3 May 2016
The Batumi Upheavals
Rounds 8 and 9 of the Women's FIDE Grand Prix stage in the review of Eteri Kublashvili.
It goes without saying that only such action-packed events as a blitz tournament with the participation of the 13th World Champion can measure up to a female tournament of high-level in terms of emotional charge and games won, therefore chess fans are always looking forward to watching the spectacular battles between beautiful representatives of the weaker (?) sex. The third stage of the FIDE Grand Prix series is nearing its end in Batumi, which I was fortunate enough to visit after a long break. However, it makes no sense to introduce the participants now that as many as nine rounds are already over. As the lead is changing hands on a daily basis, no turn of events should be ruled out towards the end of the tournament.
In the recent years Batumi has been rapidly blooming and continuously decorating itself with new hotels, casinos, monuments and skyscrapers so that it does not even remotely resemble the city that your author had a view of 15 years ago. Meanwhile, the typical Georgian courtyards and balconies, which make the city so incredibly charming, can be seen everywhere. One could say that participants and guests were blessed with a good spell weather because it was not raining every day, thus giving an opportunity to take walks around the city.
The tournament is held in one of the oldest city hotels Intourist Palace, which is located in the very heart of Batumi, not far from the seaside boulevard. Even though the building, constructed in 1939 to the design of the acclaimed Soviet architect Alexey Shchusev on the spot of, or to be more precise, on top of the foundation of the St. Alexander Nevsky Cathedral (at present the miniature model of the temple is placed for public display in the hotel lobby), has been repaired on more than one occasion, it is one of the best city hotels nowadays. The organizers have created the most comfortable conditions for the participants to stay and play in one place, which is almost always a huge plus.
Already the next morning following my arrival, on the day of round eight, Anastasia Karlovich and I, armed with our cameras, headed for Chakvi to capture the meeting of Avtandil Beridze - chairman of the Supreme Council of the Autonomous Republic of Adjara - with the legendary world champion Nona Gaprindashvili, ECU president Zurab Azmaiparashvili, and representatives of the Organizing Committee and FIDE. The meeting was held in a very friendly atmosphere seasoned with food, drinks and gifts.
A little later that day, at three o'clock local time, there started round eight, which has so far turned out to be the most peaceful one with only one decisive game, which resulted in shuffling the lead in the tournament standings. Having defeated Zhao Xue, Anna Muzychuk has once again moved into a share of the lead together with Valentina Gunina, who bailed out of the position being down a pawn in her game with Almira Skripchenko, and with Nana Dzagnidze, who drew Elina Danielian.
A. Muzychuk – Zhao Xue
The Ukrainian chess player was unstoppable in the opposite-side castling position that arose out of the Italian Game:
23. Nc4 Qg4 24. Qc2 Qd7 25. Ne3 Rge8 26. Qc6 Qxc6 27. Rxc6
Black hoped to breathe a sigh of relief after the trade of queens, but underestimated the latent dangers of this seemingly simple-looking position.
27…Nb4? 28. Rxf6 Rxd4 29. Rxf7 Nd3 30. Rd1 Ne5 31. Rxd4 Nxf7 32. g4, and White went on to bring his material advantage home after completion of the main time period.
A bitter error was committed by Bela Khotenashvili in a winning position.
Khotenashvili - Batsiashvili
Immediately following the time control move there followed a fateful blunder – 42. Rxh7?,and there is no escaping the mad rook – 42…Rf1+ 43. Kg3 Rf3+ 44. Kh4 Rxh3+ 45. Kxh3, draw.
Since the second free day had no special program planned, each player was left to herself to choose the most suitable way of recreation. However, the majority opted for a walk around Batumi, where the sun finally came out after a few rainy days in a row.
Indeed, in round nine the well-rested girls resumed stinging, chopping and slashing with renewed vigor. The only draw happened in the game between Olga Girya and Bela Khotenashvili. Having defeated Alexandra Kosteniuk in the Russian derby, Valentina Gunina took the sole lead in the race.
Gunina – Kosteniuk
Being under certain time pressure, Gunina still found herself in her element in a position featuring a non-standard material balance and multitude of lines to calculate and managed to squeeze the maximum out of the positions.
27. c7 Nd5 27. Rd1 Ba6 28. e4 Ne7 29. Rab1! Rxa8 30. Rd6 Be2 31. Re1! Bh5 32. Bf1!
32…a5 33. Rc1 Bf3 34. Bb5 Rf8 35. Rd4 g5 36. h3 h5 37. g4 hxg4 38. hxg4 Bxg4 39. Rd7 Rfe8 (more stubborn is 39…Nc8) 40. Rxe7 Rxe7 41. c8Q+ Rxc8 42. Rxc8+, and then, despite the ingenious defense by Black, White attained a decisive advantage thanks to more advantageous deployment of her pieces.
Zhao Xue has become one of the leaders yet another time upon having outplayed Almira Skripchenko and she is now lagging behind Valentina by half a point.
Zhao Xue – Skripchenko
Both players came up with a very creative type of play and the finale of the game started with the following pawn sacrifice – 26. c5! bxc5 27. bxc5 Bxc5 28. Bxc5 Qxc5 29. Rb5 Qa7 30. Nc4 Ba6 31. Ra5 Qb7 32. Nxe5, and Black recognized her defeat in a hopeless position on move 40.
Anna Muzychuk and Nana Dzagnidze, who were in the lead after round eight, lost to Batsiashvili Nino and Maria Muzychuk respectively. Moreover, Anna and Nana had advantage in the beginning, but then squandered it, allowing their opponents building up dangerous counterplay.
Lela Javakhishvili finally broke her losing streak by defeating Elina Danielian.
Thus, after nine rounds Valentina Gunina is leading the field with 6 points. Trailing half a point behind is Zhao Xue. Nana Dzagnidze, Anna Muzychuk and Nino Batsiashvili are in the share of 5 points.
In round ten, which will be played on the day of the Orthodox Easter, be sure not to miss the battle of leaders Valentina Gunina and Zhao Xue, as well as other no less exciting fights Kosteniuk - Dzagnidze, Javakhishvili - M. Muzychuk, Khotenashvili - Danielian, A. Muzychuk - Girya, and Skripchenko - Batsiashvili.
