[Event "American Cup Group B"] [Site "St Louis"] [Date "2023.03.22"] [White "Krush, Irina"] [Black "Tokhirjonova, Gulrukhbegim"] [Result "1-0"] [WhiteElo "2432"] [BlackElo "2332"] [Annotator "Sethuraman, Sandeep"] [Variant "From Position"] [ECO "?"] [Opening "?"] [StudyName "American Cup"] [ChapterName "Krush, Irina - Tokhirjonova, Gulrukhbegim"] [FEN "6k1/5pp1/7p/4p3/2Bqn3/1P5P/1P2QPP1/6K1 w - - 0 35"] [SetUp "1"] [Source "https://lichess.org/study/DZGTvv5d/7F7WdObD"] [Orientation "white"] { [%evp 0,33,80,19,114,114,146,126,139,155,178,180,170,178,220,221,224,140,232, 209,209,223,291,266,294,306,512,533,516,516,1141,1159,1209,1252,29985,29988] } 35. b4 { Krush has built up an extra pawn and has the better minor piece, but Black maintains drawing chances since White's pawns are doubled and the knight is centralized. } 35... Nd2 36. b3! { The only move to keep an advantage, but it's fairly obvious for a player of Krush's caliber. } 36... e4? { The knight on d2 is out of play now, and tricks with ...Qd4-a1-e5 never work. } 37. Qe3 { White consolidates. } 37... Qa1+ 38. Kh2 Qe5+ 39. Qg3 Qf6 { Of course a Queen trade is no bueno for black. } 40. b5 g5? { This pawn push just weakens Black's monarch, but the position was already damaged beyond repair. } 41. Qe3 Qe5+ 42. Qg3 Qf6 43. Qe3 Qe5+ 44. g3! { After repeating once, Krush correctly decides that she should play on. } 44... Nf3+ 45. Kg2 Kg7 46. b6 { The pawn cannot be stopped. } 46... f5 { A desperate attempt to conjure any sort of counterplay. } 47. b7 Qa1 48. Bf1 { Krush is too strong for this, but it's never too late to blunder mate in one. } (48. b8=Q?? Qg1# { would be quite unfortunate. }) 48... Qe5 49. Qa7 Ne1+ 50. Kh1 Qd5 51. b8=Q+ { and the rest is trivial. } 1-0