[Event "U.S. Women's Championship"] [Site "chess24.com"] [Date "2023.10.06"] [Round "2.3"] [White "Yip, Carissa"] [Black "Yu, Jennifer"] [Result "1-0"] [WhiteElo "2372"] [WhiteTeam "United States"] [BlackElo "2294"] [BlackTeam "United States"] [Annotator "percy"] [Variant "Standard"] [ECO "B12"] [Opening "Caro-Kann Defense: Advance Variation, Short Variation"] [Source "https://lichess.org/study/Q3zMf6GZ/D9jiOYTA"] [Orientation "white"] 1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. e5 Bf5 4. Nf3 e6 5. Be2 Ne7 6. O-O h6 7. Nbd2 Nd7 8. Nb3 g5 9. Ne1 Bg7?! { An inaccuracy; now, White gets f2-f4 in. The main line instead is ... Qd8-c7, preparing to meet f2-f4 with ... c6-c5. } (9... Qc7 10. f4 c5) 10. f4 gxf4 (10... c5 11. Nxc5 { Now, c5 is just a pawn. }) 11. Nd3 Ng6 12. Nxf4 Nxf4 13. Bxf4 Qe7 14. Qd2 { Already it is difficult for Black to play with the weakened kingside structure. There are not many good plans: ... c6-c5 and breaking in the center is ill-advised, as White is trying to open up the position for her more active pieces. Black's best bet was to just castle and try to generate some play on the kingside after securing the king, but even then White has a strong attack coming. } 14... Nf8? { Though it looks natural, it draws Black's knight from its key square on d7. If the knight relocates to g6, then the center weakens drastically. White's main idea of c2-c4 is typically dealt with by replacing the pawn on d5 with a knight. But with one pair of knights off the board, and the other on its way to the kingside, this is no longer possible. } (14... O-O-O 15. Na5 { With the intention of c2-c4 and b2-b4 followed by b4-b5 and blasting open the position. }) 15. c4 dxc4? { A final mistake, expecting Be2xc4. But White has a better plan to relocate some pieces. } 16. Na5! { Now the knight will find its way to d6. } 16... O-O-O (16... b5 { doesn't work due to } 17. Bf3 { and all of Black's queenside pawns are falling. }) (16... Ng6 { may have been the best defense, but this requires Black to be okay with sacrificing a queen. } 17. Nxc4 Nxf4 18. Nd6+ Qxd6 19. exd6 Nxe2+ 20. Qxe2 Bxd4+ 21. Kh1 O-O-O { Surprisingly, Black is not doing as terribly as one expects here; the bishop on d4 is hard to dislodge, and therefore the two bishops can provide some compensation here. This may have been more of a fight, practically, than the game. }) 17. Nxc4 Kb8 18. Nd6 Ng6 (18... Bg6 19. b4) 19. Bg3 { Now, White has two threats; taking on f5 with a promise of some sort of discovered check with e5-e6, as well as Be2-d3, with the intent of getting rid of the annoying f5 bishop while leaving the exceptional knight untouched. } 19... Ka8 20. Bd3 Rxd6 (20... Bxd3 21. Rxf7 { The point! Black's queen is trapped. }) (20... h5 21. Bxf5 exf5 22. Nxf5 { Black doesn't want to let this happen either. }) 21. exd6 Bxd4+ 22. Kh1 Qf6 23. Bxf5 exf5 24. Rad1 { Now play is simple enough: Black is forced into an endgame, and with our material advantage, this will be decisive. } 24... c5 25. Bf2 Qxd6 26. Bxd4 cxd4 27. Qxd4 Qxd4 28. Rxd4 f4 29. Rfd1 Kb8 30. Rd8+ Rxd8 31. Rxd8+ Kc7 32. Rd5 Ne7 33. Rh5 Kd6 34. Rxh6+ Ke5 35. Rh5+ Nf5 36. Kg1 Ke4 37. Rh3 Nd6 38. Rc3 a5 39. a4 Kd4 40. Rc7 Kd5 41. Kf2 b6 42. Kf3 Nc4 43. Rxc4 { 1-0 White wins. } 1-0