Saturday, July 23, 2011

Say Anything...

侯逸凡 (Hóu Yìfán) – 余泱漪 (Yú Yāngyī)
42nd Chinese Chess Championship; 兴化 (Xīnghuà), April 4, 2011
Sicilian Defence B30

Comments in quotation marks by Grandmaster Jan Timman, New In Chess, 6/2011, pp. 100–101.

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Bb5 g6 5. h3 Bg7 6. e5 Ng8 7. Bxc6 dxc6 8. d3 Nh6 9. g4. “This is what 侯逸凡 (Hóu Yìfán) had played earlier against Vallejo in Wijk aan Zee 2009. White keeps the Knight away from f5 and is going to castle Queenside — ingredients for a sharp battle”.


9. ... 0-0.Vallejo played 9. ... f5, after which 侯逸凡 (Hóu Yìfán) secured an advantage with 10. exf6 exf6 11. Qe2+ Kf7 12. Be3, and ended up winning in style.”.
10. Qe2 f6 11. Be3. If, instead, 11. Bf4 then 11. ... Nf7 12. 0-0-0 fxe5 13. Bg3 Be6 14. Nxe5 Bd5 15. Nxf7 Rxf7 16. Nxd5 cxd5 17. Be5 Bxe5 18. Qxe5 ½ : ½ Karpov – Chiburdanidze, International Tournament, Bilbao 1987.
11. ... Nf7 12. 0-0-0. “The circumstances being different, White does not swap on f6. She sacrifices the e-Pawn, confifent that White will have sufficient compensation”.
12. ... fxe5 13. Nd2 b6 14. h4 h6 15. Nde4 Be6 16. Rdg1 a5 17. Kb1 a4 18. a3 Ra7 19. Qd2 Kh8 20. f3. “A position has arisen in which neither player seems to have much chance of undertaking anything. But precisely at this point the fireworks start”.
20. ... c4. “This advance indicates that Black wants to open the d-file”.


21. Ng5!?Judit would probably not have been able to resist the temptation of this Knight sacrifice either. Objectively speaking, taking on c4 would have been sligthly better”.
21. ... hxg5 22. Qh2. 22. hxg5+ Kg8 23. Qh2 Nh8 transposes into the game.
22. ... Kg8 23. hxg5


23. ... Nh8! “The best defence. Black locks his Knight into the corner, and the g-Pawn is now solidly protected”.
24. Qh7+ Kf7. A heartbreaking situation: White must keep high the rhythm of her initiative, or otherwise Black will easily take advantage of his extra piece.
25. f4. “Again the sharpest continuation”.
25. ... cxd3. “And the best reply. Both Kings are exposed now”.
26. f5 dxc2+ 27. Kc1


27. ... Bc4! “余泱漪 (Yú Yāngyī) playes excellently here. With the text he takes control of the crucial f1-square”.
28. Rh2 Rg8. “It would have taken a superhuman effort to find the move that yields Black an advantage here. 28. ... Bb3! was a strong move. With hindsight, you can see the reasoning behind this computer find. With one of the White Rooks gone from the back rank, White’s King is in greater danger, and if Black manages to direct a major piece to d1, there is a potential mate threat. A sample variation would be 29. f6 exf6 30. gxf6 Rd7! 31. Qxg7+ Ke6 and Black wins. The text, by the way, is the beginning of a safe route to the draw”.


29. f6! “The Pawn that, nine moves ago, took a cautious step forward, has made great progress”.
29. ... exf6 30. gxf6 Ke8. “The point of the previous moves. The Black King is reasonably safe, and the position is dynamically balanced”.
The tactical pointe of 侯逸凡 (Hóu Yìfán)’s 29th move was 30. ... Kxf6?? 31. Bg5+! Kxg5 32. Qh4+ Kf4 33. Qf2+ Kg5 34. Ne4#.
31. Rd2 Qxf6 32. Ne4 Qe6 33. Nd6+ Kf8. “In time-trouble, it becomes incredibly difficult to handle the position perfectly. Stronger was 33. ... Ke7, and after 34. Qh4+ Bf6 35. Qh7+ the game might have ended in a draw”.
34. Nxc4 Nf7


35. Bxb6. “Obvious but not good, even though it will win White the game. 35. Nxb6 e4 36. Nxa4 would have yielded White a large, probably winning advantage”.
35. ... Qxc4


“After this move 余泱漪 (Yú Yāngyī) exceeded his time-limit. After 36. Rxc2 the position would have reverted to a dynamic balance. But White couldn’t capture the Rook, since Black would win after 36. Bxa7 Bh6 37. g5 Rg7!”.

侯逸凡 (Hóu Yìfán) (right) vs. 余泱漪 (Yú Yāngyī) (left). Photo: qipai.org.cn.

Monday, July 18, 2011

High Note

侯逸凡 (Hóu Yìfán) – Marie Rachel Sebag
1st 杭州 (Hángzhōu) WGM Chess Tournament; 杭州 (Hángzhōu), July 15, 2011
Sicilian Defence B53

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Qxd4 Nc6 5. Bb5 Bd7 6. Bxc6 Bxc6 7. Nc3 Nf6 8. Bg5 e6 9. Qd3 Be7 10. Nd4 Qa5 11. Bd2 Qc7 12. 0-0-0 0-0 13. f4 Rab8TN (13. ... Rfc8)
14. f5 Bd7 15. g4 Rfc8 [15. ... Nxg4 16. Qg3 (16. Rhg1!?) 16. ... Nf6 17. Bh6 g6□ (17. ... Ne8 18. e5! dxe5 19. Bxg7 Nxg7 20. Rhg1 Bf6 21. Ne4+−) 18. Bxf8 Rxf8 19. fxe6 fxe6 20. Rhf1⩲ (Goran Arsović)]
16. g5 Ng4 17. Rhf1⩲ Qc4 18. Qh3


18. ... Ne5 (18. ... Qxd4 19. Qxg4 exf5 20. Qf4 Qc4∞)
19. Nf3? (19. Bf4)


19. ... b5? Luckily for 侯逸凡 (Hóu Yìfán), Sebag misses 19. ... Nd3+!! 20. Kb1 (20. cxd3 Qxa2−+) 20. ... Nxb2! 21. Kxb2 Qb4+! 22. Ka1 Rxc3! 23. f6 Qa3! 24. Bxc3 Qxc3+ 25. Kb1 Rc8 with vehement attack.
20. f6 Bf8? (20. ... Ng6 21. fxe7 b4)


21. g6!! fxg6 (21. ... Nxg6 22. Ng5 h6 23. fxg7 Bxg7 24. Nxf7+−)
22. Nxe5 dxe5 23. f7+ Kh8 24. Rf3 h6 25. Bxh6! gxh6 26. Qg4 g5 27. Qh5 Kg7 28. Rh3 Kf6 29. Rxd7 b4


30. Qxh6+! Bxh6 31. Rxh6+ Kg7 32. f8=Q+ 1 : 0. As mate follows, Black resigned.

A vigorous game by 侯逸凡 (Hóu Yìfán). Photo: 聂峰 (Niè Fēng).