Valentina Gunina vs Ju Wenjun, World Team Championships 2013

Picture of chess board, king lying down, a hand moving another piece. Hot off the chess, classic game.

Hi there again! Today we are not going back very far for our annotated game. It was played during the 2013 World Team Championships, in Astana, Kazakhstan. In the 4th round, two of the great forces in chess, China and Russia, faced each other and this saw the board-1 match up between, Valentina Gunina (RUS) and Ju Wenjun (CHI).

The game sees a very out of sorts performance from Ju Wenjun. She opens badly as Black and has great trouble in getting her pieces out — in any constructive way, anyway. Her decision-making process also seems glitchy, with her 13…Bh6(?!) ending up rather embarrassed by her opponent’s 14.Nf5(!). Castling short (rather than long) on her 20th move, is also highly flawed.

Valentina Gunina, by contrast, shows just what a powerful chess player she is. She takes full advantage of her opponent’s errors and steadily builds the pressure, before launching a most powerful attacking sequence. Ju Wenjun seems oblivious to the danger she is in, her 23…Nc5(?) allowing 24.Bh6(!). And, just when she may have thought she was surviving, comes 28.Nd5(!!).

Ultimately, everything comes together to result in disaster for Black, with a dire back rank, a rather horrid Queen, and a doomed King.

[Event "Women's World Team Championship"] [Site "Astana KAZ"] [Date "2013.03.06"] [Round "4.1"] [White "Valentina Gunina"] [Black "Ju Wenjun"] [Result "1-0"] [BlackElo "2505"] [ECO "A41"] [EventDate "2013.03.03"] [WhiteElo "2490"] { Annotations by John Lee Shaw for www.hotoffthechess.com. } 1.d4 d6 2.c4 e5 3.Nf3 Nd7 4.Nc3 g6 5.dxe5 dxe5 { Nothing out of the ordinary, here. It has to be mentioned that it is an interesting decision by White to allow this line, because it had shown very good results for Black. } 6.Bg5 f6 7.Bd2 { Investing a tempo to provoke the f-pawn to f6. This not only complicates Black's wish to get her knight to a good square, but the Black King is already feeling some air. } 7...Nc5 { Ju immediately takes the game into new territory. My database shows two earlier outings, but not at what we could call real top level. Khasin-Isupov, Kemerovo 1995, had continued 7...Bh6 and was a draw in 10-moves. By contrast, Baranek-Hrivnak, from I believe the 2005 Slovakian Team Championships, went 7...a5, for a win for Black. } 8.Qc2 Be6 { It is perhaps fair to say that Black is already going slightly awry, here. This move has its merits, of course, getting a piece off of the back rank while hitting c4; but, it causes White little worries as she wants to play e4 anyway. In line with my comment to White's 7th move, ...Ne7 may have been wiser. } 9.e4 c6 10.Be2 Nh6 { It has to be said, here, that Black's opening campaign is not working out. Having to go to such elaborate lengths to develop knights is rarely (probably never) a good thing. There is already some catching up to do for Ju Wenjun. } 11.Rd1 { Very natural and instructive play by Valentina Gunina -- if one can put a rook opposite the opponent's Queen, it tends to be worth doing. In this case, it is even more worthwhile as the file is open. } 11...Nd7 { Another largely questionable decision, not only moving this piece again in the opening, while lagging in development, but moving the Queen out of the line of fire of the rook is the wiser move. It can't stay on d8, why not just hop it to c7 now? } 12.O-O Nf7 13.Nh4 { Perhaps wanting to play f4, but maybe also anticipating Black's next. } 13...Bh6 { It is not unusual for Black's dark-squared bishop to go to h6 in this opening. However, Gunina seems to have done her homework and has an interesting response. } 14.Nf5 Bf8 { Not a nice move to play, indicating that Ju overlooked Nf5. To retreat is the only option as capturing the knight, with either bishop or pawn, would hand a commanding positional edge to White. } 15.Be3 { Unleashing the rook along the d-file. This is not the only aspect that makes White superior here, however, her pieces are nicely developed and her King is safely tucked away. } 15...Qc7 16.f4 { Gunina continues confidently, but seeking to double along the d-file with Rd2 was also a good alternative. } 16...exf4 { Giving up the centre in this way is not the best decision in my opinion. Especially with her King still in the centre. Not to mention, handing White yet another chance to hit the Queen. } 17.Bxf4 Nfe5 { One has to be extremely careful when imposing pins on oneself as they can come under attack very rapidly. But Ju feels rightly at ease, here, because she has plenty of coverage on the e5-square and Valentina is unable to pile on the pieces without investing time. } 18.Nd4 { Valentina turns her attention to a more vulnerable Black piece. } 18...Bc5 { Pins come in very handy for defence as well as attack. } 19.Kh1 Bxd4 20.Rxd4 O-O { !? Right idea, but probably the wrong execution. With something already happening for White along the d-file, Black would have been better to castle Queenside, I feel. This would not only begin competing immediately along the file, but the Queenside is also much less airy for the black King. } 21.Qd2 { Textbook. Ju Wenjun neglects the d-file, so Gunina puts another piece on it, with a third (the Rf1) available to join. This is not to be underestimated, the d6-square is glaringly there for the taking and with the Ne5 still pinned, the Be6 is glued to the defence of the Nd7. } 21...Rae8 { I am not sure about this move, personally I would prefer the rook on d8. } 22.b3 { This is a useful waiting move in a way. It does no harm to defend c4, but it also 'gives the move' to Black. And Black is the one with the sorting out to do, (centred around her Queen and minor pieces), how is Ju going to go about it? } 22...Qa5 { This is probably the best start to try and improve her situation. Getting the Queen out of the Bf4's line of fire as soon as possible, was always prudent. The Ne5 is now also independent. Plus, White must now also bear the Nc3 in mind when moving her Queen and a2 when moving the knight. Not immediately of course, but they are new considerations. } 23.Rd6 { When you can make this kind of move into your opponent's territory, your game tends to be in good shape. It is easy to see, here, how one-sided the game is so far. } 23...Nc5 { ? This move is out of context and shows that Ju Wenjun does not have the understanding of the position that we would expect. Gunina's next shows that Black is way more vulnerable than meets the eye. } 24.Bh6 { The first part of White's plan. This move is not centred around the rook, the point is to establish the bishop on h6, cutting across the black King. } 24...Rf7 { This move confirms that 23...Nc5 was a slip by Ju Wenjun -- as in that she did not intend to drop the exchange in order to claim the bishop. And it also confirms that she does not really have a handle on the position, because the rook is the least of her problems. } 25.b4 { ! A super move and the real point of White's game. The move highlights the chaos in the Black camp. Ju Wenjun's position is collapsing. } 25...Qxb4 { Virtual resignation. Of course, it is easy enough to capture the pawn, but this takes the Queen's guard off of d8. Once White gets on to the back rank, Black is going to struggle to survive. However, even after ...Qc7 (for example) bxc5, Black is losing heavily, obviously. I have to say, I am surprised by Ju Wenjun's play, she has seemed completely oblivious to what is going on these last few moves. } 26.Rd8 { ! To the point, the Black King is on very shaky ground now. The white rook is of course immune to capture, due to the Bh6 helping to create a very nice mating net. Yet, the Re8 is also en-prise and pinned, so has to be defended. The position is quite resignable, there are no good moves here. } 26...Re7 { The problem with this move is that it leaves f6 for the taking. The only respectable alternative, ...Bd7, did not change things very much. } ( 26...Bd7 27.Rxe8+ Bxe8 28.Qd8 { with White utterly winning. } ) 27.Rxf6 { It is becoming a rout now, with the Black camp largely paralysed. } 27...Ncd7 { It is not impossible to think that Ju may well have felt that she was making the best of a bad situation and successfully battened down the hatches, here. She may even have breathed a small sigh of relief. However, if so, the next move from Gunina will have come as a very nasty shock. } 28.Nd5 { !! This is one of those moves that comes along very sporadically. It is the fruits of superior strategy, one's pieces where they need to be, and having the position under complete lock-down. In one fell swoop, just when her opponent may have been dreaming of fighting, Gunina removes all hope of survival. } 28...Qa3 { The Queen may not desert e7 or White mates in four. Therefore, the piece is extremely vulnerable. } ( { If the Black Queen comes off of the Re7, for example with } 28...Qxd2 { then White checkmates via : } 29.Nxe7+ Kh8 30.Rxe8+ Nf8 31.Rexf8+ Bg8 32.Rxg8# ) 29.Qa5 { Harassing the Queen, which must stay on the a3-f8 diagonal. Unfortunately for Ju Wenjun, that is untenable. } 29...Qd6 { Futile. Valentina will not have thought very long about her next move. } 30.c5 { And here, Ju Wenjun resigned. A very nice game from Valentina Gunina. } 1-0

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