POGONINA vs ZHU – FIDE WOMENS WORLD CHESS CHAMPIONSHIP 2018 ROUND 2

Natalija Pogonina

This game is from round 2 of the 2018 FIDE Women’s World Chess Championship. It is between Natalija Pogonina with White against Jiner Zhu with Black.

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

Pogonina,Natalija (2465) - Zhu,Jiner (2379)

FIDE WCC 2018 Khanty-Mansiysk (2.2), 07.11.2018

1.d4 f5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.Bf4 g6 4.e3 Bg7 5.Bc4 e6 6.0–0 A80: Dutch Defence: Unusual White second moves [6.Nc3 d5 7.Be2 c6 8.Ne5 Nbd7 9.h4 Nxe5 10.Bxe5 h6 11.f3 0–0 12.Qd2 Nh5 13.Bxg7 Kxg7 1–0 (31) Agrest,E (2584)-Barseghyan,H (2467) chess.com INT 2018] 

6...0–0 

XABCDEFGHY
8rsnlwq-trk+(
7zppzpp+-vlp'
6-+-+psnp+&
5+-+-+p+-%
4-+LzP-vL-+$
3+-+-zPN+-#
2PzPP+-zPPzP"
1tRN+Q+RmK-!
xabcdefghy

7.a4N [7.Nbd2 b6 8.c3 Bb7 9.Re1 Nc6 10.h3 Ne4 11.Bd3 d5 12.Rc1 Qe7 13.Bf1 Rac8 14.b4 Nd8 15.Ne5 Nf7 16.Nxf7 Rxf7 17.b5 Nxd2 18.Qxd2 Qd8 19.c4 g5 20.Bg3 1–0 (20) Owens,J (2189)-Jansen,U (2166) ICCF email 2016] 

7...h6 8.a5 White has an edge. 

8...d6 9.h3 Qe7 10.Nc3 Kh7 11.Bh2 a6 12.Qe2 Nbd7 13.Ba2 e5 

XABCDEFGHY
8r+l+-tr-+(
7+pzpnwq-vlk'
6p+-zp-snpzp&
5zP-+-zpp+-%
4-+-zP-+-+$
3+-sN-zPN+P#
2LzPP+QzPPvL"
1tR-+-+RmK-!
xabcdefghy

14.dxe5 [14.Qc4 seems wilder. 14...e4 15.Nd2 Nb8 16.d5 Ne8 17.Nb3] 

14...Nxe5 15.Nxe5 dxe5 16.Rfd1 Bd7 

XABCDEFGHY
8r+-+-tr-+(
7+pzplwq-vlk'
6p+-+-snpzp&
5zP-+-zpp+-%
4-+-+-+-+$
3+-sN-zP-+P#
2LzPP+QzPPvL"
1tR-+R+-mK-!
xabcdefghy

17.Bd5 [17.e4 is more complex. 17...f4 18.f3 Qb4 19.Kh1 Rfd8 20.Bg1] 

17...Bb5 18.Nxb5 Nxd5 19.Na3 Rad8 20.Rd2 e4 21.c3 g5 22.Nc2 

XABCDEFGHY
8-+-tr-tr-+(
7+pzp-wq-vlk'
6p+-+-+-zp&
5zP-+n+pzp-%
4-+-+p+-+$
3+-zP-zP-+P#
2-zPNtRQzPPvL"
1tR-+-+-mK-!
xabcdefghy

22...Be5? [22...Qf7=] 

23.Bxe5+- Qxe5 24.Rad1! Rd6 25.Qc4! Rfd8 26.Qb3 

XABCDEFGHY
8-+-tr-+-+(
7+pzp-+-+k'
6p+-tr-+-zp&
5zP-+nwqpzp-%
4-+-+p+-+$
3+QzP-zP-+P#
2-zPNtR-zPP+"
1+-+R+-mK-!
xabcdefghy

26...b5? [26...R8d7 27.Qxb7 Kg6] 

27.axb6! Rxb6 28.Nb4 c6 

XABCDEFGHY
8-+-tr-+-+(
7+-+-+-+k'
6ptrp+-+-zp&
5+-+nwqpzp-%
4-sN-+p+-+$
3+QzP-zP-+P#
2-zP-tR-zPP+"
1+-+R+-mK-!
xabcdefghy

29.Nxc6! Rxc6 30.Rxd5 Rxd5 31.Rxd5 Endgame KQR-KQR [Not 31.Qxd5 Qxd5 32.Rxd5 Kg6±] 

31...Qe6 32.c4 f4 33.Qb7+ Kg6 34.b3 fxe3 35.fxe3 Rb6 36.Qc7 

XABCDEFGHY
8-+-+-+-+(
7+-wQ-+-+-'
6ptr-+q+kzp&
5+-+R+-zp-%
4-+P+p+-+$
3+P+-zP-+P#
2-+-+-+P+"
1+-+-+-mK-!
xabcdefghy

36...Qf6? [36...Rc6 37.Qg3 Qf6] 

37.Kh2 Re6 38.Qd7 

XABCDEFGHY
8-+-+-+-+(
7+-+Q+-+-'
6p+-+rwqkzp&
5+-+R+-zp-%
4-+P+p+-+$
3+P+-zP-+P#
2-+-+-+PmK"
1+-+-+-+-!
xabcdefghy

38...g4? [38...Re7 39.Qc8 Qe6] 

39.Qc8 Intending Qg8+ and mate. 

39...h5 [¹39...Kf7 40.Rd7+ Re7 41.Rxe7+ Qxe7 42.Qxg4 Qb7 43.Qf4+ Ke7 44.Qxh6 Qxb3 45.Qh7+ Kd8 46.Qh8+ Kc7 47.Qe5+ Kc8 48.Qc5+ Kd8] 

40.Qg8+ Kh6 

XABCDEFGHY
8-+-+-+Q+(
7+-+-+-+-'
6p+-+rwq-mk&
5+-+R+-+p%
4-+P+p+p+$
3+P+-zP-+P#
2-+-+-+PmK"
1+-+-+-+-!
xabcdefghy

41.c5 [¹41.Rxh5+!! Kxh5 42.hxg4+ Kh6 43.g5+! Qxg5 44.Qxe6+ Kg7 45.Qxe4] 

41...Rc6 42.Qe8 g3+ 43.Kxg3 h4+ 44.Kh2 Kg7 45.Qd7+ 1–0