A Tunnel Too Far

李超 (Lǐ Chāo) – 侯逸凡 (Hóu Yìfán)

1st 海南 (Hǎinán) 儋州 (Dānzhōu) Super Grandmaster Chess Tournament; 儋州 (Dānzhōu), June 12, 2010

Sicilian Defence B82

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 e6 6. f4 Nc6 7. Be3 Be7 8. Qf3 e5. Very surprisingly, 侯逸凡 (Hóu Yìfán) goes down a theoretical cul-de-sac. 9. Nxc6 bxc6 10. f5 Rb8 11. 0-0-0 Qa5 12. Bc4 d5 13. exd5 Ba3. 13. ... Rxb2 14. Kxb2 (14. d6! Rb4! 15. Bb3! may be even stronger) 14. ... Qa3+ 15. Kb1 Qxc3 16. Bb3 cxd5 17. Bg5 is also quite unappealing for Black, Balashov – U. Andersson, 5th International West Germany Championship, Munich 1979. 14. bxa3 Qxc3 15. Bxa7! Qb2+ 16. Kd2 cxd5. Not 16. ... Rb7 on account of 17. Rb1! trapping Her Majesty. 17. Bxb8 Qxb8 18. Bxd5. White is winning easily. 18. ... 0-0 19. Kc1 Bd7!? Here is 侯逸凡 (Hóu Yìfán)’s uninfluential novelty. The première went with 19. ... Ba6 20. Rhe1 Qc7 21. Bb3 h6 22. Kb2 e4 23. Qg3 Qa5 24. Rd6 Kh7 25. Qc3 Qb5 26. a4 Qb7 27. Qc6 1 : 0 Timman – Liberzon, 22nd Chess Olympiad, Haifa 1976. 20. Rhe1 Qc7 21. Bb3 e4 22. Rxe4! White gives back the Exchange for coming out with three Pawns to the good. 22. ... Nxe4 23. Qxe4 Bc6 24. Qc4 Qb6 25. g4 h6 26. Rd6 Qe3+ 27. Kb2 Bf3 28. Qd4 Qg5

29. Rg6! 1 : 0.

侯逸凡 (Hóu Yìfán) has ultimately lost the battle of the sexes held at the 新天地花园酒店 (Xīntiāndì Garden Hotel) in 儋州 (Dānzhōu), China. Photo: 樊璐璐 (Fán Lùlù).

Last Supper

• Kantathi Suphamongkhon, Burkle Fellow Dr. Kantathi Suphamongkhon: On An Icelandic Dinner with Bobby Fischer, The Nation, January 27, 2008

Burkle Fellow Dr. Kantathi Suphamongkhon: On An Icelandic Dinner with Bobby Fischer

Dr. Kantathi Suphamongkhon, The Nation, January 27, 2008

It was January 2, 2007 in Reykjavík, Iceland and I was visiting my Icelandic friend Mr. Thorsteinn Thorgeirsson.
There had been a change in government in Thailand and I was no longer Foreign Minister but I was then the President of Thailand’s Chess Association. Thorsteinn said to me that Bobby Fischer was in town and he would try to invite him to dinner. I agreed, even though it was well known that Bobby Fischer did not like to socialize.
Bobby Fischer accepted the invitation and arrived with his partner Miyoko Watai. He said that he came because he had goggled my name and found interesting information. He wanted to meet me.
He expressed his well known views on the United States and the Jewish community. He then impressed me with his knowledge about Thailand and the political situation there. He said that throughout the years, he would spend much time everyday listening to the BBC World Service.
On chess, he said that it was no longer a strategy game. Instead of coming up with original moves, players would only use strategies memorized from books. That was the reason he introduced what he called “Fischer Random”, which required pieces to be placed on the board randomly at the beginning of the game, so players cannot revert to old strategies from memory.
After returning to Thailand, Bobby Fischer began to email me. He had kind words for me, saying that “it was truly a great pleasure and honor” to meet me. He also said, “I’m glad to see that there are still some people in the heart of things who are full of good will!”.
He asked me about the “red rain phenomenon that fell over Kerala, India in 2001”, saying that I should check it out via Google. In his later email, he expressed concerned about news reports that Israel may have been planning a “Nuclear strike on Iran’s nuclear facilities”. He mentioned that one of the reasons why he was “so unpopular” to certain people was because he had “a long memory”.
In one of the last emails to me, he discussed the closing of the new airport in Thailand. He then asked me whether I had a Siamese cat. He said that Siamese cats were very different from western cats and that he remembered them from an old Walt Disney movie. He concluded that Siamese cats were “very aristocratic!”.
That was the side of Bobby Fischer that I got to know. It was a human side showing a man with deep interest in world affairs and with a sense of humor.

(Dr. Kantathi Suphamongkhon is the 39th Minister of Foreign Affairs of Thailand. He is presently the University of California Regents’ Professor at UCLA. He is also a Senior Fellow at the Burkle Center for International Relations in Los Angeles).

A Shining Star

侯逸凡 (Hóu Yìfán) – 王晓晖 (Wáng Xiǎohuī)
6th “雅戈尔杯” “Youngor Cup” Chinese Chess League; 宁波 (Níngbō), April 17, 2010
Modern Defence B96

1. e4 d6 2. d4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. Be3 c6 5. Qd2 Nd7 6. Nf3 Qa5 7. Bd3 Ngf6 8. Bh6 0-0 9. 0-0-0. 9. h4 Bxh6 10. Qxh6 Ng4 11. Qg5 Qxg5 12. hxg5 f6 13. gxf6 Ndxf6 14. Nd2 e5 15. Ne2 exd4 16. Nxd4 d5 17. exd5 Re8+ 18. Kf1 Nxd5 ½ : ½ 侯逸凡 (Hóu Yìfán) – Svidler, 3rd NH Chess Tournament “Rising Stars vs. Experience”, Amsterdam 2009. 9. ... e5 10. Bxg7 Kxg7

11. g4!? A straightforward Pawn sacrifice for the initiative. 11. ... Nxg4 12. Rhg1 Ndf6 13. h3 exd4 (13. ... Nh6 14. Rg5⩲↑) 14. Nxd4 Qb4? Here is evidently the cause of all Black’s trouble. The correct 14. ... Nh6 15. f3!? leaves White with enough compensation for the Pawn, but probably no more than that. 15. hxg4 Qxd4 16. f3 h6 17. Ne2 Qc5 18. g5 Nh7. This loses quickly, but 18. ... hxg5 19. Rxg5 followed by the doubling of the Rooks on the g-file would not hold out much longer. 19. gxh6+ Kh8 20. Nf4 g5 21. Nh5 Qe5 22. f4! gxf4 23. Qg2 Rd8

24. Qg7+! Qxg7 25. hxg7+ Kg8 26. e5! f5 27. exf6 Be6 28. f7+! Bxf7 29. Bxh7+ Kxh7 30. Nf6+ Kh6 31. Rd2! Bg6 32. Rdg2 Kxg7 33. Rxg6+ Kf7 34. Ne4 Ke7 35. Re1 d5 36. Nd6+ Kd7 37. Nxb7 Rg8 38. Nc5+ Kc7 39. Ne6+ 1 : 0.

Tea with the Queen

12th Women’s World Chess Champion Alexandra Konstantinovna Kosteniuk chats with Woman Grandmaster Jennifer Shahade — Chess Life, December 2008, pp. 26-27.

Allonsanfàn

Elisabeth Pähtz – 侯逸凡 (Hóu Yìfán)
5th North Urals Cup; Krasnoturinsk, July 25, 2007
French Defence C13

Notes by International Master Ilya Beniaminovich Odesskiy, ruchess.ru, July 28, 2007.

1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Bg5 Be7 5. e5 Nfd7 6. h4 Nc6 7. Rh3 h6 8. Bxe7 Qxe7 9. Qd2 Nb6 10. Rg3 Rg8 11. Nf3 a6 12. Nd1 Qf8 13. a4 a5 14. Nc3 Bd7 15. Nb5 0-0-0 16. b3 f6 17. 0-0-0 fxe5 18. dxe5 Kb8 19. Kb1 Nb4 20. Rg4 Be8 21. Bd3 Qe7 22. Bg6 Bxg6 23. Rxg6

Black is to move, and I do not pretend to point out which move is the strongest. It’s just my opinion.
It seems to me that in searching for a move it is worth relying on the “worst-piece principle”. This principle is described in the writings of Mark Izrailovich Dvoretsky. In short, when you don’t know what to do, improve your worst piece. Such is the theory of “small deeds”.
In this position, the Knight on b6 is highly eligible to be Black’s worst piece. Hence, 23. ... Nd7 suggests itself, and then, according to circumstances, either ... Nd7-c5-e4 heading (after ... c7-c6) to the c3-square or ... Rg8-f8 threatening — whether jokingly or seriously, who knows — an Exchage sacrifice: ... Rf8xf3 and then ... Nd7xe5. Black’s compensation promises to be chic, although White, of course, will not clap her hands over her ears either.
Within this logic, Black could also play 23. ... Qf7 — in case she deemed the Queen to be her worst piece — but after 24. h5 Qf5 [RR 24. ... d4!] 25. Nfd4! Qxe5 26. g4! Rge8 27. f4 Qe4 28. Re1 Her Majesty is in captivity. And so let her stay at e7 for now. In short, my vote is for 23. ... Nd7. But the Chinese girl chose:
23. ... c5? Tigran Vartanovich Petrosian would not pat her on the head for that. Surrender the d6-square with a Knight on b5? This is not good. But perhaps 侯逸凡 (Hóu Yìfán) thought, without going into strategic subtleties, to solve her position in one fell swoop. That is, to sacrifice a Knight on a4 or c4 and get a breakthrough somewhere. Maybe...
By the way, the Knight could have been sacrificed at once: 23. ... Nc4 24. bxc4 dxc4. But the idea doesn’t work on account of 25. Rxg7!.
24. Qf4 Nd7. It turns out that 侯逸凡 (Hóu Yìfán)’s wishes are quite simple. The girl really want nothing more than to win the Exchange. Oh, how bad it is! She will win the Exchange, but will irrevocably ruin her position.
25. Qg4 Nf8 26. Rxh6 Qf7 27. Rh5 g6 28. Rg5 Nh7

29. Nd6! Qg7. Better 29. ... Rxd6 30. exd6 Nxg5 31. hxg5 [RR 31. Qxg5!], although the position is already rotten to the core. 侯逸凡 (Hóu Yìfán) decided to indulge her whim to the very end.
30. Qxe6 Nxg5 31. Nxg5 Qc7. While commentating online, I regarded this move as a mistake and suggested 31. ... d4 instead. But now I see a simple refutation: 32. Ngf7 Rdf8 33. Qe7 and there is no economic way to hold b7.
23. ... c5 is when all the horror began. But this movie is not played back.
32. c3 Nc6 33. Qxd5. It’s inconvenient to say it, but one usually resigns in such positions. Instead, the game went on. Pähtz was not entirely accurate and delayed the coup de grâce.
33. ... Ne7 34. Qc4 Qc6 35. Ne6 Rd7 36. Nxc5 Rc7 37. Ne6 Qxc4 38. Nxc4 Rc6 39. Rd6 Re8 40. Nxa5 Rxc3 41. Kb2 Rcc8 42. Rb6 Nd5 43. Rxb7+ Ka8 44. Rb5 Nc3 45. Rc5 Nd1+ 46. Kc2 Rxc5+ 47. Nxc5 Rxe5 48. Kxd1 Rxc5 49. Nc4. After massive simplification, the position in the diagram was reached:

A ‘deader’ position is not going to happen. Yet Black defended it for more than 30 moves! Then, however, she just had to give it up.
49. ... Kb7 50. Ke2 Kc6 51. f4 Kd5 52. Kf3 Rc7 53. Kg4 Rb7 54. Ne5 Rxb3 55. Nxg6 Ke6 56. Ne5 Ra3 57. h5 Kf6 58. Nd7+ Kg7 59. Nb6 Kh6 60. Kh4 Rb3 61. a5 Rb5 62. g4 Rxa5 63. g5+ Kh7 64. Kg4 Ra1 65. Nd5 Rh1 66. Nf6+ Kh8 67. Nd7 [RR 67. Kf5 Rf1 68. g6 Kg7 69. Ng4+−]
67. ... Rd1 68. Ne5 Kh7 69. Kf5 Ra1 70. Nf7 Ra5+ 71. Ke6 Kg7 72. h6+ Kg6 73. Ne5+ Kh7 74. f5 Ra6+ 75. Ke7 Ra5 76. Kd6 Ra6+ 77. Nc6 Ra8 78. Ne7 Ra1 79. Ke6 Re1+ 80. Kf7 Rg1 81. g6+ Kxh6 82. f6 Rg2 83. g7 1 : 0.