KRUSH vs YU – ROUND 3 US CHAMPIONSHIP - Women 2019

This game is from round 3 of the US Championship Women 2019, fully annotated. It is between Irina Krush with White against Jennifer Yu with Black.

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

Krush,Irina (2451) - Yu,Jennifer (2273)

US-ch Women 2019 Saint Louis (3.1), 22.03.2019

1.c4 c6 2.e4 d5 3.exd5 cxd5 4.d4 Nf6 5.Nc3 Nc6 6.Bg5 Be6 7.a3 Qd7 [7...dxc4? 8.Bxf6 Qa5 9.Be5+-] 

8.Be2 B13: Caro-Kann: Exchange Variation and Panov-Botvinnik Attack [8.Nge2 dxc4 9.Bxf6 exf6 10.d5 0–0–0 11.dxc6 Qxc6 12.Qa4 Qb6 13.Qb5 Qc7 14.Ng3 a6 15.Qa4 Qf4 1–0 (39) Inarkiev,E (2693)-Dreev,A (2670) Moscow 2018] 

8...Rd8 [Of course not 8...dxc4?! 9.Bxf6 gxf6 10.d5±] 

9.Bxf6 exf6 10.c5 The position is equal. 

10...g6 11.Nf3 

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11...h5 [11...Bh6 12.b4 a6 13.0–0 0–0 14.Rb1 Rfe8 15.a4 a5 1–0 (64) Sanchez Rodenas,J (2342)-Fetisov,A (2429) ICCF email 2014] 

12.b4 Bh6 13.b5 Ne7 14.h4 [14.a4±] 

14...Kf8 15.a4 Kg7 16.a5 

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16...Nc8 [16...Bg4=] 

17.b6 a6 18.Na2 Ne7 19.Nb4 Qc8 20.Ra3 Rde8 21.Rc3 Bd7 [21...Bg4=] 

22.0–0² Bc6 [22...Bf4²] 

23.Ne1 Nf5 24.Nxc6 Qxc6 

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25.Nc2! Nxh4 26.Nb4 Qe6 27.Bd3 [White should play 27.Bf3± ] 

27...Bf4 28.c6 [White should try 28.Bb1± ] 

28...Bd6= 29.Rc5 [29.Nc2!= keeps the balance. 29...bxc6 30.Bxa6] 

29...Bxc5‚ White is in trouble. [¹29...f5 White must now prevent ...Qf6. 30.cxb7 Qf6] 

30.dxc5µ bxc6 31.Nxa6 Qe5 Strongly threatening ...Qg5. 

32.Nc7? [32.b7µ might work better.] 

32...Re7!–+ 

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33.Qa4? [33.a6 d4 34.a7 Qxc5 35.a8Q Rxa8 36.Nxa8] 

33...Qg5 Black is clearly winning. 

34.g3 Nf3+ 35.Kg2 Ne1+ 36.Rxe1 Rxe1 37.Qf4 Qg4 38.f3 Qd7 

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39.a6 White hopes to continue with Qd6. 

39...Qe7 40.Qd2 Ra1 [Don't go for 40...Qe3? 41.Qxe3 Rxe3 42.a7+-]  0–1