Wednesday, December 29, 2010

The Way Through Doors


侯逸凡 (Hóu Yìfán): “I will play the final as any other round”.

— Can you please tell about the match with Humpy Koneru?
— In the first game we entered the ending which was almost equal. Later Koneru played not very good and in the Bishop ending I won a Pawn and the position became almost won. In the second game we came to the Sicilian defence. I sacrificed two Pawns, maybe there was some compensation, but I am not sure if it was enough or not. I had a pair of Bishops, so maybe it was a compensation for me. There was also danger for her king...

— What was your goal before the championship? Did you think only about first place before the tournament?
— No, no... I just wanted to try my best and play good every game. Nobody put any goal.

— Who is helping you here? Do you have a coach?
— Our team has some coaches so they help all of us and me, too. This time we have coaches that help all of my team. I have no personal coach during this event.

— What is your mood before the final?
— I have just normal mood, I will play the final as any other round.

— I can see your mother in the playing hall... She always takes photos of you. Does she work for any newspaper or publish those pictures anywhere?
— No (smiles), my mother takes pictures for the home archive only.

— What is your next tournament after the World Championship?
— Maybe Gibraltar. I think so, but not for sure. Maybe I will go there.

— There are 2 Chinese players in the final and also your compatriots played very good during the event. How can you explain such a great result? Did you have any special preparation?
— We are all happy about this result, my team mates and me too. Before the Championship we had the Asian Games and another tournament. And there was some special training for our team before those events. But for the World Championship we were preparing ourselves and there was no much time to prepare exactly for it.

— How much do you train every day?
— 4-5 hours per day, except for the weekends when I train less.

— Is there any attention from the Chinese government? What do they think about your results?
— Our Leader is following our games and results, and the government is happy with our success.

Born for Chess

Monday, December 13, 2010

Sunday, December 12: Youth Tournament

[ IV Torneo Giovanile di Scacchi Classici / Scacchi Fischerandom ]
[ Torneo Giovanile di Scacchi Classici / Scacchi Fischerandom ]

Photos: Mado Flynn

Wolf Girl

Tatiana Anatolyevna Kosintseva – 侯逸凡 (Hóu Yìfán)
FIDE Women’s Grand Prix 2009–11; 3rd stage; Nalchik, April 26, 2010
French Defence C18

1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. e5 c5 5. a3 Bxc3+ 6. bxc3 Qc7 7. Qg4 Ne7 8. Qxg7 Rg8 9. Qxh7 cxd4 10. Ne2 Nbc6 11. f4 dxc3 12. Nxc3 Nxe5?! A very dubious adventure instead of 12. ... a6! 13. Qd3 Bd7 — which is the “tabiya” of the variation.
13. Nb5 Qb8


14. Be2! Much stronger than 14. fxe5?! Qxe5+ 15. Kd1 a6= Guimard – Frydman, Buenos Aires Circulo Tournament, Buenos Aires 1941.
14. ... N5g6 15. 0-0 Bd7 16. Rb1. Even more convincing is 16. Bd3! a6 17. Bxg6 Rxg6 18. f5! Nxf5 19. Bf4 Qd8 20. Nc7+ Kf8 21. Nxa8 Qxa8 22. Bd6+ Nxd6 23. Qxg6 1 : 0 Kokarev – Turutin, 14th Master Open, Voronezh 2010.
16. ... a6 17. Nd4 Qc7 18. Bd2 0-0-0 19. Rb3 Nc6 20. Rc3 Rdf8 21. Be3 Qa5 22. Rd3 Qd8 23. Nxc6 Bxc6 24. Bc5 Nh4


25. Rg3?! The Rook does not stand too well here as it is subject to the attack of the Black Knight. Better was 25. Rf2 so as to meet 25. ... Rh8 by 26. Qg7 Nf5 27. Qe5 with the better game.
25. ... Rh8 26. Qd3 Nf5 27. Bxf8 Nxg3 28. Qxg3 Qxf8 29. Qc3 Rg8 30. Bf3 Qd6 31. Qb4 Kc7. Black could also exchange Queens with a tenable endgame.
32. h4 f6 33. h5 e5


34. fxe5 Qxe5? After this grave mistake, White has no difficulty in penetrating into her opponent’s camp. Correct was 34. ... fxe5! with a well-defended game.
35. Re1 Qg3 36. Rf1 Qe5 37. Qh4 Bb5 38. Re1 Qf5 39. Kh1 Rg7 40. Qh2+ Kb6 41. Qd6+ Ka7 42. Qc5+ b6 43. Re7+ Rxe7 44. Qxe7+ Qd7 45. Qxd7+ Bxd7 46. Bxd5 Bf5 47. c4 b5 48. cxb5 axb5 49. Bg8 Kb6 50. h6 Ka5 51. h7 Bxh7 52. Bxh7 Ka4 53. Bd3 1 : 0.

“Today’s game was difficult and interesting. I was successful with the chess opening and received a big overweight in time. The position remained difficult and dynamic. In the endgame the Black made a mistake by taking the Pawn on e5 by the Queen. Black came in troubles and after a couple of mistakes I won”, Kosintseva finally said. Photo: FIDE Women’s Grand Prix 2009–11.

Friday, December 10, 2010

Cantonese Opera

侯逸凡 (Hóu Yìfán) – Nafisa Muminova
16th Asian Games — Women’s Team Standard; 广州 (Guǎngzhōu), November 26, 2010
French Defence C11

1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. e5 Nfd7 5. f4 c5 6. Nf3 Nc6 7. Be3 Be7 8. Qd2 0-0 9. Be2 b6 10. Nd1 cxd4 11. Nxd4 Bb7 12. 0-0 Nc5 13. Nf2 (13. Nxc6 Bxc6 14. Bd4 Ne4 15. Qe3 Bc5 16. Nf2 f5 17. Nxe4 Bxd4 18. Nf6+ Qxf6 19. Qxd4 Qe7 20. Rad1 Rac8 21. c3 Rc7 22. Rf2 ½ : ½ Kokarev – Volkov, 9th European Chess Individual Championship, Plovdiv 2008) 13. ... f6 (13. ... f5 14. exf6) 14. exf6 Bxf6 15. c3 e5 16. Nxc6 Bxc6 17. Ng4 Ne4 18. Qd3 exf4 19. Rxf4 Bg5 20. Rxf8+ Qxf8 21. Bd4 Qe7 22. Rf1⩲ Rf8?! 23. Rxf8+ Kxf8 24. Ne5 Bb7?! (24. ... Be8) 25. Qh3


25. ... Kg8? (25. ... g6 26. Bg4 Ke8) 26. Bg4!+− (Δ 27. Be6+ Kf8 28. Ng6+!) 26. ... Qd6 27. Bc8 Nc5 28. b4 Be3+ 29. Bxe3 Qxe5 30. bxc5 Qxc3 31. Qe6+ 1 : 0.

Thursday, December 9, 2010

Plus One

Carla Heredia Serrano – 侯逸凡 (Hóu Yìfán)
Women’s World Chess Championship Knockout Tournament; match game 2; Antakya, December 5, 2010
Sicilian Defence B80

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 d6 6. g3 Nc6 7. Bg2 Bd7 8. 0-0 Be7 9. a4 0-0 10. Nxc6 bxc6 11. b3 e5 12. Ba3 Be6. 12. ... Qc7 13. h3 Rfe8 14. Qe2 Rad8 15. Rad1 Bc8 16. Rfe1 a5 is also quite comfortable for Black, Camacho Collados – Cacho Reigadas, 74th Spanish Chess Championship, Palma de Mallorca 2009. 13. Qd2 Qc7 14. h3 Rad8 15. Rad1 d5 16. Bxe7 Qxe7 17. exd5 cxd5 18. Rfe1 d4 19. Ne4 Nxe4 20. Rxe4 f6 21. Re2 Rc8 22. Rde1? Really too slow. 22. f4! was an imperative must.


22. ... Rc3! 23. Kh2 Rfc8 24. Be4 Qd7 25. g4 f5!? 25. ... h5! was also very strong. 26. gxf5 Bxf5 27. Bd3 e4? But no, 侯逸凡 (Hóu Yìfán) is too hasty. 27. ... h6! would have put White into a kind of zugzwang. 28. Bxe4? White returns the courtesy. The Exchange sacrifice 28. Rxe4! Bxe4 29. Rxe4 offered enough dynamic compensation to hope for a draw. 28. ... Qd6+ 29. Kg1 Qg6+ 30. Bg2. Sadly forced to avoid mate, but now Black can play the cat-and-mouse game. 30. ... Bxh3 31. f4 Rg3 32. Rf1 Bxg2 33. Rxg2 Rxc2 34. Qxc2 Qxc2 35. Rxg3 d3 36. Re3 d2 37. Re8+ Kf7 38. Rd8 Qg6+ 39. Kh2 Qh5+ 40. Kg3 Qe2 41. Rg1 h5 42. Rd7+ Ke6 43. Rxg7 d1=Q 44. Rxd1 Qxd1 45. Kh4 Qh1+ 46. Kg5 Qg2+ 47. Kh6 Qxg7+ 48. Kxg7 Kf5 0 : 1.

侯逸凡 (Hóu Yìfán) did not need to overwork to go through the next round. Photo: Turkish Chess Federation.