English Chess Forum

Quite a drama. Goryachnnika all but had the title in her hands.

Game ten: Goryachkina has a +1 advantage in a rook and bishop ending after one of those QGDs with doubled pawns Short used to like. (Didn't Carlsen give that line a good thrashing not so long ago?)

[Or had: while I was writing this comment Chessbomb marked her 24th red, and the advantage is not so chunky any more.]

....and Ju looks on the way to winning after White fouls up the rook ending

JustinHorton wrote: ↑

Sun Jan 19, 2020 10:36 am

Quite a drama. Goryachnnika all but had the title in her hands.

I am not sure that is correct. I think the meaning of +1 in that structure, a bit less than in other positions. cf Ganguly - L'Ami from Wijk yesterday, drawn at +1.5 for example.

My support is with Goryachkina on stylistic grounds. But perhaps Ju is proving she calculates better.

Paul Cooksey wrote: ↑

Mon Jan 20, 2020 12:44 pm

JustinHorton wrote: ↑

Sun Jan 19, 2020 10:36 am

Quite a drama. Goryachnnika all but had the title in her hands.

I am not sure that is correct.

To which game are you referring

I see now you were referring to yesterday's game in that comment, where it was true.

Oops. I will go back into forum hibernation.

chess.com report of the last 2 games

Well they seem to have raced their way through a draw today so it's win or bust tomorrow for Goryachkina

Maybe she wanted to stop the rot today and rely on her white tomorrow; maybe she just got nothing from the opening

Mick Norris wrote: ↑

Wed Jan 22, 2020 7:55 am

Maybe she wanted to stop the rot today and rely on her white tomorrow; maybe she just got nothing from the opening

Ju played a very safe line which gave black no problems.

Black looks fairly comfortable so far in game 12:

1. d4 d5 2. Nc3 Nf6 3. Bf4 e6 4. Nb5 Na6 5. e3 Bb4+ 6. c3 Be7 7. a4 O-O 8. Bd3 c6 9. Na3 c5 10. Nf3 Ne4 11. h3 f5 12. Nb5 c4 13. Bxe4 fxe4 14. Ne5 Nb8 15. O-O a6 16. Na3 Nd7 17. Nc2 Qe8 18. f3 Nxe5 19 Bxe5 *

1. d4 d5 2. Nc3 Nf6 3. Bf4 e6 4. Nb5 Na6 5. e3 Bb4+ 6. c3 Be7 7. a4 O-O 8. Bd3 c6 9. Na3 c5 10. Nf3 Ne4 11. h3 f5 12. Nb5 c4 13. Bxe4 fxe4 14. Ne5 Nb8 15. O-O a6 16. Na3 Nd7 17. Nc2 Qe8 18. f3 Nxe5 19. Bxe5 Bd7 20. Ne1 Qh5 21. Kh2 exf3 22. Nxf3 Be8 *

Goryachkina seems to have lost most of her lead on the clock too; now 33 mins whereas Ju has 28

Looking a bit more promising now. Unpretentious opening but I guess it was designed to ensure there would be no quick exchanges, and plenty of play in the position.

Jonathan Rogers wrote: ↑

Thu Jan 23, 2020 8:33 am

Looking a bit more promising now. Unpretentious opening but I guess it was designed to ensure there would be no quick exchanges, and plenty of play in the position.

Yes, black seems to be going downhill quickly now (after her 30th move). I thought the opening went well but then 12 Nb5 13 Bxe4 and 17 Nc2 lost the advantage. Black then started to drift making too many queen moves and lose the thread as she ran short of time.

They've reached the time control; I know there's a 30 sec increment, but having only half an hour extra time to decide a world championship doesn't sound much to me