Monday, September 8, 2008

The First Move

侯逸凡 (Hóu Yìfán) – Khaled Mona
Women’s World Chess Championship Knockout Tournament; match game 1; Nalchik, August 29, 2008
Spanish Game C60

“The young Chinese player, 侯逸凡 (Hóu Yìfán) scored the first victory in the Women’s World Chess Championship in Nalchik. In an old-style Ruy López, her opponent Mona Khaled from Egypt made some mistakes quite early and resigned at move 25th. In the press conference, 侯逸凡 (Hóu Yìfán) told that she started to feel the better position after the 15-16th moves and tried to play very precisely not to miss the winning chance”, Press Director Péter Rajcsányi wrote in his daily report. 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nge7 4. Nc3 g6 5. d4 exd4 6. Nd5 Bg7 7. Bg5 h6 8. Bf6 Bxf6 9. Nxf6+ Kf8 10. 0-0. 10. Nxd4 can be answered by 10. ... Nf5(!) with fine play for Black. 10. ... Nf5?! Now, this is not as good as before. Probably best is 10. ... a6 11. Ba4 Kg7 12. Nd5 b5 13. Bb3 Nxd5 14. Bxd5 Rb8!? [14. ... Bb7 15. Nxd4 favours White, Sebag – 诸宸 (Zhū Chén), Women’s Grand Prix 2009–2011, 5th stage, Ulaanbaatar 2010] 15. Nxd4 Ne7! with approximate equality (Alexey Sergeevich Dreev’s analysis). 11. Nd5 Ng7 12. Bc4 Ne6 13. Qd2 b6 14. c3 Na5 15. Be2 c6 16. Nf4 dxc3? This is simply disastrous for Black. 16. ... Nxf4 17. Qxf4 Kg7 seems a bit less worse than the text, though with 18. cxd4 White firmly maintains her clear and distinct advantage. 17. Nxe6+ fxe6 18. Qxc3 Kg8 19. Rad1 Qe8 20. Ne5. White’s attack plays itself. 20. ... h5 21. b4 Nb7


22. Rd3 Kh7 23. Rh3. Threatening Ne5xg6 followed by Rh3xh5+. 23. ... Nd8 24. Nxg6 Kxg6 25. Rg3+ 1 : 0.