Valentina Gunina wins inaugural Cairns Cup

A step forward for women's chess

Big prizes and an excellent organisation are guaranteed when an event takes place at the Saint Louis Chess Club and, with the Cairns Cup, elite women's chess also benefitted from the Sinquefields' generosity. The first edition of the ten-player single round robin tournament — resembling most open elite events — with an all-women line-up concluded this Friday at the same club that time and again welcomed stars such as Magnus Carlsen, Fabiano Caruana and even Garry Kasparov, among others.

The big winner was Valentina Gunina, the player from Murmansk, Russia that turned thirty just two days before the tournament began. She arrived in the last round as the sole leader, and having to face the only player that could take her down in the standings, Alexandra Kosteniuk. The fellow members of Russia's national team deservedly were the main focus of the spectators during the second half of the competition — and both of them managed to finish the event undefeated.

No hard feelings, at all! | Photo: Austin Fuller / Saint Louis Chess Club

But things could have easily gone in other directions...

Gunina surprised her opponent by choosing a rather positional defensive system. The strategy worked, as she left the opening with the upper hand, mainly thanks to a dangerous passed pawn on the a-file. When the time control was approaching, however, Valentina failed to find a critical — albeit difficult — continuation:

Power Play 17 - Attack with 1.e4

A repertoire of attacking lines against the four major defences to 1.e4 – that is, 1...e5, the Sicilian, the French, and the Caro Kann. These systems will put your opponent under pressure, and when players are under pressure, mistakes occur. This is a practical repertoire – if we study openings we want to be sure to use them in our games.

Black should use her biggest trump — the passed a-pawn — and threaten to advance it further down the board with 32...♛c3. The automatic capture 32...♛xb5, chosen quickly by Gunina, allows White to untangle her position with the break 33.d4. 

Kosteniuk had achieved to get a more balanced position, until she — like her rival a few moves ago — underestimated the importance of the passed pawn on the queenside:

The dark-squared bishop left its blockading spot on a3 with 39.♗c5, giving way to 39...♛a8 — attacking the rook — 40.♖bb6 a3. The pawn advanced to a2 in the next move, where it was safely protected by the black bishop from f7. Thus, Black had a significant advantage...

...but seven moves later Gunina allowed a sequence that squandered her biggest trump:

Developing the initiative

Dynamic play is what makes your chess effective and most importantly fun! Timur Gareyev shows severeal examples which aspects are important to remember when seizing for the initiative!

If White manages to play d5, the connection between the f7-bishop and the a2-pawn would be lost. Therefore, it was imperative for Black to avoid that advance with a move like 47...♜c8 or 47...♜e8 (in case of 48.d5, 48...♝xd5 is possible thanks to the pin on the e-file). Instead, Gunina's 47...f5 precisely allowed 48.d5 and White captured the all-important pawn after 48...fxe4 with 49.♖xa2.

A drawn endgame did not take long to appear on the board, and the players signed the peace treaty after 66 moves.

As happy as one can be | Photo: Crystal Fuller / Saint Louis Chess Club

Happy endings

All four other games finished with decisive results, reshuffling completely the standings below second place. Irina Krush climbed to sole third place after beating her direct rival Harika Dronavalli, while Nana Dzagnidze finished fourth after taking down her compatriot Bela Khotenashvili. Zhansaya Abdumalik returned to 50% thanks to a win over Elisabeth Paehtz and Anna Zatonskih left the cellar with a victory over Marie Sebag.

Nana recovered from a bad start | Photo: Crystal Fuller / Saint Louis Chess Club

Krush managed to use her space advantage out of a King's Indian Defence right after the time control:

Fighting against the King's Indian

In 60 minutes you can get an idea how to play versus the Kings Indian like an expert like GM Loek van Wely, known for his epic battles in the Kingsindian with Teimour Radjabov.

It is time for White to make the most of her positional trumps — Irina did it by resorting to pins and ended up two pawns up on the kingside: 42.♘xg5 ♞xg5 43.♘e4 ♚g7 44.♗xg5 ♞f5 45.♖b2 ♚g6 46.♗xh4 ♞xh4 47.♘xd6+. (Remember that you can check this and other variations on the diagram above).

Anastasiya Karlovich interviewed Krush | Photo: Crystal Fuller / Saint Louis Chess Club

Thursday's only winner Marie Sebag missed a critical tactic right out of the opening against Anna Zatonskih and never managed to recover:

The path to tactical strength

Despite the fact that many books have been written on tactics in chess, many players still find it extremely difficult to recognise tactical patterns and calculate ensuing lines. With this disk the author not only gives a large number of examples of the most different kind, trying to cover as many ideas as possible, but also suggests a method which will greatly help you to see various tactical motives and systemise your calculation.

By going 14...♞g6? in the previous move, Marie allowed 15.♘b5!, and Black is clearly worse after 15...cxb5 16.♕xb5+ ♚f8 17.♕xh5 — White is a pawn up, but most importantly Black has lost the right to castle. The four-time U.S. women's champion never lost the thread and got her second win of the tournament after 49 moves.

A last-round win might help Anna forget a disappointing event | Photo: Austin Fuller / Saint Louis Chess Club

It was, above all, a very exciting tournament, with 25 out of 45 games finishing with decisive results — missed chances, noticeable nervousness and a strong sense of camaraderie were, as well, part of menu. 

Commentary webcast

Improve your chess with Tania Sachdev

On this DVD, well-known Indian 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.

Commentary by GM Yasser Seirawan, GM Maurice Ashley and WGM Jennifer Shahade

Final standings

All games

Links

• Official site
• Stories on the Cairns Cup