Cairns Cup: Kosteniuk scores, climbs to shared second place

5 decisive games in 6 rounds

A fighter at heart, Alexandra Kosteniuk has been one of the contenders in more than half the games that ended decisively so far at the Cairns Cup in Saint Louis. After six rounds, 9 encounters have finished with decisive results, and Kosteniuk has played in 5 of them. The Swiss representative has won 3 games, lost 2 and only drawn once in the women’s event taking place at the World Chess Hall of Fame.

Round 6 saw Kosteniuk beating Mariya Muzychuk with the white pieces. The younger of the Muzychuk sisters played the Caro-Kann Defence and got a slightly better position out of the opening. A mistaken rook swap by Muzychuk allowed Kosteniuk to restore the balance, and the contenders eventually reached an endgame with a pair of bishops (for white) against a knight and a bishop with two pawns per side. The evaluation remained balanced until Muzychuk blundered on move 56.

Kosteniuk made the most of her opponent’s mistake and went on to score a 68-move victory.

Thanks to this win, Kosteniuk leapfrogged M. Muzychuk in the standings, as she now stands in shared second place a half point behind sole leader Tan Zhongyi. Kosteniuk is tied on points with Harika Dronavalli, who drew Anna Zatonskih with white on Wednesday.

Round 7 will see Tan playing white against Elisabeth Paehtz, while both Kosteniuk and Harika will play with the black pieces, against Zatonskih and Anna Muzychuk respectively.

Results - Round 6

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.

The all-American clash between Alice Lee and Irina Krush was agreed drawn after 91 moves | Photo: Lennart Ootes

Sole leader Tan Zhongyi | Photo: Lennart Ootes

Kosteniuk 1 - 0 M. Muzychuk

Kosteniuk, Alexandra2501

1–0

Muzychuk, Mariya2510

Cairns Cup 2024 Saint Louis19.06.2024[CC]

1.e4 c6 2.Nc3 d5 3.Nf3 dxe4 4.Nxe4 Nf6 5.Qe2 Nxe4 6.Qxe4 Nd7 7.d4 Nf6 8.Qd3 g6 9.Be2 Bg7 10.0-0 0-0 11.Re1 a5 12.Bf1 Bf5 13.Qb3 Nd5 14.c3 a4 15.Qa3 b5 A tense - yet orderly - position with chances for both sides has emerged out of a Caro-Kann Defence. 16.Ne5 Qb6 17.Bd2 Rfd8 18.Rad1 f6

Muzychuk spent more than half an hour before pushing her f-pawn, a move which the engines approve. 18...e6 is also playable, though White can grab the initiative with 19.c4 19.Nd3 e6 20.Nc5 e5 21.b4 The c-pawn becomes a backward pawn, but White gets to pin the d5-knight after Black captures en passant. Also playable is 21.c4 with complications. 21...axb3 22.Qxb3 Bf8 23.c4 bxc4 24.Bxc4 Qxb3 25.Bxb3 White has opened up the position and the queens have left the board. Engines slightly favour Black's setup. Kg7 26.Nb7 Rd7 27.Nc5 Bxc5 A correct minor-piece trade. Black gets rid of the dangerous knight while fixing the pawn weakness. Nevertheless, White is left with the bishop pair. 28.dxc5 Rb7 29.g3 g5 30.f3 Be6 31.Be3 Kf7 32.Bf2 Ke7 33.Rd2 h5 34.Rc1 Rb4 35.Be1 Rb5 36.Re2 White is somewhat stuck, and the evaluation has improved for Black. However, it is difficult to find a way to break through for the Ukrainian GM. Ra3 37.Re4 Kd7 38.Ra4 Rxa4 39.Bxa4 Rb2 40.Rc2

Kosteniuk had 6 minutes to Muzychuk's 12 at this point. It is here that Black errs by agreeing to trade the rooks. 40...Rxc2 Black can make progress while maintaining the pressure via 40...Rb1 41.Kf2 41.Re2 fails to Nc3 41...g4 41.Bxc2 Ne3 42.Bg6 Bxa2 43.Bxh5 Ke6 Engines show zeros here, but there are still plenty of recourses in the position. Moreover, both contenders had around 5 minutes on their clocks (and only had 30-second increments per move). 44.Kf2 Nc2 45.Ba5 Nd4 46.h4 gxh4 47.gxh4 Bd5 48.Bd8 f5 49.Ke3 f4+ 50.Kf2 e4 51.Bg4+ Kf7 52.fxe4 Bxe4 53.Bc7 Nb3 54.Bd6 White can now try to win with her outside passer and the bishop pair. The position is objectively drawn still, but it is Black who needs to defend with a fair degree of precision. Kg6 55.Bd1 Bd5 56.h5+

56...Kg5 The decisive mistake. The bishops will now coordinate to restrict Black's manoeuvres. 56...Kf6 draws, e.g.: 57.h6 Kg6 58.Bxf4 Nxc5 The more passive 56...Kg7 also draws, e.g.: 57.Be5+ Kh7 57.Be7+ Kh6 58.Bf8+ Kh7 59.Bc2+ Kg8 60.Bd6 White threatens to simply push her h-pawn, and Black's pieces will struggle to find coordination to defend against the promotion. The long-range bishops are doing an incredible job. Nd4 61.Bd3 Ne6 This knight jump makes White's job easier, but Black was in deep trouble in any case. 61...Be6 62.Bxf4 Bf5 offers a bit more resistance. 62.h6 Ng5 63.Bxf4 Nh3+ 64.Kg3 Nxf4 65.Kxf4 Bb3 66.Ke5 Kf7 67.Be4 Ba4 68.Kd6 Bb5 Game over. As Kosteniuk herself noted afterwards, her opponent was unable to adjust to a new situation once she lost her middlegame advantage - an oft-seen phenomenon even at the highest levels. 1–0

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.

Mariya Muzychuk analysing the position from a different perspective | Photo: Lennart Ootes

Standings after round 6

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)