[Event "FIDE Women's Olympiad"] [Site "https://lichess.org/study/cS8lSqW7/4oZqYWBi"] [Date "2022.08.07"] [Round "9"] [White "Krush, Irina"] [Black "Avramidou, Anastasia"] [Result "1-0"] [WhiteElo "2430"] [BlackElo "2274"] [Annotator "Hansen,Carsten"] [Variant "Standard"] [ECO "D30"] [Opening "Queen's Gambit Declined"] [Source "https://lichess.org/study/cS8lSqW7/4oZqYWBi"] [Orientation "white"] { [%evp 0,87,19,9,18,-10,-10,-10,10,7,10,10,9,28,33,35,32,7,9,31,53,38,35,24,44, 15,16,18,-4,-4,73,97,91,91,95,81,77,81,67,28,86,83,81,96,96,93,123,123,108,112, 120,116,116,134,122,115,147,142,176,168,192,196,191,197,194,204,205,208,209, 223,231,245,244,217,254,267,257,288,372,388,584,659,693,940,969,1241,29997, 29998,29999,-30000] } 1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 a6 { This line is extremely popular at the moment. } 4. Bg5!? Be7 5. Bxe7 Qxe7 6. e3 Nf6 7. Nbd2 O-O 8. Rc1 Nc6 { Curiously, this is Black's most commonly played move, but it seems to lead to an advantage for White. Two alternatives are: } (8... Nbd7 9. cxd5 e5 10. Rxc7 exd4 11. Nxd4 Nxd5 12. Rc1 Nxe3 13. Qe2 Nd5 14. Qxe7 Nxe7 { with equal chances as in Mendonca,L (2557)-Basso,P (2550) Paleochora 2021. }) (8... c6 9. Bd3 Nbd7 10. Qc2 b6 11. e4 (11. cxd5!? { definitely improves }) 11... dxe4 12. Nxe4 c5 13. O-O Bb7 14. Rfd1 cxd4 15. Nxd4 Rac8 { and Black had equalized in Elsness,F (2454) -Agdestein,S (2552) Fagernes 2020. }) 9. Bd3 e5?! { The only other game I could find with this line continued } (9... Rd8 10. O-O e5 11. cxd5 Nxd5?! 12. Rxc6! bxc6 13. Nxe5 Bd7 14. Nb3 a5 15. Qc2 { and White was already strategically winning, wlthough Black managed to save the draw later on, Goganov,A (2643)-Rakhmanov,A (2664) Khanty-Mansiysk 2016. }) 10. cxd5 Nxd5 11. Be4 Rd8 12. Rxc6! { Boom! White sacrifices the exchange but gets two pawns for it. } 12... bxc6 13. Nxe5 Bb7 14. Qc2 Nf6 15. Bxc6 Rdb8 16. O-O Qe6 17. Nb3 { White has a clear advantage: Black is essentially without counterplay and can just wait for White to make progress. } 17... Bxc6 18. Nxc6 Rb5 19. Nc1 Qe4 20. Qxe4 Nxe4 21. Nd3 { Th exchange of queens did not change the fact that White is much better. In the next phase of the game, Krush confidently start pushing the pawns forward. } 21... a5 22. Rc1 Kf8 23. f3 Nd6 24. b3 { Good technique: White intends to meet a black ...a5-a4 with b3-b4, sealing off the queenside. } 24... a4 25. b4 a3 26. e4 Rb6 27. d5 { Black is getting strangled... but it gets worse! } 27... Ke8 28. Kf2 Nb7 29. Ke3 Rc8 30. e5 Ra8 31. f4 Rb5 32. Ke4 Kd7 33. g4 g6 34. Rc3 Ra4 35. f5 gxf5+ 36. gxf5 Ra8 37. e6+ Ke8 38. Ke5 Nd6 39. Nc5 f6+!? { A little trick by Black, intending a knight fork on e4 if White captures on f6. Unfortunately for Black, White wins by force after giving up the rook. } 40. Kxf6! Rxc5 41. bxc5 Ne4+ 42. Kg7 Nxc3 43. f6 Nxd5 44. f7# { A fitting end to a beautiful game by Krush. } 1-0