No Draws And Mind Your Clock

Two factors seem to have contributed to the fighting games at the Cairns Cup 2024. The tournament rules prohibit draw offers during games, resulting in excellent chess so far. Though professional chess has seen a prohibition of draw offers before 20-40 moves, banning them completely during the game seems to be a novel strategy to help the players get into a combative mindset all along.

The second factor is the unusual time control of 120 minutes for the whole game with an increment of 30 seconds from the first move onwards. This means that a player who typically comes under time pressure in the middlegame does not get a reprieve once the 40th move is reached. Rather, she has to fight on for the rest of the game at the mercy of the 30-second increment. Unlike the “no draw offer” rule, the time control makes life difficult for the players but provides excitement for the spectators.

Tan 1-0 Zatonskih

Zatonskih, the winner of the 2023 Cairns Cup is having a difficult time this year, as she lost a quick game to Tan, her third loss from as many games played with the black pieces. Playing a favorite variation of GM Evgeny Bareev’s in the French Defense, Zatonskih spent five moves with her queen in the early middlegame, allowing her opponent to develop a dangerous attack on the black king.

This was a topsy-turvy affair, where Mariya Muzychuk held a slight advantage in the early middlegame. However, GM Elisabeth Paehtz fought back steadily and increased her advantage to achieve a clearly better heavy-piece endgame. However, mutual time pressure played its part in the game. 

 Dzagnidze ½-½ Anna Muzychuk

Another long game. Dzagnidze seemed to be enjoying a small advantage for most of the middlegame. With characteristic strategic acumen, the Georgian grandmaster brought her opponent under defensive pressure, and Anna Muzychuk erred in judgment in entering a difficult queen endgame. 

The final phase of the game was played under mutual time pressure when Dzagnidze held a winning advantage. However, she erred in the final minutes of the game to miss a crucial win.

Harika ½-½ Krush

GM Irina Krush seems to have started employing the Sicilian Sveshnikov with Black as one of her weapons, playing it twice in the recent Saint Louis Summer Chess Classic – B 2024. Though Harika faced the opening line for the first time in her career with the white pieces, she still showed her depth of opening preparation with 13.h4!?, offering an early pawn sacrifice. It could have been a bigger fight and theoretically significant if Black had accepted the pawn. But after Krush played the safer 13…Bh6, Harika seemed to slowly build up a good position, which looked promising by the 23rd move.

When Lee chose to play the Petroff Defense with the black pieces and boldly entered a sharp line against her experienced opponent, a lot was expected from the youngster. Especially considering that Lee had been in a training session at the Saint Louis Chess Club itself with the legendary GM Garry Kasparov just a week before the start of this tournament.

From June 7-9, the St. Louis Chess Club hosted a Young Stars training session with Garry Kasparov, assisted by Michael Khodarkovsky. GM Christopher Yoo, IM Alice Lee, GM Andy Woodward, IM Brewington Hardaway, GM Abhimanyu Mishra and IM Ryo Chen participated.
📷 by E. Trask pic.twitter.com/KNLOfxMn0Z

— Kasparov Chess (@Kasparov_Chess) June 16, 2024

Just when Lee looked to be coming under pressure both in the position and on the clock, the youngster showed her fighting qualities in the middlegame. Black’s counterplay started with 19…b5, and she unexpectedly got help from her opponent. Though enjoying a strategically better position, Kosteniuk’s reaction to her opponent’s fightback didn’t seem ideal. Lee slowly and steadily built up an attack on the white king.

Lee’s victory was praiseworthy considering she had less than five minutes on the clock for the crucial part of the game starting from move 24. Kosteniuk too looked visibly nervous on the board, and the excitement of the game reached high proportions at this point.

IM Alice Lee won her first game of the tournament against the Former World Champion, GM Alexandra Kosteniuk⭐️🤩#CairnsCup #STLChessClub #chess pic.twitter.com/5ITTfJXnaI

— Saint Louis Chess Club (@STLChessClub) June 16, 2024

This exciting encounter is our Game of the Day, analyzed by GM Rafael Leitao below.

The 2024 Cairns Cup is one of the strongest women’s tournaments in the world. The event is a 10-player round-robin with a classical time control (120 minutes for the entire game, plus a 30-second increment per move). The 2024 Cairns Cup runs from June 13 to June 23 and features a $200,000 prize fund.

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