Women WCh 2015 - Final (2)

Submitted by eugen on Fri, 04/03/2015 - 11:33
The second game of the final was a Ruy Lopez. It was a long positional battle as one would expect. Mariya was white and maintained for a long time a positional advantage. This forced Natalija to use a lot of time in order to find the proper defence. Mariya increased the pressure and in time trouble Natalija could not hold the position against the final assault on her King. Notice how black completely forgot about Bb7! [Event "WWCC2015"][Site "Sochi"][Date "2015.04.03"][Round "35.1"][White "Muzychuk, Mariya (UKR)"][Black "Pogonina, Natalija (RUS)"][Result "1-0"][SetUp "1"][FEN "5qk1/1b1r1p2/p2p1Pp1/P2Pn2p/1PpNP2P/6N1/1P1Q2K1/5R2 w - - 0 53"][ECO "C95"]53. Nf3 {53. Nxh5 ... is better} Ng4 54. Nxh5 gxh5 {This was the last straw. Black should not take that pawn if it wants to play longer. 54... Bc8 is needed} 55. Qg5+ Kh8 56. Qxh5+ Nh6 57. Kh2 Qg8 58. Rg1