Wednesday, October 8, 2008

丝绸之路 (Silk Road)

侯逸凡 (Hóu Yìfán) – Tiberiu-Marian Georgescu
47th World Junior Chess Championship; Gaziantep, August 4, 2008
Sicilian Defence B25

1. e4 c5 2. Nc3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nd4 4. Nf3 g6 5. Bc4 Bg7 6. Nxd4 cxd4 7. Qf3 Nh6 8. Ne2 0-0 9. d3 d6. 9. ... Ng4! 10. Bb3 d6 11. 0-0 а5 12. а4 Nе5 13. Qg3 Nd7 14. Qh4 Nc5 15. Bg5 Rе8 is possibly Black’s best defence, Najer – Tiviakov, 37th International Chess Tournament, Groningen 1999.
10. Qg3 Kh8?! 10. ... Ng4 was still worth considering: 11. 0-0 Ne5 12. Bb3 Nd7 (12. ... a5! 13. a4 Nd7 14. f4 Nc5 is a substantial improvement, Borsuk – Azarov, 74th Belarusian Chess Championship, Minsk 2008) 13. f4 Nc5 14. f5 Nxb3 15. cxb3! Qa5 16. Qh4 gxf5? 17. exf5 Qe5 18. Ng3 Bf6 19. Qh5 Bd7 20. Bh6 Rfc8 21. Rae1 Qd5 22. Ne4 Qe5 23. Ng5 Qd5 24. Rf3 Bxf5 25. Rxf5! Qxf5 26. Qxf7+ Kh8 27. Bg7+! 1–0 T. A. Kosintseva – Shumiakina, 54th Russian Women’s Chess Championship, Kazan 2004.
11. h4! f6 12. h5 g5 13. f4. Here 侯逸凡 (Hóu Yìfán) has probably let slip most of her advantage: after 13. Nxd4! f5 14. c3 Qc7 15. Bxg5 fxe4 16. 0-0 White would stand much better.
13. ... Bg4 14. Nxd4 gxf4 15. Bxf4 e5 16. Bxh6 Bxh6 17. Qxg4 Qa5+ 18. c3 exd4 19. 0-0 dxc3 20. bxc3 Qxc3 21. Rab1 b6 22. Rb5 a6 23. Rbf5 b5 24. Bd5 Rae8 25. Qg3 Qd4+ 26. Kh1 Re5 27. Kh2 Bg5?? A huge blunder that allows an elegant conclusion.


28. Qxg5! fxg5 29. Rxf8+ Kg7 30. R1f6! 1–0. Mate is unavoidable.