[Event "Gibraltar Masters 11th"]
[Site "Caleta"]
[Date "2013.01.27"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Bartel, Mateusz"]
[Black "Gunina, Valentina"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B11"]
[WhiteElo "2629"]
[BlackElo "2490"]
[PlyCount "74"]
[EventDate "2013.01.22"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "10"]
[EventCountry "GGB"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 153"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2013.03.14"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2013.03.14"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c6 2. Nc3 d5 3. Nf3 Bg4 4. h3 Bxf3 5. Qxf3 e6 6. d4 dxe4 7. Qxe4 Nf6 8.
Qd3 Bd6 9. g3 O-O 10. Bg2 e5 11. Be3 exd4 12. Qxd4 Bc7 13. Qh4 Bb6 14. Rd1 Qe7
15. O-O Bxe3 16. fxe3 Nbd7 17. Ne4 Qe5 18. Nd6 Rab8 19. Kh2 Rfd8 20. Rd4 Nf8
21. Nf5 Ng6 22. Rxd8+ Rxd8 23. Qb4 Rd7 24. Rf2 h5 25. c3 Qe6 26. Qc5 Ne5 27.
Rf1 Rd2 28. Qxa7 g6 29. Qb8+ Kh7 30. Nh4 Rxb2 31. Kh1 Kg7 32. Qa7 Nc4 33. Qd4
Rd2 34. Qf4 Nxe3 35. Nf5+ gxf5 36. Qg5+ Kh7 37. Re1 Rd1 0-1

[Event "Gibraltar Masters 11th"]
[Site "Caleta"]
[Date "2013.01.31"]
[Round "10"]
[White "Tkachiev, Vladislav"]
[Black "Gunina, Valentina"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "D94"]
[WhiteElo "2650"]
[BlackElo "2490"]
[PlyCount "56"]
[EventDate "2013.01.22"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "10"]
[EventCountry "GGB"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 153"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2013.03.14"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2013.03.14"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. c4 c6 2. e4 d5 3. exd5 cxd5 4. d4 Nf6 5. Nc3 g6 6. cxd5 Nxd5 7. Bc4 Nb6 8.
Bb3 Bg7 9. Nf3 O-O 10. d5 Bg4 11. h3 Bxf3 12. Qxf3 N8d7 13. O-O Nc5 14. Bg5
Nxb3 15. axb3 Qd7 16. Rad1 Nc8 17. Rfe1 Re8 18. Re2 Nd6 19. g4 Rac8 20. Rde1
Bf8 21. Be3 Nb5 22. Ne4 Bg7 23. Ng5 Rf8 24. Bxa7 Bf6 25. Ne4 Bd4 26. Ng5 e5 27.
Ne4 f5 28. gxf5 Bxa7 0-1

[Event "Tata Steel-B 77th"]
[Site "Wijk aan Zee"]
[Date "2015.01.11"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Gunina, Valentina"]
[Black "Salem, AR Saleh"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A65"]
[WhiteElo "2538"]
[BlackElo "2603"]
[Annotator "Sagar Shah"]
[PlyCount "91"]
[EventDate "2015.01.10"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "13"]
[EventCountry "NED"]
[EventCategory "13"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 165"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2015.03.11"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2015.03.11"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. e4 d6 5. f3 O-O 6. Nge2 c5 7. Be3 Nc6 (7...
cxd4 8. Nxd4 Nc6 {would transpose to accelerated dragon.}) 8. d5 Ne5 9. Ng3 e6
10. Be2 exd5 11. cxd5 a6 12. a4 h5 13. O-O Nh7 14. Qd2 h4 15. Nh1 f5 16. Nf2 b6
$6 {Salem's idea is intriguing. He would like to bring his rook into play via
a7. However it was better to just develop his bishop to d7 as MVL did in his
game against Caruana in 2010.} 17. Rae1 Ra7 18. exf5 gxf5 19. Nh3 {Black's
posi tion is filled with loads of weaknesses. He has to play actively in order
to compensate for it.} Ng6 20. f4 $1 {fixing the pawn on f5. Not only is the
pawn weak but also the c8 bishop lacks scope.} (20. Nf4 Nxf4 21. Bxf4 Bd4+ 22.
Kh1 Re7 23. Bc4 $14 {was also possible.}) 20... Bf6 21. Kh1 Rg7 22. Bd3 Ne7 23.
Qf2 Bxc3 24. bxc3 Nxd5 {Black has won a pawn but at the cost of parting away
with his most valuable bishop. Gunina proves that White has excellent play for
the missing pawn.} 25. Bc4 Bb7 26. Ng5 Nxg5 27. fxg5 b5 28. axb5 axb5 29. Bxd5+
Bxd5 30. Qxh4 {The material balance is restored but White has a clear
advantage as his king is safer and in opposite coloured bishop position leads
to some violent attacks as both sides have an extra attacking piece which
cannot be confronted.} Qa8 31. Qg3 Ra7 32. g6 Rf6 33. Qg5 Ra2 $2 (33... Rxg6 $1
{was the move that would have given Black an equal game.} 34. Qxg6+ Rg7 35.
Qxg7+ (35. Qh5 Bxg2+ 36. Kg1 Bh3+ 37. Kf2 Qg2#) 35... Kxg7 36. Rxf5 Bxg2+ 37.
Kg1 Bh3 {Black is not worse.}) 34. Bf2 Rf8 35. Kg1 Be4 36. Qe7 Ra7 (36... Qa7
37. Qxd6 Ra6 38. Qf4 $16) 37. Qe6+ Kg7 38. Qxd6 Re8 39. Bxc5 Ra2 (39... Bxg2
40. Bd4+ $18) 40. Bf2 Qd8 41. Qg3 Kg8 42. Qh3 Qd7 43. Rxe4 $1 Rxe4 44. Bd4 Rxd4
45. cxd4 Ra6 (45... Qxd4+ 46. Kh1 Ra7 47. Qxf5 $18) 46. Qxf5 (46. Qxf5 Qxf5 47.
Rxf5 {is a hopless endgame. A nice game by Gunina who played very well right
from the opening. However, Salem had his chance in the middlegame with 33...
Rxg6! which he did not take and after that it went all down hill for him.}) 1-0

[Event "Tata Steel-B 77th"]
[Site "Wijk aan Zee"]
[Date "2015.01.17"]
[Round "7"]
[White "Gunina, Valentina"]
[Black "L'Ami, Erwin"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "E18"]
[WhiteElo "2538"]
[BlackElo "2613"]
[PlyCount "133"]
[EventDate "2015.01.10"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "13"]
[EventCountry "NED"]
[EventCategory "13"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 165"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2015.03.11"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2015.03.11"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 e6 3. c4 b6 4. g3 Bb7 5. Bg2 Be7 6. O-O O-O 7. Re1 Na6 8. Nc3
Ne4 9. Qc2 Nb4 10. Qb3 Nxc3 11. Qxc3 Be4 12. Ne5 Bxg2 13. Kxg2 Nc6 14. Nxc6
dxc6 15. Bf4 Bf6 16. Rad1 c5 17. Be5 Bxe5 18. dxe5 Qe8 19. Rd3 Qa4 20. Qc1 Rad8
21. Red1 Rxd3 22. Rxd3 a6 23. a3 b5 24. b3 Qa5 25. cxb5 Qxb5 26. Qc2 h6 27. Rc3
Rb8 28. f3 g6 29. Qd2 Kg7 30. Qe3 Qb6 31. h4 Qb5 32. Kf2 Qa5 33. Qc1 Rb5 34.
Rd3 Rb8 35. Qf4 c4 36. Rd7 Rf8 37. Qxc4 Qxe5 38. Rxc7 Rd8 39. Qc3 Qxc3 40. Rxc3
Rd2 41. Rc5 Kf6 42. b4 g5 43. hxg5+ hxg5 44. Ke3 Rd6 45. g4 Kg6 46. Rc4 Kf6 47.
Rd4 Rc6 48. Kd2 Ke5 49. e3 f5 50. a4 Rc8 51. b5 axb5 52. axb5 Rb8 53. Rb4 Kd5
54. Kc3 Rb6 55. Rd4+ Ke5 56. Kb4 Rb8 57. Rc4 fxg4 58. Rxg4 Kf5 59. Rc4 e5 60.
Rg4 Kf6 61. e4 Kg6 62. Rg1 Rf8 63. b6 Rxf3 64. b7 Rf8 65. Kc5 Kh5 66. Rb1 Rb8
67. Kd6 1-0

[Event "Tata Steel-B 77th"]
[Site "Wijk aan Zee"]
[Date "2015.01.24"]
[Round "12"]
[White "Timman, Jan H"]
[Black "Gunina, Valentina"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B12"]
[WhiteElo "2593"]
[BlackElo "2538"]
[PlyCount "80"]
[EventDate "2015.01.10"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "13"]
[EventCountry "NED"]
[EventCategory "13"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 165"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2015.03.11"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2015.03.11"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. e5 Bf5 4. Nf3 e6 5. Be2 Ne7 6. O-O h6 7. Nbd2 Nd7 8. Nb3
Qc7 9. Bd2 g5 10. h4 Bg7 11. Bb4 g4 12. Ne1 h5 13. Bxe7 Kxe7 14. Bd3 Bg6 15.
Qd2 Bh6 16. Qb4+ Ke8 17. f4 Qb6 18. Qc3 Be4 19. Bxe4 dxe4 20. Qe3 f5 21. exf6
Nxf6 22. Nd3 a5 23. a4 Kd8 24. Ndc5 Re8 25. g3 Kc7 26. Kh2 Rad8 27. Nxe4 Nd5
28. Qe2 Kb8 29. Nec5 Bg7 30. c3 Ne7 31. Rae1 Nf5 32. Qc2 Rd6 33. Ne4 Rd5 34.
Ng5 c5 35. dxc5 Qc6 36. Re4 Qd7 37. Rf2 e5 38. Rd2 Rd8 39. Rxd5 Qxd5 40. Re2
Nxg3 0-1

[Event "WchT (Women) 5th"]
[Site "Chengdu"]
[Date "2015.04.22"]
[Round "4.1"]
[White "Koneru, Humpy"]
[Black "Gunina, Valentina"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "D10"]
[WhiteElo "2581"]
[BlackElo "2528"]
[Annotator "CB"]
[PlyCount "84"]
[EventDate "2015.04.19"]
[EventType "team-tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "CHN"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 166 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2015.06.18"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2015.06.18"]
[SourceQuality "1"]
[WhiteTeam "India (W)"]
[BlackTeam "Russia (W)"]
[WhiteTeamCountry "IND"]
[BlackTeamCountry "RUS"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nc3 dxc4 4. e4 b5 5. a4 b4 6. Na2 e6 7. Bxc4 Nf6 8. e5 Nd5
9. Nf3 Be7 10. Bd2 a5 11. Nc1 Nd7 12. Nb3 Bb7 13. O-O O-O 14. Bd3 Ba6 15. Bxa6
Rxa6 16. Qe2 Ra7 17. Rfc1 Qb6 18. Bg5 Rd8 19. Rc2 Rc7 20. Rac1 h6 21. Bxe7 Nxe7
22. Nfd2 Qa7 23. Nc4 Nf5 24. Nd6 Qa8 25. Qf3 Nb6 26. Nxf5 exf5 27. Qxf5 Rd5 28.
Rc5 Rxc5 29. Rxc5 Ra7 30. Qc2 Nxa4 31. Rxc6 Nc3 {White has a crushing position.
She is currently up a pawn and her pieces are active. Also there are very
serious problems with the pin on the knight on c3.} 32. Rc4 $6 (32. d5 $1 a4
33. Qf5 $1 {with the unstoppable Rc8+ and a winning advantage.}) 32... a4 33.
Na1 $2 {Why put this knight in a corner?} (33. Nc1 $18) 33... Rb7 34. h3 $2 (
34. Qf5 $1) 34... Rb8 {Suddenly the position is not so clear. Humpy makes
matters worse.} 35. bxc3 b3 36. Qb1 b2 $2 (36... a3 $1 {and stopping the pawns
is very difficult. For example} 37. Nxb3 a2 38. Qf5 g6 $1 $19) 37. Nc2 a3 38.
Rb4 Rxb4 39. cxb4 $4 {An amazing blunder.} (39. Nxb4 {Makes Black work very
hard for the point, if it is possible at all...} Qc8 $1 40. Qc2 Qe6 $1 41. Qb1
Qb3 42. Na2 {and I still don't see how to break through.}) 39... Qa4 {now the
game is obviously over. White has lost the support needed to play Nb4.} 40. b5
Qb3 41. Nxa3 Qxa3 42. b6 Qa1 0-1

[Event "Gibraltar Masters 16th"]
[Site "Caleta"]
[Date "2018.01.31"]
[Round "9"]
[White "Gunina, Valentina"]
[Black "Short, Nigel D"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B04"]
[WhiteElo "2502"]
[BlackElo "2681"]
[Annotator "Mekhitarian,K"]
[PlyCount "55"]
[EventDate "2018.01.23"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "10"]
[EventCountry "GGB"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 183"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.03.14"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.03.14"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 Nf6 {The always creative Nigel Short goes for the old and good Alekhine
Defence, provoking White into gaining space, in exchange for the potential
weakening of those pawns.} 2. e5 Nd5 3. d4 d6 4. Nf3 g6 5. Be2 $5 (5. Bc4 {
is the critical move. I played this position as White in the beginning of 2017:
} Nb6 6. Bb3 Bg7 7. O-O (7. Ng5 $5 {is one of the challenging moves here. A
sample line:} e6 8. Qf3 (8. f4 $5 {a positional approach}) 8... Qe7 9. Ne4 dxe5
10. Bg5 Qb4+ 11. c3 Qa5 $13 {with a complex position!}) 7... O-O 8. h3 Nc6 9.
Qe2 Na5 10. Nc3 Nxb3 11. axb3 a5 $11 {½-½ (46) Mekhitarian,K (2561)-Fier,A 
(2581) Rio de Janeiro 2017. White has the better space, but Black is doing
just fine with the bishop pair, and a consistent position.}) 5... Bg7 6. c4 Nb6
7. exd6 cxd6 (7... exd6 $6 8. Bg5 $1 $16 {would be very annoying, since Black
doesn't want to play any of the available moves here (...f6, ...Bf6 or ...Qd7).
}) 8. O-O O-O 9. Bg5 (9. h3 $5 Nc6 (9... e5 $5) 10. Nc3 Bf5 {is a known line,
when White has been doing fine with 11.Bf4!, played three times by the French
GM Igor Nataf:} 11. Bf4 $1 {preparing simple moves like Qd2 and Rc1 I guess} (
11. Bg5 {transposes to the game}) 11... h6 (11... e5 12. Bg5 Bf6 13. Bxf6 Qxf6
14. d5 Nb8 15. a4 $1 $16 {1-0 (40) Nataf,I (2526)-Schroll,G (2418) Austria
2001. Bothering the b6-knight is a typical motif in the Alekhine Defence. Now
if Black plays ...a5, then Qb3 may be an issue.}) (11... d5 {this move is not
so effective now, since Black doesn't win a tempo when playing ...Nc4:} 12. c5
Nc4 13. b3 Na3 14. Rc1 $16) 12. d5 Na5 13. Nd4 $1 Naxc4 14. b3 $5 (14. Bxc4 $1
Nxc4 15. Nxf5 gxf5 16. Qh5 $1 $16) 14... Ne5 15. Nxf5 gxf5 16. Qd2 $44 {
1-0 (34) Nataf,I (2560)-Hudecek,J (2293) Pardubice 2002}) 9... Nc6 10. h3 Bf5
11. Nc3 h6 12. Be3 d5 $1 {[%csl Rd4] This is one of the key Alekhine ideas,
Black starts to create some pressure on d4.} 13. c5 Nc4 {Black is very happy
with the opening adventure - the d4-pawn is weak, and all his pieces are well
developed.} 14. Bc1 (14. Bxc4 {leads nowhere} dxc4 15. Qa4 e5 $1 $36 (15... Bd3
16. Rfd1 Qe8 $1 $36 {preparing ...Rd8 for example} (16... g5 $5 17. Ne1 $6 Nxd4
18. Nxd3 cxd3 19. Qc4 Nc6 20. Qxd3 Qxd3 21. Rxd3 Rfd8 $15 {0-1 (42) Perlitz,S 
(2206)-Konopka,M (2441) Griesheim 2002}))) 14... b6 $5 (14... e5 $5 $146 {
was also interesting, sacrificing a pawn:} 15. dxe5 N4xe5 16. Nxe5 (16. Qxd5
Qxd5 17. Nxd5 Be4 $1 $44 {in all these positions, Black has enough
compensation, mostly because of the weak b2-pawn, and also White's bad
development on the queenside}) 16... Bxe5 17. Bxh6 Re8 $44) 15. b3 bxc5 $1 16.
bxc4 cxd4 17. Nxd5 {Amazingly, this is all theory and had been played in 14
games before this one.} e6 (17... d3 $6 18. Bxd3 Bxd3 19. Qxd3 Bxa1 20. Bxh6
Bg7 21. Bxg7 Kxg7 22. Qc3+ f6 23. Ng5 Qd6 24. Nc7 $1 Kg8 25. Nge6 Rfc8 26. c5
Qd7 27. Qg3 g5 28. h4 $2 (28. f4 $1 {with a devastating attack} Rxc7 29. fxg5
$18) 28... Rxc7 29. Nxc7 Nd4 $132 {0-1 (53) Bitensky,I (2366)-Dobrev,N (2439)
Sautron 2006}) 18. Ba3 exd5 $2 (18... Re8 $1 {had to be played} 19. Nf4 (19. g4
Be4 20. Nf4 d3 $5 (20... e5 21. Nd5 d3 22. Bxd3 Bxd3 23. Qxd3 e4 $13 {and
Black is doing just fine}) 21. Bxd3 Bxd3 22. Qxd3 Bxa1 23. Qe4 Nd4 24. Ne5 Qf6
$2 (24... f5 $1 $13 {Black keeps the advantage in a crazy position}) 25. Nfd3
Nc2 26. Bd6 Qg5 $2 27. f4 Qd8 28. Nxf7 $1 Qh4 29. Rxa1 Qg3+ 30. Kf1 $18 {
1-0 (37) Sergeev,V (2451)-Sikula,V (2419) Kiev 2003. It is curious that the
player with the white pieces in this game is one of the biggest specialists in
the Alekhine - he has 319 official games played with this defence as Black!})
19... e5 20. Nd5 d3 21. Bxd3 e4 22. Be2 exf3 23. Bxf3 Rc8 {with complex play.})
19. Bxf8 Kxf8 20. cxd5 Qxd5 21. Bd3 $16 {And White remains a solid exchange up
for a pawn, without enough counterplay for Black.} Nb4 22. Bxf5 Qxf5 23. Rb1 {
By playing consistently, Gunina gradually increases her advantage in the next
few moves.} Nd3 24. Rb7 Kg8 25. Qb1 $1 {White is showing great harmony and
Black will soon collapse.} Qd5 26. Rb5 Qc4 27. Rd1 Nf4 $4 {The position was
already very bad, but this loses instantly.} (27... a6 $1 {was the last try,
but the position is hopeless anyway:} 28. Rb8+ Rxb8 29. Qxb8+ Kh7 30. Qb3 $1 {
converting into a won endgame} Qxb3 31. axb3 Nc5 32. Nxd4 Bxd4 33. Rxd4 Nxb3
34. Ra4 Nc5 35. Ra5 Ne6 36. Rxa6 $18 {with a technical win.}) 28. Rb8+ {
And Black resigned in view of the loss of the f4-knight.} (28. Rb8+ Rxb8 29.
Qxb8+ Kh7 30. Qxf4 $18) 1-0

