LAGNO vs FEBRUARY – FIDE WOMENS WORLD CHESS CHAMPIONSHIP 2018 ROUND 1

Jesse Nikki February

This game is from round 1 of the 2018 FIDE Women’s World Chess Championship. It is between Kateryna Lagno with White against Jesse Nikki February with Black.

This game features a Sicilian Defence. To learn more about beating the Sicilian Defence, here is the best instruction book I could find on Amazon.

Lagno,Kateryna (2556) - February,Jesse Nikki (1922)

FIDE WCC 2018 Khanty-Mansiysk (1.2), 04.11.2018

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 g6 4.0–0 Bg7 5.Nc3 Nh6 B31: Sicilian: 2...Nc6 3 Bb5 g6

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6.a4N [6.Bxc6 bxc6 7.d4 (7.d3 0–0 8.Be3 d6 9.h3 f6 10.Qd2 Nf7 11.Rae1 Rb8 12.Qc1 e5 13.Nd2 f5 14.exf5 Bxf5 15.f4 exf4 16.Bxf4 Bd4+ 17.Kh1 Qd7 18.Nde4 Ne5 19.Kh2 Bxe4 20.Rxe4 Qf5 21.Ree1 Qe6 Massoni,M (2024)-Gil,L (1785)/Calvi 2006/CBM 110 ext/½–½ (33)) 7...cxd4 8.Nxd4 0–0 9.Be3 f6 10.h3 Nf7 11.Qe2 e5 12.Nb3 d5 13.exd5 cxd5 14.Rfd1 d4 15.Bc1 Bb7 16.Nc5 Qe7 17.Qb5 Rab8 18.Nxb7 Qxb7 19.Qxb7 Rxb7 20.Ne2 Rd8 Matosi,A-Al Hammadi,F (1949)/Dubai 2004/CBM 101 ext/0–1 (55); 6.d3 0–0 7.h3 Nd4 8.Nxd4 cxd4 9.Ne2 e5 10.c3 dxc3 11.bxc3 f5 12.Bc4+ Kh8 13.f4 b5 14.Bd5 Bb7 15.fxe5 Qb6+ 16.d4 fxe4 17.Bxb7 Qxb7 18.Ng3 d6 19.exd6 Qc6 20.Rxf8+ Rxf8 Ardeshi,M (2339)-Ghorbani,M (2353)/Teheran 2003/CBM 096 ext/½–½ (50)] 

6...0–0 7.Bc4 e6 Covers d5 

8.d3 

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8...f6 Consolidates e5+g5 

9.Be3 b6 Controls c5 

10.h3 Secures g4 

10...Nf7 11.d4 cxd4 12.Nxd4 [Instead of 12.Bxd4 Nxd4 13.Nxd4 Bb7³] 

12...Nxd4 

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13.Bxd4 [Less advisable is 13.Qxd4 f5 14.Qd2 fxe4=] 

13...Bb7 Black has a cramped position 

14.Qe2 d5 15.exd5 exd5 16.Bb3 Kh8 17.Rfe1 Nd6 18.Nxd5 Re8 19.Qd3 Rxe1+ 20.Rxe1 Nf5 21.Bc3 

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21...Qd6?? simply worsens the situation [21...Qf8+-] 

22.Nxf6! Decoy: f6[22.Nxf6 Qxd3 23.cxd3+-]  1–0