Vera Nebolsina

Infobox chess player
playername = Vera Nebolsina


caption =
birthname = Vera Nebolsina
country = RUS
datebirth = birth date and age|1989|12|16
placebirth = Tomsk, Soviet Union
datedeath =
placedeath =
title = Woman Grandmaster
worldchampion =
womensworldchampion =
rating = 2340 (October 2008)
peakrating = 2350 (July 2008)

Vera Nebolsina (born December 16, 1989, in Tomsk) is a Russian chess player with the title Woman Grandmaster (WGM).

Biography

She was raised near Tomsk in western Siberia, but nowadays her family reside in Novosibirsk. Her mother Tatiana taught the infant Nebolsina the basic moves at the age of four and introduced her to other board games too, such as Draughts and Go. Inspired to develop her chess skills further, she was then coached by her father Valery, himself a master chess player, and by the age of six was playing in formal tournaments. Comfortably forging ahead of her peers, she regularly played in categories above her age group. This had the effect of accelerating her progress and subsequent successes included winning the Russian Girls (under 8) Championship (at 7 years), and the World Youth Championship for Girls (under 10) in Oropesa del Mar 1998 (at 8 years).

By the time she was twelve years old, Nebolsina was playing the Russian Women's 1st league, a very high standard of competition. There followed her most valuable victory to date, when she won the World Junior Championship for Girls (under 20) at Yerevan in 2007 (aged only 17). This result qualified her for the WGM title; previously, she had become a Woman International Master (WIM) in 2004.

Her highest junior ranking was achieved in January 2008, when she was listed by FIDE as number 13 among the world's top 20 girl players. However, FIDE's rating website also gives statistics for her recent games and these reveal a weakness that needs to be addressed if her future progress is not to be impaired. Specifically, her record with the black pieces of +30%, =27%, -42% requires substantial improvement to match that of her closest rivals.

When questioned in interviews, Nebolsina describes herself as a positional player, who can also be a tactician. The game given below ably demonstrates that she is alert to tactical possibilities.

Personal life

For purely ideological reasons, Nebolsina is a vegetarian and this is typical of her disciplined and strong-willed approach to life. She is in her final year at Moscow State University, where she studies English and Chinese. A natural talent for languages also extends to speaking French.

Notable game

Although the following game contains some imperfections, Nebolsina's play shows the importance of piece mobility over pawn moves, of which there are few. Despite spirited defence from her opponent, Nebolsina finds a pleasing queen sacrifice to conclude matters.

V Nebolsina - I Gromova, Russian Team Championship, Sochi 2007, Caro-Kann, Panov-Botvinnik Attack 1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. exd5 cxd5 4. c4 Nf6 5. Nc3 g6 6. cxd5 Nxd5 7. Bb5+ Nc6 8. Nf3 Bg7 9. Qb3 Nxc3 10. bxc3 0-0 11. 0-0 a6 12. Bxc6 bxc6 13. Ba3 Be6 14. Qb4 Bf6 15. Ne5 c5 16. Qxc5 Rc8 17. Nc6 Qc7 18. Nxe7+ Bxe7 19. Qxe7 Qxc3 20. Bc5 Rfe8 21. Qh4 Bd5 22. Be7 Qc6 23. f3 Qb6 24. Rfe1 Rc2 25. Bc5 Qc6 26. Rxe8+ Qxe8 27. Re1 Qc8 28. Qe7 h5 29. Qg5 Bxa2 30. Re5 a5 31. h4 a4 32. Qh6 Bb3 33. Be7 Rc6 34. d5 Ra6 35. Ba3 Ra8 36. Bb2 Qc5+ 37. Kh1 Qf8 38. Qh8+ 1-0 After 38. ... Kxh8, then, 39. Rxh5++ Kg8 40. Rh8 checkmate

References

* [http://www.chess-players.org/eng/news/viewarticle.html?id=394 ACP feature on women's chess]
* [http://interviews.chessdom.com/vera-nebolsina Chessdom Interview]
* [http://www.chessib.com/nebgro7.html The above game with annotations by Boris Schipkov]
* [http://www.olimpbase.org Olimpbase - Olympiads and other Team event information]

External links

* [http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessplayer?pid=50315? Nebolsina's games at Chessgames.com]
*fide|id=4163591|name=Vera Nebolsina