Giving up the queen - to deliver checkmate or to save a draw

Arjun and Dragnev give up their queens

The man of the hour, Arjun Erigaisi, has won all 6 of his games so far in Budapest. In round 3, playing white against Peter Prohaszka (Hungary 2), the 21-year-old had all his pieces pointing at the black king - and got to end the game in style.

Erigaisi, Arjun2778

1–0

Prohaszka, Peter2542

45th Olympiad 2024 Budapest13.09.2024[CC]

1.c4 e6 2.Nc3 d5 3.d4 Nf6 4.Nf3 Be7 5.cxd5 exd5 6.Bf4 Nh5 7.Bd2 0-0 8.e3 Nf6 9.Bd3 Nbd7 10.Qc2 c6 11.g4 Ne4 12.h4 Re8 13.g5 f5 14.gxf6 Ndxf6 15.Ng5 h6 16.Ncxe4 dxe4 17.Nxe4 Nxe4 18.Bxe4 Be6 19.Rg1 Bf6 20.0-0-0 Qe7 21.Bg6 Red8 22.Bc3 a5 23.Bf5 Bxa2 24.Rg6 Rf8 25.Rdg1

Now that the rook has been placed on g1, every single white piece is pointing at the black king's position. 25...Kh8 26.e4 The e-pawn quietly begins marching down the board - it will create havoc at every step. Rf7 27.Qd2 Qf8 28.d5 Crucially opening up the dark-squared diagonal. cxd5 28...Bxc3 solves nothing, e.g.: 29.Qxc3 Kg8 30.Be6 cxd5 31.Rxg7+ Kh8 32.Rg8+ Kh7 33.Qh8# 29.e5 Bxh4 Prohaszka might have resigned the game here had this not been a team event. Black is doomed. 30.e6 Rf6 30...Rxf5 31.Qxh6+ Kg8 32.Rxg7+ Qxg7 33.Qxg7# 31.e7 The pawn has made its way to e7! Qxe7

32.Qxh6+ Although this is trivial for professtional players, giving up the queen amid a mating attack is always satisfying. gxh6 33.Rxh6+ Qh7 34.Rxh7# Prohaszka allows checkmate to appear on the board. 1–0

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Arjun Erigaisi | Photo: FIDE / Michal Walusza

In round 6, the last one before the rest day, Austria (seeded 31^st) drew Poland (11^th) on all four boards to collect a valuable match point. Vladimir Dragnev had the tough task of playing black against elite-GM Jan-Krzysztof Duda on the top board. In a late middlegame position with a queen, a rook and two minor pieces per side, the Polish grandmaster had an extra pawn and a clear advantage.

But Dragnev never stopped looking for ways to create complications - and a single mistake by Duda allowed him to force a draw by giving up his queen!

Duda, Jan-Krzysztof2732

½–½

Dragnev, Valentin2556

45th FIDE Olympiad 2024 Budapest16.09.2024[CC]

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.e3 b6 5.Nge2 Ba6 6.a3 Bxc3+ 7.Nxc3 d5 8.b3 0-0 9.a4 c5 10.Ba3 Nbd7 11.Be2 dxc4 12.bxc4 Bb7 13.0-0 Ne4 14.Nxe4 Bxe4 15.f3 Bb7 16.e4 Re8 17.d5 exd5 18.exd5 Qh4 19.Bb2 Re7 20.Qd2 Rae8 21.Rf2 Ne5 22.Qc3 f6 23.Bf1 Ng6 24.a5 Nf4 25.Qd2 Bc8 26.axb6 axb6 27.Ra8 Bd7 28.Rxe8+ Rxe8 29.Bc1 Ng6 30.Qb2 Re1 31.Bd2 Rd1 32.f4 Qg4

White will grab the pawn on b6, with a winning position. But Dragnev can still look for tricks on the kingside, as his queen, rook and knight are all surrounding White's king. 33.Qxb6 Nh4 34.Qd8+ Kf7 35.h3 Rxf1+ The one move that gives Black hope. Duda had 3 minutes (to Dragnev's 1) at this point, and he had to find the only move that kept his advantage amid the chaos here - and he failed to do so. 36.Kh2 36.Kxf1 Winning is Qd1+ 37.Be1 Bxh3 This is the line that perhaps prevented Duda from playing Kxf1 - and it is true that grabbing the bishop here leads to a draw: 38.gxh3 But White wins with 38.Qc7+ Kf8 39.Qxc5+ Kf7 40.Qe3 and now everything is defended, e.g.: Bxg2+ 41.Rxg2 Nxg2 42.Kxg2 Qg4+ 43.Bg3 38...Qd3+ 39.Kg1 39.Re2 Qxh3+ 40.Kg1 Qg4+ 41.Kf1 Qh3+ is also a perpetual. 39...Qg3+ 40.Kh1 Qxh3+ 41.Kg1 Not 41.Rh2 due to Qf1# 41...Qg3+ 42.Kh1 36...Qxh3+

Remarkable! 37.gxh3 Rxf2+ 38.Kg3 Rf3+ 39.Kh2 Not 39.Kxh4 because of Rxh3# 39...Rf2+ 40.Kg3 Rf3+ 41.Kh2 White must agree to draw the game by repetition. In other lines, he might in fact find himself lost, as the rook, knight and bishop can create serious mating threats. 41.Kh2 Rf2+ 42.Kg1 42.Kh1 in fact loses to Bf5 and e.g.: 43.Be3 Ra2 44.Qc7+ Kg6 45.Qe7 Nf3 46.Bg1 Kh6 The most accurate! 47.Qe3 Nd2 and now that the d4-square is defended, the bishop will give a deadly check on the long diagonal: 48.Bf2 Be4+ 49.Kg1 49.Kh2 Nf1+ with a royal fork. 49...Ra1+ 50.Be1 Rxe1+ 51.Qxe1 Nf3+ with a royal fork. 42...Rg2+ 43.Kh1 Bxh3 and now White must find an only move to keep the balance: 44.f5 Nf3 45.Qd7+ Kf8 46.Qd8+ escaping the checkmate on h2 or g1 with a perpetual. ½–½

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Vladimir Dragnev has a 4/6 score so far in the event - in round 3, he held a draw against another super-GM, Hungary's Richard Rapport | Photo: FIDE / Maria Emelianova

IM Robert Ris analyses Arjun v. Prohaszka

Links

• All ChessBase reports on the 2024 Chess Olympiad
• Arjun Erigaisi does not play milkmaid chess!