Psychology in the WWCC 2012

1.d4 e6 2.c4 d5 3.Nc3 Be7 {Queen's Gambit Declined: Charousek (Petrosian) variation - RJH} 4.Bf4 Nf6 5.e3 O-O 6.a3 Nbd7 7.Nb5 Ne8 8.Nf3 c6 9.Nc3 f5 10.h3 Nd6 11.cxd5 exd5 12.Bd3 Nf6 13.Ne5 Nfe4 14.Ne2 Nf7 15.O-O Bd6 16.Qc2 Qf6 {offered a pawn and white accepts after a series of forcing moves} 17.f3 Neg5 18.h4 Ne6 19.Bxf5 Nxe5 20.Bxh7+ Kh8 21.dxe5 Bxe5 22.Bxe5 Qxe5 23.Kf2 {Black enjoyed good compensation here (so how should she continue? RJH)} 23...d4 {with building moves like ...c5 and ...Bd7 she could have prepared an assault against White's inelegantly arrayed kingside. Instead, Dronavalli commenced a second round of tactical play (She became psychologically over-confident in her tactical abilities - RJH)} 24.exd4 Nxd4 25.Qe4 Nxf3 26.gxf3 Qh2+ {Where should the King be moved? RJH} 27.Ke3 {What is the best move for black? RJH} 27...Bd7 {Here the surprising 27...Be6! was correct, though White would remain better after 28.Qxe6! Rae8 29.Qxe8 Rxe8 30.Be4 (27...Bh3 may be just as good IMO, so What should white move? RJH)} 28.Rad1 {This attack on the d7 Rook may have surprised black psychologically, so now What is black's best move? RJH} 28...Qc7 {Dronavalli had probably planned 28...Re8 attacking the queen but now realized white could give up the Queen and still be material ahead, so how shoud white continue? RJH} 29.Qc2 {Kd2 was correct, escaping immediately, (so now, how should black continue? RJH)} 29...Bh3 {black missed the opportunity for 29...Qb6+ 30.Kd2 Be6, when she would be worse but not losing} 30.Rg1 Qb6+ 31.Kd2 {What should black play? RJH} 31...Be6 {Rxf3 or Rad4+ is better. So now what should you play as white? RJH} 32.Qc3 {I believe Dronavalli overlooked this move for white and had played 31...Be6 in hopes of playing 32...Bb3 to win the exchange, so this mate threat was a psycholgical shocker and her play continues to suffer from her pschological defeatest attitude} 32...Rf7 33.Bg6 Rf6 34.Kc1 Qf2 35.Qe5 Kg8 36.Nd4 Ba2 37.Bb1 Bd5 38.Rdf1 Qxh4 39. Rxg7+ 1-0

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 d6 5.Nf3 O-O {King's Indian Defense - RJH} 6.h3 e5 7.d5 Nh5 8.g3 a5 9.Be3 f5 10.exf5 gxf5 11.Nh4 Nf4 12.gxf4 Qxh4 13.Rg1 Qe7 14.Be2 Nd7 15.Qd2 Rf6 16.Nb5 exf4 17.Bxf4 Ne5 18.O-O-O Bd7 {What is the best move for white here? RJH} 19. Nc3 {Anna had the opportunity to win the exchange with 19.Bg5. It isn't a question of overlooking the idea - Ushenina would find it at least 99 times out of 100 in 3-minute chess. The likely story is that she felt Black would obtain a sufficiently strong grip on the dark squares to hold the position, and preferred to keep her dark-squared bishop in the battle (I say it was her psychology - RJH)} 19...Rg6 20.Bg5 Bf6 21.Bxf6 Qxf6 22.f4 Rxg1 23.Rxg1+ Ng6 24.Bh5 Kg7 25.Rg5 Rg8 26.Qf2 b6 27.h4 Kf8 28.Bxg6 1/2-1/2