad spectrum of themes and are aimed at those looking to generally improve their middlegame play. At the end you can test your progress and understanding with an interactive quiz.
Video running time: 4 hours 50 min. Price: €27.90
€23.45 without VAT (for customers outside the EU);
$32.13 (without VAT)
