IM Aleksandra Maltsevskaya (Poland, 2363) beat IM Alua Nurman (Kazakhstan, 2455) with Black in 42 moves in the last round of the 46th FIDE Chess Olympiad in Samarkand.
Stockfish points to 34.Qc2, played with 3:53 on White's clock: Black clearly better before it (−1.57), winning after it (−2.93). The engine wanted 34.h5; instead it was Black who played 34...h5, the engine's best reply.
Elnaz Kaliakhmet won for Kazakhstan in the same match, which ended 2–2. Kazakhstan finish second in the women's section on 18 match points, by the count of the relayed games.
Replay it, then try 34.h5 against the engine.
- White
- IM Alua Nurman, 2455 · Kazakhstan
- Black
- IM Aleksandra Maltsevskaya, 2363 · Poland
- Result
- 0–1 in 42 moves
- Opening
- Sicilian Defense: Alapin Variation · B22
- Event
- 46th FIDE Chess Olympiad Samarkand 2026, Women, Round 11 · Samarkand, Uzbekistan
- Key move: {0}
- 34.Qc2
- Engine’s choice
- 34.h5