My Simultaneous Exhibition Game Against
the Two-time World Blitz Champion
GM Valentina Gunina (Part 2)
(by Yury V. Bukayev)
GM Valentina E. Gunina - Yury V. Bukayev
simultaneous exhibition, Moscow, 2025,
August 16 ('The Chess Square 2025')
20.Re3?
The following photo demonstrates the moment when maestro's 20th move is made.
20...Re5 21.Nf6+?
It's the worst move in the whole game which transforms Stockfish 17.1 program's evaluation from "-0.1" to "-4.4", as I found after the game.
Maestro has a lot of minutes, so she could make a calm move instead and win on time very soon and easily. Nevertheless, she tries to checkmate me.
21...gxf6 22.Bxf6 Qxe3!
Both arbiters went far away, although there was a hyperbullet time situation for me after my 20th move! Moreover, I continued to make the notation of the game. But this terrible life made me a 'God of Hyperbullet Chess' that memorable summer evening.
Maestro waited for my 22...Rxf5? to play 23.Rg3+! with a beautiful rapid checkmate. And after my 22nd move she understood that her calculation was mistaken, that my position is easy to win, but this easy win required my some minutes to make a checkmate! I had no time for it!
23.Qg4+!
Maestro isn't resigning, isn't offering a draw. She is waiting for my blunder or the finish of my time. Arbiters are absent.
23...Rg5!
The following photo demonstrates the moment when my 23th move is made.
24.Bxg5
Again, she isn't resigning, isn't offering a draw. She is waiting for my blunder or the finish of my time. Arbiters are absent.
Arbiters have rights to fix a draw in such absolutely won and clear situations, when the time isn't finished. The main arbiter with his helpers must be near boards during these chess clock finishes and must control all rules. It maybe, dear arbiters were called out by dear organizers for this long time after their set of clocks.
24...Qe1+!
The following photo demonstrates the moment when this my last of legal moves is made.
25.Kh2
Again and again, maestro isn't resigning, isn't offering a draw. She is waiting for my blunder or the finish of my time. Arbiters are absent. Maestro has a lot of minutes.
In one second my time finished after her 25th move. It means, I lost the game. But arbiters are absent, my eyes and thoughts are concentrated on the board, and it is impossible to know for me here that my time is finished. Maestro's eyes went away to her next board before this moment, she went away. Only the man behind my back said: "The control!" But I didn't understand that these his words are about the real time situation on my board, I haven't looked at chess clock and continued to play. This fact was fixed then. All further moves of opponents are illegal, consequently.
If someone wants to know, further I played 25...Be5+ (Black still has a very large advantage after it: "-3.7") trying to provoke White's blunder 26.g3? to not lose my game on time: 26...Qxf2+ etc. When maestro approached my board, she didn't say about the finish of my time and played 26.f4 . If she didn't know about this finish also, then I repeat again: she isn't resigning, isn't offering a draw. Arbiters are absent... And I received no apologies that day. Do you understand my internal emotions now?..
Let's stop my story and its analysis, I'll continue it in my future Part 3.
At the end of August, after this simultaneous exhibition, the Moscow Chess Federation has updated its time rules for further simultaneous exhibitions of 'The Chess Square 2025' (20 min - 2 min by 30 min - 5 min) and changed the model of clocks for them (the new model of clocks is much higher, has hands instead of electron figures, has not dark glass). Moreover, arbiters became to work much better again. Nevertheless, that summer evening was full of my very warm demonstrated senses to dear organizers, dear arbiters, dear person who told about the finish of my time and, of course, dear grandmaster Valentina Gunina!
Well, with extra 3 min for a participant I could have enough time to checkmate maestro after 25.Kh2 . But first of all, I repeat, if GM Valentina Gunina's exhibition starts in planned 18:15 or even in 18:30, then there is no necessity for a participant to become a 'God of Ultrabullet Chess (or Bullet)' in my situation.
(...to be continued)
