After nearly 100 hard-fought moves, GM Aleksandra Goryachkina and GM Tan Zhongyi agreed to a draw by move repetition in the first of their four scheduled games. The semifinal of the 2002 FIDE Women’s Candidates (Pool B) is taking place in Khiva, Uzbekistan, and the winner will face Pool A winner, GM Lei Tingjie, in the final.
Goryachkina arrived at the venue just under 15 minutes before the start of the game, while Tan Zhongyi also made it in time with only a few minutes to spare. Chief arbiter Husan Turdialiev was already prepared for the ceremonial opening moves, which were performed by the Mayor of Khiva, Timur Davletov, and Lola Mirzaeva, General Manager of the Farovon Hotel.
Playing with White, Goryachkina opened the game with 1.d4, her usual choice. Tan Zhongyi repeated the Queen’s Gambit declined defence, with which she was quite successful in her quarter-final match against Kateryna Lagno. After an early exchange of queenside pawns, a balanced, symmetrical position was reached.
According to my database, two Chinese masters, Xu Zhihang and Zhou Weiqi had already played the same variation in this year’s Fuling tournament. Additionally, their game was strikingly similar to today’s encounter!
On the move 22, Tan Zhongyi could have captured a pawn on a3. She thought about it for nearly eight minutes but decided not to go down that road.
The game remained approximately equal until around move 30: Goryachkina had a slightly worse pawn structure, but Tan Zhongyi was straddled with a passive bishop.
Just when the game seemed to be heading for a draw, Goryachkina exchanged knights on c4, giving her opponent a passed pawn and a very nice diagonal for the bishop. Very low on time, it was understandably a difficult decision to make. The tables had turned: now it was Tan Zhongyi pressing for the win.
The opponents manoeuvered around for nearly sixty-five more moves - Goryachkina kept trying to set up an impenetrable fortress. According to the engine, it seems that Tan Zhongyi was very close to winning. However, in practical terms, she was unable to make progress, and a draw was finally agreed upon on the move 98.
“All in all, I didn’t think that my position was that challenging. We were just moving back and forth, and I don’t recall having any major problems,” were Aleksandra Goryachkina’s first impressions after the game in a short interview. “Maybe my opponent was able to play stronger at some moments, but she didn’t”.
Game two of the semi-final is scheduled for Wednesday, December 7th at 3 pm and can be followed live with expert grandmaster commentary on FIDE YouTube channel.
Tournament format and prizes
Under the new knock-out format, players in each of the two brackets or "pools" will play a four-game match (plus tie-breaks, if needed) in order to advance to the next stage, with the final match being played over the distance of six games. The prize fund for this pool is €70,000, while another €110,000 will be at stake in the Women's Candidates Final, raising the total to a record-breaking amount of €250,000.
Khiva
Established around 1500 years ago and currently housing a population of more than 90,000 people, Khiva is the former capital of Khwarezmia, and one of the three Uzbekistan historical cities on the Silk Road. The inner town, Itchan Kala, is encircled by brick walls, whose foundations are believed to have been laid in the 10th century. Mosques, madrassahs, and minarets are the present-day must-see highlights of the city.
OFFICIAL WEBSITE: womenscandidates.fide.com/
There is also a Flickr official page from where you can download the photos in high resolution.
Text: IM Michael Rahal
Photo: Timur Sattarov
