Norway Chess Women: Muzychuk in the lead

Muzychuk (also) wins on time

Much like in the open section of the Norway Chess event, round 7 in the women’s tournament saw the most important confrontation of the day ending with one of the contenders losing on time. In this case, it was Ju Wenjun who ran out of time in the Armageddon tiebreaker against Anna Muzychuk. Muzychuk, who underperformed at the Candidates Tournament, is now the sole leader in Stavanger.

Ju, playing white, was flagged in the following — balanced — position.

60.Rh7+ was the last move played in the game. It is true that White is the one putting pressure with her active king and knight, but Black should get enough compensation to hold a draw due to White’s weakened pawn on a5.

Middlegame Secrets Vol.3 - The Career Paths of Bishops

In this video course we will explore in depth some familiar concepts regarding the bishops. For example, everyone knows that a bishop-pair should grant him a positional edge.

Lei Tingjie also prevailed in Armageddon, as she beat Pia Cramling with black in the rapid tiebreaker. The one encounter that featured a decisive classical game was the all-Indian confrontation between Humpy Koneru and R Vaishali — Humpy inflicted a second consecutive classical loss on the former sole leader.

Vaishali now stands in third place, 1½ points behind Ju and 2 points behind Muzychuk, her round-8 opponent.

Anna Muzychuk v. Ju Wenjun | Photo: Stev Bonhage

Humpy 1 - 0 Vaishali

Analysis by André Schulz

Koneru, Humpy2545

1–0

Vaishali, Rameshbabu2490

Norway Chess Women 2024 Stavanger03.06.2024[Schulz,A]

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.g3 d5 4.cxd5 c6!? 4...Nxd5 5.Bg2 Bg7 6.Nf3 Nb6 7.Nc3 Nc6 results in a different position of the Gruenfeld-Fianchetto variation. 5.Bg2 5.dxc6 Nxc6 6.Nf3 e5 7.Nxe5 Nxe5 8.dxe5 Qxd1+ 9.Kxd1 Ng4 10.Ke1 Bc5 and if 11.f4? there is Bf2+ 12.Kd1 Bxg3 13.hxg3 Nf2+ 14.Ke1 Nxh1 15.Bg2 Nxg3 and Black is an exchange to the good. 5...cxd5 6.Nc3 Bg7 7.Nf3 0-0 8.Ne5

Black has hardly any problems in the symmetry variation of the Gruenfeld Defence. 8...Bf5 9.0-0 Ne4 10.Nxe4 dxe4 10...Bxe4 11.Bxe4 dxe4 12.Qb3 Qb6 13.Be3 Qxb3 14.axb3 Rd8= 1-0 Dubov,D (2711)-Fedoseev,V (2704) Chess.com Rapid Wk6 Swiss Chess.com INT 2022 (7) 11.Bf4 Nd7 12.Rc1 Nxe5 13.dxe5 Qb6 14.Qa4 Rfd8 15.Bxe4 Rd4 16.Rc4 Rxc4 17.Qxc4 Rc8 18.Qa4 Bxe4 19.Qxe4 Qxb2 20.a4 20.Rb1 Qxa2 21.Rxb7 Bf8= 20...a5?! 20...Rc2 21.Re1 h5= 21.Rb1 Rc4 22.Qd3 22.Qxc4 Qxb1+ 23.Kg2 h5 24.e6 f5= 22...Qd4 23.Rxb7 Bxe5? 23...Qxd3? 24.Rb8+ Bf8 25.exd3 Also threatens Bh6. Rb4 26.Rxb4 axb4 27.a5 Best was 23...Bf8 e.g.: 24.Be3 Qxd3 25.exd3 Rxa4 26.Ra7 h5 27.Ra8 Kg7 28.Kf1 Ra2 29.d4± White is slightly more active. 24.Bxe5 Rc1+ 25.Kg2 Qxe5 26.Qd8+ Kg7 27.Rxe7 Qf6 28.Qd7 h5 29.Re4 29.Qe8!? with the idea of Ra7. 29...Qa1 30.Rf4 Rg1+ 31.Kh3

31...Qa2?? 31...Qf1+?? 32.Kh4 Kh6 33.Qd8 Black is mated. An active and good defence was 31...Kh6 with the intention of 32.Qe7 32.Qxf7?? Qf1+ 33.Kh4 g5# 32...Rh1 33.Qf8+ Kg5 34.Qc5+ f5 35.Qe7+ Kh6 36.Qf8+= 32.Qd4+ Kh7 33.Qf6 Qxe2 34.Qxf7+ Kh6 35.Qf8+ Kg5 36.Rf5+ 1–0

Magical Chess Endgames Vol. 1 & 2 + The magic of chess tactics

In over 4 hours in front of the camera, Karsten Müller presents to you sensations from the world of endgames - partly reaching far beyond standard techniques and rules of thumb - and rounds off with some cases of with own examples.

Humpy Koneru | Photo: Stev Bonhage

Standings after round 7

All games - Classical

All games - Armageddon

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.

Links

• Official site
• Nakamura beats Caruana to win Norway Chess (2023)
• Magnus Carlsen wins Norway Chess for a fourth straight time (2022)
• Carlsen wins Norway Chess, Firouzja shines (2021)