Pressure on the champion: Goryachkina ended the draw of the guest part of the match with Wenjun for the world chess crown

Goryachkina played black from a position of strength

Chinese woman Ju Wenjun and Russian woman Alexandra Goryachkina tied in the sixth game of the World Chess Championship match. The challenger acted in black pieces and owned the advantage. The most interesting events on the board took place in the middlegame (positional maneuvering following the debut. - RT ). As a result of the active exchange of pieces, the Chinese woman retained five pawns and a dark-squared bishop, while Goryachkina retained the same number of pawns and a horse.

The computer in this situation gave little preference to the Russian woman, while experts were inclined to a draw. Starting from move 58, the rivals switched to a grueling positional struggle. Without a serious miscalculation or a yawn of the grandmasters, it was almost impossible to convert the situation on the board into victory. Nevertheless, Wenjun and Goryachkina did not save their strength before the decisive parties, but tried to exhaust each other.

Maneuver options for obvious reasons were very limited. Black relied on the raids of the knight, which unsuccessfully tried to attack the pawn f. The white bishop had to cruise between the diagonals, since all the pawns froze on the black squares he needed. The Chinese king’s task at the same time included the protection of pawns falling into the battlefield.

The most remarkable position of this stage of the game was at move 71, when Goryachkina's horse simultaneously attacked his main target and king on g3 from h5. However, it was impossible to beat a pawn because of the inevitability of a fork: Ju Wenjun would have strung his bishop on one diagonal of a horse and a king, which, if the white king was involved in the case, would have been marked for black by losing his piece.

As a result, the chess players did not make a single exchange for almost 50 moves. The world champion and the challenger for the title shook hands only after the 105th move. Apparently, both were dissatisfied with the outcome. Ju Wenjun led an unconvincing game in white, seriously risking a second defeat in a row. And Goryachkina, although acting from a position of strength, did not seize the opportunity by 100%.

The sixth game was the longest in the match. Now the confrontation will end for three days. The athletes will leave Shanghai and move to Vladivostok, where the next six games are planned and, if necessary, a tie-break. According to many experts, a change of location should give Goryachkina a slight advantage.

The score after the first half of the match for the title of world champion is a draw - 3: 3. The fourth and fifth games were effective in it, in which the opponents exchanged victories with white pieces. Moreover, in the second case, Wenjun capitulated already on the 51st move. Prior to this, the Russian woman managed to get quality - against her two rooks, the Chinese woman had the rook and the horse.

“A psychological advantage on the side of Sasha”

As the vice-president of the Moscow Chess Federation (FSM) Sergey Smagin noted, after an unsuccessful game for herself, Goryachkina managed to rebuild the game.

“That is exactly what she lacked at the beginning of the match, when she closed and tried to play technically. It turns out that the Chinese woman in difficult positions is also mistaken. And do not be afraid of such a game. Sasha chose the very correct strategy, which brought her the most important sports result, ”the expert from R-Sport quotes.

Initially, Ju Wenjun was considered a favorite. In favor of the champion said the advantage in experience, age and position in the ranking of the International Chess Federation (FIDE) - second place against fourth. However, the 21-year-old Russian woman was able to surprise the chess community in a good way. The course of the match for the world crown proves the randomness of Alexandra's success in the tournament of applicants.

Then, in June 2019, Goryachkina ahead of the nearest Ukrainian pursuer Anna Muzychuk by 1.5 points. At the same time, two rounds before the finish, her separation from second place was even more impressive - 2.5 points. Goryachkina continued to show a consistently high level of play in China.

According to the 12th world champion Anatoly Karpov, in the Shanghai parties, the Russian woman received psychological superiority over the competitor. The chess master has no doubt that his compatriot organized the training camp correctly.

“Sasha is just fine, well prepared and withstood the blow when she lost in the fourth, but immediately won back in the fifth game. She stood in the first part, and now the psychological advantage is on her side, ”Karpova quotes TASS.

Grandmasters will share the prize fund in the amount of $ 500 thousand in the proportion of 60 to 40. However, if after 12 games the score of the match is equal and you have to play a tie-break, the winner will get only 55% of the amount.