14-year-old IM Alice Lee is the discuss of the city on the Cairns Cup 2024 after tricking GM Nana Dzagnidze right into a drawn ending when all appeared misplaced. GMs Irina Krush, Mariya Muzychuk, and IM Anna Zatonskih all missed golden alternatives to win their respective video games whereas GM Tan Zhongyi managed to carry onto her lead after drawing with GM Anna Muzychuk.
Every of the 5 video games resulted in attracts, however as IM Jovanka Houska aptly quipped: “The spherical was not with out journey.”
Following a relaxation day, spherical six will begin on Wednesday, June 19, at 2 p.m. ET / 20:00 CEST / 11:30 p.m. IST and can function a blockbuster conflict between U.S. compatriots and generational rivals Lee and Krush.
Spherical 5 Outcomes
Standings
The Saint Louis Chess Membership performed surprising hosts to an endgame exhibition on Monday as the entire members appeared content material to press with fewer items on the board. Minor-piece imbalances had been the theme of the day and spherical 5’s proceedings show that advanced endgames will proceed to offer ample alternative to shake up the event standings.
With gamers defying scores, type, and momentum, the tussle for the lead is exhibiting no indicators of slowing down. A relaxation day will give gamers the chance to replenish their power reserves and fill up on preparation for the second half of the occasion.
Anna Muzychuk 0.5-0.5 Tan
Muzychuk got here near knocking Tan off the highest of the leaderboard after a short lived sacrifice allowed her to win two pawns for the value of 1. Enjoying the Advance Variation in opposition to Tan’s Caro-Kann Protection, Muzychuk developed her items forcefully and steered Black towards an endgame the place a knight vs. bishop imbalance would take middle stage, with one twist… Muzychuk would preserve her one-pawn benefit.
Sadly, the Ukrainian GM would insist on giving the pawn again a number of strikes later in alternate for an lively rook, a choice that may sap her superiority over the place and permit Tan to enter an equal endgame. By transfer 33, Muzychuk’s time additionally slipped beneath 10 minutes so a draw by repetition was welcomed with open arms when it arose 10 strikes later.
Lee 0.5-0.5 Dzagnidze
Lee and Dzagnidze’s tournaments have been equally tumultuous to date and off the again of a spectacular win over former Girls’s World Champion Kosteniuk, it was Lee who discovered herself preventing to cling to her mid-table spot when her Catalan Opening went pear-shaped.
Following Lee’s imprecise 12.e4?! Dzagnidze performed the pawn break 12…c5! which derailed Lee’s middle and introduced Black’s items to life. Whereas materials remained steadiness all through the middlegame, Lee was left with pawns strewn throughout the board that Dzagnidze may patiently pester.
For hours, Dzagnidze poked and prodded and the analysis bar crept up and ultimately each fell into time hassle. Given Lee’s dire place, it appeared inevitable that she would fall. Nevertheless, in a present of stoicism, Lee discovered a trick on the stroke of the fifth hour and secured an all-important draw.
Our Recreation of the Day has been analyzed by GM Rafael Leitao beneath.
Krush 0.5-0.5 Kosteniuk
The conflict between two titans of chess had all of the hallmarks of a Krush middlegame masterclass, however the eight-time U.S. ladies’s champion fell simply wanting discovering a profitable mixture and stumbled right into a clutch perpetual by GM Alexandra Kosteniuk.
Each gamers are positioned in the midst of the sector on 2.5/5, however their journey to this rating has been vastly completely different—Krush has 5 attracts to her title whereas Kosteniuk has scored two wins, a draw, and two losses.
Mariya Muzychuk 0.5-0.5 Harika
As early as transfer 13 of their Giuoco Piano tango, Muzychuk and Harika Dronavalli seemed to be content material with a draw as they performed into a well-liked line with a 72% draw fee. Nevertheless, in an innocuous middlegame Harika made an astonishing concession on transfer 25, giving up a pawn with 25…Ne6??.
Whether or not she was too wanting to alternate items or just believed in her d5-knight, Stockfish frowned upon the transfer however Harika invoked the spirit of Tarrasch, swapping right into a rook ending and endorsing the tongue-in-cheek idiom that implies that every one such endings are drawn.
Zatonskih 0.5-0.5 Paehtz
“Anna Zatonskih goes to look again on this event and say to herself what number of factors have I left on the desk” had been the phrases of commentator and GM Yasser Seirawan because the 2023 Cairns Cup winner confirmed threefold repetition regardless of having a sizeable benefit.
Having labored exhausting to quell Paehtz’s Bogo-Indian Protection, Zatonskih lastly discovered herself with a wholesome benefit on the 30-move mark when Black’s king was pressured forwards, however she missed a pawn break that may have helped capitalize on the scenario.
Whereas Zatonskih’s 1/5 rating leaves her with little probability of snapping up consecutive Cairns Cup titles, Paehtz’s 2/5 retains her within the race as a result of messy outcomes on the prime.
The all-U.S. duel between Lee and Krush will headline spherical six as a result of native curiosity. Nevertheless, Harika additionally bids to hitch Tan within the lead as she takes the white items in opposition to a struggling Zatonskih. Tan, in the meantime, will play Black in opposition to Dzagnidze whereas the second-placed Mariya Muzychuk will strive her hand in opposition to an unpredictable Kosteniuk.
The 2024 Cairns Cup is without doubt one of the strongest ladies’s tournaments on the earth. The occasion is a 10-player round-robin with a classical time management (120 minutes for the whole recreation, plus a 30-second increment per transfer). The 2024 Cairns Cup runs from June 13 to June 23 and incorporates a $200,000 prize fund.
Earlier Protection
