National women’s champion
Philippine National Championship ( Women) Road to Batumi Alphaland Makati Place, Makati June 10-16, 2018
1. WFM Shania Mae Mendoza PHI 2114, 7.0/9
2. WIM Catherine Secopito PHI 2120, 6.5/9
3. WIM Marie Antoinette San Diego PHI 2096, 5.5/9
4-5. WIM Bernadette Galas, WFM Cherry Ann Mejia PHI 1977, 4.5/9
6-7. WFM Allaney Jia Doroy PHI 1974, WCM Christy Lamiel Bernales PHI 2045, 4.0/9
8. WIM Mikee Charlene Suede PHI 2092 3.5/9
9. Jerlyn Mae San Diego PHI 1700, 3.0/9
10. WFM Michelle Yaon PHI 1847, 2.5/9
Time Control: 90 minutes for the entire game with 30 seconds added after every move starting move 1.
Shania Mae Mendoza, top board player for FEU Women’s team in the UAAP, is now the Philippine’s National Chess Champion for Women. In the Philippines’ Grand Finals Shania scored 5 wins (against Christy Bernales, Jerlyn Mae San Diego, Allaney Doroy, Mikee Suede and Michelle Yaon) and 4 draws to finish in solo first place.
Our new champion has annotated two of her wins for us ( through the kindness of her coach, GM Jayson Gonzales). Once again I am delighted to present them to our readers. Suede, Mikee (2092) — Mendoza, Shania Mae (2114) [C27] PHI-Ch Grand Finals (women) Makati (7), 15.06.2018 [Shania Mae Mendoza] 1.e4 e5 2.Nc3 Nf6 3.Bc4 Nxe4
This is the Frankenstein-Dracula Variation of the Vienna Opening, as so named by IM Tim Harding because of its blood-thirsty attacks and counterattacks. This is the second time in the tournament that I used this line!
4.Qh5
Threatening mate in 1 move. 4...Nd6 Defending f7. 5.Bb3 Be7
Slowing down the game a bit by trying to castle as soon as possible.
The most exciting lines start from 5... Nc6 which aims to keep the e5–pawn. 6. Nb5 ( threatening mate in 2) 6... g6 7.Qf3 f5 8.Qd5 Qe7 9.Nxc7+ Kd8 10.Nxa8 for the time being White is a rook up but the knight on a8 is a goner and everything else is just chaos. 6.Nf3
White could have taken the pawn. This position actually arose in Caruana’s game vs Giri in Wijk aan Zee 2014. The continuation there was 6.Qxe5 0–0 7.d4 Nc6 8.Qf4 Na5 9.Bd5 (a cute idea, trying to save the bishop) 9...Ne8 10.Bf3 Nc6 11.Nd5 Bd6 12.Qd2 b6 13.Ne2 Nf6 14.Ne3 Re8 15.0–0 Bf8 16.c4 g6 17.b3 Bg7 18.Bb2 Bb7 White soon got a dominant position but he could not cash it in. Caruana,F (2782)- Giri,A (2734) Wijk aan Zee 2014 1/2 43. 6...Nc6 7.Nxe5 g6
An improvement over my earlier game against Jerlyn Mae San Diego. I won that one too after 7...Nxe5 8.Qxe5 0–0 9.0–0 (Better was 9.Nd5 Re8 10.0–0 Bg5 11.Qg3 h6 12.d4 White has the initiative) 9...Bf6 10.Qg3 Nf5 11.Qf4 d6 12.d3 Be6 13.Ne4 Be5 14.Qg5 Qxg5 15.Nxg5 Bxb3 16.axb3 Nd4 17.c3 Nxb3 18.Ra4 Nxc1 19.Rxc1 b5 20.Rh4 Black is just simply a pawn up. San Diego,J (1700)-Mendoza,S (2114) 0–1 60. 8.Nxc6 dxc6 9.Qe5
Simply 9.Qf3 was better. Black now gets a chance to kick the white queen around a bit. 9...0– 0 10.0– 0 Bf6 11. Qf4 Re8 12.d3 Be5 13.Qf3 Qh4 Up to this position we were still in my preparation.
14.h3
[14.g3 Bg4 15.Qg2 Qh5 Black is clearly better] 14...h5
Black has the dangerous threat of Bg4.
15. Ne4 Bg4 16. Qe3 Bf5 <D>
17.f4 I prefer 17.Qg5 to exchange queens and stop Black’s kingside attack. 17... Bg7 18. Qg3 Bd4+ 19. Kh2 Qxg3+ 20.Nxg3 h4 21.Nxf5
Preserving the knight is too cumbersome: 21.Nh1 Re2 22.c3 Bb6 23.d4 c5 24.Bd1 Re7 25.dxc5 Bxc5 26.Nf2 Rae8 27.Bd2 Nc4. 21...Nxf5 22.c3 Ng3! 23.Rd1 Bf2 24.Bd2 Re2 25.d4 Rae83
Material is equal, white has the two bishops but Black is completely winning because of my domination of the e-file. 26.Bc4 Nf1+ 27.Rxf1
[27.Kh1?? Nxd2] 27...Rxd2 28.Rab1 b5!
White has to give up control of e2 and the other black rook will be sitting there soon.
29.Bb3 Ree2
My next threat is Bg3+ followed by Rxg2. 30. Rfd1 Bg3+ 31. Kh1 Rxg2 32.Rxd2 Rxd2 33.f5 gxf5 34.Bd1 Rf2 35. Bh5 f4 36. Kg1 f3 37. Rd1 Rg2+ 38.Kf1 Rh2 39.Kg1 f2+ 40.Kf1 Rh1+ 41.Kg2 Re1 0–1 Mendoza, Shania Mae (2114) — Bernales, Christy Lamiel (2045) [C14] PHI-Ch Grand Finals (women) Makati (1), 10.06.2018 [Shania Mae Mendoza] 1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.Bg5 Be7 5.e5 Nfd7 6.h4 The Alekhine-Chatard Attack of the French Defense. 6...h6
Oops! This is the old way they used to decline the gambit. Now I am on my own because I expected the modern 6... c5 7. Bxe7 Kxe7 and now I can play either ( 7... Qxe7? is a mistake because after 8. Nb5 Black is in trouble) 8. Nf3 or 8. f4.
If she had accepted the gambit then 6...Bxg5 7.hxg5 Qxg5 8.Qd3!? (I believe this is an improvement over the older 8. Nh3) 8... g6 9. Nf3 Qe7 10.0– 0– 0 a6 11.Qe3! c5 12.dxc5 Qxc5 (Take note that 12...Nxc5? is refuted by 13.Rxd5! exd5 14.Nxd5 Qf8 15.Nc7+ Kd8 16.Nxa8 White has a decisive advantage) 13.Qf4! Nc6 (13...Qxf2? 14.Rd4! Black is going to lose his queen to Nd1) 14. Bd3 White has more than enough compensation for the pawn with his attacking potential. In the stem game Grischuk,A (2702)-Brynell,S (2508) Luebeck GER 2002 Black could only last until the 22nd move. 7.Be3
I am not sure but I vaguely recalled that this is a good move in answer to 6..h6. The alternative 7.Bxe7 Qxe7 8.Qg4 looks good but after 8...0–0 9.Nf3 c5! This move is an effective demonstration of what White’s weakness is — without the f-pawn being on f4, I would not be able to maintain my d4/e5 pawn center. Sawlin,L (2258)-Hovhanisian,M (2499) Berlin GER 2015 0–1 19. 7...0–0
Let me show you another game with a recurring theme. 7... c5 8. Qg4 g6 9. Nf3 cxd4 10. Bxd4 Nc6 11.0– 0– 0 Nxd4 12.Rxd4 a6!? 13.Bd3 Qc7 14.Re1 Rg8 15. Qf4 Bc5? 16. Rxd5! ( the same shot as in the note to Black’s 6th move. If you want to play the AlekhineChatard, this is one of the attacking themes that you must master) 16...exd5 17.Nxd5 Qb8 18.Qxh6 Bf8 19.Qe3 Qa7 20.Qg5 Qc5 21.e6 fxe6 22.Bxg6+ Rxg6 23. Qxg6+ Kd8 24. Qxe6 Bh6+ 25. Kb1 Qf8 26.Ne5 Nxe5 27.Qxe5 1–0. Kogan,A ( 2548)- Gleizerov, E ( 2590), Alghero ITA 2011. 8.Qg4 Kh8 9.Bd3
Mixed up my lines here. I was calculating 9. Nf3 f5 10. exf6 Nxf6 11.Qg6 Qe8 12.Ne5! Kg8 13.Bxh6 Qxg6 14. Nxg6 gxh6 15. Nxe7+ Kf7 16. Nxc8 Rxc8 17.0–0–0 where White is a clear pawn up with a superior position. And then suddenly I played 9. Bd3. Don’t know why. 9...f5 10.exf6?
Helping Black’s development. 10...Nxf6 11.Qe2 c5 12.Nf3 cxd4 Maybe 12...Nc6 is better.
13.Bxd4 Nc6 14.0–0–0 Bd7 15.Kb1 Rc8 16.Be5 Qa5 17.h5 Ba3?
I prefer 17...Ng4 18.Bg3 Bf6 all of her pieces are active and bearing down on the queenside. 18.Nb5 Nxe5
I was hoping for 18...Bc5 19.Nh4 Nxe5 20.Qxe5 Bxb5 21.Ng6+ Kg8 22.Qxe6+ Kh7 23. Nxf8+ Kh8 24. Ng6+ Kh7 25.Qxc8 White has a mating attack. 19.Nxe5
No mating attack here but White is winning because of the double attack on d7 and g6.
19... Bxb2 20. Kxb2 Ne4 21. Ng6+ Kg8 22. Bxe4 Qb4+ 23. Ka1 Bxb5 24.Qe1 Qa4? A serious mistake. The only way to continue fighting was 24...Qxe4.
25. Bd3 Bxd3 26. Qxe6+ Kh7 27. Nxf8+ Rxf8 28. Rxd3 Qxc2 29.Qxd5 Qxf2 30.Rhd1 Qf6+ 31.Qd4 Qc6 32.Rg3 1–0
As the BW reader may have noticed, WIM Shania Mae Mendoza is a gifted annotator.