While FIDE has cited 2022 to be "The Year of Women in Chess," that hasn't stopped 2021 from making its own progress for women in chess. This year, the first ever US National Collegiate Women's Team Cup was held, endorsed by the US Chess Federation and sponsored by The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley. The goals for the tournament included:
1. Determination of the 2021 US National Collegiate Women's Team Cup Winner
2. Popularization and growth of collegiate chess in the United States.
A 1-day event, the tournament took place on October 31 in a 5 round Swiss format with a time control of 10+5. With nine teams participating, top three went to the University of Missouri, the University of Texas at Rio Grade Valley (A) and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
Standings
Below is the game between Mizzou and UTRGV A's top boards WGM Gulrukhbegim Tokhirjonova and WGM Maili-Jade Ouellet. Information on the event, including standings and games, can be found here.
WGM Ouellet vs WGM Tokhirjonova
The game between the top boards of the first and second place teams occurred during the third round of the tournament. With white, WGM Maili-Jade Ouellet is a Canadian chess player who has won the Women's Canadian Chess Championship and played for Canada in the Women's Chess Olympiad. With black, WGM Gulrukhbegim Tokhirjonova is an Uzbek-born American chess player who recently took second place at the 2021 US Women's Championship, following Carissa Yip.
Position after 6...Bg7
The game opens with the Grunfeld Defense: Exchange Variation, considered to be one of white's most critical attempts. Because the d5 pawn is not defended by another pawn, this allows white to capture it and remove the central pawn. White attempts to build a strong pawn center while black tries to pressure it with their pieces.
Position after 13...Bg7
After 13...Bg7, white has the chance to reinforce the d5 pawn with the c3 pawn with 14. c4. Instead they castle, but this allows for an exchange of pawns on d5 that leaves the f5 square open for black's light-squared bishop.
Position after 17...Re8
With 17...Re8, black puts pressure on the e-file. 18. Bb5 encourages an exchange of the rooks by attacking e8, places the bishop on an active square, and prepares for c4 to support the d5 pawn. White plays 18. Bf3 instead, which instead seems to trap the bishop behind the d5 pawn and eventually allows black to push their own pawn to c4. Black has a slight edge here.
Position after 23. Qf2
White's position is starting to get tricky, with the d5 pawn looking more like a weakness than a strength, the backwards c3 pawn, and the bad bishops. Some ideas for black include exchanging the rooks to get rid of one of white's active pieces. Instead they play 23...f5, but this allows white to maneuver the dark-squared bishop to d4 and activate it along the a1-h8 diagonal. Now white is the one with the slight edge.
Position after 31...Bg7
After a few more moves, the position is now dead equal after 31...Bg7 if white exchanges the rooks and dark-squared bishops. It would still be a tricky position with both queens on the board, but neither side would have an advantage. However, both players are under time pressure, with white under two minutes and black under three. Unfortunately, white blunders with 32. Qxh5, and after everything gets exchanged on e5, the c3 pawn falls with no way for white to win it or prevent its promotion.
Position after 46...c2
With 46...c2, the promotion of the black pawn is inevitable and white resigns. Overall, this was a sharp game with times where white was better, times where black was better, and times where neither was better. In the end, with a rapid time control like 10+5, time pressure can become a deciding factor. In this case, there just wasn't enough time to calculate the position at move 32 that would decide whether or not the endgame would be a draw.
Women in Chess in the US
WGM Jennifer Shahade
Between rounds, WGM Jennifer Shahade came to speak on the topic of women in chess. She is a 2x US Women's Chess Champion, the first female to win the US Junior Open, and passionate about empowerment and creative work. Through US Chess Women, she fights to make chess more inclusive and brings the game to girls, gender minorities, and women. During her appearance, she expressed the importance of events like the US National Collegiate Women's Team Cup for encouraging participation by women even after high school. Few girls play chess as is (although this number is steadily growing over time), but even fewer adult women continue to play in and after college. Other initiatives by US Chess spurred on by the success of the Queen's Gambit include lessons for adult women and The Madwoman's Book Club, a book club that meets quarterly to discuss books related to chess with themes of intellectual exploration and women empowerment. The first of its kind, the 2021 US National Collegiate Women's Team Cup itself is an inaugural step towards keeping women in the game.
