[Event "ch-USA Playoff w 2022"] [Site "Saint Louis USA"] [Date "2022.10.21"] [Round "1.1"] [White "Yu, Jennifer"] [Black "Krush, Irina"] [Result "1-0"] [WhiteElo "2297"] [BlackElo "2432"] [Annotator "Solon,Nate"] [Variant "Standard"] [ECO "A56"] [Opening "Benoni Defense: Czech Benoni Defense"] [Source "https://lichess.org/study/dfRDZs7P/XCE1bfY3"] [Orientation "white"] { [%evp 0,91,19,34,29,0,37,57,45,44,46,22,34,36,41,61,48,56,66,58,60,52,67,40, 33,11,20,26,15,11,27,1,7,-7,-9,9,0,-9,1,-5,6,-1,-32,-32,0,-32,-5,-20,0,-25,24, 24,74,46,48,28,-6,-88,-61,-74,210,-61,-66,-66,-51,-54,-20,-38,-58,-81,49,39,35, 16,41,24,64,63,73,69,648,718,758,1055,1165,1174,29983,1165,1174,1174,29983, 29984,29999,-30000] } 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 c5 3. d5 e5 { Krush got a good position after surprising Yu with the Benoni in their classical game, so she goes back to it, but with a different twist this time. The Czech Benoni, which starts with ...e7-e5, leads to a closed, maneuvering game. } 4. Nc3 d6 { White has many setups. The fianchetto is unusual, but by no means bad. } 5. g3 g6 6. Bg2 Bg7 7. e4 O-O 8. Nge2 Nbd7 9. O-O Ne8 10. h3 f5 11. f4 { White wants to prevent Black from playing ...f5-f4 herself at some point. } 11... Nc7 12. Be3 exf4 13. Bxf4 Ne5 14. b3 Bd7 15. Qd2 b5 { Black's opening has been a success. Objectively the position is still equal, but it's hard for White to defend her extended pawns in a rapid game. } 16. exf5 gxf5 17. cxb5 Nxb5 18. Rae1 Qf6 19. Nd1 a5 20. a4 Nd4 21. Nxd4 cxd4 22. Nf2 Rfb8 23. Nd3 Re8 24. Rc1 Rab8 25. Rc7 Bc8 26. Nc1? { Going in the wrong direction. White is holding all the trumps and could keep playing aggressively. } (26. Rfc1 Ba6 27. Nxe5 dxe5 28. R1c6! $18) 26... Rb4 27. Re1 Qd8 28. Rc2 Ba6 29. Kh2 Qb6? 30. Qf2? { Both players missed a winning shot here. } (30. Rc6! { The pin on the e-file makes this shot possible. Black can't defend all the pieces on the sixth rank. }) 30... d3 31. Be3 Qb7 32. Rd2 Qd7 33. Bf4 Rbb8 34. Bxe5 Bxe5 35. Nxd3 Bxd3 36. Rxd3 Kh8 37. Rf3 Rg8 38. Rxe5! { A nice exchange sacrifice to take over the initiative. } 38... dxe5 39. Rxf5 Rxb3? (39... Qg7 { and White has no obvious way forward. }) 40. Rf7 Qd6 41. Be4! { From here the bishop dominates the board. } 41... Rg7 42. Rf8+ Rg8 43. Rf7 Rg7 44. Rf8+ Rg8 45. Qf7! { After repeating once, Yu finds a killer blow. Black can't defend against all the mate threats. } 45... Qxf8 (45... Rb2+ 46. Kh1 { and there are no more checks because the bishop covers the b1-square. }) 46. Qxh7# { 1-0 White wins. } 1-0