[Event "US Championships 2025"] [Site "St. Louis"] [Date "2025.10.22"] [Round "9"] [White "Yip, Carissa"] [Black "Atwell, Rose"] [Result "1-0"] [WhiteElo "2452"] [WhiteFideId "-1"] [WhiteFideId "-1"] [BlackElo "2353"] [Annotator "GM Brewington Hardaway"] [GameId "2235935403316144"] [Variant "Standard"] [ECO "C11"] [Opening "French Defense: Classical Variation, Shirov-Anand Variation"] [StudyName "2025 U.S. Championship and Women's Championship"] [ChapterName "Yip, Carissa - Atwell, Rose"] [ChapterURL "https://lichess.org/study/A14BIUWB/FPUvCPjC"] [Orientation "white"] 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. e5 Nfd7 5. Nce2 { Already a less common move, potentially avoiding any prep from Black. } (5. f4 { The main line. }) 5... c5 6. c3 Nc6 7. h4 Be7 8. a3 b5?! { The opening surprise by Yip clearly puzzled Black and led to a quick disaster. } 9. Nf3 b4? { Atwell's plan of ... b7-b5-b4 was swiftly punished by Yip. It would have been better to go for plans with castling along with ... f7-f6, in traditional French style. } 10. axb4 cxd4 11. Nexd4 Ncxe5 12. Nxe5 Nxe5 13. Bf4 { Black does have the two pawns in the center, but it doesn't mean anything as she has no piece coordination while White is extremely active. } 13... Ng6 14. Nc6 Qb6 15. Nxe7! { Th critical idea that may have been missed by Black. } 15... Nxe7 (15... Nxf4 16. Nxc8 Rxc8 17. Qg4 $18) 16. Be3 Qb7 17. Qa4+ Bd7 18. Qa6 Qc7 19. Bc5 $18 { Another strong move, preventing Black from ever castling. This position is hopeless for Black, as the a7-pawn is an easy target and the white pieces control the whole board. } 19... Nc8 20. Be2 f6 21. O-O Kf7 22. Ra5 e5 23. Rfa1 Bc6 24. Be3 Ne7 25. Qd3 e4 26. Qd4 Nf5 27. Qc5 Rhc8 28. Rxa7 Rxa7 29. Rxa7 Bb7 30. Ba6 Nxe3 31. Qxc7+ Rxc7 32. fxe3 { A very simple win for Carissa after Black's early errors pushing the b-pawn. She is now in a tie for first place after a rough start to the event. } 1-0