Gold to Russian Women

by ChessBase
11/6/2017 – The Women's event gold goes to Russia for the second straight year as they blanked Turkey 4 : 0 to clinch with a round to spare. The silver and bronze medal battle is between Georgia, Poland, Ukraine and Armenia. IM Irene Sukandar looks at key moments from Round 8. | Photo: EuroTeams2017.com
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Russian women repeat champions

After taking the sole lead in Round 4 with a crucial win over main rivals Georgia, the Russian team never relinquished their grip, and a final sweep of Turkey in the eighth round has already assured them first place in Crete regardless of the outcome of Monday's play.

Poland ended Georgia's hopes on Sunday, winnin their match 3 : 1 and the two teams will fight for the silver and bronze medals.

Ukraine kept themselves in medel contention with a narrow 2½ : ½ win over Spain. In the battle of the "Annas", Ana Matnadze scored an impressive win over former Women's World Champion Anna Ushenina, which included a mate-in-three tactic:

 
Anna Ushenina vs. Ana Matnadze, Round 8
Position after 30.Qe5, Black to move

Anna Muzychuk vs. Sabrina Vega

Anna Muzychuk vs. Sabrina Vega | Photo: EuroTeams2017.com

Ukraine powered through with wins from Natalia Zhukova and Inna Gaponenko, but Spain was also successful on board one, as Sabrina Vega held the Women's World Champion in rapid and blitz to a draw with black.

Natalia Zhukova with team captain Mikhail Brodsky

Natalia Zhukova with team captain Mikhail Brodsky | Photo: EuroTeams2017.com

 
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The Spanish Champion had the upper hand, but her misses gave Muzychuk a chance to breath and finally draw the game. 45.a5 44 Black only has two tasks here: first is to improve the central pawns and second is to bring the king closer to White's a-pawn. All these things must be done in a timely manner. Rb8+? 9:02 45...Kd6 46.Kc3 Kc5 47.Ra4 Rd8 48.Rd4 48.a6 d4+ 49.Kd2 Kb5 50.Ra1 Ra8 48...Rd6 49.h3 Rg6 Black should stop wasting a time and focus on the advantage instead which is the central pawns. Timing is really important here, therefore pushing 45...d4 is a must. 46.Kc4 46.a6 Kd6 47.a7 Kc6 48.Kc4 d3 49.Kc3 Kb6 With this sequence of moves, not only has Black improved her central pawn, but also she successfully brought the king as another attacker to White's only source of counterplay. Mission accomplished. 46...Rd8 46...d3! does the job as well. 47.Kc3 Kd5 48.Kd2 Kc5 49.Ra4 Kb5-+ 47.a6 d3 48.a7 d2 49.Ra1 e3 50.a8Q Rxa8 51.Rxa8 e2-+ 46.Kc3= 3:16 Rc8+ 6 46...Kd6 47.a6 Rc8+ 47...Kc6? 48.a7 Ra8 49.Ra5! Kb6 50.Rxd5 48.Kd4 Rc4+ 49.Ke3 d4+ 50.Kd2 Rc8 51.a7 Ra8 47.Kd2 1:00 d4 3 48.a6 12 Kd5 33 49.Ra5+ 4:28 Ke6 6:45 49...Kc4 50.Ra4+ Kc5 51.Ra5+ Kb4 52.Ra1 Kb5 53.h3! Ra8 54.a7 Kb6 55.Rb1+ Kxa7 56.Ra1+ Kb7 57.Rxa8 Kxa8 58.g4 hxg4 59.hxg4 fxg4 60.f5 g3 61.f6 g2 62.f7 g1Q 63.f8Q+= 50.h3 3:11 Ra8 17 51.Re5+ 2:08 Kf6 7 52.Ra5 4 Ra7 9 53.Ra4 5 Ke6 0 54.Ra5 7 d3 3:20 55.Ke3 1:02 Kf6 1 56.Ra2 49 Ke6 47 57.Ra5 5 Kf6 46 58.Ra2 5 Ke6 0 No improvement could be made and draw was agreed. ½–½
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Muzychuk,A2576Vega Gutierrez,S2405½–½2017B33ETCC Women 20178

Notes by IM Irene Sukandar

Rook endings are amongst the most frequently encountered endgames there are, and so your training effort will be quickly repaid in the form of half and full points. Knowing even a few rules of thumb and key methods makes life a great deal easier and provides a guiding light even in complex positions. This DVD focuses on the important themes which are to be found in common rook endings.

Speaking of rook endgames, there was a nice endgame lesson on board 12 in Hungary's win over Croatia.

 
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77...Kf3 10 When a player is looking at such a position, she must ask herself about the task management of the pieces. If White understood that her king would never be able to help the rook stop the h-pawn, then it would only leave one more alternative, namely to let the rook deal with the h-pawn by itself and then use the king to support its pawn on the f-file. 78.Ke1??-+ 31 78.f5! After this everything would be just in time for White to make a draw. Kg3 79.Rh1 h4 80.Ke3 Kg2 80...Re8+ 81.Kd3 81.Kd4 is also fine h3 82.Kd5 h2 83.f6 Kg2 84.Rxh2+ Kxh2 85.f7 Rb8 86.Ke6= 81...Re5 82.f6 Rf5 83.Rg1+ Kh2 83...Kf2 84.Rg6 h3 85.Ke4 h2 86.Rh6 84.Rg6 h3 85.Ke4 Rf2 86.Rh6= 81.Rc1 h3 82.Kf4 h2 83.f6 h1Q 84.Rxh1 Kxh1 85.Ke5= 78...Kg3 11 79.Rh1 5 h4 9 80.Rg1+ 57 80.f5 is no longer as useful as before. Kg2 81.Rf1 h3 80...Kf3 19 81.f5 38 h3 16 82.Rf1+ 24 Kg2 45 83.f6 14 Re8+ 5 0–1
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Cvitan,E2165Gara,T23170–12017D42ETCC Women 20178

Notes by IM Irene Sukandar

Poland held Ukraine to a draw in Round 7, thanks to a win on board 4 from Klaudia Kulon.

Klaudia Kulon speask to Fiona Steil-Antoni | ETCC YouTube

That set the stage for their upset of Georgia, and both teams face weaker opposition in the final round as they bid for a silver medal.

Top Results for Round 8

Team MP Res. : Res. MP Team
Turkey 10 0 : 4 13 Russia
Poland 10 3 : 1 12 Georgia
Italy 9 2 : 2 9 Romania
Ukraine 9 2½ : 1½ 9 Spain
Czech Republic 8 1½ : 2½ 9 Armenia
Serbia 8 2 : 2 8 Netherlands
France 8 1 : 3 7 Azerbaijan
Switzerland 7 0 : 4 7 Israel
England 7 1½ : 2½ 7 Austria
Slovenia 6 1½ : 2½ 6 Belarus

Current standings (Top 10)

Rk. Team  TB1 
1 Russia 15
2 Georgia 12
3 Poland 12
4 Ukraine 11
5 Armenia 11
6 Italy 10
7 Romania 10
8 Turkey 10
9 Spain 9
10 Israel 9

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