Yesterday, I reported that Zhao Xue defeated Karpov. The good news is she was the only female participant to make it to the quarterfinal. The bad news is she had to face young phenom Karjakin in the quarterfinal.
She gave Karjakin everything he could handle! Above is the brilliant combination by Zhao Xue to beat Karjakin and tied up the score at 1-1. She eventually lost the blitz playoff .5 – 1.5. She is a brilliant attacking player. Now if she can improve on her positional game, she will be a force to be reckoned with.
Zhao Xue is White and it is her move. Can you find her brilliant combination to beat Karjakin?
Zhao Xue (2467) – Sergey Karjakin (2672) [D43]
KO Cap d’Agde, 10-30-2006
1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.Nf3 e6 5.Bg5 h6 6.Bh4 dxc4 7.e4 g5 8.Bg3 b5 9.Be2 Bb7 10.h4 g4 11.Ne5 h5 12.0-0 Nbd7 13.Qc2 Nxe5 14.Bxe5 Bg7 15.Rad1 0-0 16.f3 Nh7 17.Bxg7 Kxg7 18.g3 Qc7 19.Kh2 f5 20.fxg4 fxg4 21.b3 Rxf1 22.Bxf1 cxb3 23.axb3 a6 24.e5 c5 25.dxc5 Nf8 26.Ne4 Qxe5 27.Ng5 Bd5 28.Bg2 Rc8 29.Bxd5 exd5 30.Rf1 Kg8 31.Rxf8+ 1-0
I was watching this one on the ICC as it happened, and I predicted her move just seconds before it was relayed.
If Karjakin had played …Re8 last move, could he have held the position? It’s hard to say.
bye bye shaunS
She was awesome throughout the tournament… Rxf8 ends up in check mate no matter what black does…
how? anon
If black takes with Kxf8 (Rxf8 is checkmate in 1), it follows Qf2+ and the king cannot escape after Qf7+ followed by Ne6+.
Qf2 is good thx
hoddy…why Bye Bye Shauns?
why was my initial comment deleted???
Susan?
Its not mate just severe loss of material. If rook captures then Qh7 is mate.
If King captures (forced) the queen black queen falls shortly to avert mate.
e.g.
rxf8 kxf8
qh7#
alternately
rxf8 kxf8
qf2+ ke7
qf7+ kd8 (forced)
Ne6+ and the black queen falls to avert mate
Hi shaun s Susan listed the posting twice and removed one..with your posting..you got it right first..well done..I don’t think she knew…(I was just being funny) with the bye bye comment
Hello Susan!!JUst wanna tell you that we admire you so much aside from being an excellent player and trainer youre still one of the more beautiful chess player in the world today..God Bless and more Power!!
Rodgie San Luis
Zabarte Chess Club
Philippines 1123
Hello There!!Account testing only…sorry for the incovenience..
Hmmm…”The good news is she was the only female participant to make it to the quarterfinal.”
Well, what if there had been two, three, maybe four females in the quarterfinal? Would this not be better news from Susan’s way of thinking?
Perhaps “As their only surviving player in the tournament, the female participants are fortunate that she played well enough to advance to the quarterfinals.”
shaun s
I hope that clears all that up shaun s for you
how can you say that teaching is non profitable?
Teaching must be the most rewarding profession one can do..I hope you’re producing a lot of young assets to the future of the word…good on you… and good luck ..hoddy
Ps. to test your chess skills …Win 1 out of 5 against Strong Bach On ICC and your getting there
play
For some reason, it makes me feel good to see that even great players can walk into elementary mating patterns once in a while.
Position screams for Rxf8+.
Somehow these queen moves are very hard for human to spot. Distances on the board are so big. Maybe Zhao watched WC carefully. 🙂
1. Rxf8+ Kxf8 {the only move}
(1… Rxf8 2. Qh7#)
2. Qf2+ Ke7
(2… Ke8 3. Qf7+ Kd8 {the only move} 4. Ne6+ Qxe6 {the only move} 5. Qxe6+- )
3.Qf7+ Kd8 {the only move}
4. Ne6+ Qxe6 {the only move}
5. Qxe6 +-
This position is more of a big blunder by Karyakin then the Zhao Xue brilliancy.
I mean, I saw the move after 2 secs, and you all know how bad I am in chess.
I’m wondering if it has psychological reasons that top grand masters (see also Topalov-Kramnik, perhaps game 2 it was) miss few-move mates where the queen standing strong on a long diagonal does however move rook-like through f2 or c7.
Zhao Xue is beautiful, i think I am in love…