Ringing in the new year with some nice chess wins from the old

It’s always nice to start a new chess year with a rush of momentum from the one just past, so we focus this week on some of the big winners from December, traditionally a very crowded time on the global chess calendar.

WGM Carissa Yip, who already has two U.S. women’s national titles under her belt, added another line to her resume with a win at last month’s North American Junior Under-20 Championship, played just down the road from here at the Dulles Marriott Airport Hotel in Northern Virginia.

It wasn’t exactly a cinch for Yip, who suffered a stunning first-round upset loss to Virginia Class A player James Douglas Wright. But in classic “Swiss Gambit” fashion, Yip rebounded with eight straight wins to edge FM Erick Zhao for the title, earning a grandmaster norm in the process.

Yip completed the comeback with a tough last-round win over Canadian FM Daniel Xu, battling back from an iffy position on the Black side of a classic Ruy Lopez struggle for the victory. Black in this line must generate queenside counterplay to stave off White’s methodically building kingside attack, but some time-wasting moves by Black’s queen put Yip in the hole after 19. Rf1 (White’s kingside pawns aren’t pretty, but the half-open f-file bearing down on Black’s king is ample compensation) a5 20. Qf2 Rf8 21. g4 b4?! (f6, watching and waiting, might be better, as now White seizes a significant space advantage) 22. d5 Ne7 23. c4 Qe8 24. g5! Qb8 25. Qh4 c6 26. Nh2!, and White’s repositioning has the makings of a very promising attack.

But Yip alertly grabs her first chance to reverse the game’s flow after 29. Ng4 Bxg4 30. hxg4? (Xu’s first subpar move of the game, tripling the kingside pawns — perhaps in the misguided pursuit of mate on the h-file — proves costly, while lines like 30. Qxg4 a4 31. Qf3 Qe8 32. Bd2 Rc7 33. Bxb4 would have yielded a big edge) Nxd5! 31. exd5 e4 32. Qf2 exd3 33. Qxf7+ Kh8 34. Qf4 — White’s mating hopes are gone, material is equal, and Black can finally activate her pieces.

White understandably has trouble adjusting to the abrupt change of fortunes, allowing his opponent to seize control after 35. Bd4 Qxd5! 36. Bxg7+ (Bxc3? bxc3, and the connected passed pawns and monster Black bishop are worth far more than the lost exchange) Kxg7 37. Rde1?! (now Black can consolidate; 37. Rf3 Re8 38. Qf6+ Kg8 39. Qf4 holds the balance) Rc7 38. Re4 Rf7 39. Qxf7+? (tougher was 39. Rd4 Rxf4 40. Rxd5 Rxg4 41. Rxd6 Ra7 42. Rxd3 Rxg5, forcing Black to win a notoriously tricky double-rook ending; the White kingside triplets will prove a fatal liability in the ending to come) Qxf7 40. Rxf7+ Kxf7 41. Rd4 Ke6 42. Rxd3, and White’s pawns will prove sitting ducks in a shooting gallery for Black’s rook.

The carnage commences on 46. Ke1 (Ke3 Re8+ 47. Kf2 Rxe2+ 48. Kxe2 d4, and Black has a won ending as White’s kingside is effectively paralyzed) Rf4 47. Kd2 Rxg4 48. Kd3 Rxg5, and Yip now has a two-to-one pawn edge on the kingside in addition to the passed d-pawn. The ending requires little comment as she smoothly converted the point and clinched the title.

While we’re on the subject of local winners, a quick congratulations to New York IM Mykola Bortnick, winner of the Premier section of the 2023 Eastern Open, the D.C. area’s traditional year-end chess blowout tournament. We’ll have all of the section winners and some of the action from the event, played at the Hyatt Regency Crystal City in Arlington, in an upcoming column.

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FIDE’s World Rapid Championships, which concluded last week in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, featured a very familiar face in the open competition and a huge surprise in the women’s rapid title fight.

Norway’s GM Magnus Carlsen, still the best player on the planet by a good margin despite voluntarily abdicating his classical world title last year, captured his fifth world rapid crown — and third in the last four years — with a dominating, undefeated 10-3 result, a half-point ahead of Slovenian GM Vladimir Fedoseev. (For good measure, Carlsen also took the World Blitz Championship title held right after the rapid event.)

It was a very different picture in the women’s rapid event, as unheralded 31-year-old Russian WGM Anastasia Bodnaruk, seeded 51st in the field, claimed the crown after defeating Indian star GM Humpy Koneru in a playoff. Local star WGM Jennifer Yu finished in a tie for eighth in the strong field, a point behind the winner at 7½-3½.

Bodnaruk upset a number of higher-rated players in her unexpected win, including an impressive dismissal of Chinese GM Zhu Jiner in Round 8.

Black’s sense of danger appears to be on the blink at the critical moment in this Closed Sicilian, making an ill-fated pawn grab when Bodnaruk’s kingside build-up was already looking ominous: 20. Qg4 Qxc3? (reckless — Black had to hunker down with something like 20 … Kh8 21. h4 Rg8 and hope to survive) 21. Bb3 Qb4 22. dxe5 Bxe3 (see diagram; on 22 … Bc5, White stays on top with 23. Bd4!) 23. Bxf7+! Kxf7 24. Rc7+ Kg8 25. Rxg7+ Kf8 26. fxe3! — capturing on b7 also wins, but the opening of the f-file makes White’s attack irresistible.

White emerges a piece up after 26 … Qxe4 27. Rxg6! Qxg4 28. Rxg4 Rxe5 29. Nxd6+, and after 37. Re6+ Kd4 38. Nb3+, Black is about to go down a full rook; Zhu resigned.

(Click on the image above for a larger view of the chessboard.)

Xu-Yip, U.S. Under-20 Junior Championship, Dulles, Va., December 2023

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O d6 6. Re1 Bd7 7. c3 g6 8. d4 Bg7 9. Nbd2 Nh5 10. Nf1 b5 11. Bc2 Bg4 12. h3 Bd7 13. Be3 O-O 14. Qd2 Re8 15. Rad1 Qc8 16. Ng3 Nxg3 17. fxg3 Na5 18. b3 Nc6 19. Rf1 a5 20. Qf2 Rf8 21. g4 b4 22. d5 Ne7 23. c4 Qe8 24. g5 Qb8 25. Qh4 c6 26. Nh2 cxd5 27. cxd5 Rc8 28. Bd3 Rc3 29. Ng4 Bxg4 30. hxg4 Nxd5 31. exd5 e4 32. Qf2 exd3 33. Qxf7+ Kh8 34. Qf4 Qg8 35. Bd4 Qxd5 36. Bxg7+ Kxg7 37. Rde1 Rc7 38. Re4 Rf7 39. Qxf7+ Qxf7 40. Rxf7+ Kxf7 41. Rd4 Ke6 42. Rxd3 d5 43. Kf2 Rc8 44. Re3+ Kd6 45. Re2 Rf8+ 46. Ke1 Rf4 47. Kd2 Rxg4 48. Kd3 Rxg5 49. Rf2 Rg3+ 50. Kd4 Rg4+ 51. Kd3 h5 52. Rf6+ Ke5 53. Ra6 Rg3+ 54. Ke2 Rxg2+ 55. Kf3 Rxa2 56. Rxg6 Ra3 57. Rg5+ Kd4 58. Rxh5 Rxb3+ 59. Ke2 Rb2+ 60. Kd1 a4 61. Rh4+ Kc5 62. Kc1 Rg2 63. Kb1 d4 64. Rh8 b3 White resigns.

Bodnaruk-Zhu, World Rapid Women’s Championship, Samarkand, Uzbekistan, December 2023

1. e4 c5 2. Nc3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nd4 4. Bc4 e6 5. Nge2 Qc7 6. d3 a6 7. Nxd4 cxd4 8. Ne2 b5 9. Bb3 Bc5 10. c3 dxc3 11. bxc3 Ne7 12. O-O Bb7 13. d4 Bb6 14. Bc2 d6 15. Be3 O-O 16. Rc1 e5 17. Ng3 Rad8 18. Qh5 Ng6 19. Nf5 Rfe8 20. Qg4 Qxc3 21. Bb3 Qb4 22. dxe5 Bxe3 23. Bxf7+ Kxf7 24. Rc7+ Kg8 25. Rxg7+ Kf8 26. fxe3 Qxe4 27. Rxg6 Qxg4 28. Rxg4 Rxe5 29. Nxd6+ Ke7 30. Nxb7 Rd2 31. e4 h5 32. Rg7+ Ke6 33. Rgf7 Rg5 34. R7f2 Rd7 35. Rf6+ Ke5 36. Nc5 Rd2 37. Re6+ Kd4 38. Nb3+ Black resigns.

• David R. Sands can be reached at 202/636-3178 or by email at dsands@washingtontimes.com.