IM Tatev Abrahamyan (USA, 2347) vs WGM Ghazal Hakimifard (SUI, 2243) · 1-0
Board 3, Switzerland vs United States, women’s event · Sicilian Defence, Kan Variation, Knight Variation (B43)
By Professor Zugzwang AI Coach . This analysis was written by a Bogner Chess AI coach.
Round 7 of the women’s event, table 8, Switzerland against the United States: WGM Ghazal Hakimifard had Black on board three against IM Tatev Abrahamyan, rated a hundred and four points higher. It became a Kan Sicilian, and on move seventeen Hakimifard found a knight manoeuvre that about one player in forty plays at this level. Two moves later she was a pawn up.
The remaining twenty-six moves tip over several times in both directions: a knight that loses its way home on b2, a kingside that opens up for a whole piece, and on move thirty-two a position that is exactly level. There was a rook move there that holds the draw. Another one was played.
The knight move almost nobody makes: 17...Na4
The Kan Sicilian had given Black a quiet, healthy position. pinned the c3 knight against the king on e1, traded the bishop for that knight, and after the black pawn on e5 stood firm in the centre. With the white queen left the kingside, and from that moment the b2 pawn has one defender left, the bishop on c3.
A good third of the players at this level reach for here, another quarter for . Both leave Black worse: after White is a good half pawn better, after more than a whole one. About one in forty plays , and it is the only move that leaves Black better at all, by a good third of a pawn. The knight attacks the c3 bishop, the bishop has to give way, and after the pawn is gone.
Remember the question rather than the move. A pawn is not safe merely because it is defended. Count its defenders, and when there is only one, look for the move that attacks that one. Here it was the bishop on c3, and the knight came via a4.
IM Tatev Abrahamyan (USA, 2347)
WGM Ghazal Hakimifard (SUI, 2243)
The b2 knight loses its way home: 19...Nd7
A knight on b2 lives on credit. Its only exit was ...Nxd3, and that exit exists only while a white bishop stands on d3. What kept the bishop there was the knight on f6: the d3 bishop defends the e4 pawn, and the moment it leaves d3, e4 falls. takes that knight off f6 and dissolves both things at once.
After it the knight could no longer be saved: , and White has the piece back for two pawns and stands a good two pawns better. With the knight still on f6 the same move does not work: after Black is around three pawns better, because the d3 bishop was the sole defender of e4. keeps the extra pawn and the small edge, keeps the pawn and the balance.
Abrahamyan played and went for the king instead, and Hakimifard used the reprieve at once: , and the knight came home as a bishop. The extra pawn was still there; what it cost was the kingside, because the knight on f5 and the queen on h4 now point at g7 and h7. Anyone who raids the enemy camp with a piece names the square it comes back out through first, and checks on every move that the square is still there.
IM Tatev Abrahamyan (USA, 2347)
WGM Ghazal Hakimifard (SUI, 2243)
A piece up and worse anyway: 25.Nxg7
There are errors on both sides in between. walked into , after which White is around three pawns better; was played instead and the position was level again. would have kept it there, did not.
gives up a knight for a pawn, and the account still works out for White. Count it: queen, two rooks, bishop and knight against queen, two rooks and bishop, five pawns against five. Black is a whole minor piece up and stands a pawn and a half worse.
That extra piece was never really one. The best Black has here is , and there the material is level again, because the bishop has to go straight back. The reason is the g7 pawn that is no longer there. A king with no pawns in front of it costs more than a piece, and that is not a figure of speech here, it is the arithmetic on the board. When you count material, count the pawns in front of your own king too.
IM Tatev Abrahamyan (USA, 2347)
WGM Ghazal Hakimifard (SUI, 2243)
The last way out was 32...Rg6
White gave the advantage back twice. took her own rook off the g-file, and made the position dead level. Black meanwhile had both rooks on the sixth rank; on the other side the rook on f7 and the bishop on e7 stood side by side, and rook and queen both bore down on the h7 pawn, which only the king defends.
holds the draw, and it holds it with counterplay rather than defence: , and the white queen has nothing better than the perpetual between d8 and h4. One rook collects g2, the other a2, and White’s attack ends in perpetual check.
was played, and covered g2. The rook did reach g6 a move later, but without the capture on g2 it is only a rook on g6. When a position looks bad and is level anyway, that is almost always down to one concrete counterblow rather than to defence. In moments like this, look for your own pawn grab next to the enemy king before you pull your pieces back.
IM Tatev Abrahamyan (USA, 2347)
WGM Ghazal Hakimifard (SUI, 2243)
Verdict
The rest was settled by : after two rooks and a bishop stand against queen and bishop, with White a pawn up and the black king still in the open. was tougher than the played, though nothing was going to save it any more, and after Black resigned. What stays with me from this game is move seventeen. Almost nobody at this level finds , and it came in a position where no other move achieves anything. Moves like that win games against stronger opponents. Not this one, because two moves later the knight left f6 and gave up three jobs at once.
Moves
1-0
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