Game of the week January 21, 2024 by Robert Huntington [Event "Tbilisi 1987"] [White "Nona Gaprindashvili"] [Black "Dusan Rajkovic"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "A61"] [Annotator "ATH"] [PlyCount "83"] [EventDate "1987.??.??"] [SourceTitle "StarBase 2.88"] [Source "Pickard & Son"] [SourceDate "2003.01.15"] [SourceVersion "1"] [SourceVersionDate "2003.01.15"] [SourceQuality "2"] 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 c5 3. d5 e6 4. Nc3 exd5 5. cxd5 d6 6. Nf3 g6 7. Bf4 Nh5 ({ Stockfish prefers} 7... Bg7 {e.g.,} 8. Qa4+ Bd7 9. Qb3 Qc7 10. e4 $14 { Mchedlishvili-Pantsulaia, Tblisi 2014}) 8. Bg5 Be7 (8... f6 9. Bd2 $16) 9. Bh6 Nd7 ({Somewhat better is} 9... Bf8 10. Qd2 a6 11. a4 $14 {Merario Alarcon-Torres Sanchez, La Roda 2019}) 10. Qd2 (10. e4 $1 $16) 10... Ndf6 11. h3 Ng8 12. Be3 ({Stockfish prefers} 12. Bg5 f6 13. Be3 f5 {which simply transposes into the next variation}) 12... a6 $6 (12... f5 13. g3 $14) 13. g4 Nhf6 $6 (13... Ng7 14. a4 Bd7 15. a5 $16) 14. a4 (14. Bg2 $1 h6 15. Rd1 Kf8 16. b3 $16) 14... Nd7 (14... h6 15. Bg2 $16 {is a small improvement for Black}) 15. Bf4 (15. Bg2 $1 h6 16. b4 $1 cxb4 17. Qd4 Ngf6 18. Qxb4 $16) 15... Ngf6 16. Bh6 Bf8 17. Bg2 Qe7 18. O-O Bxh6 19. Qxh6 Ng8 (19... Rg8 20. Ng5 Qf8 21. Qh4 h6 22. Nf3 g5 23. Qg3 $16 {is a small improvement for Black}) 20. Qf4 (20. Qg7 Qf6 21. Qxf6 Ngxf6 22. Nd2 $16 {is a small improvement for White}) 20... Ngf6 21. Nd2 O-O (21... Rb8 $5) 22. Nc4 (22. Qg3 $5) 22... Ne8 23. Ne4 f5 $6 (23... Ne5 24. Nexd6 Nxd6 25. Nxe5 $16) 24. Nexd6 fxg4 25. Nxc8 Rxf4 (25... Rxc8 26. Qxg4 $18 {is best but not good enough}) 26. Nxe7+ Kf8 27. Nxg6+ (27. d6 $1 Rxc4 28. Bxb7 Rb8 29. Bxa6 $18 {is the quick method}) 27... hxg6 28. b3 (28. Rfc1 $18 { is more efficient}) 28... gxh3 29. Bxh3 Ndf6 ({Stockfish prefers} 29... Nef6 { but not by enough to matter}) 30. e3 (30. Bg2 $1 $18) 30... Rh4 31. Bg2 Rd8 32. f4 $6 (32. Rac1 $18) 32... Nh5 $2 (32... Nd6 {puts up stiffer, if futile, resistance}) 33. Ne5 Kg7 ({Stockfish thinks it's best to just dump the pawn with} 33... Kg8 34. Nxg6 Rg4 35. Ne5 $18 {; it doesn't matter}) 34. Kf2 (34. Rac1 $1 {and Black can resign}) 34... Nd6 (34... Nhf6 {is another meaningless improvement}) 35. Rac1 (35. Rh1 $1 $18 {snoffs out all resistance.}) 35... Nf6 36. Kg1 $2 (36. Rg1 $18) 36... Nde4 (36... Nfe4 $1 37. a5 $16) 37. Rfd1 (37. b4 $1 $18) 37... b6 $2 (37... g5 $1 38. fxg5 Nh5 39. Nf3 Rg4 40. d6 $1 $18 { still manages to put up a fight}) 38. a5 bxa5 39. Rc4 Nd6 40. Rxc5 Kh7 $6 { Perhaps Black just had to make a move, any move, to make time control and didn't have enough time to consider resignation} (40... Rb8) 41. Rc6 (41. Rxa5) 41... Nfe8 (41... Rh5) 42. Rxa6 {and apparently Black soldiered on for an unknown number of moves before yielding the point} (42. Nf3 $1) 1-0 your web browser and/or your host do not support iframes as required to display the chessboard; alternatively your wordpress theme might suppress the html iframe tag from articles or excerpts Views: 11