I like tournaments which award prizes for the best game, offering a welcome reminder that there is more to chess than points on the scoreboard. Naturally, who wins those is a subjective matter, and even what you call the award is up for debate. Should it be a ‘best game’ prize, in the sense of high-quality play with few mistakes? A brilliancy prize for a quick attack? Perhaps a beauty prize, for the game’s visual impact?
At the end of the Fide Women’s Grand Prix held in Monaco in February, a beauty prize was awarded for the game below. The former women’s world champion Alexandra Kosteniuk won a Cartier watch, much to the displeasure of Kateryna Lagno, who considered her own win against Elisabeth Pähtz to be the more deserving, describing it as one of the best games of her career. Lagno decried the judges’ decision as politically motivated, claiming that they would not award the prize to a Russian player. Lagno has represented Russia for many years, though she competes in Fide’s world championship cycle under the international flag, since Russia and Belarus were sanctioned by the governing body. Kosteniuk, once her teammate in the Russian women’s team, switched her federation to Switzerland in 2023.
Lagno’s game is well worth a look, even if her claim was doubtful: spectator.co.uk/lagno.
In the prize-winning game below, Tan Zhongyi grabs the initiative with a pawn sacrifice in the opening. But once it peters out, her attempt to reignite the game with 20…b7-b5 and later 22…Ng4-e3 is too ambitious, meeting a sharply calculated refutation from Kosteniuk beginning with 24 Nb5-d6. Once the dust has settled 15 moves later, the rest is a matter of technique.
The reigning women’s world champion, Ju Wenjun, is currently defending her title in a match in China against Tan Zhongyi. The 12-game match runs up until 20 April, with a possible rapid tiebreak on the following day.
Alexandra Kosteniuk-Tan Zhongyi
Fide Women’s Grand Prix, Monaco, Feb 2025
1 d4 Nf6 2 c4 g6 3 Nc3 d5 4 Nf3 Bg7 5 h4 dxc4 6 e4 c5 7 d5 Bg4 8 Qa4+ Bd7 9 Qxc4 O-O 10 Qxc5 e6 11 dxe6 Bxe6 12 Ng5 Nc6 13 Bf4 Ng4 14 e5 Ncxe5 15 Rd1 Qe8 16 Nxe6 fxe6 17 Bg3 Rc8 18 Qb5 Qe7 19 Be2 Rf5 20 Qa4 b5 21 Nxb5 Qc5 22 O-O Ne3 23 b4 Qb6
24 Nd6! This counter-fork, the key move of the game, is by far the strongest response. 24…Nxf1 25 Nxc8 Nxg3 26 Nxb6 Nxe2+ 27 Kf1 Ng3+ 28 Kg1 Ne2+ 29 Kf1 Correctly walking into further checks. 29 Kh1 looks safe, but 29…h5!! creates a bolthole on h7 in anticipation of Qa4-e8+, and the various ideas of …Rf4, …Rxf2, …Ng4 and …axb6 give Black excellent chances to save the game. 29…Ng3+ 30 Ke1 Nf3+ 31 gxf3 Bc3+ 32 Rd2 axb6 33 Qe8+ 33 fxg3 would also win, though 33…Rd5 offers some resistance. 33…Kg7 34 Qe7+ Rf7 35 Qxe6 Nf5 36 Kd1 Bxd2 37 Kxd2 Rf6 38 Qe4 Rd6+ 39 Kc1 Kf6 40 a4 Rd4 41 Qc6+ Rd6 42 Qc7 Ke6 43 Qxh7 Ne7 44 h5 gxh5 45 Qxh5 Nd5 46 Qg4+ Ke7 47 Qe4+ Kd7 48 f4 Kc7 49 Kb2 Nf6 50 Qe7+ Nd7 51 Kc3 Rf6 52 Qe4 Rd6 53 Kc4 Rc6+ 54 Kb5 Rd6 55 a5 bxa5 56 bxa5 Rf6 57 Qc4+ Kb8 58 a6 Rb6+ 59 Ka5 Rb1 60 Qd4 Kc7 61 a7 Nb6 62 Qxb6+ A neat finish, although many moves suffice for the win. Rxb6 63 a8=N+ Kd6 64 Nxb6 Ke6 65 Kb5 Black resigns
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