Norway Chess Women: Muzychuk beats Cramling

by Carlos Alberto Colodro
6/2/2024 – Anna Muzychuk collected a second consecutive classical win in round 5 of the Norway Chess Women tournament. The Ukrainian GM beat Pia Cramling to climb to sole second place in the standings. R Vaishali is still the sole leader in Stavanger, as she prevailed in the Armageddon tiebreaker against Lei Tingjie. Ju Wenjun, now in third place, won a fifth rapid tiebreaker in a row. | Photo: Stev Bonhage / Norway Chess

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Vaishali still sole leader

Halfway through the inaugural edition of the Norway Chess Women tournament, 22-year-old R Vaishali stands as the sole leader with 10 points to her name. The Indian GM has so far won two classical games and prevailed in two out of the three Armageddon encounters she had to face. In Saturday’s fifth round, she beat Lei Tingjie with white in the rapid tiebreaker.

Vaishali outplayed Lei from a balanced knight and rook endgame.

Vaishali v. Lei

Lei would have likely defended this position in a classical game, but with 1 minute per side by this point of the struggle, it all came down to the ability of the players to handle the time pressure — and it was Vaishali who prevailed in the game that ended up lasting 76 moves.

Vaishali Rameshbabu, Lei Tingjie

Vaishali playing white against Lei Tingjie | Photo: Stev Bonhage

Similarly, Ju Wenjun defeated Humpy Koneru with white after making the most of her extra pawn in a rook endgame that engines evaluate as drawn.

Ju v. Humpy

Humpy, a great technical player, could not find the precise defensive scheme to hold a draw with black from this position. At this point, on move 36, she had a bit over a minute on the clock. The game lasted 64 moves.

Ju Wenjun

Ju Wenjun | Photo: Stev Bonhage

Muzychuk’s second classical win in a row

Standing in sole second place is now Anna Muzychuk, who collected consecutive classical wins in rounds 4 and 5. After beating Humpy on Thursday, the Ukrainian GM got the better of Pia Cramling in the fifth round.

Muzychuk, Anna25051–0Cramling, Pia2449
Norway Chess Women 2024
Stavanger01.06.2024[Besenthal,Klaus-Guenther]
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 e6 4.0-0 Nge7 5.d4 cxd4 6.Nxd4 Ng6 7.Be3 Be7 8.c3 0-0 9.Re1 a6 10.Bf1 b5 11.Nxc6 dxc6 12.Qxd8 Rxd8 13.Nd2 e5 14.Nb3 Nf8 15.a4 Rb8 16.axb5 cxb5 17.Ba7 Ra8 18.Bb6 Rd7 19.Nc5 Bxc5 20.Bxc5 Bb7 21.f3 Ne6 22.Be3 Kf8 23.c4 bxc4 24.Rec1 Rc8 25.Rxc4 Rxc4 26.Bxc4 Rd6 27.Ra5 f6 28.Ra4 Ke8 29.Rb4 Nd8 30.Kf2 Kd7 31.Bg8 h6
Black has been under considerable pressure for some time - a difficult defence to lead. 32.Kg3 Rd3?! This attempt to take action was not the best solution. The computer generates this variation: 32...Bc6 33.Bc4 Ne6 34.Rb6 Bb5 35.Bxb5+ axb5 36.Rxb5 Rd1± Black is a pawn down, but her pieces are very well placed. 33.Bc5 Stronger was 33.Bc4! and after Rxe3? 34.Kf2 White is clearly better. 33...a5 34.Rb5 Bc6? The knight wants to go to b7, but the manoeuvre does not work for Black. Better was 34...a4 35.Rxa5 Nb7 36.Ra7 Kc7 37.Bc4 Rd2 38.Bf8
Diese Stellung war klar gewonnen für die Weiße. 38...g5 39.Bxh6 Rxb2 40.Bg7 g4 41.Bxf6 Kd6 42.Ra6 gxf3 43.gxf3 Nc5 44.Bxe5+ Kxe5 45.Rxc6 Nxe4+ 46.fxe4 Kxe4 47.h4 Rb7 48.Rc5 Kd4 49.Rc6 Ke5 50.Kg4 Rg7+ 51.Kh5 Rg3 52.Kh6
1–0

Pia Cramling

Pia Cramling | Photo: Stev Bonhage

Standings after round 5

Rk Name FED Rtg Pts
1 R Vaishali IND 2489 10
2 Anna Muzychuk UKR 2505 9
3 Ju Wenjun CHN 2559 7.5
4 Lei Tingjie CHN 2548 6
5 Humpy Koneru IND 2545 4
6 Pia Cramling SWE 2449 3

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Attacking with the Jobava London System

The Jobava London System is a minor form of the London System. White tries to play Lf4 quickly followed by Nc3.


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Carlos Colodro is a Hispanic Philologist from Bolivia. He works as a freelance translator and writer since 2012. A lot of his work is done in chess-related texts, as the game is one of his biggest interests, along with literature and music.

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