Helpless

侯逸凡 (Hóu Yìfán) – Elena Sedina

Women’s World Chess Championship Knockout Tournament; match game 1; Nalchik, September 4, 2008

French Defence C10

1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 dxe4 4. Nxe4 Nd7 5. Nf3 Ngf6 6. Nxf6+ Nxf6 7. Bd3 c5 8. 0-0 cxd4 9. Nxd4 Be7 10. b3 0-0 11. Bb2 a6 12. Re1 Qc7 13. Qf3 Re8 14. Qh3!?TN (15. Rad1 Bd7 16. Qh3 g6 17. Nf3 Bb5 ½–½ Kovalev – Itkis, Alushta 1997)
14. ... e5 15. Nf5 Bxf5 16. Qxf5 Bd6 17. g3 Rad8 18. Rad1 Qe7 19. Re2 g6 20. Qg5 Kg7 21. Qh4 h6 22. f4 Nd7?? In her hurry to exchange Queens and simplify things, Sedina commits a gross blunder. Correct was 22. ... Qc7 23. Rf1 Bc5+ 24. Kg2 Qc6+ 25. Rf3 Bd4 with rough equality.
23. Qxe7 Rxe7 24. Be4 Nf8 25. Kg2 f6 26. fxe5 fxe5 27. Red2 Red7

28. Rxd6! 1–0.

Sedina glances around the room as if she’s searching for help. Photo: Russian Chess Federation.