JU vs LAGNO – GAME 1 FIDE WOMENS WORLD CHESS CHAMPIONSHIP 2018 FINAL

Wenjun Ju

This is game 1 from the Final of the 2018 FIDE Women’s World Chess Championship, fully annotated. It is between Wenjun Ju with White against Kateryna Lagno with Black.

This game features a King’s Indian Defence. To learn more about the King’s Indian Defence, here is the best instruction book I could find on Amazon.

Ju,Wenjun (2568) - Lagno,Kateryna (2556)

FIDE WCC 2018 Khanty-Mansiysk (6.1), 19.11.2018

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.g3 c6 [4...0–0 5.Bg2 Nc6 6.Nf3 d5 7.cxd5 Nxd5 8.0–0 e5 9.Nxe5 Nxc3 10.Nxc6 Nxd1 11.Nxd8 Rxd8 12.Rxd1 Rxd4 13.Be3 Rxd1+ 14.Rxd1 Bf6 15.Bd4 Bxd4 16.Rxd4 1/2–1/2 (41) Mamedyarov,S (2814)-Carlsen,M (2843) Shamkir 2018] 

5.e4 d5 6.cxd5 E61: King's Indian: Early deviations for White, including Smyslov System 

6...cxd5 7.e5 Ne4 8.Nge2 Nc6 9.Bg2 Bg4 10.f3 Nxc3 

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11.Nxc3 [11.bxc3 Bd7 1–0 (64) Rakhmanov,A (2667) -Kozul,Z (2613) Tallinn 2016] 

11...Be6 12.f4 Qb6 13.Bxd5 Rd8 14.Bxe6 fxe6 15.Be3 Qxb2 16.Ne2 

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16...Bh6 17.Bf2 [17.Qb1² Qa3 18.Qb3 (18.Qxb7 Nxe5 19.Qb3 Qxb3=) 18...Qxb3 19.axb3] 

17...g5 18.Rb1 Qa3 19.Qb3 Qa5+ 20.Kf1 gxf4 21.gxf4 Rf8 

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22.Qf3 [But not 22.Qxb7 Qd5µ; 22.Qxe6= remains equal. 22...Bxf4 23.Rxb7] 

22...Qxa2 [Black should play 22...Bxf4!µ White must now prevent ...Nxd4! 23.Kg2 (23.Nxf4 Rxd4) 23...Bd2] 

23.Kg2? 

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[23.Rxb7= Qa6 24.Qh5+ Rf7 25.Rb1] 

23...Qd5 

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[23...Rg8+!µ 24.Kh3 Qc2 25.Qh5+ Rg6 26.Rxb7 Qd3+ 27.Ng3 Bxf4] 

24.Qxd5= Rxd5 25.Rxb7 Bxf4 26.Rc7ƒ White is pushing. 

26...Nd8 27.Rxa7 Rd7 28.Ra8 Rb7 

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29.Rha1 And now Rxd8+! would win. 

29...Bh6 30.R1a2 Kf7 31.Rc2 Kg6 32.Ra3 Kg7 33.Rg3+ 

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33...Kf7 White is slightly better. 

34.Rf3+ Ke8 35.Rh3 Rg8+ 36.Rg3  ½–½