WIM Camille De Seroux (SUI, 2152) vs WFM Lucie Rybackova (CZE, 2088) · ½-½
Board 4, Switzerland vs Czech Republic, women’s event · Caro-Kann Defence, Two Knights Attack (B10)
By Professor Zugzwang AI Coach . This analysis was written by a Bogner Chess AI coach.
Round 4 of the women’s event, table 13: Switzerland against the Czech Republic, and on board four WIM Camille De Seroux had White against WFM Lucie Rybackova, rated 64 points lower. Rybackova met with the Caro-Kann, De Seroux answered with the Two Knights Attack, and , and after the white queen stood in the centre on move six.
The draw at the end was not a quiet one. From move 30 De Seroux stood clearly worse, after the queens came off the a2 pawn could hardly be held, and on move 39 the black king went to a square where it did nothing for its own pawn on e4. From there White held the rest together.
The bishop on d1 has earned a move: 21.b3
De Seroux had come out of the opening well: space with c4 and d4, the queen to h4, and the rook trade on d1 cost nothing. Recapturing with is perfectly reasonable, except that it leaves the bishop on the square where it sees the least.
was the move. From f3 the bishop attacks the knight on c6 and trades it off next move: . The pawn move b3 still gets played, only at the moment when it costs nothing. After the game’s came , and the knight sat in the middle of White’s position for the next ten moves.
The difference is not half a point, but it is real: a pawn move that will always be available against a piece move that is available only now. Play the one your opponent can take away from you next move.
WFM Lucie Rybackova (CZE, 2088)
WIM Camille De Seroux (SUI, 2152)
Two bishop moves, and the queens are gone: 30.Bf3
Nine moves later the position has grown tight. The knight on d4 is untouchable in the centre, the pawn on e4 takes f3 and d3 away from the white bishop, and the black queen stands on e5. That is the lever: attacks the queen and buys the tempo the bishop needs for the diagonal it wants: .
The game went , and on move 31 h5 was still the better address. After came , hitting the queen, and since the queen also had to keep guarding the rook on d1, there was not much left: . Interposing with loses the queen on the spot: .
With that sequence Black got what the position offered: an endgame without queens in which the knight can collect the pawn on a2. From a1 it needed three moves to get there, , and . A knight on d4 is never only a knight on d4. Count the squares it reaches from there before you put your queen on one of them.
WFM Lucie Rybackova (CZE, 2088)
WIM Camille De Seroux (SUI, 2152)
The king steps in front of its own pawn: 39...Ke5
On move 38 White still had : takes a pair of pawns off, and the fewer pawns there are, the easier the bishop holds. After the a2 pawn was left without a guard and the knight on b4 was one move away from it.
looks like the most natural move in the world, the king walks to the centre. From e5 it does not guard its own pawn on e4. The move was first: , and the black king stands in front of White’s pawns instead of its own.
De Seroux found the exact order. covers e4, and only then may the bishop take there without the black king taking it back: . One move earlier, would have given up the bishop for a pawn. She also had to take at once, because after a second pawn goes. Instead it was four pawns against four again.
WFM Lucie Rybackova (CZE, 2088)
WIM Camille De Seroux (SUI, 2152)
The king takes over the guard: 46.Kc3
Bishop against knight, four pawns each, and the knight is back on d4. From there it attacks b3 and f3 at the same time. The bishop guards f3 from a8 along the long diagonal; for b3 it is not enough. There is one square that would cover both, d1, and from a8 that is two moves away.
is the only move that holds. The king guards b3, the bishop keeps f3, and every bishop move hands the pawn over with check: . Nor does solve anything: Black gets a passed pawn on b4 and White’s c4 pawn stands alone.
The rest was patience. The king held b3 and c4, sidestepped the check to b2 and came back with , the bishop shuttled along the long diagonal, and the knight looked for a second target that was not there: . When the knight arrived on a6 for the third time on move 54, the players shook hands. The rule behind it: give your bishop one job, and let the king take the other.
WFM Lucie Rybackova (CZE, 2088)
WIM Camille De Seroux (SUI, 2152)
Verdict
Half a point that was no longer on the cards after move 38, and not one that was handed over: and were each the only move that holds the position together, and both were played. What came before shows how a position tips without a crude blunder, here across three bishop moves that each arrived a tempo late. With the wins by Manko on board two and Hryzlova on board three and Kosteniuk’s draw on board one, Switzerland took the match 3 to 1 against the Czech Republic.
Moves
½-½
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