Women’s Candidates: Tan knocks out Lagno, reaches semis

by Klaus Besenthal
12/4/2022 – At the Women’s Candidates Tournament in Khiva, Tan Zhongyi and her opponent Kateryna Lagno played the tiebreak of their quarterfinal match on Sunday. Tan won the first 15+10 game and drew the next three encounters to make it to the semifinals, where she will face Aleksandra Goryachkina in a similar 4-game match starting Tuesday. | Photos: FIDE / Timur Sattarov
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A win and three draws

Kateryna Lagno lost the first game after failing to calculate carefully enough in a critical situation — or perhaps she lacked optimism.

 
Tan, Zhongyi25141–0Lagno, Kateryna2563
FIDE Womens Candidates Pool-B 2022-23
Khiva04.12.2022[Besenthal,Klaus-Günther]
1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.Nc3 dxc4 5.Qa4+ Nc6 6.a3 Bd7 7.Qxc4 Bd6 8.Bg5 h6 9.Bh4 0-0 10.e4 e5 11.d5 Na5 12.Qd3 Nb3 13.Rd1 a5 14.Be2 Qe7 15.0-0 a4 16.h3 Ra5 17.Nd2 Nd4 18.Nc4 Rc5 19.f4 Nxe2+ 20.Qxe2 exf4 21.Bxf6
In this complicated position, Lagno made the decisive mistake. 21...gxf6? And she certainly didn't do it because she thought the tripled pawns were strong. Presumably she did not notice that after 21...Qxf6 22.e5 Qf5 she would safely recover the piece on c4: 23.exd6 Re8 24.g4 Qg6 25.Qd3 Qxd3 26.Rxd3 Rxc4 27.dxc7 Rxc7 28.Rxf4= 22.Nxd6 Tan gets rid of her threatened knight. Qxd6 23.Qh5? Did the Chinese GM intend to attack the black king's position with this move? That would not have been sufficiently justified. Correct was the simple 23.Qd2 along with Rxf4. 23...Qe5? After 23...Kh7!± the black position would probably have been defensible again. 24.Qh4! Now she is on the right track. Of course not 24.Qxh6 Qg5 25.Qxg5+ fxg5 26.h4 f6± 24...Qg5 25.Qxf4 Kg7 26.Qf2 More precise was the immediate 26.Rd3 With this move White inevitably wins the f6-pawn. 26...Rc4 27.Rd3 Qe5 28.Kh1 f5 29.exf5 Qf6 30.d6! This important move extends the scope of the d3-rook as well as that of the c3-knight. Bc6 30...cxd6? 31.Nd5+- Or even 31.Qg3+ Kh7 32.Rxd6+- 31.dxc7 31.d7 was also good. 31...Kh7 32.Rfd1?! An inattention. 32.Nd1! was better here (for almost obvious reasons). 32...Rg8? 32...Rc8!± Black would suddenly have obtained drawing chances again. 33.Rg3 Rc8 34.Qe2 Rh4 34...Rxc7 35.Kh2 would have changed nothing. 35.Nd5 Bxd5 36.Rxd5 Rxc7 37.Qe8 h5 38.Rd8 The most precise way to continue the attack: 38.Qg8+ Kh6 39.Rd6! 38...Rc1+ 39.Kh2 1–0

Russian and Chinese players have often dominated the women’s World Championship cycle

After a draw in the second game, Lagno got a winning position in the third, but could not convert her advantage into a full point.

 
Tan, Zhongyi2514½–½Lagno, Kateryna2563
FIDE Womens Candidates Pool-B 2022-23
Khiva04.12.2022[Besenthal,Klaus-Günther]
1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.Nc3 dxc4 5.Qa4+ Nc6 6.a3 Bd6 7.g3 0-0 8.Bg2 e5 9.Qxc4 exd4 10.Nxd4 Ne5 11.Qa4 Bc5
12.Be3?! With this move, Tan creates problems for herself. 12.Nf3= 12...Bd7! The immediate 12...Nfg4 13.Ne6± does not work. 13.Qd1 Nfg4 14.Bf4 Ng6 The black knights are putting a lot of pressure on the white bishop. 15.e3? and now there is no way out. 15.0-0 would have given better chances. 15...Nxf4 16.gxf4 Qh4 17.Qd2 Bxd4 18.exd4 Rfe8+ 19.Kf1 Bf5 20.Re1 Bd3+ 21.Kg1 Nxf2 22.Re3 Rxe3 23.Qxe3
Things have gone really bad for White. 23...Ng4?! But now Black has begun to lose the thread. It was relatively easy to win after 23...Nxh1 24.Qxd3 Qf2+ 25.Kxh1 Re8 26.Be4 f5 24.Qg3 Qf6? Correct was 24...Qe7! 25.Bxb7 25.Qxg4?? Qe3# 25.Qxd3?? Qe1+ 26.Qf1 Qe3+ 27.Qf2 Qxf2# 25...Rb8 26.Qxg4 Qe1+ 27.Kg2 Qd2+ 28.Kg3 Qxb2 29.Qf3 Qxb7 A difficult move to find at the board!! 25.Qxd3 Qxf4 26.Bf3 Re8 27.Ne2 Qg5
Now suddenly White is winning. 28.Bxg4? But this is not the correct path. 28.h4! was the way to go. 28...Qxg4+ 29.Kf2 Qh4+ 30.Kg2 Qg5+ 31.Ng3 Re3 32.Qc4 b5 33.Qc6 h5 34.Rf1 h4 35.Qxc7 hxg3 36.Qxf7+ Kh7 37.Qf5+ Qxf5 38.Rxf5 gxh2 39.Rxb5 Re2+ 40.Kh1 Kh6 41.d5 g5 42.d6 g4 43.Rd5 g3 44.Rd1 Re8 45.Kg2 Rg8 46.d7 Rd8 47.Kxg3 Rxd7 48.Rh1 Rd3+ 49.Kxh2 Kg5 50.Rg1+ Kf4 51.Rg2 a5 52.Kg1 Rd1+ 53.Kf2 Rd2+ 54.Kf1 Rd5 55.Ke2 Kf5 56.Ke3 Ke6 57.Ke4 Rb5 58.Rd2 a4 59.Ke3 Ke5 60.Ke2 Ke4 61.Kd1 Ke5 62.Kc1 Rc5+ 63.Rc2 Kd4 64.Kd1 Rxc2 65.Kxc2 Kc4 66.Kc1 Kb3 67.Kb1 Kc4 68.Kc2 Kd4 69.Kd2 The game was probably over here - the next move was probably transmitted incorrectly. Ke4 ½–½

In the final fourth game Lagno was also winning, this time in an endgame with an extra pawn, but once again Tan was able to save the draw. The Chinese won the tiebreak by a 2½-1½ score, thus advancing to the tournament’s semifinals.

Tan will face Aleksandra Goryachkina, starting Tuesday. A total of four classical games are again set to take place, as well as a tiebreak if necessary.

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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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