1. e2e4  1... e7e5  2. g1f3  2... b8c6  3. f1c4 Kosteniuk is the first one to change the \"plate.\" 3... f8c5  4. d2d3  4... g8f6  5. b1c3  5... h7h6  6. h2h3  6... d7d6  7. c3a4  7... c5b6  8. a2a3 Quite a topical line. We have recently annotated a topical game from the World Team Championship's semifinals. 8... c8e6  9. c4e6  9... f7e6  10. e1g1  10... e8g8  11. b2b4 This is cutting edge theory nowadays. White delays the capture of the bishop as long as she can, in order to force a concession. 11... d8e8  12. c2c3  12... g8h8 [%c_effect h8;square;h8;type;Interesting;persistent;true] Goryachkina did not come empty-handed for the game and flashed an interesting novelty in return. 13. a1a2 [%c_effect a2;square;a2;type;Interesting;persistent;true] The same idea, in honor of one of the young Uzbeki chess heros. 13... e8f7  14. f1e1  14... a8d8 Just as Nihal did. It looks as that this move is needed. 15. a4b6 The semi-waiting strategy worked. Kosteniuk got what she wanted. 15... a7b6  16. a3a4  16... c6e7 And this is almost exactly the same position as in the game Sindarov-Nihal, with the only difference that Black has her knight on e7 still, instead of the g6-square, and instead made the Kg8-h8 move. 17. a4a5 And White wants to extract the maximum out of the situation and crush the opponent's queenside. 17... d8a8 Goryachkina needs to fix the queenside situation before even thinking about anything else. 18. d1b3  18... b6a5  19. a2a5  19... e7g6  20. d3d4 Perhaps a tad premature. 20... f6d7  21. c1e3  21... b7b6  22. a5a2  22... a8a2  23. b3a2  23... e5d4  24. c3d4  24... d7f6 Goryachkina stabilized the queenside and now the center is on the agenda. 25. a2c2  25... f6h5  26. e1c1 It is tempting to attack the backward pawn at once, but here Black has a way to resolve the central tension. 26... h5f4  27. f3e1  27... d6d5 [%c_effect d5;square;d5;type;GreatFind;persistent;true] Black is trying to fix some squares for her knights in the center. 28. g1h2  28... d5e4 [%c_effect e4;square;e4;type;GreatFind;persistent;true] And now everything is in order for the second player. With an outpost like the d5 one, she may never be worse. In fact, White has to be careful not to end up in a situation with poor bishop versus a good black knight. 29. c2e4  29... f4d5  30. e1d3  30... f7f5  31. e4f5  31... e6f5 [%c_effect f5;square;f5;type;GreatFind;persistent;true] Having improved the pawn structure, Black is already somewhat better. 32. c1c6  32... f8f6  33. c6f6 And this trade too, makes Black's life easier. It seems as Kosteniuk lost the thread here. 33... d5f6  34. e3d2  34... h8g8 Goryachkina's obvious plan is to bring her king to the d5-square. 35. f2f3  35... g8f7  36. d3e5 [%c_effect e5;square;e5;type;Interesting;persistent;true] This trade looks better. Kosteniuk gets a defended passer instead of an isolani. True, the problem of the worse minor piece remains. 36... g6e5  37. d4e5  37... f6d5  38. f3f4 Or else Black will put her pawn there. 38... f7e6  39. h2g3  39... d5e7  40. g3f3  40... e6d5 The time-trouble is over and Kostenuik has a lot of problems to solve. Black's intention is clear: bring the king even further to the d3-spot and then push the c-pawn till the end. This would be ideally done with a nice blockader on e6, therefore, White's next move is practically forced 41. g2g4 And this is White's only play. However after 41... g7g6 Kosteniuk failed to find the best defense and opted for... 42. d2e1 ...which quickly led her to a lost position. 42... e7c6 [%c_effect c6;square;c6;type;GreatFind;persistent;true] Now the knight makes it to the e6-square with tempo.