Sophie rounds 3 and 4

Sophie played the openings well in rounds 3 and 4, despite having the Black pieces.

In round 3, against the World U12 Chess Champion Mariam Danelia, Sophie failed to latch on to the correct middlegame plan and blundered a pawn in a difficult position. Mariam then showed her class, finding a quick win from this position:



24 Nxe5! and Black's game falls apart.

Sophie's best chances came in game 4. She won a pawn out of the opening at the cost of the initiative, but missed the chance to win a 'better' pawn with 9 ... Nxd4 10 Bxd4 Nxe4! which would have given her the advantage.

After mistakes on both sides, the following position was reached:



Unfortunately Sophie chose 25 ... Qg8 and her position disintegrated. Instead, 25 ... Qh8! would have left everything to play for, as the greedy 26 Qxh8 Rxh8 27 Rxa7 would cede the intiative, e.g. 27 ... Rb8 and Black might even be better.

Things don't get any easier for Sophie in the 6th round as she is drawn against Galina Shmirina, a FIDE Master from host nation Germany.

[Event "8th EUROPEAN INDIVIDUAL WOMEN"]
[Site "Dresden / Germany"]
[Date "2007.04.05"]
[Round "3.74"]
[White "Danelia, Mariam"]
[Black "Seeber, Sophie"]
[Result "1-0"]
[WhiteElo "2056"]
[ECO "E33"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. Qc2 Nc6 5. Nf3 d6 6. Bg5 h6 7. Bd2 O-O 8. e3 a5 9. a3 Bxc3 10. Bxc3 Qe7 11. Be2 e5 12. d5 Nb8 { The game has taken on characteristics of a King's Indian Defence; the typical plan for Black would be to play f7-f5 and launch a kingside assault. Therefore, it would be better to have dropped the knight to d8, and on the following move retreated the f6 knight to free the f-pawn. } 13. O-O Bg4 14. b4 axb4 15. axb4 Rxa1 16. Rxa1 Nbd7 17. Ra7 Rb8 18. Bb2 Nb6 19. e4 Qd7 20. c5 Nc8 21. Rxb7 Rxb7 22. c6 Qd8 23. cxb7 Nb6 24. Nxe5! dxe5 25. Bxe5 Nbd7 26. Bxf6 Nxf6 27. Qa4 Nd7 28. Bxg4 Nb8 29. Qa1? Kf8 30. g3 Ke7 31. Bc8 1-0

[Event "8th EUROPEAN INDIVIDUAL WOMEN"]
[Site "Dresden / Germany"]
[Date "2007.04.06"]
[Round "4.75"]
[White "Brunello, Roberta"]
[Black "Seeber, Sophie"]
[Result "1-0"]
[WhiteElo "1953"]
[ECO "B35"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 g6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nc6 5. Be3 Bg7 6. Nc3 Nf6 7. Bc4 O-O 8. f3 Qb6 9. Qd2 Qxb2 10. Rb1 Qa3 11. Bb3 Qa5 12. O-O Ne8 13. f4 d6 14. Nxc6 bxc6 15. Nd5 Qd8 16. Nb4 Bb7 17. f5 c5 18. Nd5 Nf6 19. Nxf6+ Bxf6 20. fxg6 hxg6 21. Bh6 Bg7 22. Bxf7+ Rxf7 23. Rxf7 Kxf7 24. Rxb7 Bxh6 25. Qxh6 Qg8 26. Qg5 Qf8 27. e5 a5 28. exd6 Re8 29. Qxc5 Qg7 30. Rxe7+ Rxe7 31. dxe7 Qa1+ 32. Kf2 Qf6+ 33. Ke2 Qxe7+ 34. Qxe7+ Kxe7 35. Ke3 1-0