ZHAI vs JU – FIDE WOMENS WORLD CHESS CHAMPIONSHIP 2018 ROUND 3

Mo Zhai

This game is from round 3 of the 2018 FIDE Women’s World Chess Championship, fully annotated. It is between Mo Zhai with White against Wenjun Ju with Black.

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

Zhai,Mo (2352) - Ju,Wenjun (2568)

FIDE WCC 2018 Khanty-Mansiysk (3.1), 09.11.2018

1.c4 e5 2.g3 c6 3.Nf3 e4 [3...Qc7 4.Bg2 Nf6 5.0–0 Be7 6.d4 e4 7.Ng5 d5 8.cxd5 cxd5 9.Qb3 h6 10.Nh3 Bxh3 11.Bxh3 0–0 12.Nc3 Rd8 13.Bf4 Qb6 14.Qxb6 axb6 15.Bc7 Re8 16.Bxb6 Nc6 17.Nb5 Ra6 18.Bc7 Leroy,D (2316)-Roos,L (1956)/Metz 2007/CBM 116 ext/1–0 (39)] 

4.Nd4 Qb6 5.Nb3 A20: English Opening: 1...e5

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5...Nf6N [5...d5 6.cxd5 cxd5 7.Bg2 Nf6 8.0–0 Nc6 9.d3 Be6 10.dxe4 dxe4 11.Be3 ½–½ Delaune,R (2405)-Wilder,M (2535)/Saint John 1988/CBM 006] 

6.Bg2 d5 7.cxd5 a5 8.a4 cxd5 9.0–0 White has a cramped position. White's piece can't move: c1 

9...Na6 10.d3 Nc5 11.Nxc5 

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11...Bxc5 [Instead of 11...Qxc5 12.Nc3 Be7 13.Bf4±] 

12.dxe4 dxe4 Black king safety dropped.  

13.Nc3 e3 14.fxe3 Bxe3+ 15.Kh1 Bxc1 16.Rxc1 0–0 17.Nd5 Nxd5 18.Qxd5 Qxb2 

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19.Rxf7 [19.Rb1!? is worthy of consideration 19...Qc2 20.Qd1³] 

19...Rxf7µ 20.Rf1 Bf5 21.Rxf5 Qc1+ 22.Rf1 Qc7 

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23.Qb3 Attacks the backward pawn on b7 

23...Kf8 24.Qa3+ Qe7 25.Rxf7+ Kxf7 26.Bd5+ Kf8 27.Qf3+ Qf6 28.Qa3+ 

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28...Ke8 Black has a mate threat 

29.Kg2 Rc8 30.Qd3 White threatens to win material: Qd3xh7 

30...Qe5 31.Bf3 g6 

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32.h4 [¹32.Bxb7!? Rd8 33.Bc6+ Ke7 34.Qa6µ] 

32...Rc7–+ 33.Qb3 Kf8 34.Qd3 Kg7 35.Qd8 Rf7 36.Qb6 Re7 37.Qd8 Qc5 38.Qb8 Qd4 39.Qc8 Qe5 40.Qd8 Qc5 Twofold repetition 

41.Qb8 Qc7 42.Qa8 h6 43.Bd5 Rxe2+ 44.Kf3 Re7 45.Qg8+ Kf6 46.Qh8+ Rg7 

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47.Qf8+ [47.Be4 Qe5 48.Qxh6 Qh5+ 49.Qxh5 gxh5 50.Bd3–+] 

47...Ke5 48.Ba2 Qc6+ 

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49.Ke2 [49.Kf2 doesn't change anything anymore 49...Qf6+ 50.Qxf6+ Kxf6–+] 

49...Qe4+ 

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50.Kd1 [50.Kf2 the only chance to get some counterplay 50...Qf5+ 51.Qxf5+ gxf5 52.Bb3–+] 

50...Rd7+ 

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[50...Rd7+ 51.Qd6+ Rxd6+ 52.Kc1 Qe1+ 53.Kb2 Rd2+ 54.Kb3 Qxg3+ 55.Kc4 Qxh4+ 56.Kb3 Qb4#]  0–1