Sunday, July 15, 2018

One Shot

侯逸凡 (Hóu Yìfán) – Nikita Kirillovich Vitiugov
5th Russia–China Junior Match of Friendship; match game 1; time control: 15 minutes plus 10 seconds per move; Belokurikha, July 15, 2018
Spanish Game C95

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. 0-0 Be7 6. Re1 b5 7. Bb3 d6 8. c3 0-0 9. h3 Nb8 10. d4 Nbd7 11. Nbd2 Bb7 12. Bc2 Re8 13. Nf1 Bf8 14. Ng3 g6 15. a4 Bg7 16. Bd3. The first match game went 16. Bg5 h6 17. Bd2 Nb6 18. axb5 axb5 19. Bd3 Rxa1 20. Qxa1 c6 21. b3 Qc7 22. Qc1 Kh7 23. Be3 Bc8 24. Qc2 Bd7 25. Ra1 c5 26. d5 Rb8 27. Nd2 Qb7 28. f4? Nfxd5! with Black getting three Pawns for the Knight with a steam-roller in prospect, 侯逸凡 (Hóu Yìfán) – Vitiugov, 5th Russia–China Junior Match of Friendship, Belokurikha 2018, match game 1 (time control: 15 minutes plus 10 seconds per move).


16. ... exd4! Black sacrifices a Pawn, forcing a drawish endgame. 17. cxd4 c5 18. axb5. Not 18. d5? on account of 18. ... c4 19. Bc2 b4 with Black’s Pawn preponderance on the Queenside. 18. ... axb5 19. Rxa8 Bxa8 20. dxc5 Nxc5 21. Bxb5 Rf8 22. e5 dxe5


23. Qxd8. Here 23. Nxe5! Qd5 24. Bf1⩲ looks a little more promising, but not that much: 24. ... Rd8 25. Qc2 Nb3 26. Bg5 Nd2 27. Qxd2 Qxd2 28. Bxd2 Rxd2 29. Bc4 Bd5 30. b3 Bxc4 31. Nxc4 Rd3 32. Rb1 Nd5 33. Ne2 Bf8 34. g3 g5 35. Kg2 f6 36. Rb2 Nb4 ½ : ½ Alifanov – Koval, World Cup 21 semifinal 3, by e-mail, 2017. 23. ... Rxd8 24. Nxe5 Nd5 25. Bc4 Re8 26. Nf3 (26. f4!?) 26. ... Rxe1+ 27. Nxe1 Nb6 28. b3 Nxc4 29. bxc4 Bb7 30. Be3 Ne6 31. Nc2 f5 32. Bb6 Ba6 33. Na3 Bb2 34. Nb5 Nf4 35. Kf1 Nd3 36. Bc7 Bf6 37. Nd6 Nb2 38. Kg1 Nxc4 39. Nxc4 Bxc4 ½ : ½.

Alone in a crowd. Photo: Anna Nasedkina/Biysky District.

No comments: