Munich GP: Kosteniuk leads, German players make unfortunate blunders

Sudden blunders, narrow escapes

Alexandra Kosteniuk won her first two games to grab an early lead at the Grand Prix in Munich. The former women’s world champion obtained a fine win over Alina Kashlinskaya on Thursday and defeated Elisabeth Paehtz in the second round. Unlike in her opening game, though, a good dose of luck was involved in her win over Paehtz, who blundered the game away in an imbalanced middlegame position.

Fundamentals of Chess Openings

Starting out in chess is difficult, and this DVD aims to reduce that stress. Designed for beginner levels in openings, a brief introduction to the reasons we play some of the most common moves in popular openings like the Spanish and Sicilian is given.

A more convoluted story was seen in the other decisive game of the day, as Dinara Wagner first had a winning position, then gave it away, then regained drawing chances and then blundered again in her game with white against Anna Muzychuk. For Muzychuk, this might end up being a very valuable victory, since she kicked off the event with two blacks — albeit it was fully expected that she would sign a draw with her sister Mariya in the first round.

While the German players most likely finished the day regretting their blunders, Indian stars Humpy Koneru and Harika Dronavalli surely felt good after saving half points from inferior positions. In both cases, their opponents — Zhansaya Abdumalik and Zhu Jiner respectively — failed to find winning plans in clearly superior, yet double-edged, endgames.

The most quiet game of the day saw Tan Zhongyi holding Alina Kashlinskaya to a draw with the black pieces after 31 moves. Tan, who recently won the Women’s World Rapid Championship, remarkably went on to play at the play-in stage of the Airthings Masters (nine rounds of 10+2 online games against top opposition) right after her encounter in Munich.

Alina Kashlinskaya and Tan Zhongyi | Photo: David Llada

Paehtz hangs a piece

 

Paehtz, Elisabeth2464

0–1

Kosteniuk, Alexandra2519

FIDE Womens Grand Prix-II 2022-23 Munich03.02.2023[Besenthal,Klaus-Günther]

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.b4 Bxb4 5.c3 Ba5 6.d4 d6 7.Qb3 Qd7 8.0-0 Bb6 9.Nbd2 Na5 10.Qc2 Nxc4 11.Nxc4 Qc6 12.Nxb6 axb6 13.dxe5 dxe5 14.Nxe5 Qa4 15.Qd3 Ne7 16.Qg3 0-0 17.Re1

This position was recently reached in a game between Vidit Gujrathi and Wesley So. 17...c5 This move removes the c-pawn from the diagonal of the white queen and controls a centre square, but playing it in this position was not the best choice. Wesley So went for 17...Be6 However, what appears to be most logical is 17...Re8= 18.h4 This threatens to potentially kick the black knight away from g6 (after h4-h5), a strategy that is frequently observed on the other flank of the board. Ng6? Consequently, Kosteniuk hurries with this move, which is a bad idea here. 19.Nf3? This immediately gives away the advantage - not trading the g6-knight is the right idea, but it is wrongly executed. After 19.Nd3! h5 20.f4± a second white pawn would have approached the g6-knight. 19...h5 20.Ne5 Nxe5 21.Qxe5 Re8 22.Qxh5 Rxe4 23.Bf4??

Paehtz probably overlooked that the black queen on a4 protects the e8-square. 23...Rxf4 0–1

Did Elisabeth Paehtz know she was going to hang a piece during the game? Alexandra Kosteniuk is now the sole leader in Munich | Photo: David Llada

Anna Muzychuk survives, then wins

 

Wagner, Dinara2413

0–1

Muzychuk, Anna2522

FIDE Womens Grand Prix-II 2022-23 Munich03.02.2023[Besenthal,Klaus-Günther]

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 d5 4.cxd5 Nxd5 5.e4 Nxc3 6.bxc3 Bg7 7.Nf3 c5 8.Bb5+ Nc6 9.0-0 0-0 10.d5 Ne5 11.Nxe5 Bxe5 12.Be3 Bd7 13.Bxd7 Qxd7 14.Qd2 Rac8 15.Rac1 Bg7 16.f4 Rfd8 17.c4 e6 18.Rfd1 e5 19.Rf1 exf4 20.Rxf4 Qd6 21.Rcf1 Rc7 22.Qf2 Rf8 23.Rf3 Be5 24.g4 f6 25.g5

25...f5? After this mistake we see a long phase with a big advantage for White. Correct was 25...b6! and after 26.gxf6 Rcf7= there is nothing for White, because the bishop must stay on e3. 26.exf5 Rxf5 27.Rxf5 gxf5 28.Qxf5 Bxh2+ 29.Kh1 b6 30.a4 Be5 31.Bf4 Bxf4 32.Rxf4 Qe7 The white pieces dominate the position, as Black will need plenty of time to double her pieces on the e-file. 33.Kg2 Qe8 34.d6?? Wagner knows that something needs to be done here, but this is not the correct path. Correct was 34.Qe6+! Qxe6 35.dxe6+- Black simply does not have time to counterbalance the march of the white king into the centre, whether by preparing b6-b5 or by transferring the rook to the d-file. 34...Qc6+ 35.Re4 Qxd6 36.Rf4 Rd7 37.Rf2 Qe7 38.Kh2 Rd4 39.Kg1 Re4 40.Qd5+ Kg7 41.Rf7+ Qxf7 42.Qxe4

This queenside setup is extremely annoying for the defender. The computers signal one or two rescue possibilities, but finding them is practically impossible in an endless endgame where every move has to be calculated precisely. 42...Qd7 43.Kg2 Qd2+ 44.Kh3 Qxg5 45.Qb7+ Kg6 46.Qxa7 Qe3+ 47.Kg2 Qe4+ 48.Kg3 Qe5+ 49.Kg2 Qb2+ 50.Kg3 h5 51.Qb7 Qb3+ 52.Kg2 Qc2+ 53.Kg3 Qd3+ 54.Kg2 Qe2+ 55.Kg3 Qe3+ 56.Kg2 Qd2+ 57.Kg3 Qd6+ 58.Kg2 h4 59.Qe4+ Kg5 60.Qe3+ Qf4 61.Qe7+ Kf5 62.Qd7+ Ke4 63.Qc6+ Kd4 64.Qxb6 Qg3+ 65.Kh1 Qf3+ 66.Kh2 Qf2+ 67.Kh1 h3 68.Qd6+ Kc3 69.Qe5+ Kb4 70.Qb8+ Ka3

Black can simply simplify into a pawn endgame by Qg2+, which would be clearly winning for her. 0–1

Practical Chess Strategy: The Bishop

When it comes to strategy, one of the key things that chess professionals understand much better than amateur players is the role of the bishop which is the key theme on this video course.

Anna Muzychuk defeated Dinara Wagner with the black pieces | Photo: David Llada

Imbalances galore in Koneru v Abdumalik

 

Koneru, Humpy2572

½–½

Abdumalik, Zhansaya2496

FIDE Womens Grand Prix-II 2022-23 Munich03.02.2023[Besenthal,Klaus-Günther]

1.d4 d5 2.c4 dxc4 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.e3 e6 5.Bxc4 c5 6.0-0 Nc6 7.a3 a6 8.Qe2 b5 9.Ba2 Bb7 10.Rd1 Qc7 11.dxc5 Bxc5 12.b4 Bd6 13.Bb2 Ne5 14.Nbd2 0-0 15.Rac1 Qb8 16.Nd4 Rc8 17.h3 Rxc1 18.Rxc1 Ne4 19.N2f3 Nxf3+ 20.gxf3 Nf6 21.Nc6 Qe8 22.Na5

22...Bc8? This is devastating: the a8-rook is cut off from d8, while the white queen does not need to defend f3 anymore. Defending the b7-bishop was a better alternative: 22...Qe7 23.Qd3! Bf8 24.Bb1 After 24.Bxf6 gxf6 25.Rc7 White has a clear advantage. 24...e5 25.Rc6 Here 25.Nc6+- would have grabbed the e-pawn. 25...Qd7 26.h4 Qxd3 27.Bxd3 Bd7

28.Rb6? Suddenly the game tilts in Black's favour. 28.Rc2 28...Nd5 29.Rb7 Bc8 The rook is trapped - Humpy had miscalculated the move Rb6. 30.Bxe5 Bxb7 31.Nxb7 Rc8 32.Bd4 Rc1+ 33.Kg2 Rd1 34.Bc2 Nf4+ 35.Kh2 Rd2 36.Bf5 g6 37.Bc8 Rxf2+ 38.Kg3 Rc2 39.Kxf4 Rxc8 40.Ke4 Rc2 41.Nc5 h5 42.Nxa6 g5 43.hxg5 h4 44.Be5 Bg7 45.Bf4 h3 46.Kf5 Bb2 47.Nc7 Bxa3 48.Nxb5 Bxb4 49.Nc7 h2 50.Bxh2 Rxh2 51.Nd5 Bc5 52.f4 Re2 53.e4 Bd4 54.e5 Kg7 55.Nf6 Rf2 56.Nh5+ Kf8 57.g6 fxg6+ 58.Kxg6 Ke7 59.Kf5 Be3 60.Ke4 Bc1 61.Kf5 Rf1 62.Kg5 Ke6 63.Ng7+ Kd5 64.Nh5 Bd2 65.Kf5 Rf2 66.Nf6+ Kc6 67.Nh5 Bc1 68.Kg5 Kd5 69.Kf5 Kd4 70.e6

The endgame was won for Black all along according to the tablebases, but after the next move it is no longer winning. 70...Ba3? Correct was 70...Kc5! and for example: 71.e7 Re2 72.Kf6 Kd6 71.Kf6 Kd5 72.Kf7 Re2 73.f5 Re5 74.Ng7 Bb4 75.f6 Ba3 ½–½

Humpy Koneru | Photo: David Llada

Results - Round 2

Standings - Round 2

All games

Links

• Tournament page
• Kateryna Lagno wins Astana Women’s Grand Prix