[Event "Cairns Cup"] [Site "St Louis"] [Date "2023.06.04"] [Round "2.4"] [White "Kosteniuk, Alexandra"] [Black "Dronavalli, Harika"] [Result "1-0"] [WhiteElo "2523"] [WhiteTeam "Switzerland"] [BlackElo "2510"] [BlackTeam "India"] [Annotator "WGM Tatev Abrahamyan"] [Variant "From Position"] [ECO "?"] [Opening "?"] [StudyName "2023 Cairns Cup"] [ChapterName "Kosteniuk, Alexandra - Dronavalli, Harika"] [ChapterURL "https://lichess.org/study/sLZyX0Nq/ATtV2kDm"] [FEN "8/3p2R1/b1k3p1/2p5/2P1p1P1/1r4B1/7P/4K3 w - - 0 42"] [SetUp "1"] [Orientation "white"] { Annotations by WGM Tatev Abrahamyan } 42. Rxg6+ Kb7 43. Rxa6! { An excellent decision by Kosteniuk, putting the onus on her opponent to find the correct defensive technique. } 43... Kxa6 44. g5 d5? { After spending 20 minutes, Black decides to look for active counterplay. } (44... Rb6 { The engine finds defensive resources for Black but none of them look natural or logical. White has two options: either push the pawns or go after the e4-pawn. } 45. h4 (45. Ke2 Kb7 46. Ke3 Kc8 { The king has to run to the kingside to stop the pawns. } 47. Kxe4 Kd8 48. Kf5 Ke8 49. h4 Rb3 50. Be5 Rh3 51. Kg4 Rh1 { Making progress here for White is not so easy. } 52. h5 Kf7 53. g6+ Kg8 54. Bf4 Rg1+ 55. Kf5 Rf1! { Black must keep this bishop pinned. } 56. h6 d6! 57. Kg5 Rg1+ 58. Kf6 Rf1 59. h7+ Kh8 { White cannot make progress as she cannot escape this annoying pin or the checks. }) 45... d5 { This subtlety is impossible to find over the board, as provoking White to play h2-h4 first before giving up this pawn looks ridiculous. } 46. cxd5 (46. h5 Rb1+ 47. Ke2 d4 { allowing this looks very scary for White. The following line is all forced. } 48. h6 d3+ 49. Ke3 Rb2 50. h7 Re2+ 51. Kf4 d2 52. h8=Q d1=Q { White will win the c5-pawn with checks, but I think the game should end in some kind of perpetual. }) 46... Rb1+ 47. Ke2 Rb2+ 48. Ke3 Rb3+ { The idea with this move order is that now the bishop on g3 is no longer defended by a pawn, so White cannot capture the e4-pawn. } 49. Kf4 c4 { Now Black has enough counterplay with the passed pawns. Somehow, giving White an extra tempo to push the pawn and provoke the king to the center with checks was the correct plan for Black! } 50. Be1 { The problem is that White doesn't have a comfortable way of stopping these pawns. } 50... c3 51. Bxc3 Rxc3 52. Kxe4 Rc4+ 53. Kf5 Rxh4 { leads to a draw, as the rook will sacrifice itself for the g-pawn and the king will capture the d-pawn. }) 45. cxd5 Re3+ { After another ten-minute think, Black plays this check. This leads me to believe that she disliked something in her initial calculation. } (45... Rb6 { runs into } 46. d6) (45... c4 { Black can try pushing her own passers } 46. g6 c3 47. Kd1 (47. g7? { allows Black to queen her pawn } 47... Rb1+ 48. Ke2 c2 49. g8=Q c1=Q 50. Qa8+ { Still, White should manage a perpetual here. }) 47... Rb7 48. Be5! { Preventing ... Rb7-g7. We will see something similar in the game. } (48. h4 Kb5 49. h5?? Kc4 { The tables turn as White's king is now in a mating net. }) 48... Rd7 49. Bxc3 Rxd5+ 50. Ke2 Rh5 (50... Rg5 51. g7 { and the h-pawn marches. }) 51. g7 Rxh2+ 52. Kf1! Rh1+ 53. Kg2 $18) 46. Kf2 Rd3 47. g6 Rxd5 48. g7 Rg5 49. Be5 { The bishop, of course, is untouchable. } 49... Kb5 50. Ke3 Kc6 51. h4 Rg4 52. Bf6 Rg6 53. h5 Rg4 54. h6 { 1-0 White wins. } 1-0