Maia Chiburdanidze wearing the World Champion’s laurel wreath, apparently from her 1984 title defense. Photo: Georgia Today
Maia Chiburdanidze (born 1961) became Women’s World Champion in 1978 on her first attempt at just 17 years old. Only Hou Yifan has since bested this record, winning the title at 16 in 2010.
Maia defeated Nona Gaprindashvili , the Champion since 1962. The young Georgian title-holder defended her title on four occasions in the 1980s before losing to Xie Jun in 1991.
Here is a game I first remember seeing in Attack with Mikhail Tal from the Tbilisi semi-final of the 1980 USSR Championship. It is spectacular!
r3kb1r/1b1n1ppp/pq1ppn2/1p4B1/3NPP2/2NB1Q2/PPP3PP/2KRR3 w kq - 15 12
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White to play. Can you spot Chiburdanidze’s concept?
12.?
Connected vs. Unconnected Rooks
[Event "URS-ch48 sf Tallinn"]
[Site "Tallinn"]
[Date "1980.??.??"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Chiburdanidze, Maia"]
[Black "Dvoirys, Semen I"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B96"]
[WhiteElo "2400"]
[Annotator "Harding,Andre"]
[PlyCount "61"]
[EventDate "1980.??.??"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "15"]
[EventCountry "URS"]
[EventCategory "9"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2001.11.25"]
1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Bg5 e6 7. f4 Nbd7 8. Qf3
Qc7 9. O-O-O b5 10. Bd3 Bb7 11. Rhe1 Qb6 12. Nd5 $1 {This move is not that hard
to find, with the opposition of rook and king on the e-file…} exd5 13. Nc6 $3
{But this brilliant decoy is what earned this masterpiece a place in the
anthologies! The point is that the Nc6 prevents the black king from running to
the queenside. He has to take it, but this walks into problems on the a8-h1
diagonal!} Bxc6 (13... dxe4 14. Bxe4 Be7 15. Nxe7 Nxe4 16. Rxe4 Bxe4 17. Qxe4 {
and white has too many threats.}) 14. exd5+ Be7 15. dxc6 Nc5 16. Bxf6 gxf6 17.
Bf5 $1 {Not allowing black to castle queenside because the “landing square” is
covered!} Qc7 18. b4 Ne6 19. Qh5 {Threatening to remove the e6-knight for free
because of the pin on the f7-pawn.} Ng7 (19... O-O-O 20. Qxf7 {and the knight
is lost.}) 20. Bd7+ Kf8 21. Qh6 (21. Qh6 {threat:} -- 22. Rxe7 Kxe7 23. Qxg7 --
24. Re1+ Kd8 25. Qxh8#) 21... d5 22. Rxe7 Kxe7 23. Re1+ Kf8 (23... Kd6 24.
Qxf6+ Ne6 25. Rxe6+ fxe6 26. Qxe6#) 24. Qxf6 {Black retains a material
advantage, but he’s playing without two rooks!} (24. Qxf6 {threat:} -- 25. Re7
-- 26. Qxf7#) 24... Kg8 25. Re7 Rf8 {Black’s kingside makes a sad impression.}
26. Be6 Qxe7 (26... Nxe6 27. Rxc7 Nxc7 28. Qg5# $1) 27. Qxe7 fxe6 (27... Nxe6 {
doesn’t change anything. The knight is well-placed on e6, so let’s disturb it:}
28. f5 Ng7 {Now we could restrict black’s kingside with g4, but black’s pieces
communicate so poorly we can crash through immediately:} 29. c7 $1 Nxf5 (29...
Rc8 30. Qd8+ {is the point:} Rxd8 31. cxd8=Q+ Ne8 32. f6 $1 {When hunting the
king, try to eliminate escape squares! This is possible because the black
pieces trip over each other.} Kf8 33. Qe7+ Kg8 34. Qxe8#) 30. Qxf8+ Kxf8 31.
c8=Q+ Kg7 32. Qxf5) 28. c7 {Oh, this guy is still here? Yep!} h5 29. Qxf8+ Kxf8
30. c8=Q+ Kf7 31. Qxh8 {Black resigns.} 1-0
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