[Event "Cairns Cup"] [Site "St Louis"] [Date "2023.06.10"] [Round "7"] [White "Khotenashvili, Bella"] [Black "Paehtz, Elisabeth"] [Result "1-0"] [WhiteElo "2470"] [WhiteTeam "Georgia"] [BlackElo "2477"] [BlackTeam "Germany"] [Annotator "WGM Begim Tokhirjonova"] [Variant "Standard"] [ECO "D30"] [Opening "Queen's Gambit Declined"] [StudyName "2023 Cairns Cup"] [ChapterName "Khotenashvili, Bella - Paehtz, Elisabeth"] [ChapterURL "https://lichess.org/study/sLZyX0Nq/v4OWI7LX"] [Orientation "white"] { Annotations by WGM Begim Tokhirjonova } 1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 a6 4. cxd5 exd5 5. Qb3 Nf6 6. Nc3 c6 7. e4 { Another interesting example about taking pawns. Elisabeth decided not to take the central e4-pawn but instead develop her pieces and let the white pawn take a strong position on e5. As we saw in the previous game, fighting for the center and central pawns is crucial. Again, always consider taking pawns, especially central ones. The game continued } 7... Be7 (7... Nxe4 { Even though we cannot blame black for not taking on e4 because they have to be precise. } 8. Nxe4 Qe7 (8... dxe4? 9. Ng5 Qe7 10. Bc4 Qb4+ 11. Bd2 $16) 9. Ng5 (9. Bg5 f6 10. Bf4 Qxe4+ $13) 9... f6 10. Qe3 fxg5) 8. e5 Nfd7 9. Bd3 { It was a back-and-forth, exciting game where White managed to win in the end. } 9... Nf8 10. h4 h6 11. Be3 Ne6 12. Rc1 a5 13. a3 Na6 14. Ne2 Kf8 15. Bb1 h5 16. Qd1 g6 17. Qd2 Nac7 18. Ng3 Kg7 19. Ng5 Nxg5 20. hxg5 h4 21. Nf1 Be6 22. f4 Qd7 23. Bf2 h3 24. g3 b6 25. Nh2 Bf5 26. Bxf5 Qxf5 27. Qc2 c5 28. Qxf5 gxf5 29. dxc5 Bxc5 30. Bxc5 bxc5 31. Rxc5 Ne6 32. Rc2 Rhc8 33. Kd1 Nd4 34. Rxc8 Rxc8 35. Nf1 Nb3 36. Rxh3 Rc1+ 37. Ke2 d4 38. g4 Rc2+ 39. Ke1 Rc1+ 40. Ke2 Rc2+ 41. Kf3 Rc1 42. Ng3 d3 43. Nh5+ Kg6 44. gxf5+ Kxf5 45. Ng3+ Ke6 46. Rh6+ Ke7 47. Nf5+ Ke8 48. e6 fxe6 49. Rxe6+ Kf7 50. Rd6 Rf1+ 51. Kg3 d2 52. g6+ Ke8 53. Ne3 Re1 54. Kf2 Rh1 55. Kg2 Re1 56. g7 Kf7 57. Rd7+ Kg8 58. Nf5 Re2+ 59. Kf3 { 1-0 White wins. } 1-0