Line to Tomorrow

Irina Borisivna Krush – Alice Teresa Lee

2nd American Cup — Women’s Champions Bracket; match game 1; Saint Louis, March 21, 2023

Caro-Kann Defence B10

1. c4 c6 2. e4 d5 3. exd5 cxd5 4. cxd5 Nf6 5. Nc3 g6 6. Bc4 Bg7 7. Nge2 0-0 8. 0-0 Nbd7. 8. ... Na6 is perhaps sounder, and if 9. d4 then, by transposition, 9. ... Nc7 10. Nf4 b6 11. a4 Bb7 12. Qb3 Rb8 13. Be3 a6!? (Conquest – D. I. Bronstein, 6th NatWest Young GMs, London 1989) when, as Anatoly Yevgenyevich Karpov and Mikhail Yakovlevich Podgaets wrote in their book “Caro-Kann Defence: Panov Attack”, Batsford, London, 2006, p. 81, “the Queen on b3, faced with the imminent break ... b6-b5, is starting to feel uncomfortable”.
9. d3 a6 10. a4 b6 11. h3. Here 11. Nf4 Bb7 12. Re1⩲ seems to offer better chances for White, Șubă – Andrés González, 22nd Open, Collado Villalba 2005.
11. ... Bb7 12. d4

12. ... b5! A beautiful Pawn sacrifice that yelds Black plenty of compensation.
13. axb5 Nb6 14. Bd3 axb5 15. Rxa8 Qxa8 16. Bxb5 Nfxd5 17. Nxd5 Bxd5 18. Nf4 Bb7 19. Re1 e6 20. Bf1 Rd8

21. Qb3. White finally returns her plus Pawn, thus resigning herself to a draw.
21. ... Bxd4 22. Be3 Bxe3 23. Qxe3 Nd5 24. Nxd5 Rxd5 25. b4 Bc6 26. g3 Rd7 27. b5 Bb7 28. Qe5

28. ... Qa3! With the deadly threat of ... Qa3-f3.
29. Qb8+ Kg7 30. Qe5+ Kg8 31. Qb8+ Kg7 32. Qe5+ Kg8 ½ : ½.

Lee concentrating before the big clash with Krush. Photo © Lennart Ootes/Saint Louis Chess Club.