Reigning champion Ju Wenjun continued to tighten her grip on the Women’s World Chess Championships title with another win in Vladivastok.
Challenger Aleksandra Goryachkina must win both the remaining two matches in the championships to wrest the title away from her Chinese champion.
The Russian, who had lost the previous two matches in the series has both games with the White but would her lack of experience in such high profile matches become a factor?
Last night’s game began in an auspicious manner for Goryachkina, as players mirrored a Ganguly – L’Ami game that was played the previous day. Goryachkina’s (playing white) first opportunity to question Wenjun’s preparation came on move 21.
She could have played the natural Re5!, forcing black to play 22…f6, weakening the bishop on g6, and setting up dangerous play along the g file for her rook. Instead, Goryachkina played a more pedestrian 21. Re3. It looked all but certain that the game was heading for a short draw, with players struggling to find sensible moves to reach the required 40-move minimum.
What happened to Goryachkina next had more to do with a battle of psychology than with sound chess. Starting around move 25, the game was a headed for a dead draw—a result she could have forced at any point all through the first time control. Instead, she made moves like 26. b5 and 38. Bd5, probing for an advantage that was simply not there.
She did not appear to realize that she needed to be more careful and the position was not one-sided as in her previous games with White.
Goryachkina admitted that she “blundered” 42…Be6 that in itself was still fine for White, but while algorithms continued to show zeros, the position suddenly became difficult to defend, especially against such a fine technical player as Wenjun.
By move 50, Goryachkina had to be extremely precise, something she was not able to keep up with in the approaching time trouble. She collapsed with 53. Kb4??, but by that time it was clear that she wasn’t able to walk the necessary tightrope to make a draw. Wenjun took the match and is now just one point away from retaining her title.
Questions on Goryachkina’s her lack match experience was telling in the last two matches. Also in question was Goryachkina’s well-documented stubbornness that her coaching team always found a difficult to overcome.
Today’s rest day could not have come sooner for Goryachkina. She has the opportunity to get herself together and pull out a miracle come back in the last two rounds.
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