[Event "Women's American Cup"] [Site "St. Louis"] [Date "2025.03.14"] [Round "1"] [White "Yip, Carissa"] [Black "Cervantes Landeiro, Thalia"] [Result "1-0"] [WhiteElo "2408"] [BlackElo "2292"] [Annotator "Luka Budisavljevic"] [Variant "Standard"] [ECO "A00"] [Opening "Van Geet Opening"] [StudyName "2025 American Cup"] [ChapterName "Yip – Cervantes"] [ChapterURL "https://lichess.org/study/BAeuvodV/Bqz3bwR9"] [Orientation "white"] { The first game between IM Carissa Yip and WGM Thalia Cervantes was a true rollercoaster. Carissa showed her aggressive and creative intentions from the first move. } 1. Nc3 c5 2. d4 { Already by move two, the only high-level encounter I found played over the board was in the game between two creative geniuses; GMs Morozevich and Kasparov! This testifies to how original Carissa's approach was, and it shows why she is arguably the most feared player in the field. } 2... cxd4 3. Qxd4 Nc6 4. Qd3 Nf6 5. Bg5 e6 6. e4 { Now, the position resembles an Open Sicilian in which White rushes to castle long and launch a swift attack on Black's king. } 6... Bc5 7. O-O-O! { This offers Black to take the f2-pawn, which would give White more time to develop pieces and utilize the freshly opened f-file. } 7... Qa5 8. Bxf6 gxf6 9. f4 Nb4 10. Qc4 Be3+ 11. Kb1 Bxf4 12. Nf3 { The position is fascinating, as White sacrificed a pawn but managed to permanently damage Black's king safety, giving her a dynamic edge. } 12... Nc6 13. g3 Bh6 14. Nb5 O-O 15. Qe2 d5 16. exd5 exd5 17. Nfd4 a6 18. Nc3 Nxd4 19. Rxd4 Bg7 20. Qf2 f5 { White is opening up the long diagonal and taking over the initiative. Now White is the one who needs to defend, which tends to be unpleasant. } 21. Rxd5 b5 22. Rd3 Be6 { The bishop pair is showing its tremendous strength when the center is open. } 23. Bg2 Bxc3 24. bxc3 Qxa2+ 25. Kc1 Rad8 { Black is winning, as White's king is close to being mated while Black also happens to be up a pawn. Thalia kept finding the next moves and attacked flawlessly. } 26. Qe3 Qa3+ 27. Kd2 Rxd3+ 28. Kxd3 Bc4+ 29. Kd2 Rd8+ 30. Ke1 Qd6 31. Bf3 Rd7 32. Qf4 Qc5 33. Qg5+ Kf8 34. Qh6+ Ke8 35. Bc6 { Black has played a perfect attack until this point. She has a forced mate, and Carissa mentioned in an interview that once she played the move she noticed the mate and was getting ready to resign. However, under severe time trouble, Thalia missed the mate and the game keeps going. } 35... Bd5?? { Now White is actually slightly better, as she get the crucial time to bring back her queen to defense. Additionally, White is now up an exchange, and will be winning as long as she manages to survive the next five to ten moves without conceding significant material losses. } (35... Qe5+ 36. Kf2 Qe2+ 37. Kg1 Qf1#) 36. Bxd7+ Kxd7 37. Qd2! Kc6 38. Rf1 Be6 39. Qd4 { White has completely stabilized, and Black has nothing better than to trade queens and hope to somehow survive the endgame. } 39... Qxd4 40. cxd4 b4 41. Kd2 a5 42. Rf4 Kb5 43. d5 { Now the win is trivial, as White's rook gets active and stops Black from advancing further. An unfortunate loss for Cervantes, who attacked viciously, but blundered when it was time to deliver the lethal hit. } 43... Bxd5 44. Rxf5 Kc4 45. Rf4+ Kc5 46. Kc1 a4 47. c3 bxc3 48. Rxa4 Bc4 49. Kc2 Kd4 50. Rb4 h5 51. h4 Kd5 52. Kxc3 Be2 53. Rf4 Bg4 54. Rxf7 Ke6 55. Rf4 Bh3 56. Kd4 Bf5 57. Rf2 Bh7 58. Rf8 Bf5 59. Rh8 Bg4 60. Rg8 Bd1 61. Ke4 Kf7 62. Rg5 Kf6 63. Kf4 Be2 64. Rc5 Bg4 65. Rc6+ Kg7 66. Kg5 { 1-0 White wins. } 1-0