WIM Mariia Manko (SUI, 2285) vs WIM Natasa Richterova (CZE, 2194) · 1-0
Board 2, Switzerland vs Czech Republic, women’s event · Catalan Opening, Open Defence (E04)
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 arriving on five match points. On board two WIM Mariia Manko had White against WIM Natasa Richterova, rated 91 points lower. It became an Open Catalan, the line in which Black takes the pawn on c4 and White has to go and fetch it.
Manko fetched it on move eleven with a queen sortie to b7, was two pawns up after twenty-three moves and twice let almost nothing of that lead remain. She won anyway: on move 36 a black bishop stopped watching e4, and from there the passed pawns ran.
The queen fetches the second pawn: 11.Qxb7
Black left the opening two pawns up, and , and collected one back. The second sits on d4, the undefended one on b7. Taking it means putting the queen in front of the rook on a8.
is the best move, about half a pawn better than the quiet , and it calculates to the end. After , the move attacks the rook and the queen at the same time. Black has to take with the rook: leaves White a whole piece up. The game went , and material is level again.
The difference is the king. It stands on d8, castling is gone, and the rook on h8 has not moved yet. Black had a tougher try in , for instance , a good half pawn less for White and a king in safety. With a poisoned pawn, do not count the pieces attacking your queen; follow the forcing line to its end. A queen who trades herself for the other queen there was never trapped.
WIM Natasa Richterova (CZE, 2194)
WIM Mariia Manko (SUI, 2285)
The Catalan gives up its bishop: 17.Bxd5
The bishop on g2 is the piece you play the Catalan for, which is why it usually gets kept. Here it belongs on the exchange square: . What remains is a black doubled pawn on d4 and d5. collects the front one, and White is a pawn up for the first time.
The alternatives are a good pawn and a half behind: after the knight disappears, the structure stays healthy, and the bishop on g2 goes on biting on the knight on d5. This is not a matter of taste: one continuation wins a pawn and a permanent weakness, the other trades a good piece for a good piece.
The second doubled pawn fell four moves later, , and White was two pawns up. The habit worth taking away: a bishop is not untouchable because it sits on the long diagonal. When a trade is on offer, ask what pawn structure it leaves behind.
WIM Natasa Richterova (CZE, 2194)
WIM Mariia Manko (SUI, 2285)
How an advantage drains away: 21.Nf3
White is about two and a half pawns better here, and the move that holds on to it is . From f5 the knight attacks the pawn on g7 and pushes the d-pawn forward: . What came instead was , a quiet retreat that costs more than half a pawn.
Then came , and , three moves nobody would call errors. More accurate were and , and held the position together; after there is , the rook on the second rank. Black played , but the arithmetic had already changed: two and a half pawns of advantage had become a trace in eight moves.
One move in that stretch was exact. After White must recapture, and it matters with what: is right, lets the black rook onto the second rank and costs a good pawn, and forgets the bishop on d4, a piece for two pawns. An advantage rarely disappears to a mistake. It disappears to five moves that are all the second best one.
WIM Natasa Richterova (CZE, 2194)
WIM Mariia Manko (SUI, 2285)
A square given up: 36...Be8 and 37.Re4
Black had held the position together, partly because the bishop on g6 did two jobs: the diagonal towards h7 and the guard on e4. While it stood there the rook could not come to e4, since wins the exchange. With it gave up both jobs, and the rook took the file at once.
attacks the bishop on e8 and stands in the black rook’s way. Black has to defend, , and the a-pawn falls: . Stepping aside does not help. takes the bishop at once, and after White is winning just the same. The move was : after the rook takes the h-pawn and Black stays in the game.
The rest was arithmetic: White stayed two pawns up with three passed pawns on a4, b4 and d5, nothing in their way, , , , , . ended it: the king has to move, and after the pawns on a7, b6 and d6 cannot all be stopped. Black resigned. Before you move a piece, ask not where it is going but which square it stops covering.
WIM Natasa Richterova (CZE, 2194)
WIM Mariia Manko (SUI, 2285)
Verdict
A game with two faces. Up to move 20 Manko played almost faultlessly, won the gambit pawn back with a cleanly calculated forcing line and took the next one with and . After that the lead drained away twice in quiet moves, and both times it came back, because she took the file that opened. A full point on board two, Hryzlova winning on board three, Kosteniuk and De Seroux drawing: Switzerland won the match 3 to 1 against the Czech Republic.
Moves
1-0
Was this analysis useful?