Qiyu Zhou has been playing fantastic chess and has a very important game tomorrow to decide her final finish: a win guarantees her the World Youth Chess Championship for U14 girls.
I have annotated her sixth round game against an American, Ashritha Eswaran. - Notes by FM Michael Kleinman
[Event "WYCC U14g"]
[Site "Durban, SA"]
[Date "2014.09.24"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Zhou, Qiyu"]
[Black "Ashritha, Eswaran"]
[Result "1-0"]
[PlyCount "83"]
1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 e6 3. e3 c5 4. Bd3 d5 5. b3 Nc6 6. O-O Bd6 7. Bb2 {Qiyu
chooses a setup that can lead to both a slow positional game, and also one
where an eventual kingside attack can be lauched after putting a Night to e5
and playing moves such as f4.} h6 {This move is hard to understand, there were
more useful moves such as 8... Qc7 or 8... 0-0} 8. Ne5 cxd4 9. exd4 Bd7 {
Already, White has a clear advantage. Black's light square bishop has few
prospects, and all of Whites moves (Nd2, Qe2, c4) come naturally and quickly.}
10. a3 Qe7 11. Nd2 O-O-O {This move should not have been played. White is much
better prepared for a queenside attack than Black is for a kingside attack.}
12. Qe2 g5 13. c4 dxc4 14. bxc4 Be8 15. Nb3 $1 {A very nice move. White is
anticipating 15... Bxe5 16. de5, Nd7 by placing a piece to cover the c5 square.
} Bxe5 16. dxe5 Nd7 17. Qe3 Rg8 {Whatever attack Black tries to surmount will
be fruitless, White has made no weaknesses on the kingside. On the other hand,
Black's king is weak, and white has the two bishops and more space.} 18. Rfd1
g4 19. Be4 Qg5 $4 {A blunder in a bad position.} (19... Ndxe5 20. Bxe5 Nxe5 21.
Qxa7 $18 Nc6 22. Rxd8+ Qxd8 23. Bxc6 Bxc6 24. Nd4 {offered Black slightly
better chances.}) (19... Nb6 {was the correct square for the Knight. White is
still much better here, but not winning yet.}) 20. Bxc6 {The rest is easy.
White is simply up a piece.} Qxe3 21. Bxd7+ Bxd7 22. fxe3 Ba4 23. Rxd8+ Rxd8
24. Nd4 Kc7 25. Bc3 Rd7 26. Rb1 a6 27. Ba5+ Kc8 28. Kf2 h5 29. Kg3 Re7 30. Kh4
Re8 31. Rf1 Rg8 32. Rxf7 g3 33. hxg3 {White is not worried about ghost threats.
} Bd1 34. Nxe6 Rg4+ 35. Kh3 Rxc4 36. Rc7+ Rxc7 37. Nxc7 Kd7 38. Kh4 Ke7 39. Kg5
Be2 40. e6 Bg4 41. Bb4+ Kd8 42. e7+ {A very well played game by Qiyu, and
hopefully she continues to play great chess.} 1-0
I hope you enjoyed this game analysis and I plan on annotating other interesting games in the future. - Michael Kleinman
