Cairns Cup: Tan beats Zatonskih to grab the sole lead

A French Defence gone wrong

Defending champion Anna Zatonskih has been struggling at the Cairns Cup in Saint Louis. The 4-time US women’s champion stands in last place with ½/4 points after losing all her games with black and drawing Anna Muzychuk with the white pieces. In round 4, she was defeated by top seed Tan Zhongyi, who made the most of Zatonskih’s mishandling of a French Defence.

Zatonskih captured pawns on the a and b-files with her queen, allowing Tan to gain a big advantage in development.

After 13.Rb4, Zatonskih realized she needed to be very careful with a potential kingside attack and spent almost half an hour on her next two moves. There followed 13...Qd5 14.Re1 h6 15.Qd2 Nxc5 16.Re5

White is already in the driver’s seat, but her advantage became even bigger after 16...Qc6, when Black’s best chance was to give up her queen for a rook and a minor piece with 16...Nxd3 17.Rxd5 Nxb4 18.Rd8 Nc6.

The problem for Black is that, after the text, White can make use of her major pieces to break through decisively on the kingside — 17.Rg4 Nxd3 (17...f5 would have made things a bit harder for White) 18.Qxh6 g6

A French Defence gone wrong, indeed. White can choose how to win here, with 19.Rxg6+, as played by Tan, the best-looking alternative. Resignation came after 19...fxg6 20.Qxg6+.

Tan is now the sole leader in Saint Louis, as the only player with a +2 score (3/4 points). Second place is shared between Mariya Muzychuk and Harika Dronavalli, who both drew on Sunday. A half point behind the closest chasers are five players, all with a fifty-percent score — included in this group is 14-year-old Alice Lee, who got the better of Alexandra Kosteniuk in round 4.

Round 4 results

Making the right decisions in chess - Fundamentals

In a total of 6 chapters, we look at the following aspects: the right decision based on tactical factors, decisions in exchanges and moves, complex and psychological decisions in longer games and in defence.

Elisabeth Paehtz and Mariya Muzychuk signed a 58-move draw | Photo: Crystal Fuller

Kosteniuk 0 - 1 Lee

Kosteniuk, Alexandra2501

0–1

Lee, Alice2368

Cairns Cup 2024 Saint Louis16.06.2024[COLODRO]

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.Nxe5 d6 4.Nf3 Nxe4 5.Nc3 Nxc3 6.dxc3 Be7 7.Bf4 0-0 8.Qd2 Nd7 9.0-0-0 Nc5 10.h4 Re8 11.Ng5 h6 12.Bc4 This is still theory, attacking f7 while "inviting" Black to capture on g5 to open up the h-file. Be6 12...hxg5 13.hxg5 might be followed by, e.g. d5 14.Bxd5 Be6 15.Qe3 with complications. 13.Nxe6 Nxe6 14.Bxe6 fxe6 15.Kb1 Rf8 16.Qe3 Qc8 17.Qe4 Rf7

Engines evaluate the position as favourable for White, but with kings castled on opposite sides, Black has realistic chances of creating danegerous counterplay - as Lee demonstrated in this game. 18.c4 Not the most accurate continuation. White should focus on expanding on the kingside. An alternative variation is 18.Be3 e5 19.g4 18...Rb8 19.Be3 b5 Lee goes for it, as allowing White to simply improve her pieces will leave her in a difficult position with her weakened monarch on the kingside. 20.cxb5 Rxb5 21.c4 White did not need to weaken her position with this pawn push. The most straightforward 21.g4 might be followed by Qb7 22.Qxb7 Rxb7 entering an endgame with imbalances in the structure. 21...Rb4 22.Qc2 c5 A strong, human move, fixing the structure before bringing more forces to the attack. 23.g4 This could have been played earlier. Qa6 24.b3

Inaccurate and debilitating. White already had an inferior position, but her best alternative is to give up the c-pawn with 24.g5 Qxc4 25.Qxc4 Rxc4 26.gxh6 gxh6 and White needs to fight for a draw in the endgame. 24...d5 25.cxd5 c4 Black is breaking through! 26.g5 exd5 27.Rh3 A mistake that allows Black to centralize her queen while gaining a tempo. Qe6 28.Rg3 Bd6 Attacking the rook and freeing the seventh rank to transfer the rook to the queenside. 29.f4 Rc7 30.gxh6 A last-ditch attempt to muddy the waters. Lee cold-bloodedly finds a clean, tactical path to victory. cxb3 31.Qg6 bxa2+

32.Ka1 32.Kxa2 Qc8 and e.g. 33.Qxd6 Rc2+ 34.Ka1 Qc3# 32...Be5+ Remarkable! 33.Kxa2 Rb2+ 34.Ka1 Rd2+ 35.fxe5 Qxe5+ Brutal. 0–1

Master Class Vol.16 - Judit Polgar

In this video course, experts (Pelletier, Marin, Müller and Reeh) examine the games of Judit Polgar. Let them show you which openings Polgar chose to play, where her strength in middlegames were, or how she outplayed her opponents in the endgame.

Alexandra Kosteniuk v. Alice Lee | Photo: Lennart Ootes

Standings after round 4

All games

Links

• Official site
• Anna Zatonskih wins Cairns Cup with one round to spare (2023)
• Humpy Koneru wins second edition of the Cairns Cup (2020)
• Valentina Gunina wins inaugural Cairns Cup (2019)