IM Olga Badelka (AUT, 2424) vs GM Alexandra Kosteniuk (SUI, 2495) · ½-½
Board 1, Switzerland vs Austria, women’s event · Queen’s Pawn Game, Symmetrical Variation (D02) · 90 minutes for 40 moves, then 30 minutes, plus 30 seconds per move
By Bogner AI Coach AI Coach . This analysis was written by a Bogner Chess AI coach.
Round ten of the women’s event, Switzerland against Austria. GM Alexandra Kosteniuk sat on board one with Black against IM Olga Badelka. White put a quiet Queen’s Pawn game on the board, the symmetrical variation, the kind of setup in which there is everything to play and nothing to force for twenty moves.
On move twelve Black chose a creative bishop excursion, on move thirteen the central pawn break, and out of the quiet opening came a position in two moves in which White stood clearly better. What followed was a long defence two pawns down, a blunder in White’s time trouble, and an endgame that Kosteniuk pulled back to the half point. As in round nine, it was the opponent’s mistake with under a minute on the clock that tipped the game, only this time the sign in front was the other way around.
The bishop that asks a question: 12...Bc2 and 13...e5
Up to move eleven the symmetrical variation ran quietly: knights, bishops, short castling, , everything in place. After , the attack on the f5 bishop, the calm move is , and the position is practically balanced. Instead came , a move that attacks the white queen and sends the bishop deep into the white camp.
IM Olga Badelka (AUT, 2424)
GM Alexandra Kosteniuk (SUI, 2495)
The break in the centre works
was the strongest reply and practically the only move that takes the advantage out of the position: the white queen leaves the c-file with tempo, and the c2 bishop suddenly has no way home. The objective move for Black was now , a quiet retreat that leaves White with a good pawn of advantage. What came was , the try to break the centre open; that is a tactical error and only clears the road for the white central pawns.
After the bishop hangs, the d4 pawn is defended, and the only sequence that still holds together is . Kosteniuk needed almost fourteen minutes for , and the calculation was accurate to the last capture. At the end of the sequence White has the bishop pair advantage, doubled g pawns, but still about two pawns more, and the black king position is opened up. A move that calculates a combination to the end wins back what can be won back, no more; the inaccuracy before it stays on the board.
The lesson sits already on move twelve: a bishop excursion that attacks the opposing queen is only as good as the retreat you have planned after it. did not have the retreat, and is the reply almost nobody fails to play.
IM Olga Badelka (AUT, 2424)
GM Alexandra Kosteniuk (SUI, 2495)
The white position still has to be won: 22.Bxe5
Between move 18 and move 21 White held the advantage without growing it; from the black side came , and , three inaccuracies in a row that would have opened the road for the bishop pair on f4 and the knight on h4 even further. The best move in the diagram was , with the idea of routing the knight via d4 to f5 and keeping the f4 bishop; after White stays significantly more than two pawns ahead.
What came was , the local attack on the knight, and with the exchange the strongest white piece leaves the board. After the evaluation is back at a good two pawns, and Black has the bishop on f8, the rook on e5, all pieces together. That is probably the move on which the game became defensible for Kosteniuk again for the first time: she stands clearly worse, but she has enough time on the clock (around thirty-one minutes against thirty-five) and no hanging pieces left.
After that White played to the queenside: , and the knight on c6 is simply a very strong knight. In the same phase came , a move that cost eight minutes twenty-six seconds; better was with the idea of trading the second rook. The black moves that hold are not pretty moves, they are a piece of work each. At the end of the run Black had been pushed back to the third rank, three pawns of advantage against her, with around twelve minutes on the clock; White after had only eight minutes thirty seconds left.
IM Olga Badelka (AUT, 2424)
GM Alexandra Kosteniuk (SUI, 2495)
The move under a minute: 32.Re8 and 32...f5
The best move for White was , a quiet pawn move that tidies the position up and keeps the advantage at around three pawns. What came was , and with it the guard on the c6 knight no longer adds up: before, the rook on e5 and the queen on e4 covered it together; now only the queen is there, and the queen can only cover one square. It is a tactical error in time trouble, and it turns a clearly better position into an equal one.
is the reply that levels the game, and Kosteniuk found it in a good forty seconds: the pawn attacks the queen, and wherever the queen goes, wins the knight. White played , and after two knights for a rook leave both sides equal in material.
The lesson is the one about waiting in the worse position: when you stand worse and have time on your clock, you keep the opponent under pressure and stay awake for the moment in which one move leaves a square it should still be guarding. It is the same connection as in round nine, only with the sign in front reversed: a move played with under a minute on the clock rarely loses rating points and often loses a whole game.
IM Olga Badelka (AUT, 2424)
GM Alexandra Kosteniuk (SUI, 2495)
Verdict
Objectively the game was decided on move thirteen and stayed decided for twenty moves; practically it was decided in the moment the white clock dropped under a minute. For Kosteniuk it is her fifth half point of this Olympiad and the most valuable, because it did not come out of a holdable position but out of a lost one. For the team it is a half point on board one, the half point the team needed. The learning sits in the order of the two opening inaccuracies: an aggressive move on move twelve needs the preparation on move eleven and the follow-up on move thirteen, and if one of the three is not in place, none of the three are.
Moves
½-½
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