[Event "Women"] [Site "Cyprus"] [Date "2026.03.30"] [Round "2"] [White "Assaubayeva, Bibisara"] [Black "Goryachkina, Aleksandra"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [WhiteElo "2516"] [WhiteTeam "KAZ"] [BlackElo "2534"] [BlackTeam "FID"] [Annotator "IM Robert Shlyakhtenko"] [WhiteClock "0:36:00"] [BlackClock "0:18:09"] [Variant "Standard"] [ECO "D41"] [Opening "Queen's Gambit Declined: Semi-Tarrasch Defense"] [StudyName "2026 Candidates Rounds 1-11"] [ChapterName "Assaubayeva, Bibisara - Goryachkina, Aleksandra"] [ChapterURL "https://lichess.org/study/L5mZq8u7/bDCwkdkm"] [Orientation "white"] { This was just a well-played game. Both sides tried their best to put pressure, but neither went wrong at any point. } 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 c5 5. cxd5 cxd4 6. Qa4+ Bd7 7. Qxd4 exd5 8. Nxd5 Qa5+ 9. Nc3 Nc6 10. Qd1 Ne4 11. Bd2 Nxd2 12. Nxd2 Bb4 13. Rc1 Bxc3 14. Rxc3 Qxa2 15. Nc4 Be6 16. e4 Rd8 17. Nd6+ Kf8 18. Qd2 Qa1+ { At last year's World Cup, Erigaisi played this line as White and won in signature style; that game continued } (18... Qa4 19. f4 Qb4 20. e5 f6? (20... g5! { is a must. }) 21. Bd3 fxe5 22. fxe5 Nxe5? (22... h6! 23. O-O+ Ke7 $16) 23. O-O+ Kg8 24. Bf5 Bf7 25. Rc8 Qb6+ 26. Rf2 Rxc8 27. Bxc8 h5 28. Nxf7 Nxf7 29. Qd5 Kh7 30. Qxf7 { 1-0 Erigaisi,A (2769)-Vokhidov,S (2640) FIDE World Cup Goa 2025 (3.1) }) 19. Rc1 Qa4 { In the predecessor, Black had continued with } (19... Qa5 20. Qxa5 Nxa5 21. e5 { but a couple of careless moves landed him in a lost position: } 21... f6?! 22. f4 fxe5 23. fxe5 Ke7 24. Bb5! Bd7 25. Rc7! Rhf8? (25... Ke6!) 26. b4 Nc6 27. Bxc6 bxc6 28. Ke2 Rb8 29. Ra1 $18 { 1-0 Moiseenko,A (2568)-Citak,S (2308) SRB-chT 1st League CS Novi Pazar 2025 (10.1) }) 20. Be2 f6 21. f4 Ke7 22. e5 Qd4! { A good decision. Black's pieces are active enough and the e5-pawn is weak enough that the endgame poses her few problems. } 23. Qxd4 Nxd4 24. Nxb7 Rc8 25. Nc5 fxe5 26. fxe5 Rc6 27. Kf2 Nxe2 28. Kxe2 Rhc8 29. Nd3 Rc2+ 30. Rxc2 Rxc2+ 31. Ke3 Bc4 { The draw becomes clear now. } 32. g3 Bxd3 33. Kxd3 Rxb2 34. Ra1 Ke6 35. Rxa7 Kxe5 36. Rxg7 Rxh2 37. Ke3 Kf6 38. Ra7 Rh1 39. Kf3 Kg6 40. Ra6+ Kg7 41. Ke4 1/2-1/2