Thursday, October 21, 2010

Queen of Tomorrow

侯逸凡 (Hóu Yìfán) – 许昱华 (Xǔ Yùhua)
FIDE Women's Grand Prix 2009–11; 5th stage; Ulaanbaatar, August 1, 2010
French Defence C07

1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nd2 c5 4. Ngf3 cxd4 5. exd5 Qxd5 6. Bc4 Qd6 7. 0-0 Nf6 8. Nb3 Nc6 9. Nfxd4 Nxd4 10. Nxd4 a6 11. Re1 Bd7 12. Bg5 0-0-0 13. Re3 Bc6 14. Rd3 Be4 15. Rd2TN (15. Nb5 Qe7 16. Na7+ Kc7 17. Bf4+ e5 18. Be3 Bxd3 19. cxd3 Kb8 20. Rc1 Qd6 21. Bxf7 Be7 22. Qb3 Qb4 23. Qc2 Qd6 24. h3 Nd7 25. Qb3 Qb4 26. Qe6 Qd6 27. Qb3 Qb4 28. Qe6 Qd6 ½ : ½ Shirov – Sutovsky, 10th Karpov International Tournament, Poikovsky 2009)
15. ... Qc7? A catastrophic tactical blunder. ⌓ 15. ... Qb6 16. c3 Bd6 was much better.


16. Nxe6! Rxd2 17. Qxd2 Qd6. Clearly not 17. ... Qxc4?? on account of 18. Qd8# nor 17. ... fxe6 because of 18. Bxe6+ Nd7 (18. ... Kb8 19. Bf4 skewers King and Queen) 19. Rd1 winning material.
18. Nxf8 Qxd2 19. Bxd2 Rxf8 20. f3. White has emerged with an extra Pawn and a powerful Bishop pair, which proved enough for 侯逸凡 (Hóu Yìfán) to secure the win.
20. ... Bg6 21. c3 Rd8 22. Be3 Nd5 23. Bd4 Nf4 24. Re1 b5 25. Bf1 Nd3 26. Re2 Nc1 27. Rd2 Nxa2. Black has finally won back the Pawn, but her Knight ended up being stalemated.


28. Be3 Rxd2 29. Bxd2 Kb7 30. Kf2 Kc6 31. Ke3 a5 32. b4 axb4 33. cxb4 f6 34. Kd4 Bf7 35. Bd3 h5 36. h4 g6 37. g3 g5 38. f4 g4 39. Be4+ Kd6 40. Bc2 Kc6 41. Bd3 1 : 0. Black is in zugzwang.

It took only one mistake to turn a book line into a nightmare. Photo: FIDE Women's Grand Prix 2009–11.