LAGNO vs JU – GAME 2 FIDE WOMENS WORLD CHESS CHAMPIONSHIP 2018 FINAL

Kateryna Lagno

This is game 2 from the Final of the 2018 FIDE Women’s World Chess Championship, fully annotated. It is between Kateryna Lagno with White against Wenjun Ju with Black.

This game features an Open Catalan. To learn more about the Open Catalan, here is the best instruction book I could find on Amazon.

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

FIDE WCC 2018 Khanty-Mansiysk (6.2), 20.11.2018

1.Nf3 Nf6 2.g3 d5 3.Bg2 c5 4.0–0 Nc6 5.d4 e6 6.c4 dxc4 7.dxc5 E04: Open Catalan: 5 Nf3

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7...Qxd1 [7...Qa5 8.Na3 Qxc5 9.Qa4 Be7 10.Qxc4 0–0 11.Qxc5 Bxc5 12.Nc4 Rd8 13.Bg5 h6 14.Bxf6 gxf6 15.Nfd2 Be7 16.Rfd1 Bd7 17.Ne4 Rab8 18.Ncd6 b6 19.Rac1 f5 20.Nc3 a6 21.Rd2 Ne5 22.Rcd1 Markowski,T (2595)-Kempinski,R (2543)/Warsaw 2001/CBM 082/0–1 (77)] 

8.Rxd1 Bxc5 

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9.Nfd2 White threatens to win material: Nd2xc4 [9.Nc3 e5 (9...h6 10.Bf4 Bd7 (10...0–0 11.Rac1 e5 12.Nxe5 Nxe5 13.Bxe5 Bxf2+ 14.Kf1 Be3 15.Bxf6 Bxc1 16.Rxc1 gxf6 17.Nd5 Be6 18.Rxc4 Kg7 19.Rc7 Rab8 20.Nf4 Bxa2 21.Bxb7 a5 22.Nh5+ Kg6 23.Nf4+ Kg7 24.Nh5+ Kg6 25.Nf4+ Jekov,I-Kryzius,K/Bratislava 1993/TD/½–½ (31)) 11.Ne5 Rc8 12.Nxc4 0–0 13.Bd6 Bxd6 14.Nxd6 Rb8 15.e4 b6 16.f4 Rfd8 17.e5 Ng4 18.Bf3 Ne3 19.Rd3 Nc2 20.Rad1 N6b4 21.R3d2 Ne3 22.Re1 Nf5 23.Nxf5 exf5 24.Red1 Wilton,L (2167)-Stephensen,M/Esbjerg 2004/CBM 101 ext/1–0) 10.Bg5 Be6 11.Bxf6 gxf6 12.Rac1 Rd8 13.Rxd8+ Kxd8 14.Nd2 Na5 15.Nd5 b5 16.b3 Ba3 17.Rd1 Kc8 18.Nb1 Bb2 19.Rd2 Ba1 20.b4 Nc6 21.Ndc3 Nxb4 22.a3 Na6 23.Nxb5 Kb8 Geller,E (2540)-Sveshnikov,E (2530)/Riga 1985/URS-ch/0–1 (31)] 

9...Na5 10.Na3 Bxa3 

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11.bxa3 White has the pair of bishops 

11...0–0 12.Ne4 e5 13.Bd2 Nxe4 14.Bxe4 Nc6 15.Bc3 Be6 16.Bxc6 bxc6 

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17.Bxe5 Opposite coloured bishops appeared 

17...Rfd8 

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18.Bc3 Blocks the pawn on c4 

18...f6 Consolidates e5 

19.f3 Covers g4 

19...Kf7 20.Kf2 Rxd1 21.Rxd1 Rb8 22.g4 c5 23.h4 h6 24.a4 Ke7 25.a5 Rb7 

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26.Rg1 White plans g5 

26...Rd7 27.g5 hxg5 28.hxg5 Kf7 29.gxf6 gxf6 30.Rh1 Kg7 31.Rb1 Kf7 32.Rb5 Rc7 33.Rb8 Re7 34.Rh8 Kg6 

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35.Rf8 Attacking the isolated pawn on f6. White threatens to win material: Rf8xf6 

35...Rf7 Black threatens to win material: Rf7xf8 

36.Rg8+ Kh7 37.Rd8 Kg6 38.Rd6 Re7 39.Rc6 Kf7 40.Rxc5 Rd7 41.Rc6 f5 42.Ke3 Re7 43.Kf4 Rd7 44.Rc5 Rd8 45.Rb5 Rd7 46.a6 

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46...Kg6? [46...Re7!?±] 

47.Ke5+- 

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47...Re7? [¹47...Bf7 48.Rb7 Be8+-] 

48.Rb7 Re8 49.Rxa7 Bf7+ 

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50.Kd4 [50.Kf4!? keeps an even firmer grip 50...Rxe2 51.Rc7 Re8+-] 

50...Rxe2 51.a4 Re6 52.Kc5 Be8 53.Rg7+ 

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53...Kh6 [53...Kh5 no good, but what else? 54.a7 Rc6+ 55.Kb4 Rc8+-] 

54.a7 Ra6 55.Re7 Rc6+ 56.Kb4 Rc8 57.Rb7 Ra8 58.Rb8 Bc6 

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59.Rb6 [59.Rb6 Rxa7 60.Rxc6+ Kg5 61.Rxc4 Rb7+ 62.Kc5 Rc7+ 63.Kd5 Rd7+ 64.Ke6+-]  1–0