The second game of the 2022 FIDE Women’s Candidates Tournament, Pool B, played this afternoon in the magnificent Farovon Hotel venue in Khiva, Uzbekistan, ended in a draw after forty moves. After a very equal encounter, GM Aleksandra Goryachkina and GM Tan Zhongyi are now tied 1-1 in the match: two classical games are left to decide the winner before resorting to the tiebreak.

In her quarter-final match against Kosteniuk, Goryachkina faced 1.e4 in both of her games with Black; today, we got to see her preparation against 1.d4. Her choice was the Semi-Slav Defense, deviating from the pure Slav Defense, which she used to defeat Tan Zhongyi very recently in the Astana leg of the 2022 Women’s Gran Prix. 

Tan Zhongyi seems to have a preference for the Carlsbad pawn structures, so it was hardly a surprise to see her exchange pawns on d5 following a game that she had played back in 2017 against GM Wei Yi, one of China’s best 2700+ players. 

By move transposition, they left the realms of the Slav to return to the kingdom of the Queen’s Gambit Declined, exchange variation. Most surely, Goryachkina had prepared this line very well: Tan Zhongyi went for the same structure in her second quarter-final classical game against Lagno.

On the move eleven, after thinking for about four minutes, Goryachkina essayed a very rare move 11…Bd6!?, which had only been seen once before, in an old 1946 game between Steiner and Denker. Alternatively, 11…Bf5 is by far the most popular move in this position, featured in many games between top-level players. 

Tan Zhongyi went into the tank for nearly ten minutes and eventually declined the pawn sacrifice, probably fearing home preparation – there is some positional compensation for the pawn. 

However, her proposal wasn’t as testing, and after several solid moves and exchanges, Goryachkina more or less equalized going into the middlegame. Maybe at some point, Tan Zhongyi did enjoy a very tiny edge – the engine oscillates between 0.0 and +0.5 – but at no stage did Goryachkina seem to be in any kind of real danger.

After more exchanges and precise play, they arrived at a theoretically drawn rook ending which both players agreed not to play out to the inevitable draw. 

“I think in the opening stage, it should be within the scope of Goryachkina’s preparation. She seems to have played a similar game before, but I did not focus on it too much or analyze it deeply. Indeed, it may also be because of the long game played yesterday. It was very complicated today, to be honest. I spent a lot of time, in general, also thinking about the strategy and approach for today. The situation was not balanced, but, in the end, I chose to play more stable. Her defence today was very good, and she didn’t give me any chance. Then we ended the game smoothly,” said Tan Zhongyi in short in a short interview after the game. 

The players will enjoy a free rest day tomorrow and return to the venue for game three on Friday, December 9th, at 3 pm. It can be followed live with expert grandmaster commentary on the FIDE YouTube channel.    

On another note entirely, the 1st International Al-Beruniy Chess Tournament, also played in the venue as a parallel event to the Candidates, was won by IM Abdimalik Abdisalimov edging out GM Shamsiddin Vokhidov on a tiebreak. Both of the Uzbekistan players scored 7/9. Twelve-year-old Uzbekistan prodigy FM Khumoyun Begmuratov scored an IM norm with a 2525 performance, qualifying in 4th place.

FIDE Women’s Cadidates 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