Far and Near

侯逸凡 (Hóu Yìfán) – Subbaraman Vijayalakshmi
11th Asian Women’s Chess Championship; Beirut, December 2004
Spanish Game C96

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. 0-0 Be7 6. Re1 b5 7. Bb3 d6 8. a4 Rb8 9. c3 0-0 10. h3 Na5. If 10. ... Nd7 then 11. d4 Bf6 12. d5 Ne7 13. Na3!⩲ Karpov – Arbakov, Vladimir 1966. 11. Bc2 c5 12. d4 Nd7 13. Nbd2 cxd4 14. cxd4 Nc6 15. axb5. A pseudo-novelty. After 15. Nb3 Bf6 16. axb5 axb5 17. d5 Nb4 18. Bb1 Nc5 19. Na5 Bd7 20. Qd2 Nba6 21. b4 Na4 22. Bd3 Ra8 23. Ba3 Qb6 24. Rec1 Rfc8 Black managed somehow to hold his own until the very end, Pioch – Manasterski, 30th Polish Chess Championship, Gdynia 1973. 15. ... axb5 16. d5 Nb4 17. Bb1 Nc5 18. Nb3 Nba6 19. Be3 Qc7 20. Nxc5 dxc5 21. Bd3 Nb4 22. Bf1 Bd7 23. Qd2 Bd6 24. Rec1 Ra8 25. Kh1 Rxa1. 25. ... Na2 followed by ... c5-c4 also seems good for Black. 26. Rxa1 f6 27. Qc3 Rc8 28. Nd2 Qb7? (28. ... f5! 29. f3 c4=) 29. Nb3 Qc7 30. Ra5 f5? (30. ... c4 31. Ra7 Qd8 32. Na5±) 31. Bxb5 c4 32. Bxd7 (32. Ra7+−) 32. ... Qxd7 33. Nc5 Bxc5 34. Rxc5 Rxc5 35. Bxc5 Nd3 36. Qxc4 Nxb2 37. Qb3 Na4 38. Qb8+ Kf7 39. Qf8+ Kg6 40. exf5+ Kh5 (40. ... Qxf5 41. Qe8++−)

41. Be7. White goes for mate! 41. ... Qc7 (41. ... Kh6 42. f6+−) 42. Qf7+ Kh6 43. Bg5+ 1 : 0.