Tan Zhongyi advances to Women’s Candidates final

by Klaus Besenthal
12/10/2022 – Tan Zhongyi won the fourth classical game of her semifinal match against Aleksandra Goryachkina on Saturday at the Women’s Candidates Tournament in Khiva. It was also the last game of this competition. In view of the three draws previously signed, this victory qualified Tan to play the tournament’s final, where she will face her compatriot Lei Tingjie. | Photo: Timur Sattarov / FIDE

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Two all-Chinese matches await

After Pool B of the Women’s Candidates Tournament came to an end in Khiva, only Chinese players remain in competition at the World Championship cycle. Tan Zhongyi, the winner in Uzbekistan, will face Lei Tingjie, winner of Pool A, to decide who will face Ju Wenjun, the reigning world champion. The final of the Candidates between Tan and Lei is scheduled to take place early next year, while the World Championship match between the winner and Ju is supposed to be played during the summer.  

In Saturday’s game, Aleksandra Goryachkina found herself in a clearly inferior position following a tactical error in the late opening phase, but was later able to all but restore the balance after her opponent played an inaccurate move.

But a well-known situation decided the game later on: after a tense, quite successful defence, another mistake followed!

 
Tan, Zhongyi25141–0Goryachkina, Aleksandra2584
FIDE Womens Candidates Pool-B 2022-23
Khiva10.12.2022[Besenthal,Klaus-Günther]
1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.Nc3 e6 5.Bg5 Nbd7 6.e3 Qa5 7.cxd5 Nxd5 8.Rc1 h6 9.Bh4 Nxc3 10.bxc3 Ba3 11.Rc2 b6 12.Nd2 Ba6 13.c4 0-0 14.Bd3 c5 15.0-0 cxd4 16.exd4 Rfe8 17.Qe2
At the end of a long theoretical variation, Goryachkina makes a serious mistake. 17...Rac8? Good was 17...Bf8 Or even 17...Bb4 18.c5! Because now suddenly this move is very powerful. Qa4? 18...Bxd3 19.Qxd3 bxc5 But there was this long variation that could have limited the damage: 19...Bb4 20.Nc4 Qa6 21.a3 Ba5 22.Qb3 Rc6 23.Nd6 Rb8 24.Qf3 bxc5 25.Qxf7+ Kh7 26.Ne8 Rxe8 27.Qxe8 cxd4± 20.Nc4 loses a piece. 19.Bxa6 Qxc2 20.Bxc8 Rxc8 21.Qa6 Rc7
22.Bg3?! Better was 22.Bd8+- 22...e5 Now Black still has this resource, which allows her to continue the game for the time being. 23.Nf3 Bxc5 24.dxc5 Nxc5 25.Qa3 f6
But even now the prospects for Black are certainly not rosy. 26.Rc1 Qg6?! Better was 26...Qe2 So Black would have continued to control d1. She could have placed her rook on the d-file without it being exchanged immediately. 27.Nh4 And here better was 27.Ne1 and White now has to move her f-pawn if she wants to activate the bishop, with the idea of f2-f3 and Bf2. Qf7 28.f3 Qd7 29.Bf2 27...Qf7 28.Rd1 The same method as in the previous variation has its pitfalls here: 28.f3 Qd7 29.Bf2? g5 Black would have been rid of all problems. 28...Rd7 29.Rxd7 Qxd7 30.h3 e4
Now the g3-bishop is suddenly free... 31.Bb8?! And the white woman immediately takes advantage of the aforementioned fact. The correct way forward was 31.Ng6 and Nf4, increasing the advantage while improving the knight's placement once again. 31...g5! 32.Qxa7 The knight is gone after: 32.Ng6 Kf7 32...gxh4? Just when Black was about to restore the balance, a setback follows. 32...Qe6! 33.Nf5 Qxf5 34.Qxb6 with good chances of a draw given the intact structure. 33.Qxb6 White again has a winning position. Ne6 34.a4 Kf7 35.a5 Nd4 36.Qc7 Ke8 37.Qc4 Qb7 38.Qg8+ Kd7 39.Qf7+ Kc6 40.Qc4+ 1–0
 

Russia’s Aleksandra Goryachkina was the last non-Chinese player to be eliminated from the current Women’s World Championship cycle | Photo: Timur Sattarov / FIDE

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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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