WGM Ghazal Hakimifard (SUI, 2243) vs WFM Sofia Blokhin (EST, 2046) · 1-0
Board 3, Switzerland vs Estonia, women’s event · Sicilian Defence, Dragon Variation, Yugoslav Attack, Modern Line (B76)
By Professor Zugzwang AI Coach . This analysis was written by a Bogner Chess AI coach.
Round three, table 16, board three: Switzerland play Estonia, and WGM Ghazal Hakimifard has White against an opponent rated 197 points lower. It becomes a Dragon, Yugoslav Attack, . White storms on the kingside, Black on the queenside, and a tempo lost here is a tempo lost in a race.
The game changed hands three times. On move 21 Black took on d5 with the wrong pawn and stood a good three pawns worse, on move 26 White handed the whole advantage back with one rook move, and Black passed it on again the move after. At the end the white queen stood on h6, the knight on g5 and the black king alone on h8. Switzerland split the match 2 to 2.
The pawn on h5 was there to be taken
The Yugoslav Attack runs on fixed rules: , , , , then h4 and h5 against the pawn on g6, while Black aims at the half-open c-file and at the bishop on b3. is the modern attempt to slow the race down, and after every piece stands where theory puts it. does not belong to the set, and it costs just under half a pawn.
Move 14 shows why. pins the knight on f6 against the queen on e7, and undoes the pin. The queen has spent two moves on a square she could have reached in one on move 12. With the kings castled on opposite wings, that is a tempo White gets for free.
arrived after twenty-eight minutes of thought and leaves the pawn on h5 alone. Taking it was allowed: trades knight for bishop and pawn for pawn, and White has to spend two moves winning the pawn back. Black stands about two thirds of a pawn better there than after the rook move. When a storming pawn arrives in front of you, first check whether you can simply take it, and only then calculate the defensive moves.
WFM Sofia Blokhin (EST, 2046)
WGM Ghazal Hakimifard (SUI, 2243)
Two ways to take on d5: 21...exd5 or 21...cxd5
opens the f-file, and the next moves put the position in order: , , . The queen now stands on the h-file against the pawn on h7 and behind the bishop on f4 at the same time. is the most accurate answer to that and Black’s best move of this phase, and changes nothing about the picture.
asks which pawn should capture. The pawn on c6 guards b5 and d5, and it is the reason the knight on c3 gets nowhere. leaves it there. removes it, and arrives at once, with d6 and a7 on its list. Just under a pawn and a half separates the two captures, and was already the best defence Black had left.
A pawn that captures stops guarding what it has been guarding. Before you choose between two captures, name the squares the pawn in question covers right now. Here they were b5 and d5, and the control of both left the board with the pawn on c6.
WFM Sofia Blokhin (EST, 2046)
WGM Ghazal Hakimifard (SUI, 2243)
The same trade, two owners: 26.Rdf1
From here White wants one single trade: puts the black king on the h-file, where the queen is already waiting, and the pawn on h7 then has no defender but him. On move 23 that trade was the best move, on move 25 the second best. What was played was and , and the first of the two cost a good pawn.
In the diagram is the move: pins the queen on g6 against the king on g8, and White stays a good two pawns ahead. looks like the same plan and is a different one, because it leaves Black the trade White has been looking for over three moves. After the attack is gone and Black stands half a pawn better.
gave it all back, with just under four minutes on the clock against more than twenty for White. After White had the trade after all, plus the pawn on f5 and the king on h8. As long as your opponent can make the same trade herself, it is not your trade: before every in-between move, ask whether a capture on that square defuses the position for her.
WFM Sofia Blokhin (EST, 2046)
WGM Ghazal Hakimifard (SUI, 2243)
Two king moves, each of them the only one: 36.Kb1 and 37.Ka1
stops the pawn on f5 and puts itself in the way of the rook on the open g-file. The game was decided two moves later: would have held the deficit at around two pawns, after it was close to four. White gave a good pawn of that back with , where and were stronger, and brought the knight to e6 on move 33 anyway.
took the pawn and let in. From there the queen, the knight and both rooks point at the black king, while Black’s pieces stand on the queenside. That is the moment White has to calculate for herself, because the attack comes back with check.
After White has exactly three legal answers, and two of them lose on the spot: and , the latter because the knight on e4 covers d2. What was played was . After there are exactly two legal moves, and again only one holds: and Black is suddenly the one who is better, while keeps everything together. If you attack with your own king on c1, count its flight squares before you send the last piece forward, not afterwards.
WFM Sofia Blokhin (EST, 2046)
WGM Ghazal Hakimifard (SUI, 2243)
Verdict
What decided this game was the direction the pieces were pointing. After the white queen, both rooks and the knight stood on the side of the board where the black king stood, and Black’s pieces on the other. Ghazal Hakimifard let chances go by on the way: was a good pawn better than , would have kept the game under control without any excitement, and was stronger than . She calculated where it counted, with and , each of them the only move that holds. After the mate could no longer be prevented: . In the game the decision came after , and Black resigned. Switzerland split the match with Estonia 2 to 2: GM Alexandra Kosteniuk drew on board one, WIM Mariia Manko lost on board two, WIM Camille De Seroux drew on board four, and after three rounds the team stood on 5 match points and 10 board points.
Moves
1-0
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