LAGNO vs JU – GAME 6 FIDE WOMENS WORLD CHESS CHAMPIONSHIP 2018 FINAL

Wenjun Ju

This is game 6 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 (6.6), 23.11.2018

1.Nf3 d5 2.g3 Nf6 3.Bg2 c5 4.0–0 Nc6 5.d4 e6 6.c4 dxc4 7.dxc5 Qxd1 8.Rxd1 Bxc5 9.Nbd2 c3 10.bxc3 0–0 11.Nb3 Be7 E04: Open Catalan: 5 Nf3

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12.c4 [12.Nfd4 Bd7 13.Bg5 (13.Nb5 Rfd8 14.Bf4 e5 15.Be3 Bg4 16.Bxc6 Rxd1+ 17.Rxd1 bxc6 18.Nxa7 Bxe2 19.Re1 Bb5 20.Na5 c5 21.N7c6 Bxc6 22.Nxc6 Bd6 23.Rd1 Ne8 24.Rd2 f6 25.c4 Kf7 26.f4 exf4 27.gxf4 Ke6 Jirka,J (2393)-Petr,M (2416)/Brno 2006/CBM 113 ext/0–1 (55)) 13...Rfc8 14.Rab1 Nd8 15.Na5 Ba4 16.Rd3 e5 17.Nf5 Bf8 18.Rb2 Rab8 19.Nh6+ gxh6 20.Bxf6 Nc6 21.Bxc6 bxc6 22.Rxb8 Rxb8 23.Rd7 a6 24.Bxe5 Re8 25.Bf6 Re6 26.Rd4 Bc2 Aronian,L (2761)-Vaganian,R (2598)/Germany 2006/EXT 2007/½–½ (51)] 

12...Bd7 13.Bb2 Rfd8 

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14.Nfd4 [14.Ne5 Rac8 15.Nxc6 (15.Nd3 Be8 (15...b6 16.c5 Be8 17.cxb6 axb6 18.Rdc1 Nd5 19.Bf3 ½–½ Blagojevic,D (2536)-Savanovic,A (2396)/Budva 2004/CBM 102 ext) 16.Rab1 b6 17.c5 Nd5 18.cxb6 axb6 19.Ne5 Nxe5 20.Bxe5 Nc3 21.Rxd8 Bxd8 22.Rb2 Na4 23.Rd2 Be7 24.Bb7 Rd8 25.Rxd8 Bxd8 26.Nd4 Nc3 27.a3 Be7 28.Nc6 Bxc6 29.Bxc6 Nxe2+ Speelman,J (2601)-Mueller,M (2395)/Germany 1999/GER-chT/½–½ (35)) 15...Bxc6 16.Bxc6 Rxc6 17.Na5 Rcd6 18.Rxd6 Rxd6 19.Be5 Rd7 20.Rb1 b6 21.Nc6 Bc5 22.e3 Ne4 23.Rb2 Nd2 24.Rc2 Nf3+ 25.Kf1 Nxh2+ 26.Ke2 Ng4 27.Bb8 a6 28.a4 Nf6 Zaitsev,A-Barcza,G/Hungary 1969/MCD/½–½ (49)] 

14...Rac8 15.Nb5 

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15...b6 Covers a5+c5 

16.Nd6 Bxd6 17.Rxd6 Be8 18.Rd3 Nb4 19.Rxd8 Rxd8 

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20.Bc3 White threatens to win material: Bc3xb4 

20...a5 Black has a new backward pawn: b6 

21.Nd2 Bc6 

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22.a3 White threatens to win material: a3xb4 

22...Bxg2 23.axb4 axb4 

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24.Bxb4 Opposite coloured bishops appeared.  

24...Bb7 

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25.f3 Secures e4 

25...Ra8 26.Rxa8+ 

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26...Bxa8 A minor pieces endgame occured 

27.Kf2 Nd7 28.Ke3 f6 29.Ne4 Kf7 30.Nd6+ 

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30...Ke7 31.Nc8+ Black is in double check 

31...Kd8 

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32.Nxb6 Decoy: b6.  

32...Nxb6 Black wins a piece 

33.Ba5 Kc7 34.c5 White threatens to win material: c5xb6 

34...Kc6 Black threatens to win material: Kc6xc5 

35.Bxb6 Menacing 

35...Kd7 36.g4 e5 37.f4 exf4+ 38.Kxf4 Ke6 39.h4 White intends g5 

39...g6 40.g5 This push gains space 

40...f5 41.Bc7 Bb7 42.Bd6 An ideal square for the white bishop. 

42...Bc6 43.Kg3 Bb7 44.h5 Decoy: h5 

44...Ba6 [44...gxh5 45.Kh4 Decoy] 

45.hxg6 hxg6 46.Kf3 Bb7+ 47.Ke3 Bc6 48.Kd4 Bb7 49.Kc3 Bc6 50.Kb4 Kd7 51.Ka5 Bd5 ½–½