A Flowering Tree

侯逸凡 (Hóu Yìfán) – Nico Georgiadis
50th International Chess Festival; Biel/Bienne, August 2, 2017
Sicilian Defence B53

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Qxd4 Nc6 5. Bb5 a6. More usual is 5. ... Bd7, which occurred quite often in the praxis of 侯逸凡 (Hóu Yìfán); for instance: 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 Rab8 14. f5 Bd7 15. g4 Rfc8 16. g5 Ng4 17. Rhf1 Qc4 18. Qh3 Ne5 19. Nf3? b5? (19. ... Nd3+!!→) 20. f6 Bf8? (20. ... Ng6 21. fxe7 b4∞) 21. g6! fxg6 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 侯逸凡 (Hóu Yìfán) – Sebag, 1st 杭州 (Hángzhōu) WGM Chess Tournament, 杭州 (Hángzhōu) 2011. 6. Bxc6+ bxc6 7. 0-0 e5 8. Qd3 Nf6 9. Rd1 Qc7 10. Bg5!? Nd7 11. Na3 Nc5 12. Qe2 h6 13. Bd2 a5 14. Nc4 Be7. The immediate 14. ... Ba6! 15. b3 Be7 would have given Black a very comfortable game. 15. Be3

15. ... Ba6? This now allows White to spoil Black’s Pawn formation with an obvious advantage. Correct was 15. ... Ne6 16. Nb6 Rb8 with approximate equality. 16. Bxc5 dxc5 17. Rd2± 0-0 18. Rad1 Rfd8 19. Rxd8+ Rxd8 20. Rxd8+ Bxd8 21. a4 Qb8 22. b3

22. ... Qb4? Black’s cession of the Pawn is tantamount to surrender. Georgiadis had nothing better than “sit-and-wait” with 22. ... Bc7 or 22. ... Bf6 — not a bright outlook. 23. Nfxe5 Bf6 24. Nf3 Bd4 25. Qd3 Kf8 26. Kf1 Bxc4 27. Qxc4 Qxc4+ 28. bxc4 Bb2 29. Nd2 1 : 0.

Thanks to today’s victory, 侯逸凡 (Hóu Yìfán) became the first woman to ever win first prize in the Biel Chess Festival! Photo © Biel Chess Festival.