[Event "WCh Women 2025"] [Site "Shanghai Chongqing CHN"] [Date "2025.04.09"] [Round "5"] [White "Ju, Wenjun"] [Black "Tan, Zhongyi"] [Result "*"] [Annotator "Monokroussos,Dennis"] [ECO "B42"] [WhiteElo "2561"] [BlackElo "2555"] [PlyCount "117"] [GameId "2164643306091953"] [EventDate "2025.04.03"] [SourceVersionDate "2025.01.05"] 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 a6 5. Bd3 Bc5 6. Nb3 Ba7 (6... Be7) 7. O-O (7. Qe2) (7. Qg4) 7... Ne7 (7... Nc6) 8. c4 Nbc6 9. Nc3 Ne5 (9... O-O {is far more common, though ...Ne5 has been played here and in this line in general.}) 10. c5 $146 (10. Be2 $142 $14) (10. Qe2 $142 $146 {?}) 10... N7g6 $6 {It's an awful lot of knight moves by Black, and with f4 and then f5 as a real possibility it's likely that the knights are going to keep hopping.} (10... b6 $11) 11. Be2 b5 $6 (11... b6) 12. f4 Nc4 $6 {Another poor move, and now White has several moves that maintain what is now a winning advantage.} (12... Nc6 13. Be3 {This is miserable for Black unless she can play} d6 {, but now} 14. f5 Nge5 {followed by the outstanding} 15. Qe1 $1 {keeps a large, probably winning advantage for White. Since Black varied with 12...Nc4 it's hard to know how much the players saw of this line and of what follows, but it seems to me the critical try after Black's 11th move.} O-O (15... dxc5 16. Qg3 $1 c4 (16... Qe7 17. Na5 $1 (17. Qxg7 {is more human, and good enough:} Qf8 18. Qxf8+ Kxf8 19. Bxc5+ Kg7 20. Rad1 $18) 17... c4 18. Bxa7 Qxa7+ 19. Kh1 $18) 17. Bxa7 Rxa7 18. Qxg7 Rf8 19. Rad1 $1 Qb6+ 20. Kh1 $1 cxb3 21. fxe6 Bxe6 22. Nd5 Qc5 (22... Bxd5 23. exd5 $18 {lets White regain the piece, when there's nothing to talk about given Black's hopelessly weak king.}) 23. axb3 $18 {Although White has just one pawn for the piece, Black's terrible king along with threats like Nf6+ followed by Nxh7 give her a clearly winning advantage.}) 16. Qg3 f6 17. Rad1 Bb8 18. Kh1 $1 Nc4 $1 19. Bh6 Ra7 20. fxe6 Nxb2 21. Rd2 Nc4 22. Bxc4 bxc4 23. cxd6 $1 cxb3 (23... Bxe6 24. Nc5 Bc8 25. Bf4 $18) 24. e7 Rxe7 (24... Nxe7 $4 25. Qxg7#) 25. dxe7 Qxe7 26. Bf4 Bxf4 27. Qxf4 bxa2 28. Rxa2 $18) 13. a4 $18 {This is one of them.} (13. Qd4 $18) (13. f5 Nge5 14. a4 $18) 13... b4 14. Bxc4 bxc3 15. bxc3 $2 $16 {/+- White remains better after this, of course - how could she not be? But this does give away a significant chunk of the advantage.} (15. Qd4 $1 {Black has no space, terrible development (and not much of it), and an unsafe king to boot. What's not to like? Of course, much of that is still true after the move in the game, so what's the big deal? The answer is that after Black's best move in the game -} O-O {- White has a resource that she wouldn't have had in the game.} 16. f5 $18 {. Now Black can't play ...Ne5, and the (sensible) alternative retreats are all disgusting and met by 17.f6.}) 15... Bb7 $2 $18 (15... O-O $8) 16. Qe2 $2 $16 (16. Qd4 $18 {gets White back on track. Again, the critical point is that after} O-O {White plays} 17. f5 {without having to worry about ...Ne5, the only move that would give Black a whiff of hope (and activity).}) 16... O-O 17. Bd3 $2 (17. e5 $16) 17... f5 $2 {Preventing f4-f5 for the foreseeable future. That's understandable and desirable, but Black had a better way, allowing the push under favorable circumstances.} (17... Qc7 $1 18. Be3 e5 $1 19. f5 Nf4 20. Bxf4 exf4 21. f6 Bxc5+ 22. Nxc5 Qxc5+ 23. Kh1 Qe5 24. fxg7 Rfe8 25. Qg4 Bxe4 26. Bxe4 Qxe4 27. Rxf4 Qe1+ (27... Qe6 $11 {is also equal; Black doesn't have to "show off".}) 28. Rf1 Qe6 $11) 18. exf5 exf5 19. Be3 $16 {/+-} Qc7 $6 (19... Re8) 20. Bxa6 $18 {Black has no compensation for the two pawns, and it only gets worse from here.} Rfe8 21. Bxb7 Qxb7 22. Qc4+ Kh8 23. Bd4 Re6 24. h3 $6 (24. g3 {was better, keeping Black's knight restrained.}) 24... Rae8 (24... h6) (24... Nh4) 25. Rf2 Bb8 26. Raf1 Nxf4 $6 {Desperation, but it's not as if Black had any good options.} 27. Rxf4 Bxf4 28. Rxf4 {Good enough, but} (28. c6 $1 {was even better, keeping Black's queen out of the action.}) 28... Re1+ 29. Rf1 Rxf1+ 30. Kxf1 Qe4 31. Kg1 $8 Qb1+ 32. Kh2 Re1 (32... Rg8 33. Qf7 f4 34. Nd2 Qe1 35. Qxf4 $18) (32... f4 33. Qf7 Rg8 34. Nd2 $18 {is the same.}) 33. Qd5 $1 {One of two moves that preserves a (winning) advantage.} (33. Bf2 $1 {also works. After} Rh1+ 34. Kg3 {Black's attack is at a standstill.}) 33... h6 $1 34. Nd2 $1 Rh1+ 35. Kg3 Qe1+ 36. Bf2 $1 Qe2 (36... f4+ 37. Kf3 $18) 37. Qd4 (37. Qd6) 37... Rd1 38. Be3 Kh7 39. a5 (39. Qf4) 39... Re1 40. Bf2 Rd1 41. Be3 Re1 42. Nc4 Ra1 43. Nd6 Ra2 44. Bf2 Qe6 (44... Qc2) 45. Qf4 Kg6 46. Kh2 $1 {Good for the king, but also for the queen; she now gains access to g3.} Qf6 47. Nc4 Kh7 48. Bd4 Qe6 49. Nd6 Qg6 50. Qf3 f4 51. a6 $1 {It's a pity to jettison the passed pawn, but the disappearance of Black's f-pawn brings Black's chances for counterplay, and to save the game, to an end.} Rxa6 52. Qxf4 Ra2 53. Qf3 Qe6 54. Nf5 g5 {This saves the g-pawn but weakens a bunch of squares around the king, especially f6 and h8.} 55. Ne3 $1 {Immediately exploiting Black's last move, threatening both Nd5 and Qh8.} d6 {A clever move, aimed at bringing the rook back into the defense.} (55... Kg8 56. Ng4 Ra4 57. Qf5 Qxf5 58. Nxh6+ Kh7 59. Nxf5 Ra8 60. Kg3 Kg6 61. Ne7+ {just loses more slowly; Black has no genuine opportunity to save this endgame.}) 56. c6 Ra8 57. Nd5 Rc8 58. Qd3+ Kg8 (58... Qg6 59. Qxg6+ Kxg6 60. Ne7+ $18) 59. Ne7+ $1 {A nice finish, even if there was a faster mate.} (59. Ne7+ $1 Qxe7 60. Qg6+ Kf8 61. Qf5+ $18) *