11/22/2018 – Ju Wenjun managed to come back from her loss in game two of the Women's World Championship final match against Kateryna Lagno and so the title will be decided tomorrow on tiebreaks. The current champion missed some chances in game three but was up to the task the next day in a must-win game, as she built a mating attack with the black pieces. The final day of play in Khanty-Mansiysk coincides with a rest day in London, so there is still plenty of World Championship chess for the coming weekend! | Photos: Official site
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A wounded tiger is a dangerous beast
An undefeated Ju Wenjun had arrived in the final as the slight rating favourite, but most importantly with the advantage of having had more rest days than her opponent. However, it must be said that Kateryna Lagno was also undefeated in classical games, as her only loss came in a blitz game against Natalija Pogonina. Two very deserving finalists were about to battle in the most important duel between women in the world.
Lagno was the one who had the upper hand on game one, and she finally managed to break the Chinese's defences in the next encounter. This was the first time that Ju Wenjun found herself on the ropes in the whole tournament — would she be able to step up from behind?
She certainly did!
Getting ready to hit back...
With Black, Lagno went for a King's Indian Defence in game three. Ju developed her pieces quickly, gave up a pawn and even offered an exchange sacrifice in the early middlegame. With her pieces much better placed, the computer showed some lines that might have given Ju a larger advantage. Certainly, recovering a pawn instead of keeping the initiative is a decision she probably regretted later on:
In 60 minutes you can get an idea how to play versus the Kings Indian like an expert like GM Loek van Wely, known for his epic battles in the Kingsindian with Teimour Radjabov.
Ju Wenjun vs. Lagno - Game 3
Position after 34...Qe6
The World Champion could have kept pressing by occupying the open c-file and trying to get something on the dark squares, but instead captured with 35.Qxe5 — and, of course, Lagno went into the endgame with 35...Qxe5 36.Bxe5 Kf7.
It is true that White still had better chances in the ensuing position, but we have recently seen that is tough, even for World Champions (Carlsen had a similar edge on his match in London), to convert an advantage in endgames with opposite-coloured bishops, in spite of the presence of rooks on the board — without them, it tends to be even harder!
In the end, the draw was signed on move 68.
Lagno drew and was still half a point away from the title
A bad time for the Rossolimo
Although game one was a failed attempt, Ju Wenjun showed great fighting spirit...and she came back for more!
Game four saw Lagno choosing the Rossolimo variation against the Sicilian, the same weapon used with little to no success by Fabiano Caruana in the first three games of the match against Carlsen — a bad omen for the Russian. Nonetheless, what apparently caught her by surprise was Ju's fifth move, 5...e5, after which Kateryna thought for almost twelve minutes before responding 6.a3.
Kateryna took long thinks in the opening
What followed saw Ju Wenjun keeping most pieces on the board (only one pawn was exchanged before move 20) and getting the kind of complicated position that one wishes for while in a must-win situation. Already down on the clock and with all the pressure on her shoulders, Lagno erred on move 19:
Lagno vs. Ju Wenjun - Game 4
Position after 18...Qd7
Lagno needed to close the centre with 19.c4 or shelter her king with 19.Kh1, but went for the tactical 19.Nh4? instead. The computers were screaming for 19...c4 for Ju, when after 20.Nxg6 Bxd5, the a8-h1 diagonal is open for Black to later get a strong direct attack. Black's 19...Bh8 did not completely give away the advantage but surely allowed White to regroup a bit.
Eight moves later, the computer evaluated the position with a stone-cold 0.00, but Black still had both rooks and the queen lined-up on the g-file:
The Rossolimo Variation 3.Bb5 is considered to be one of the strongest replies to 2…Nc6 in the Sicilian Defence. The fact that the move has been played by practically all the top players proves its popularity and strength. But the most interesting aspect of playing 3.Bb5 is that we force sharp, attacking players who love to have the initiative to forget about the Open Sicilian and to adjust themselves to a new world, one full of positional ideas, manoeuvres and nuances.
Position after 27...Qg7
Lagno quickly played the 'automatic' 28.Kh1?, which turned out to be the losing blunder — she needed to find 28.Qh5, not placing her king in the long diagonal and keeping the tension.
Ju Wenjun did not take long before responding with the lethal 28...Bc8, threatening to put her bishop on said diagonal. Now 29.Qh5 came too late, as it created a mate-in-ten position for White. The game was over after 29...Bb7+ 30.Kg1 Rxg3+! 31.hxg3 Rxg3+ 32.Kf2 Rg2+:
Final position
The game is over and Ju Wenjun might still keep her crown
After seeing this outcome, study expert Siegfried Hornecker sent an observation that hit the mark. It refers to the Lasker vs. Shlechter 1910 World Championship match, when Schlechter — the Challenger, like Lagno — was up one game before the last encounter and was not able to find the correct continuation to take the title from Lasker's hands. Hornecker writes:
Of course, if on that 9 February, 108 years ago, one 35 year old man from Austria-Hungary would have played 35...Rd8, or even 39...Qh4+, chess history would have taken a different turn.
Lagno today had her chance in 28.Qh5. But she misjudged, just as Schlechter did. But unlike him, she will get a chance again tomorrow, or — if Ju doesn't grant a chance — in the next cycle. Carl Schlechter never got that chance again...
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1.d4Notes by J. R. Capablancad52.c4c62...e6 is the
usual move and I believe better than the text move.3.Nf3Nf64.e3g65.Nc3Bg76.Bd30-0A new and original way of
playing the defense to the Queen's Gambit so far as I know.7.Qc2Na68.a3dxc4Schlechter here goes into a series of
moves which finally leave him with a weak isolated c pawn,
which cannot possibly be so very good.9.Bxc4b510.Bd3b411.Na4bxa312.bxa3Bb713.Rb1!Qc714.Ne5?If Lasker
wanted to play a safe game he should have castled and if he
intended to make a kingside attack he might have started with
14.h4 before playing Ne5.Nh515.g4Starting an attack
on the kingside which is justified in view of the score of the
match. Lasker's policy throughout this game is good, but why
Schlechter, who only needed a draw, should play such a wild
game can only be explained by the fact that perhaps he was not
satisfied to win the match by a mere fluke, which proved to be
the case in the fifth game.Bxe516.gxh5Bg717.hxg6hxg618.Qc4?Bc8!19.Rg1Qa5+20.Bd2Qd521.Rc1Bb722.Qc2Qh523.Bxg623.Qb3, I believe, was the right move
here. The text move did not turn out so well.Qxh224.Rf1fxg625.Qb3+Rf726.Qxb7Raf827.Qb3Kh828.f4g529.Qd3gxf430.exf4Qh4+31.Ke2Qh2+32.Rf2Qh5+33.Rf3Nc734.Rxc6Nb534...Nd5 looks a mighty strong move.35.Rc4Rxf4A bad sacrifice. 35...e5! looks like the right
move. It seems as though Black could always draw.36.Bxf4Rxf437.Rc8+Bf838.Kf2?Qh2+39.Ke1Qh1+!40.Rf1Qh4+41.Kd2Rxf142.Qxf1Qxd4+43.Qd3Qf2+44.Kd1Nd645.Rc5Bh646.Rd5Kg847.Nc5Lasker had fought his battle
and obtained an advantage without moving this knight for
thirty-six moves. From the 37th move, on to the finish, Lasker
plays with remarkable precision and the fact that Schlechter
held on so well shows the sterling qualities of the Austrian
master.Qg1+48.Kc2Qf2+49.Kb3Bg750.Ne6Qb2+51.Ka4Kf752.Nxg7Qxg753.Qb3Ke854.Qb8+Kf755.Qxa7Qg4+56.Qd4Qd7+57.Kb3Qb7+58.Ka2Qc659.Qd3Ke660.Rg5Kd761.Re5Qg2+62.Re2Qg463.Rd2Qa464.Qf5+Kc7An
oversight, I suppose. Had not Schlechter allowed Lasker to
exchange queens, the doctor would have had a merry time in
forcing a win.65.Qc2+Qxc2+66.Rxc2+Kb7The game is
over. Schlechter might just as well have resigned here.67.Re2Nc868.Kb3Kc669.Rc2+Kb770.Kb4Na771.Kc5All
in all, a great game, which will go down in the history of
chess as a remarkable finish to the greatest struggle for the
Chess Championship of the World.1–0
The name Emanuel Lasker will always be linked with his incredible 27 years reign on the throne of world chess. In 1894, at the age of 25, he had already won the world title from Wilhelm Steinitz and his record number of years on the throne did not end till 1921 when Lasker had to accept the superiority of Jose Raul Capablanca. But not only had the only German world champion so far seen off all challengers for many years, he had also won the greatest tournaments of his age, sometimes with an enormous lead. The fascinating question is, how did he manage that?
It is curious that another Challenger, Fabiano Caruana, also missed a chance to keep the pressure on the Champion by playing the timid 24.h3 instead of — yes, the same move — 24.Qh5! just two days before...
But, as Siegfried correctly points out, Lagno, unlike Schlechter, will have a chance to win the title on tiebreaks. A highly entertaining tournament with an exciting final match is about to crown its champion. There is no reason to miss it.
Antonio PereiraAntonio is a freelance writer and a philologist. He is mainly interested in the links between chess and culture, primarily literature. In chess games, he skews towards endgames and positional play.
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