WFM Anna Lhotska (CZE, 2149) vs WIM Sofiia Hryzlova (SUI, 2254) · 0-1
Board 3, Switzerland vs Czech Republic, women’s event · Sicilian Defence, Najdorf Variation, English Attack (B90)
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, both teams on five match points: WIM Sofiia Hryzlova sat on board three with Black against WFM Anna Lhotska and put the Najdorf on the board. White chose the English Attack, the setup with Be3, f3 and long castling whose whole ambition lives in a single advance, the pawn storm with g4.
Black had outlawed exactly that advance with . White played it on move twenty anyway, lost the pawn in passing, and with it the thread of the game. What follows is a lesson in conversion with one wobble in it: a forced sequence in which a knight attacks two rooks at once, and at the end a race that Black had counted out in advance.
The pawn that outlaws g4: 8...h5
The English Attack lives on one plan: castle long, then g4 and g5, drive the f6 knight away, open the kingside files. takes that plan at its word and forbids g4 before it is even prepared. Many players would start with and keep the pawn at home a while longer; the difference is purely a matter of taste, both roads are full value.
With the ban became permanent: from now on any g4 can be captured in passing. When came anyway, answered, and the new pawn on g3 was there to stay: attacks it, defends it and already looks at f4. White has paid for the storm with a clean pawn, and with the squares f4 and g3 on top.
The lesson reaches beyond this variation: a break your opponent has built against does not become playable just because you play it anyway. Before any pawn break, count every capture that answers it, including the one in passing; it is the most overlooked move in club chess.
WFM Anna Lhotska (CZE, 2149)
WIM Sofiia Hryzlova (SUI, 2254)
The queen aims at g1: 22...Qb6
After the question was how to turn the extra pawn into something lasting. looks like a queenside move and means the other end of the board: on the diagonal from b6 to g1 not a single piece is left in the way, the white rook stands at the far end of it, and the entry square f2 lies along the road. Nothing else comes close; the gap to the second-best move is a good pawn.
The most stubborn defence was , the queen covering f2 herself, though the white position stays unpleasant even then. The game saw , and followed: the knight sits there protected by the e5 pawn, attacks the bishop and cannot be driven off. After the knight and the bishop escort the g3 pawn together, and the white pieces are thrown back onto pure defence.
With the queen broke in, and collected a second pawn; Black stayed clearly better, but a slice of the advantage was left behind, because first would have opened a second front against the white king as well. The order is the lesson: an entry square you have conquered does not run away. Create the second weakness first, and the break-in wins more afterwards.
WFM Anna Lhotska (CZE, 2149)
WIM Sofiia Hryzlova (SUI, 2254)
One knight, two rooks: 31...Nf2
With the bishop gained time on the queen, and White offered the queen trade with , a move that looks like relief. It was the beginning of the end: , and from f2 the knight attacks both rooks at once, the one on d1 and the one on h1.
The knight move is the only one that holds the idea together, because the bishop on d2 hangs throughout the sequence. After the game even turns around: the bishop is lost for nothing, and two extra pawns become a piece down. The game went , rook for knight, and together with the pawn from move twenty Black is now the exchange and a pawn up.
Calculate a forced sequence to the last capture, and only judge it there. Stop at and you see a plain queen trade. Count on to and you see the exchange won, and you understand that the trade was not a concession but the first move of a combination.
WFM Anna Lhotska (CZE, 2149)
WIM Sofiia Hryzlova (SUI, 2254)
One safety move too many: 33...f6
The exchange and a pawn up, every white piece on defence: time to organise the win. looks like exactly that kind of tidying move, but it defends a pawn nobody was attacking, and it gave half the lead back: a good three pawns of advantage shrank to about a pawn and a half.
The price is the tempo. With White chases the bishop across the board and untangles on the way, the rook enters the game, the knight comes back to the centre. Right was , asking the f5 pawn the question and opening h7 for the king; the advantage would have stayed intact. Instead came , and after the window was shut again; fixed the queenside, and the king strolled towards the centre in peace.
In a winning position a safety move needs the same justification as a sacrifice: a concrete enemy plan it prevents. Ask what exactly is threatened before you play one. Against that question has no answer, and that is the most reliable sign that a stronger move is waiting.
WFM Anna Lhotska (CZE, 2149)
WIM Sofiia Hryzlova (SUI, 2254)
A race that is not a race
The final phase is bookkeeping, and it starts with a trade: took the only active white rook off the board. Then Black’s own rook arrived through the open file: , then and into the back of the white position. White meanwhile collected the b5 and a4 pawns with the bishop and started running herself.
Both sides ran, but only one had counted: , and the rook move ends the race in passing, because the knight on h5 has no square left: g3 belongs to the bishop, f4 to the e5 pawn, f6 to the king, g7 to the rook. ran on, took the piece, and from there Black is a whole rook for a pawn ahead.
The white passed pawns looked fast for a moment, and are connected and far advanced. But guards the queening square, and stops both pawns on its own: it blockades b5 with its body and covers a7 at the same time. After that there was nothing left to play. In every pawn race, count not only the moves to promotion but also the guards already standing there; one piece that stops two pawns wins any race.
WFM Anna Lhotska (CZE, 2149)
WIM Sofiia Hryzlova (SUI, 2254)
Verdict
Seen from the outside, the player rated a good hundred points higher won her game, and that is what team matches are supposed to look like. Seen from the inside there is more in it: an opening that took White’s plan at its word, a forced sequence with one knight against two rooks, a single wobble with , and an endgame that looked like a race and was bookkeeping. For Sofiia Hryzlova it is the third win in her third game of this Olympiad. And anyone who plays the English Attack with White takes home a warning: g4 is not a right, it is a calculation.
Moves
0-1
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