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Anna Ivanova Dominates Elif Çelik in a Tense Charity Battle – Welcome 2k26 Event, Mersin

The Welcome 2k26 Charity Event in Mersin brought together some strong titled players for a good cause, and one of the standout games was between WGM Anna Ivanova from Russia and WGM Elif Çelik from Turkey. Playing in her home country, Elif had the crowd behind her, but Anna delivered a real masterclass in precision and endgame technique. This was not a wild attacking game full of sacrifices, but a tough strategic fight where small advantages slowly turned into a decisive edge.

The game started as a classical Sicilian Dragon. Anna went for the aggressive Yugoslav Attack setup with 6.Be3, 7.f3, 8.Qd2, and 9.Bc4, ready to castle long and storm the kingside. Elif responded solidly, trading knights early with 9...Nxd4 10.Bxd4 and then offering the bishop pair with 10...Be6 11.Bxe6 fxe6. Doubling the e-pawns is not ideal, but it opened the f-file and gave Black quick development.

Anna castled short and brought rooks to the center. Elif played actively with 12...Qa5, pressuring the knight on c3, and then came the moment everyone noticed: 15...Rxd4. A brilliant rook sacrifice. Black gives up the exchange to eliminate White's strong dark-square bishop and wreck the pawn structure. Anna had to take 16.Rxd4, and Elif followed with 16...Qb6, pinning the rook and forcing more trades.

The position got very sharp. Anna tried to hold the extra material with Qc4, but Elif kept the initiative alive with ...Nd5 and ...Nf4. After some accurate defense, the complications simplified: queens came off, then the remaining pieces, and by move 22, we reached an endgame where Anna had a knight against Black's bishop, but the pawn structure favored White slightly.

From there, Anna played like a textbook. She improved her knight step by step, targeted the weak pawns, and slowly gained space on the queenside. Elif defended resourcefully, activating her rook and pushing kingside pawns for counterplay, but small inaccuracies started to add up. Moves like 36...Rc7 and especially 37...Rb7 allowed Anna to create a dangerous passed pawn chain.

The critical phase came around move 44. Anna sacrificed the knight with 44.Nxd6, blowing open the position and creating two connected passed pawns on the queenside. Elif took the knight, but Anna's 45.c5+ was perfectly timed. After the trades, White had a rook on the sixth rank, an active king, and pawns rolling forward. Black's attempts to hold with the rook behind the pawns just were not enough.

The finish was clean and ruthless. Anna marched the b-pawn up the board while her rook and king cut off any counterplay. By 54...Rd7+ 55.Ka7, Black had no way to stop the promotion. Elif resigned as the b-pawn was ready to queen with devastating effect.

Anna Ivanova showed why she has the WGM title. She absorbed Black's bold exchange sacrifice, stayed calm through the complications, and then converted the endgame with absolute precision. Elif played creatively and had her chances after the rook sac, but in the pawn race, White's structure and activity proved too much.

Great advertisement for women's chess at this charity event. Both players fought hard, and the crowd in Mersin got a real treat with this high-quality strategic battle. If you are following the Welcome 2k26 games, make sure to replay this one. The endgame alone is worth studying. Well played, Anna.