Women's Candidates: The Muzychuk sisters end on a high note

Plenty of fight

After the first round finished with all four games drawn, we did not see a single day of action without at least a decisive result in Kazan. Out of the 56 games played, 30 ended up with someone getting a full point (54%). All of this despite the fact that the stakes were very high, with a large prize fund (if we compare it to previous women's events) and the chance to get a ticket to face Ju Wenjun in the next World Championship match. 

Aleksandra Goryachkina was smiling despite having lost in the last round — she was still the champion in Kazan | Photo: Eteri Kublashvili

The organizers noticed this phenomenon and asked for the players' opinions in this regard. Alexandra Kosteniuk and Kateryna Lagno attributed it to a larger amount of mistakes, while both Muychuk sisters, Nana Dzagnidze and commentator Elisabeth Paehtz think women simply have a stronger will to win, showing a more competitive attitude with both colours. Some of them mentioned that emotions play a bigger role amongst women, while Valentina Gunina was the one who responded more straight-forwardly:

I want to fight (laughs). I think it's boring that men do a lot of draws, so I say to myself to just play — sometimes it's bad, sometimes it's good, but it's always [fun] I think.

A compilation of the responses

In round fourteen, Aleksandra Goryachkina's Caro-Kann Defence was finally taken down, by Mariya Muzychuk, which meant no player finished undefeated in Kazan. Tan Zhongyi also had a good closing performance, as she defeated Valentina Gunina with the white pieces. Anna Muzychuk secured second place by quickly signing a 25-move draw in her game against Alexandra Kosteniuk. And, finally, Kateryna Lagno managed to equalize with the black pieces out of the opening and safely drew her encounter against Nana Dzagnidze.

Results of Round 14

The Ruy Lopez Breyer Variation

Pavel Eljanov explains in depth what Gyula Breyer already saw in 1911 and what became an opening choice of the likes of Kasparov, Kramnik, Anand or Carlsen. The Breyer Variation, which is characterised by the knight retreat to b8.

Anna and Mariya Muzychuk with Ukrainian grandmaster Pavel Eljanov in the background | Photo: Eteri Kublashvili

In the standings table, Goryachkina finished one and a half points ahead of Anna Muzychuk, despite, understandably, having played it safe from round eleven onwards. Anna, the older of the Muzychuk sisters, took home the 40,000 Euros allocated for second place (Goryachkina received 50,000 Euros), while Tan Zhongyi and Lagno collected 27,500 Euros each, after sharing third place. 

Final standings

In their interviews throughout the event, the players praised the fact that an effort is being made to increase the prize funds in women's events, although there also were some small concerns regarding the specific playing conditions in Kazan — when the tournament had just begun, there were issues regarding music being heard in the playing hall, while Dzagnidze mentioned that the food was not 100% satisfactory for the participants. 

Anna Muzychuk and former women's world champion Alexandra Kosteniuk drew their round fourteen encounter | Photo: Eteri Kublashvili

Two decisive results in Round 14

Mariya Muzychuk broke Goryachkina's undefeated streak in a line of the Caro-Kann Defence in which White gives up the Poisoned Pawn on b2. 

The Fashionable Caro-Kann Vol.1 and 2

The Caro Kann is a very tricky opening. Black’s play is based on controlling and fighting for key light squares. It is a line which was very fashionable in late 90s and early 2000s due to the successes of greats like Karpov, Anand, Dreev etc. Recently due to strong engines lot of key developments have been made and some new lines have been introduced, while others have been refuted altogether. I have analyzed the new trends carefully and found some new ideas for Black.

Black accepted the challenge by taking with 8...♛xb2 and the queens were exchanged after 9.♕e1 cxd4 10.♗xd4 ♞xd4 11.♘xd4 ♝b4 12.♖b1 ♝xc3 13.♖xb2 ♝xe1 14.♖xe1 (you can try your own variations on the diagram above).

World Championship challenger Aleksandra Goryachkina captured the infamous b2-pawn | Photo: Eteri Kublashvili

Goryachkina was a pawn up in a queenless middlegame, but White's initiative and Black's lack of development gave Muzychuk a considerable edge. On move 24, Mariya got to show a pretty manoeuvre:

24.♖a7 allows White to get the other rook to the seventh rank — in case of 24...♜xa7 White has 25.♖b8+ ♚e7 26.♘c6+ ♚d7 and then comes the devastating discovered check with 27.♘xa7+.

After the text, Goryachkina was under too much pressure and played on until move 39 before resigning the game. The main goal had been achieved two rounds ago, nonetheless.

Game analysis by Mariya Muzychuk and Evgeny Miroshnichenko

Meanwhile, Tan Zhongyi's final win over Gunina was reached after the Chinese had the more active pieces in an endgame with a queen, a rook and five pawns per side. Already in a difficult position, Valentina further restricted her queen's mobility shortly after the time control had been reached:

Chess Endgames 5 - Endgame Principles Activity & Initiative

Activity is above all important when we consider the role of the kings in the endgame because it is then that they leave their protective shield of pawns and take an active part in the proceedings. A further major topic is the activity of the rook and it is not uncommon in the ending for a pawn to be sacrificed to obtain such activity. The chapter on initiative introduces, for example, endgames such as rook+knight against rook+knight, because neither of these pieces is suited to a passive role and even a slight initiative can be sufficient for victory. In the endgame mate should contantly be in your thoughts. So, for example, Stamma’s mate is treated, as are mating attacks in rook endings and the 4th phase of the game. The correct choice of pieces to exchange naturally always plays an important role, but generally speaking the cost of every wrong move increases in the endgame. Video runnig time: 4 hrs 18 min.

Gunina played 43...♜f6 and left her queen rather restrained on the kingside. Tan Zhongyi responded with 44.♕c8 and the threat of doubling on the back rank forced Black to make more concessions. A few moves later, White simplified into a winning rook endgame, which she duly converted into a 74-move victory.

Tan Zhongyi versus Valentina Gunina | Photo: Eteri Kublashvili

Commentary webcast

Commentary provided by GMs Evgeny Miroshnichenko and Vladislav Tkachiev

All games

Links

• Official site
• Round 1: Gunina saves a half point
• Round 2: Dzagnidze and Goryachkina strike first
• Round 3: Four winners, all with White
• Round 4: Nana Dzagnidze alone on top
• Round 5: Goryachkina leapfrogs Dzagnidze
• Round 6: A great day for Goryachkina
• Round 7: Gunina beats Tan Zhongyi
• Round 8: Goryachkina keeps on winning
• Round 9: A sixth win for Goryachkina!
• Round 10: Kosteniuk defeats Gunina
• Round 11: Wins for Gunina and Tan Zhongyi
• Round 12: Goryachkina is the new World Championship challenger
• Round 13: Still fighting