2024-04-12 04:46:18
In the sixth round of the tournament of the contenders for the chess title in Toronto, Nurgul Salimova played against Alexandra Goryachkina – the player with the highest rating of all the participants in the competition, who even a few years ago played a match for the world title. We remember that the two reached the final of the Women’s World Cup in Baku in August last year, and only in the last extra game in an equal position and with a strong cite, the Russian managed to get the upper hand over our girl.
Nurgül with white played a Catalan start, the debut which brought her success in the fourth round against Koneru. Goryachkina with black played markedly reliably, frankly on a gradual equalization. An exemplary draw emerged in the tableau, with both sides calmly maneuvering to improve the placement of their pieces. As time progressed, however, Salimova opted for a passive tactic and waited to see what her opponent would do. Gradually, a serious advantage emerged for Black. In search of counterplay, Salimova sacrificed a pawn on move 27.
Probably the accumulated fatigue from the previous matches had its say and the Bulgarian’s actions lacked freshness. Thus, after several misses, she was unable to defend a pawn-less endgame, something she successfully managed in the previous round. The decisive tactical error of our girl was on the 49th move, after which the position turned from very difficult to lost.
In the seventh round, Salimova will play with black against Ekaterina Lakhno. After that, the second part of the tournament is coming, and from the eighth to the last round, Nurgül’s opponents will be in the same order as between the first seven rounds.
The other results from the sixth round: Vaishali – Lagno 0-1, Koneru – Lei Tingjie 0-1 and Tan Zhongyi – Muzichuk 1-0.
Ranking: Tan Zhongyi 4.5 points, Goryachkina 4. Nurgul shares 5th-6th place with 2.5 points.
For men, Nepomniachy and Gukesh continue to be in the lead with 4 points each
Salimova – Goryachkina, VI district
1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.g3 Le7 5.Lg2 0–0 6.0–0 dxc4 7.Dc2 a6 8.a4 Ld7 9.Dxc4 Lc6 10.Lg5 Sbd7. The more popular continuation here is 10…Ld5. 11.Bxf6 More often played in this position are the moves 11.a5 or 11.Nc3. 11…Nxf6 12.Sc3 Dd6 13.Tac1 Tfd8 14.Tfd1 Tac8 15.e3 Ld5 16.Sxd5 exd5 17.Db3 Rb8 18.Se5 c6 19.Lh3?! The Carlsbad type pawn structure arose on the board. Here White had an interesting tactical opportunity – 19.e4!? 19…Dc7 20.Sd3 Ld6 21.Dc2 a5 (21…g6 22.b4!?) 22.Lg2 Te8 23.Sc5 g6 24.Tb1 De7 25.Tdc1 h5 26.De2 The natural 26.h4 was preferable. 26…h4 27.b4 axb4 28.a5 hxg3 29.hxg3 Ta8 30.Txb4 Lxc5! 31.dxc5 Alas it does not go 31.Txc5? due to 31…Txa5 32.Txa5 Dxb4. 31…Txa5 32.Db2 Txc5 33.Txc5 Dxc5 34.Txb7 Dd6 35.Db6 Ng4 36.Dc7 Qf6 37.Df4 Dxf4 38.gxf4 Ta8 39.Lf3 Ta1+ 40.Kg2 Sf6 41.Tb6 Tc1 42.Kg3 Kg7 43 .Kh4 Rc2 44.Kg3 Kf8 45.Tb1 Ke7 46.Tb7+ Ke6 47.Lg2 Sh5+ 48.Kf3 f5 49.Lh3? Crucial error. It took 49.Rc7! c5 (49…Nf6 50.Kg3 Se4+ 51.Bxe4 fxe4) 50.Rc6+ Kf7 51.Rc7 with counter opportunities.
49…Nf6! 50.Tg7 Se4 51.Txg6+ Kf7 52.Tg2 Kf6 53.Th2 c5 54.Lf1 c4 55.Le2 Td2 56.Th6+ Ke7 57.Th7+ Kd6 58.Th6+ Kc5 59.Th5 c3 60.Txf5 c2. 0-1.