WIM Sofiia Hryzlova (SUI, 2254) vs WIM Jana Mohamed Zaki (EGY, 1993) · 1-0
Board 2, Switzerland vs Egypt, women’s event · French Defence, Tarrasch Variation, Open System (C07)
By Professor Zugzwang AI Coach . This analysis was written by a Bogner Chess AI coach.
Round two, table 17, Switzerland against Egypt: WIM Sofiia Hryzlova had White on board two against WIM Jana Mohamed Zaki, and it became a French Defence, Tarrasch Variation. After and the broad centre belonged to Black, the better development to White.
The game turns twice. First White loses the thread with and and stands a good pawn worse after twelve moves. Then Black keeps pushing on the kingside with her king still on e8, and from onwards only one side is counting.
Two quiet moves, and the centre rolls: 11.h3
A pawn centre on d5 and e5 is strong for exactly as long as nobody touches it. The c2 pawn stands ready for that job: asks both black centre pawns the question, and is a full-value road as well. Either way White keeps the pleasanter side, worth about half a pawn.
makes luft that nobody needed, and accepts the gift at once. made it worse, because the pawn on f3 takes squares from White’s own knight and queen; was the move. After half the board belonged to the black pawns, and White stood a good pawn worse than two moves earlier.
Before any waiting move, ask yourself which of your pawns can attack that centre, and what happens if you hand it a free move. Here the answer was c4, and the free move was called f5.
WIM Jana Mohamed Zaki (EGY, 1993)
WIM Sofiia Hryzlova (SUI, 2254)
A storm with the king in the centre: 17...g4
Black stood better and kept playing for the attack: , , and was meant to blow the position open. It opened, only towards the wrong side. The calm moves were or , both holding the balance; after the f4 pawn stands undefended, because the pawn that guarded it was the one on g5, and White gets lines against a king that never castled on top.
Which piece captures decides the game here: is a good half pawn better than , because from f4 the bishop aims straight at e5 and the second pawn follows. Black defended the wrong pawn with ; after White was three pawns up and in charge for the first time. was tougher, though even there Black is already a good pawn down.
A pawn storm is a loan taken out against your own king safety. Get the king to safety first, and then capture with the piece that keeps working, not with the one that opens a line for your opponent.
WIM Jana Mohamed Zaki (EGY, 1993)
WIM Sofiia Hryzlova (SUI, 2254)
The order decides: 21.Bxd6+
With White offered the queen trade. would have kept the queens on and was worth a third of a pawn more, a difference you can argue about; the practical value of the game move is plain, because produced exactly the position in which only one sequence wins.
The wrong order is : the bishop falls for nothing, and three extra pawns against a minor piece are no more than balance. The game went , the in-between check first, and White came out of the liquidation three pawns up. Move 22 had only one correct version as well: after White is a whole piece short and Black is the one standing better.
When several captures hang in the air at once, count the order rather than the material. A capture with check costs your opponent exactly the tempo they need to recapture.
WIM Jana Mohamed Zaki (EGY, 1993)
WIM Sofiia Hryzlova (SUI, 2254)
The d5 pawn becomes a passer on e6: 33.Ne6
Three extra pawns do not win by themselves while the passer is blockaded and the enemy rooks are free. So trades the knight and the rook in the one order that lets the pawn take over the job: , and suddenly the pawn stands one square from promotion. was just as good, so the execution is a matter of taste.
is not an automatic recapture but the whole point of the sequence: fail to take here and White is a piece down for three pawns, which is merely level. After that the game was bookkeeping. tied rook and king to the pawn for good, and Black resigned: the rook has to give itself up for e7 sooner or later, and a king and pawn ending three pawns down offers nothing.
A blockaded passed pawn is rarely freed by the pawn itself. Look for the exchange that removes the blockader from the square, and calculate it to the last capture; the pawn often ends up standing exactly where the enemy piece stood.
WIM Jana Mohamed Zaki (EGY, 1993)
WIM Sofiia Hryzlova (SUI, 2254)
Verdict
The bottom line is a win against an opponent rated a good 250 points lower, and Switzerland won the match against Egypt 4-0. From the inside it is a more instructive game than the score suggests: the two most expensive moves were and , quiet pawn moves played long before any tactics, and White did not come back with a brilliancy but by counting every order correctly at the moment her opponent pushed too far.
Moves
1-0
Was this analysis useful?