Lagno Strikes First in World Women's Championship

In the Women's World Championship final (November 19-23) in Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia, GM Kateryna Lagno of Russia was first to strike in a four-game match against reigning champ GM Ju Wenjun of China. After a first round draw, Lagno won in round two and now just needs one point from the next two games to claim the women's title.

[pgn] [Event "FIDE Women's World Championship"] [Date "2018.11.20"] [White "Lagno, Kateryna"] [Black "Ju, Wenjun"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "E04"] [WhiteElo "2556"] [BlackElo "2568"] [PlyCount "117"] [EventDate "2018.??.??"] [WhiteTeam "Russia"] [BlackTeam "China"] [WhiteTeamCountry "RUS"] [BlackTeamCountry "CHN"] 1. Nf3 Nf6 2. g3 d5 3. Bg2 c5 4. O-O Nc6 5. d4 e6 6. c4 dxc4 7. dxc5 Qxd1 8. Rxd1 Bxc5 9. Nfd2 Na5 10. Na3 Bxa3 11. bxa3 O-O 12. Ne4 e5 13. Bd2 Nxe4 14. Bxe4 Nc6 15. Bc3 Be6 16. Bxc6 bxc6 17. Bxe5 Rfd8 18. Bc3 f6 19. f3 Kf7 20. Kf2 Rxd1 21. Rxd1 Rb8 22. g4 c5 23. h4 h6 24. a4 Ke7 25. a5 Rb7 26. Rg1 Rd7 27. g5 hxg5 28. hxg5 Kf7 29. gxf6 gxf6 30. Rh1 Kg7 31. Rb1 Kf7 32. Rb5 Rc7 33. Rb8 Re7 34. Rh8 Kg6 35. Rf8 Rf7 36. Rg8+ Kh7 37. Rd8 Kg6 38. Rd6 Re7 39. Rc6 Kf7 40. Rxc5 Rd7 41. Rc6 f5 42. Ke3 Re7 43. Kf4 Rd7 44. Rc5 Rd8 45. Rb5 Rd7 46. a6 Kg6 47. Ke5 Re7 48. Rb7 Re8 49. Rxa7 Bf7+ 50. Kd4 Rxe2 51. a4 Re6 52. Kc5 Be8 53. Rg7+ Kh6 54. a7 Ra6 55. Re7 Rc6+ 56. Kb4 Rc8 57. Rb7 Ra8 58. Rb8 Bc6 59. Rb6 1-0[/pgn]