Arabidze edges Kiolbasa to win the European Women’s Championship

by Klaus Besenthal
3/30/2023 – The European Women’s Championship came to an end on Wednesday in Petrovac, Montenegro. Since the games on the top boards finished drawn — albeit not without a fight — nothing changed in the standings relative to the previous rounds. Meri Arabidze from Georgia and Oliwia Kiolbasa from Poland tied for first place on 8½/11 points. Arabidze was declared the champion thanks to her victory over Kiolbasa in round 8. | Photos: European Chess Union
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Hard-fought draws

The game that the new European Champion, Meri Arabidze, played against her Georgian compatriot Salome Melia in the last round of the tournament was an exciting affair. It was a draw that could have ended differently, as Arabidze actually had a clear advantage near the end of the encounter.

Oliwia Kiolbasa did not have it easy on the second board, as she played a full-fledged imbalanced game against Greece’s Stavroula Tsolakidou. Meanwhile, on board 4, Aleksandra Maltsevskaya — a Russian-born IM now representing Poland — played fearlessly and defeated 2021 European champion Elina Danielian with black. Maltsevskaya’s win granted her third place in the final standings, as the player with the best tiebreak score out of the four that ended with 8 points.

Incidentally, Georgia, the home country of the European champion, considers itself a European country in terms of its cultural self-image, but due to its location on the southern slope of the Caucasus, many geographers consider it to be part of Asia, either in whole or in large part.

 
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MoveNResultEloPlayers
1.e41,185,00854%2421---
1.d4959,51055%2434---
1.Nf3286,50356%2441---
1.c4184,83456%2442---
1.g319,89256%2427---
1.b314,60054%2428---
1.f45,95448%2377---
1.Nc33,91150%2384---
1.b41,79148%2379---
1.a31,25054%2406---
1.e31,08149%2409---
1.d396950%2378---
1.g467046%2361---
1.h446654%2382---
1.c343951%2425---
1.h328956%2420---
1.a411860%2461---
1.f310047%2427---
1.Nh39366%2506---
1.Na34762%2476---
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0-0 Be7 6.Re1 b5 7.Bb3 d6 8.c3 0-0 9.h3 Bb7 10.d4 Re8 11.Nbd2 Bf8 12.a3 h6 13.Bc2 Nb8 14.b4 Nbd7 15.Bb2 Rc8 16.Qb1 Nh5
17.c4?! It doesn't look like the most natural move. Probably better was: 17.a4 c6= 17...Nf4 18.dxe5 Nxe5 19.cxb5 axb5 20.Re3?! Also here 20.a4 seems reasonable. 20...g6?! It was time for 20...c5! 21.Nxe5 dxe5 22.Nb3 Qg5 23.Qf1 h5 24.Rg3 Qf6 25.Kh2
25...h4 It made sense to consider 25...c5= since the loss of the bishop pair was to be tolerated - the effectiveness of the white bishops is limited. 26.Rf3 Qg5?! 26...c5! is winning 27.g3? but one needed to calculate long lines to make sure everything worked out: cxb4 28.Bb1 bxa3 29.Bxa3 Bxa3 30.Rxa3 Qe7-+ 27.g3 Qh5?! 27...Ne6 was better. 28.Bd1 28.g4!± would have resulted in a significant advantage for White. The black queen is stopped cold for a while, while the white queen gets the b5-pawn. 28...Ne6 29.Rxf7 Also complicated was 29.Qxb5 Bxe4 30.Rf4 hxg3+ 31.fxg3 Bd3 32.Qxd3 Nxf4 33.gxf4 Qh4 34.Bxe5 Qf2+ 35.Kh1 Bg7= 29...Qh6 30.Rd7? 30.Rf6!= This rook could capture the e6-knight to play Nc5 later. 30...Bc6? First 30...Bd6 and then Bc6! 31.Bc1 Qh8 32.Rd3 Bxe4 33.Re3 This rook has completed an incredible round trip! Bc6 34.Bg4 Rcd8 35.Bb2 Nd4 36.Nxd4 exd4 37.Rxe8 Bxe8 38.Qe2 Qf6 39.Rd1 Bf7 40.Kg1?
After this move, White is once again in trouble. 40.Qf3 would have provided relief: either the queens will be exchanged or the white queen will be placed on a good square. 40...hxg3 41.fxg3 Bc4 To start with 41...Bb3 was stronger: 42.Re1 Bc4 43.Qe4 Bg7 Probably the rook can only return to d1. 42.Qe4 Bg7 43.Rd2 Qe5? Now the advantage is gone again. 43...Qd6! 44.Kh2 Be5-+ The black pieces are in fantastic positions and d4-d3 is in the air. 44.Qxe5 Bxe5 45.Bf3 Kg7 46.Kg2 Bf6 ½–½
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Melia,S2366Arabidze,M2433½–½2023European Women-ch 202311.1
 

Final standings

Rk. Name Pts.  TB1 
1 Arabidze, Meri 8,5 1
2 Kiolbasa, Oliwia 8,5 0
3 Maltsevskaya, Aleksandra 8 0
4 Tsolakidou, Stavroula 8 0
5 Melia, Salome 8 0
6 Kulon, Klaudia 8 0
7 Javakhishvili, Lela 7,5 0
8 Garifullina, Leya 7,5 0
9 Toncheva, Nadya 7,5 0
10 Sargsyan, Anna M. 7,5 0
11 Guichard, Pauline 7,5 0
12 Daulyte-Cornette, Deimante 7,5 0
13 Cyfka, Karina 7,5 0
14 Danielian, Elina 7 0
15 Buksa, Nataliya 7 0
16 Socko, Monika 7 0
17 Bivol, Alina 7 0
18 Gunina, Valentina 7 0
19 Osmak, Yuliia 7 0
20 Wagner, Dinara 7 0
21 Mkrtchian, Lilit 7 0
  Vega Gutierrez, Sabrina 7 0
23 Sliwicka, Alicja 7 0
24 Brunello, Marina 7 0
25 Mammadova, Gulnar 7 0
26 Zaksaite, Salomeja 7 0
27 Ovod, Evgenija 7 0
28 Khotenashvili, Bella 6,5 0
29 Bulmaga, Irina 6,5 0
30 Mkrtchyan, Mariam 6,5 0

...136 players

All games - Round 11

 
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Find all available games from the tournament at Live.ChessBase.com

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Klaus Besenthal is computer scientist, has followed and still follows the chess scene avidly since 1972 and since then has also regularly played in tournaments.
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