Tuesday Hunting: with FM Anna-Maja Kazarian

Ever since the global pandemic started, the most accomplished chess players gather each Tuesday to play the toughest online competition in the world. But while the imperious likes of Nakamura, Firouzja, Nepomniachtchi, Mamedyarov, Dubov, Caruana, Karjakin, Fedoseev and others battle it out for the first place, others gain a chance to upset a Grandmaster or two. Sometimes, they even succeed...

Just like hundreds of other FIDE Masters, on Tuesday evening, Anna-Maja Kazarian is on a mission. The 2015 European Youth Chess Champion and 2020 Online Dutch Chess Champion seeks to test herself against the GMs and maybe - sometimes even possibly? - ruin some strong players' night. At the rating somewhere between 2200 and 2400, the statistical odds are against her: the expected score for someone rated 200 points higher than her is 76%...

Her first Tuesday Grandmaster trials end up unsuccessful indeed:

After defending a worse position in time pressure for over 30 moves, Kazarian has finally reached a position where she could realistically make a draw. But with only 4 seconds on her clock, she played 58. Kd3?? allowing Serbian GM Danilo Milanovic 58...Rd2#. Alas - instead of that, the game continued: 58...Nc4+? 59. Ke3 Ne5+ 60. Kd3?? (60. Kf3 still offered hope) 60...Rd2#

With her flag hanging in the air, the Dutch FM found 26...Nxe5 and if 27. Rxe5 Qxd6 28. fxg7 Rfe8 29. Rh5 h6 is a fine saving grace. Yuri Yakovich, the veteran Russian Grandmaster picked 27. Qg3 instead and after 27...Ng6 28. fxg7 Kxg7 29. Nf5+ Kh8 30. Qg5 his attack has stalled. The finale was anticlimactic: having survived the worst, Kazarian flagged just three moves later.

Two weeks later, things took an unexpected turn:

Here, Romanian GM Marius Manolache is obviously winning - but after playing a game to forget, Kazarian continues through the sheer force of inertia: 60...Kh6 61. Qe7?? stalemate - and a salvo of hearty laughter followed in the FM's stream.

A month later, in June, Anna-Maja's skills and good fortune have finally aligned. With Black pieces. Against eight-time U.S. Champion, GM Irina Krush, of all people:

Kazarian tried a Nimzo-Indian line where Black trades Queens early and reaches an equal endgame. But upon getting there, she played 15...Ne5?, allowing 16. dxe6 fxe6 17. Nb5 d5 16. Nc7 Rac8 17. Nxe6, losing a pawn. 15...e5 or even 15...Nf8 would've evaded the danger...

Forced to play with a permanent material disadvantage, Black did her absolute best to avoid an immediate disaster - and now, in mutual time trouble, she's getting a reward: 32. Kc2? (correct was 32. b4 and Black Knight will never go hunting) 32...cxb3+ 33. Kxb3 Nc4 34. e4 Ne3 and all of a sudden if the g-pawn is pushed, 35...Nf1 wins either the h-pawn directly or the f-pawn through 36...Nd2+! With only seconds left on the clocks, the players soon liquidated to a drawn ending - in which Krush flagged before making her 49th move...

It took three more weeks and three more tries for Kazarian to double her Tuesday kill count - this time, against India's 50th Grandmaster M.S. Thejkumar - noted for achieving the highest chess title at the age of 36 and all the way without a coach:

Anna-Maja's pawn storm has reached it's critical stage and now, with just 9 seconds on her clock to the Indian's 1 minute and 21 seconds, an amusing finale commences: 34...f6?? 35. Re3 Rc6 36. Rh3! (one move late, but she finds the idea!) 36...e5 37. Rh8+ Kxh8 38. Rxf8#

The soon-to-be Online Dutch Champion might've failed her next attempt badly against GM Artem Chernobay - but all was forgiven after this well-rounded, non-fluke, no-nonsense (well, almost...) victory against Cuba's representative Luis Manuel Perez Rodriguez:

Black can and should play 24...Qc4, moving out of the incoming fork while protecting his hanging pawn. But the Grandmaster picked 24...Rd8? and after 25. Qxb5 Nxd4 26. Nxd4 Rxd4 27. Bb3 Nc4 28. Rc1, his Knight was dropping from the board.

Here, best was definitely 33. Qc6, covering the g2 square from afar and forcing Black to decide what to do with the f3 pawn. But Kazarian played 33. Qxc7?? and, to her relief, her experienced opponent missed 33...fxg2+ Bxg2 34. Rd1+!, winning a Queen for a Rook. Still - that wasn't the end of it...

The clock was ticking: having only 7 seconds left, the Dutch FM played 36. Qg3?? allowing 36...Qxg3 hxg3 37. Rxb2 and with only one-second increment, it would be a nightmare to win this endgame for White. But equipped with even less time, Black went 36...Rxb2?? and this time, there was no mistake: 37. Be4+ and White unleashed a mating attack.

Three weeks later...

Anna-Maja is missing two pawns, has no attack to show for it and her Rook can be trapped immediately with 29...b6. Yet, all of a sudden, Ukrainian GM Evgeny Sharapov goes 29...Rad8? 30. Ncd6 Rf8 31. Rxd5 and White's winning. This time, Wassenaar's brightest keeps her nerves in check, forcing a resignation by move 49.

Kazarian isn't done for the day. Five rounds later, she scores one more messy victory - and again, over a tough veteran, GM Mathias Womacka:

Like Don Quixote trying to pick a fight with windmills, White offered two pawns and her Bishop pair just to reach this position. However - as unbelievable as it may seem, continuing from this point, Black will find himself under a vicious attack just five moves later: 19...g6 20. h4 Ng4 21. Qe2 Bxd3 2. Rxd3 h5 23. Rf3 23...Bxh4??

24. Nxh5! (best chance now that Black got too greedy) 24...gxh5 25. Rf5 Bg5 26. Rh1 Nh6 27. Rxh5 f6?? (played with a lot of time on his clock yet after just a five-second think - 27...Rg8 would've still held it all together) 28. Rfxg5 fxg5 29. Rxh6+ Kg7 30. Qh5 Rf1+ 31. Nc1 Qe8??

32. Qxg5+ Kf7 33. Qg6+? (33. Rh7+ Ke6 34. Qh6+ Rf6 35. Qh3+ was mating) 33...Ke7?? (once again allows a forced mate) 34. Qxd6+ Kf7 35. Rh7+ Kg8 36. Qh6 Rg1 37. Rh8+ Kf7 38. Rxe8 and having added material advantage to her trumps, Kazarian converted the point in 60 moves.

Couple months later, Anna-Maja has claimed her sixth Tuesday scalp: Dmitry Gurevich. The Russian-American Grandmaster, among other things notable for winning his fourth U.S. Open Chess Championship at the age of 57 pressed hard and obtained a completely dominating position - but ultimately lost thread in the following endgame:

The outcomes of battles between Rook and pawn against two minor pieces are normally determined by three factors: activity of a Rook, availability of anchor squares for the minor pieces and the usefulness of the Rook owners' extra pawn. Here, the Rook has an open c-file, there are no outposts for the Knight and the extra pawn stands centrally, ready to deny Black even more space. Therefore, White is playing for a win.

Nineteen more moves were played and Black is completely stuck on the eighth rank. White doesn't have anything to worry about and can mark time with aimless moves to either gain additional time for finding a winning plan or to... flag his young opponent. Gurevich goes with the former:

Black is in a textbook zugzwang and forced to drop something. However... 50...Be6 51. Rc7?? (51. Rxb5 wins smoothly) 51...Nb6 and the Knight gets out of the barn: 52. Re7+ Kd8 53. Rxf7 Bxf7 54. Kxf7 Nc4 55. Kf6?? (55. e6 was essential) 55...Kd7? (the daring 55...Nxa3 wins as the Knight jumps back just in time to contain White central passers) 56. e6+ Kxd6 57. e7 Kd7 58. Kf7 Nd6+ 59. Kxg6?? (59. Kf8! clinging to the e-pawn, draws in a study-like manner) 59...Kxe7 and after couple more errors from both sides, Kazarian finally parked a King on g7, collected a3 and rushed the Knight to the Kingside, preserving a surprising victory.

That's six GMs down in Titled Tuesday for AMK. Surely, there will be more to come?