[Event "U.S. Girls Chess Championship 2023"] [Site "St Louis"] [Date "2023.07.24"] [Round "8"] [White "Yan, Ruiyang"] [Black "Mangalam, Shreya"] [Result "1-0"] [WhiteElo "2206"] [BlackElo "1972"] [Annotator "Davis Zong Jr"] [Variant "Standard"] [ECO "C77"] [Opening "Ruy Lopez: Morphy Defense, Anderssen Variation"] [Source "https://lichess.org/study/ZBuAQUT7/pbnlAIzC"] [Orientation "white"] { Annotations by Davis Zong Jr } 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. d3 b5 6. Bb3 Be7 7. O-O d6 8. a3 O-O 9. Nc3 Rb8 10. h3 h6 11. Be3 Re8 12. Nd5 Be6 13. c3 Bf8 14. Nd2 Na5 (14... Bxd5 15. exd5 Ne7 { was Black's best option, ensuring that none of her minor pieces become misplaced. } 16. Qf3 Nd7 { f5 is coming and the game is balanced. }) 15. Ba2 Nxd5 16. exd5 $16 Bf5 17. b4 Nb7 18. Qe2 Qd7 19. Ne4 Bh7 20. c4 f5 21. Nc3! { Great maneuvering by Yan. The knight can both pressure b5 and control the e4-square, and the earlier c3-c4 push expands the space advantage. } 21... Be7 22. Bb3 Bf6 23. Rfc1 (23. cxb5! axb5 24. a4 { blasted open the queenside even quicker. Black is in trouble because ... b5xa4 loses an Exchange after Bb3xa4. }) 23... Rf8 24. Bd2 bxc4 25. Bxc4 a5 26. Bb5 Qe7 27. bxa5 Nxa5 28. Rab1 Bg5 (28... Nb7! { This knight needs to join the game, and c5 is a decent square to sit on. } 29. a4 Nc5 30. Be3 $14) 29. Na2 { The knight is galloping from post to post! The next stop is the c6-square. } 29... Bxd2 30. Qxd2 Nb7 31. Nb4 Qf7 32. Nc6 Rbe8 33. Nd4! $18 { A beautiful knight hop. Black loses an Exchange in all lines, and White's bishop and knight coordinate brilliantly for the finishing touch. } 33... Nc5 34. Bxe8 Rxe8 35. Nb3 Nxb3 36. Rxb3 Qxd5 37. Qb4 f4 38. Rxc7 Bxd3 39. Qa4 { 1-0 White wins. } 1-0