The FIDE Women's World Chess Championship runs November 3 - 23, 2018 in Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia. It is a 64-player knock-out tournament to determine the 2018 FIDE Women's World Championship. All the top women, except Yifan, are competing. Format: 2 game matches with rapid playoffs if necessary. The pairings are 1 vs 64, 2 vs 63 etc. With the sixth-lowest rating, MJ got paired against the #6 seed who outrated her by 409 points, but their first game ended in a draw after both players missed chances.
MJ had White in game 2 (below). She got a difficult position out of a Nimzo-Rubinstein, and eventually got tangled up defending against Black's pressure on her weak queenside pawns.
Result: Goryachkina advances 1.5 - 0.5.
[Event "WWCC 2018"]
[Site "Khanty-Mansiysk, RUS"]
[Date "2018.11.04"]
[Round "1.2"]
[White "Ouellet, Maili-Jade"]
[Black "Goryachkina, Aleksandra"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "E56"]
[WhiteElo "2125"]
[BlackElo "2534"]
[Annotator "John Upper"]
[PlyCount "138"]
[EventDate "2018.??.??"]
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. e3 O-O 5. Bd3 d5 6. Nf3 dxc4 7. Bxc4 c5 8. O-O
Nc6 9. a3 {[#]} Ba5 (9... Bxc3 {is an equally popular and viable option.}) 10.
dxc5 $2 {White has tried lots of other moves, though none of them promised a
plus:} (10. Ne2 $5) (10. Qd3) (10. Bd3) 10... Bxc3 $1 {[#] Black hasn't lost a
tempo over 9...Bxc3 since in that line White hadn't (and wouldn't) take on c5;
but now White has three queenside isos to defend. Stockfish and Leela both
rate this as between equal and slightly better for White, but the further you
follows their lines the better for Black they rate it. Between humans, Black
scores 68% and Elo +100 from here.} 11. bxc3 Qxd1 {Goryachkina is a grinder.} (
11... Qa5 {is equally popular.} 12. Bd3 e5 13. Qc2 Rd8 14. Ng5 h6 15. Ne4 Nxe4
16. Bxe4 Qxc5 $15 {0-1 (43) Ubiennykh,E (2307)-Kosteniuk,A (2556) Sochi 2016})
12. Rxd1 Na5 {The first of five times Black will play a N to this square.} 13.
Ba2 (13. Rd4 Nd7 14. a4 Nxc5 15. Ba3 b6 16. Ba2 (16. Bxc5 bxc5 17. Rh4) 16...
Bb7 (16... Ncb3 $5 17. Bxf8 Nxd4 {Only move.} 18. cxd4 {is still a position Black could
hope to play for a win.}) 17. Bxc5 bxc5 18. Rd6 $1 Rfd8 19. Rad1 Nc6 20. Bc4
Kf8 21. Rxd8+ Rxd8 22. Rxd8+ Nxd8 23. Nd2 Ke7 $11 {0-1 (51) Bouget,A (2256)
-Favarel,A (2359) Condom 2015}) 13... Bd7 14. Rd4 Rfc8 15. Bb2 (15. a4 $5 {
is a try to wrong-foot Black, but Black just has to take her time and she'll
come out with a slightly better position} Be8 $1 (15... Rxc5 {is fine too} 16.
Ba3 Rc7 17. Ne5) 16. Ba3 Nd7 $11) 15... Rxc5 16. Rad1 Be8 17. Ne1 Nc6 {[#]} 18.
Rc4 ({trading Rs makes it easier for Black's minors to dominate.} 18. R4d2 $5
$15) 18... Rxc4 19. Bxc4 Na5 $15 20. Ba2 Ba4 21. Rd4 Bb3 $1 {Trades White's
better B or pushes it to a worse line; either way, Black increases control
over c4.} 22. Bxb3 Nxb3 23. Rb4 Na5 24. e4 b6 25. f3 Rc8 26. Kf2 Nc6 27. Rb3
Ne8 28. Ke2 Nd6 29. Nd3 {[#]} f5 $6 {I don't understand this move: there's no
need to try force or allow pawn structure changes when Black dominates the
only area of the board with pawn weaknesses.} ({Slow playing with} 29... f6 {
keeps the advantages (play on the c-file) without opening up anywhere else.})
30. Nf2 (30. exf5 $1 $15 {or on the next moves looks sensible, avoiding
another isolated pawn.}) 30... Kf7 31. a4 Nb7 32. Nd3 {[#]} Rd8 $6 (32... Nca5
33. Rb4 Nc6 {testing} 34. Rb3 (34. Rc4 $2 Nba5 {traps the R} 35. Ne5+ Kf6 $19)
34... fxe4 35. fxe4 Nd6 $17) 33. Bc1 ({Again,} 33. exf5 $1 exf5 {should
simplify White's defence. Surprisingly, Stockfish rates this position as equal
after} 34. c4) 33... fxe4 (33... Rxd3 $2 34. Kxd3 Nc5+ 35. Kc2 {and Black has
just traded two active pieces for two poor ones.}) 34. fxe4 {Now White has
three isos to Black's one, but White's can be attacked more easily than the
one on e6.} Nd6 35. Nf2 e5 36. Rb1 Ke6 37. Be3 Rc8 38. Rd1 (38. Kd3 Rd8 39. Ke2
Na5 $17) 38... Na5 39. Kd3 Ndc4 40. Bc1 Nb3 $19 {Threatening ...Nxc1 then ...
Nb2+ wins the a-pawn. White is too tied up to stop it.} 41. Kc2 (41. Ng4 Rd8+
42. Ke2 (42. Kc2 $2 Na1+ {gets an exchange}) 42... Nxc1+ 43. Rxc1 Rd2+ 44. Kf3
Ra2 $19) 41... Nc5 {[#]A picture of Black making the most of the c-file.} 42.
a5 Nxa5 43. Ba3 Ncb7 44. Rd3 Nc4 45. Bc1 Nc5 46. Rg3 Rc7 47. h4 Nd6 48. Re3 Na4
49. Kb3 b5 50. h5 Nc5+ 51. Ka2 Nc4 52. Rg3 Rf7 53. Rf3 Nd6 54. Be3 Ndxe4 55.
Nxe4 Nxe4 56. Rxf7 Kxf7 {[#]} 57. Bxa7 (57. Kb3 {doesn't help} a6 58. Kb4 h6
59. c4 bxc4 60. Kxc4 Nf6 {with an easy win.}) 57... Nxc3+ 58. Kb3 Nd5 59. Kc2
Nf6 60. h6 gxh6 61. Be3 h5 62. Bc5 Ke6 63. Kd3 Kf5 64. Bf2 Nd5 65. Ke2 e4 66.
Bd4 b4 67. g3 Kg4 68. Be5 b3 69. Kd2 Kf3 0-1
