Instructive Play by the Ladies

    In the 1955 Women’s Candidate tournament in Moscow several times Woman's Champion of the USSR Olga Rubtsova scored15-4 to to take first by a half point.

    Instead of her playing a match against the defending champion Elisabeth Bykova, FIDE decided that the championship would be decided between the top three female players in tournament play. 

    The championship tournament was held in Moscow in 1956. The three players each played 8-game mini-matches and the final finish was 1) Olga Rubtsova (10 pts.), 2) Elisabeta Bykova (9.5 pts.) and 3) Lyudmila Rudenko (4.5 pts.).

    In winning the Candidates’ tournament Rubtsova lost games to Edith Keller-Herrmann of Germany and Larissa Volpert of the USSR. She drew with Fennie Heemskerk of Holland, Vera Jovanovic-Nedeljkovic of Yugoslavia, Olga Ignatieva and Valentina Belova of the USSR. 

    Second place finisher Volpert had been tied for the lead, but drew her last round game with Celia de Moschini of Argentina and so was overtaken by Rubtsova. 

    Of the three U. S. representatives Gisela Kahn Gresser and Sonja Graf-Stevenson finished with even scores. Mona May Karff, the third US representative, never overcoming a bad start. 

    Today’s games features a tough battle between the tailender. Berna Carrasco Araya (December 19, 1914 – July 7, 2013) was a Chilean WIM (awarded in 1954). Although she had a bad result here at the 1939 Women's World Championship in Buenos Aires, she finished in third place behind Vera Menchik and Sonja Graf.

    Ruzena Sucha (October 19,1907 – October 7, 1989), also known as Ruzena Sucha–Dobiasova, was a Czech WIM 9awarded in 1954) Sh won the Czechoslovak Women's Championship in 1938, 1951, and 1954.

    From the end of the 1930s to the early 1960s, Sucha was one of the leading Czechoslovakian women's players. In 1943, she was the only woman who participated in Prague international tournament that was won by Alekhine ahead of Keres. There she finished last with 3 draws out of 19 games. In 1954, she shared 1st-2nd place in the Women's World Championship Zonal in Leipzig. 

    She was also known as chess organizer. In 1974, she was one of the founders of the chess club in Smichov, a district of Prague. After her death, the club regularly held a memorial tournament in her honor.

 

    

    Please don’t be put off by the length of this game or the fact that it looks boring! The game itself is actually pretty well played by both sides and the ending is quite instructive.

 

[Event "Women's Candidate Tmt, Moscow"] [Site "Moscow URS"] [Date "1955.10.27"] [Round "?"] [White "Ruzena Sucha"] [Black "Berna Carrasco"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "A04"] [Annotator "Stockfish 16"] [PlyCount "124"] [EventDate "1955.10.02"] [Source "Perpetual Check"] {A30: Symmetrical English} 1. Nf3 c5 2. c4 Nc6 3. g3 Nf6 4. d3 g6 5. Bg2 d5 6. Na3 Bg7 7. Nc2 {White's opening play is not very precise. She should have castled here.} dxc4 8. dxc4 Qxd1+ 9. Kxd1 Ng4 10. Ke1 O-O (10... Bf5 {This is a bit more precise because the N does not have an effective square to go to.} 11. Na3 (11. Ne3 Nxe3 12. Bxe3 Bxb2 {is practically decisive.}) 11... Nb4 12. Nh4 Be6 13. Bxb7 Rb8 14. Bg2 Ne5 {White's pieces are uncoordinated and she will have difficulty completing her development.}) 11. h3 Nge5 12. Ne3 Rb8 13. Rb1 b5 (13... Nxf3+ {was better, After} 14. Bxf3 Nd4 {white has problems completing her development whereas black's pieces are actively positioned.}) 14. Nxe5 Nxe5 {[%mdl 32]} 15. cxb5 Rxb5 16. f4 Nd7 17. Kf2 Bd4 18. Rd1 Nf6 19. Kg1 {In this ending keeping the K in the center was the correct procedure. Therefore, a better move would have been 19.Ke1. Now black's actively placed pieces give her a small, but distinct advantage.} Bf5 20. Ra1 Bxb2 21. Bxb2 Rxb2 22. Nxf5 gxf5 23. Bf3 Rc8 24. Rdc1 c4 25. Rc3 Ne4 {This is a mistake that allows white to equalize. Correct was 25...Ne8! and 26...Nd6 when the N is well placed while white's B and Rs are quite passively positioned.} 26. Bxe4 fxe4 {[%mdl 4096] The old saying that all double R enfgames are drawn seems to hold true in this case.} 27. Kf2 f5 28. a3 Rb3 29. Rac1 Rxc3 30. Rxc3 h5 { It would have been better to start heading for the center with 30...Kf7} (30... Kf7 {It's quite possible that black rejected this thinkig that 31.g4 was a threat. Actually now 31.Ke3 keeps things equal.} 31. g4 {is is actually a decisive error.} Ke6 32. gxf5+ Kd5 {This is even better than taking the f-Pawn. } (32... Kxf5 33. Ke3 e5 34. fxe5 Kxe5 35. Kd2 Kf4 36. a4 h5 37. h4 a5 { and there is no way white can hold the position.}) 33. e3 Rb8 34. Rc1 Rb2+ 35. Ke1 Kc5 36. Kd1 {White is running out of moves.} Rh2) 31. Ke3 Kf7 32. Kd4 Ke6 33. Rxc4 {Now that white has managed to get her K to the center and win the one dangerous c-Pawn she has equalized...IF black keeps Rs on with 33...Rg8 or 33...Rd8+. Black needs the R in order to have active play.} Rxc4+ {[%mdl 8192]} 34. Kxc4 {Black has completely misjudged the ending. White's better placed K is enough to ensure the win. From here on Sucha's play is precise and instructive.} Kd6 {Taking the opposition. After a few P moves black's K will have to give way.} 35. Kd4 e6 36. e3 a6 37. h4 a5 38. a4 Kc6 39. Ke5 Kc5 (39... Kd7 40. Kf6 Kd6 41. Kg5 {White's h-Pawn queens in 6 moves; it talkes black's a-Pawn 8 mpves,. so it's hopeless for black.}) 40. Kxe6 Kc4 41. Kxf5 Kd3 { Counting move before the Ps queen is 5 moves, but what is the result when both sides hace a Q on the board?!} 42. Kg5 Kxe3 43. f5 Kd3 44. f6 e3 45. f7 e2 46. f8=Q e1=Q {Stockfish and Dragon by Komodo confidently announce that white is clearly winning. The Konodo Human engine also gives white a decisive advantage, but its numerical evaluation is not nearly so great as the other two.} 47. Qf5+ Kc4 48. Kxh5 Kb3 49. Qf4 Qb4 {Once again, after the excahnge of Qs simple counting shows that both sides will have Qs on move 54, but white will have a decisive two extra Ps. Therefore, even though she would still be lost black's best hope would have been to keep the Qds on and play 49...Qe8+ and try to keep checking.} 50. Qxb4+ axb4 {KP-KP} 51. a5 Kc3 52. a6 b3 53. a7 b2 54. a8=Q b1=Q {Against Qe4. KQ-KQ} 55. Qf3+ Kd4 56. Qf4+ Kd5 57. Kg4 Qb2 58. h5 { [%mdl 32]} Ke6 59. Qf5+ Ke7 60. h6 Qe2+ 61. Kh3 Qe3 62. h7 Qh6+ {The game ended here, Black either lost on time or possibly the gamne was adjourned and she resigned without resuming play.} (62... Qh6+ 63. Kg4 Qg7+ 64. Qg5+ Kf7 65. Qxg7+ Kxg7 66. Kg5 Kxh7 67. Kf6 Kh8 68. Kg6 Kg8 69. g4 Kh8 70. Kh6 Kg8 71. g5 Kf7 72. g6+ Kg8 73. g7 Kf7 74. Kh7) 1-0