[Event "Women's Candidates"] [Site "Toronto"] [Date "2024.04.14"] [Round "9.4"] [White "Muzychuk, Anna"] [Black "Goryachkina, Aleksandra"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [WhiteElo "2520"] [WhiteTeam "UKR"] [BlackElo "2553"] [BlackTeam "FID"] [Annotator "GM Eugene Perelshteyn"] [Variant "Standard"] [ECO "C67"] [Opening "Ruy Lopez: Berlin Defense, Rio Gambit Accepted"] [Source "https://lichess.org/study/Mez4h4WA/BzsDDMKN"] [Orientation "white"] { Annotations by GM Eugene Perelshteyn } 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. O-O Nxe4 5. Re1 Nd6 6. Nxe5 Be7 7. Bf1 Nxe5 8. Rxe5 O-O 9. d4 Bf6 10. Re1 Re8 11. Nc3 Rxe1 12. Qxe1 Bxd4 13. Bf4 Ne8 14. Nd5 d6 15. Bg5 f6 16. Be3 Be5 17. f4 Bxb2 18. Rb1 Ba3 19. Qa5 { Muzychuk blitzes out 19 moves of theory, which is not uncommon for the 5. Re1 Berlin, which is a super-theoretical line. } 19... Be6! { A great intermezzo from Goryachkina, who was cleary taking her time trying to recall her prep. } 20. Bc4 c6! { Both players are still following the most recent game in the database. } 21. Qxd8 Rxd8 22. Nxf6+ { A new move, but it doesn't change the evaluation. The game is still even with best play. } (22. Ne7+ Kf8 23. Nxc6 bxc6 24. Bxe6 Nc7 25. Bc4 Nd5 { was a quick draw in Gutenev – Lysyj, Chelyabinsk, 2022. }) 22... Kf7 23. Bxe6+ Kxf6 24. Bg8 Bc5 25. Bxc5 dxc5 26. Bxh7 Nd6 { An unusual pawn imbalance, which is not that easy to evaluate. At first it seems like White's bishop and three-versus-one kingside pawn majority should be better. But upon closer examination, it's not clear how White will rescue her bishop after ... g7-g6. } 27. g4 g6 28. Re1 Nf7 29. g5+ Kg7 30. Re7 Rf8 31. Rxb7 { White decides to give up the bishop and seek a draw by eliminating the queenside pawns. } 31... Kxh7 32. Rxa7 Kg8 33. Rc7 Ra8 (33... Nd8! { Black missed her chance of catching Tan atop the standings with this rejoinder. Here, White will struggle fighting for a draw. The engine is quite optimistic for Black here! }) 34. Rxc6 Kg7 35. Rxc5 { Now, the game is heading to a draw. } 35... Nd6 36. Rc7+ Kf8 37. Kf2 Rxa2 38. Kf3 Ra3+ 39. c3 Nb5 40. Rc8+ Kf7 41. Kg4 Rxc3 42. Rxc3 Nxc3 43. f5 Nd5 44. fxg6+ Kxg6 45. h4 { 1/2-1/2 The game is a draw. } 1/2-1/2