Purichaya Chinkulkitniwat (THA, 1690) vs WIM Camille De Seroux (SUI, 2152) · 0-1
Board 4, Switzerland vs Thailand, women’s event · Nimzowitsch Defence, Williams Variation (B00)
By Professor Zugzwang AI Coach . This analysis was written by a Bogner Chess AI coach.
Round one, table 17, board four: Switzerland are seeded 17th, Thailand 111th, and WIM Camille De Seroux has Black against an opponent rated 462 points lower. She meets with , the Nimzowitsch Defence, and the first move already poses the question the whole game turns on: where does this knight belong?
It makes ten moves before the game ends, and the last of them captures on f2. In between come a locked centre, a pawn advance on the kingside, and a white clock down to one minute from move 30 onwards. White resigned after 41 moves, and Switzerland won the match 4 to 0.
The knight goes home: 11...Nb8
The Nimzowitsch Defence puts the knight on c6 before the pawns are settled, and accepts that it will be attacked there one day. That is exactly what does. The knight has five squares and none of them is comfortable: comes to the same thing but parks it on the rim, drops a piece, and goes all the way home.
The retreat costs two moves and buys a square. From b8 the knight goes to d7, where it props up e5 and stays out of the c-pawn’s way: , and after Black owns the c-file, which would not exist without the retreat.
In a locked centre time is cheap and a good square is expensive. The pawns on d5 and e5 are fixed, nothing is opening, so a knight may spend two moves travelling from c6 to d7. In positions like this one, do not ask how many moves a manoeuvre costs. Ask which piece ends up on which square.
Purichaya Chinkulkitniwat (THA, 1690)
WIM Camille De Seroux (SUI, 2152)
A bishop disappears, a diagonal stays: 18...Nxe3
is the natural move on the open file and the loosest of the opening. The answer was : after it the knight may no longer go to g4, because the pawn simply takes it, and White stands about three quarters of a pawn better than after the move played in the game.
White chose instead, and attacks the bishop on e3 at once. After White’s only dark-squared bishop has left the board. The f2 pawn is still guarded, by queen and king, but no piece can occupy the diagonal from a7 to g1 and expect to stay there. With the game is level.
Before you trade a bishop, count the squares it was watching rather than only the material. Camille De Seroux needed nine moves to move into the diagonal that opened up: and . The price of a trade is almost never paid on the spot, and whoever agrees to it should know who receives the bill.
Purichaya Chinkulkitniwat (THA, 1690)
WIM Camille De Seroux (SUI, 2152)
Locked centre, open wing: 21...f5
After the centre is shut: white pawns on d5 and e4, black pawns on d6 and e5, no lever for either side. So you play where you have space, and Black has it on the kingside. takes room and hits the queen on e3 on the way, which goes back to e2.
What follows is the most instructive stretch of the game: sends the bishop towards the long diagonal, and bring the knight from b6 to the wing where something is happening. Three moves without a single threat, and afterwards every black piece stands better than before.
is the move after which White no longer holds the balance: the knight leaves c3, the diagonal to g1 opens, and takes it. A small edge for Black, less than half a pawn, becomes a good full one. would have kept the position tough. The lesson holds for every closed position: improve your worst piece first, break through second. Regrouping is not passivity, it is the preparation without which a breakthrough is just a pawn sacrifice.
Purichaya Chinkulkitniwat (THA, 1690)
WIM Camille De Seroux (SUI, 2152)
The count on f2: 31...f3
is the strongest move in the position and worth about a pawn more than anything else. Both replies hurt: gives up the queen for rook and knight and leaves Black clearly better. The game went , and now the white king position is open.
puts the knight on the square the pawn vacated with , and takes the king away from f2. From then on the queen alone guards that pawn. In time trouble is the last error: the knight leaves c1, where it was guarding d3, and blocks its own queen on the same move. takes the bishop for nothing.
The rest is arithmetic. After the bishop on b6, the knight on d3 and the rook on f3 attack f2, while rook c2 and the queen defend it: three against two. wins the pawn and trades the last rooks. Count the attackers and the defenders of your target square before a breakthrough, and count again after every move. and both give up something that used to be covered.
Purichaya Chinkulkitniwat (THA, 1690)
WIM Camille De Seroux (SUI, 2152)
Verdict
No trick wins this game. A patient knight does: from b8 to c6, back to b8, via d7 to b6, back to d7, then f6, h5, f4, d3 and finally f2. Ten moves by a single piece, and every one of them brings it closer to the pawn the white king position hangs on. In the final position attacks queen and knight at once, costs the queen for two bishops, and Black is a piece and two pawns up. Camille De Seroux wins on board four, all four Swiss players win their board, 4 to 0 against Thailand: the start you want as the 17th seed.
Moves
0-1
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