Alpha Girl

Betül Cemre Yıldız – 侯逸凡 (Hóu Yìfán)
16th European Women’s Chess Club Cup; Rogaška Slatina, September 26, 2011
Sicilian Defence B27

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 g6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Bd3?! Bg7 6. c4 Nc6. As a consequence of her uninspired opening play, White got herself into an unfavorable Maróczy Bind. 7. Ne2 Ne5 8. Nbc3 d6 9. 0-0 0-0 10. b3 Bd7! A cool novelty. An earlier game between two dei minores continued, in Benkö’s style, 10. ... Nxd3 11. Qxd3 b5!? 12. cxb5 a6 13. Bb2 axb5 14. Nxb5 Ba6 15. a4 Qb8 with controversial claims for compensation, Schwab – Hölzl, 47th Austrian Chess Championship, Hartberg 2004. 11. Kh1 a6

12. Nd4? The beginning of the end. 12. a4! was called for, and after 12. ... b5!? 13. axb5 axb5 14. Rxa8 Qxa8 15. cxb5 Rb8 Black should regain her pawn with comfortable equality. 12. ... b5! 13. cxb5. Of course White cannot take the Pawn with neither of the two Knights because of 12. ... Nxe4! with overwhelming effect. 12. ... Nxd3 14. Qxd3 axb5 15. Bb2 b4 16. Nd5. This loses a Pawn (even if not by force), but 16. Nd1 Ra5! eventually followed by ... Qd8-a8 is also hopeless. 16. ... Nxd5 17. exd5 Ra5 18. Qe4 Re8 19. a3 bxa3 20. Rxa3 Rxa3 21. Bxa3 f5 22. Qe3 Qa5 23. Bb2 Qxd5 24. Rc1 e5 25. Nf3 Be6 26. Nd2 Qb7 27. Ra1 Rc8 28. Qd3 Bd5 29. f3

29. ... e4! 0 : 1.

變數 (Variable)

侯逸凡 (Hóu Yìfán) – Nana Dzagnidze
16th European Women’s Chess Club Cup; Rogaška Slatina, October 1, 2011
Sicilian Defence B93

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. f4 e5 7. Nf3 Nbd7 8. a4 Be7 9. Bc4 0-0 10. 0-0 b6. Or, alternatively, 10. ... Qb6+ 11. Kh1 exf4 12. a5 Qc5 13. Bb3 Ne5 14. Bxf4 Ng6 15. Bg3 Bg4 16. Qd2 Rae8 17. h3 Bd7 18. Qd4 Bc6 19. Qd3 Nh5 20. Bf2 Qb4 21. Nd4 Nhf4 22. Qf3 Bf6 23. Nxc6 bxc6 24. Bb6 Bxc3 25. Ra4 Qb5 26. bxc3 c5 27. Raa1 Re7 28. Qe3 Nh5 29. Bd5 Nf6 30. Rxf6 gxf6 31. Qf3 Re5 32. Qxf6 Qd7 33. Rd1 Rh5 34. Rd3 Re5 35. Rg3 Qe7 36. Rxg6+ hxg6 37. Qxg6+ Kh8 38. Qh6+ Kg8 39. Qg6+ Kh8 40. Qh6+ ½–½ 侯逸凡 (Hóu Yìfán) – 居文君 (Jū Wénjūn), Women’s Grand Prix 2011–12, 2nd stage, 深圳 (Shēnzhèn) 2011.
11. Kh1 Bb7 12. Qe2 h6 13. Nh4!?TN Nxe4?! The acceptance of the Pawn sacrifice is quite critical.
14. Nf5 Nef6 15. fxe5 Nxe5 16. Bf4 Qc7 17. Bb3 Rae8 18. Qd2 Nh7 19. Bxh6? It was really hard to resist such a tempting sacrifice, but had 侯逸凡 (Hóu Yìfán) calculated to the end of her variation, she would have probably contented herself with 19. Rad1, assuring White a sound advantage.
19. ... gxh6 20. Qxh6 Bf6 21. Rf4? And now the threat of Rf4-h4 looks deadly.

21. ... Bc8? Dzagnidze probably excluded 21. ... Kh8! from her analysis for fear of 22. Rh4 — which actually looks like a win — apparently not noticing the counter move 22. ... Bxg2+! 23. Kxg2 (or 23. Kg1 Nf3+−+) 23. ... Rg8+ 24. Kh1 Bxh4 which gave Black the preponderance of both the material and positional values.
22. Ne4! Qd8 (22. ... Bxf5 23. Nxf6+ Nxf6 24.Rxf5+−)
23. Nexd6 Bxf5 24. Nxf5 Re6 25. Rh4 Ng5 26. Rh5 Qd2 27. Ne7+ Rxe7 28. Qxf6 Nh7 29. Qf5 1–0.

rknnbrqb/pppppppp/8/8/8/8/PPPPPPPP/RKNNBRQB w AFaf - 0 1

Alexandra Konstantinovna Kosteniuk – Jacek Stopa

1st Kings vs. Queens Tournament; time control: 25 minutes plus 10 seconds per move; Saint Louis, September 14, 2011

rknnbrqb/pppppppp/8/8/8/8/PPPPPPPP/RKNNBRQB w AFaf - 0 1

Position #763

1. f4 f5 2. g4 g6 3. e4 fxe4 4. Bxe4 d5 5. Bg2 Nd6 6. d3 Nc6 7. Nb3 0-0-0 8. Nc3 e6 9. Bh4 Rd7 10. Ne2 b6 11. c3 e5 12. 0-0-0 e4 13. Ned4 Nxd4 14. Nxd4 c5 15. Nc6 Qe6 16. Ne5 Rc7 17. dxe4?! 17. Kb1 at once was safer. 17. ... d4 18. Kb1 dxc3 19. Rd5 cxb2 (19. ... Bb5!? 20. f5 Qe8 21. f6 Nc4∓)

20. f5 gxf5 21. exf5 Qh6?? Black overlooks a hidden resource which might have saved the game: 21. ... Bxe5! 22. Bg3! (22. fxe6?? Bg6+−+) 22. ... Nc4! 23. Bxe5 Bf7!∞ with a balanced mess. 22. Rxd6!+− Qxh4 (22. ... Qxd6 23. Rd1+−) 23. Qe3. Threatening both Qe3-e4 and Qe3-f3. 23. ... Bxe5 24. Qxe5 Re7

25. Rd8+! Kxd8 26. Qb8+ Kd7 27. Rd1 mate.

Fire under the Ashes

阮露斐 (Ruǎn Lùfěi) – 侯逸凡 (Hóu Yìfán)
FIDE Women’s Grand Prix 2011–12; 1st stage; Rostov-on-Don, August 13, 2011
Sicilian Defence B83

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nc6 5. Nc3 d6 6. Be2 Nf6 7. 0-0 Be7 8. Be3 0-0 9. Kh1 e5 10. Nb3 Be6 11. Bf3 a5 12. Nd5 Bxd5 (12. ... a4 13. Nd2 Bxd5 14. exd5 Nd4 15. Nc4 Nd7 16. Rb1 ½ : ½ Tringov – Spassky, 21st Chess Olympiad, Nice 1974) 13. exd5 Nb4 14. c3TN (14. c4 b6 15. Be2 Nd7 ½ : ½ Nisipeanu – Sakaev, 4th European Chess Championship, Silivri 2003) 14. ... Na6 15. Qd3 Nd7 16. g4 In order to prevent ... f7–f5. “I was not satisfied with the opening, maybe I made some mistakes, but I am not sure”, 阮露斐 (Ruǎn Lùfěi) then said.

16. .. Bg5 17. Nd2 g6 18. Rg1 Kh8 19. Qe2 a4 20. Ne4 Bxe3 21. fxe3 Qe7 22. Ng3 Rac8 23. Rac1 Rc7 24. Qd2 Qg5 25. Ne4 Qe7 26. Ng3

26. ... h6. Quite rightly Black refuses to repeat moves. 27. Be2 Nac5 28. e4 Qg5 29. Rcd1 Nf6 30. Bf3 Qxd2 31. Rxd2 a3 32. b3

32. ... Na6. Very interesting was 32. ... Nxb3! 33. axb3 Rxc3 with excellent practical chances for Black.
33. c4 Rb8 34. Kg2 b5 35. Be2 Nc5 36. Kf3 b4. “I think at some point my position was better: my Knight was better than her Bishop, but then I had a feeling that after 36. ... b4 that ending was drawish, however, before that I guess I had made some mistakes”, 侯逸凡 (Hóu Yìfán) said afterwards.
37. Bd1 Nh7 38. h4 Kg7 39. Ke3 Rf8 40. Rf2 Rb7 41. Rgf1 Rc7 42. Rg1 Rb7 43. Rgf1 Rc7 ½ ; ½.

Being better was not enough to win. Photo: FIDE Women’s Grand Prix 2011–12.

Tall Tale

13th Women’s World Chess Champion 侯逸凡 (Hóu Yìfán) poses for a picture with basketball star 姚明 (Yáo Míng) in the backstage of 2011 China’s Top Ten Laureus World Sports Awards Ceremony in 宁波 (Níngbō), 浙江省 (Zhèjiāng province), China, October 11, 2011. Photo: 众辉体育 (Starz Sports).

蛋黃醬 (Mayonnaise)

Nadezhda Anatolyevna Kosintseva – 侯逸凡 (Hóu Yìfán)
1st 杭州 (Hángzhōu) WGM Chess Tournament; 杭州 (Hángzhōu), July 23, 2011
French Defence C18

1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. e5 c5 5. a3 Bxc3+ 6. bxc3 Ne7 7. Qg4 Qc7 8. Qxg7 Rg8 9. Qxh7 cxd4 10. Ne2 Nbc6 11. f4 dxc3 12. Nxc3 a6. Dubious is 12. ... Nxe5?! because of 13. Nb5 Qb8 14. Be2! N5g6 15. 0-0± T. A. Kosintseva – 侯逸凡 (Hóu Yìfán), FIDE Women’s Grand Prix 2009–2011, 3rd stage, Nalchik 2010. 13. Qd3 Bd7 14. Bd2. Not the most common move. More usual are 14. h4, 14. Ne2 and 14. Rb1.

14. ... 0-0-0! This is probably sharper than 14. ... Rc8 15. Ne2 (15. g3 Na5 16. Nd1 Nc4 17. Bc3 Bb5 18. a4 Nb2 19. Qd2 Nxd1 20. Ba5 Qc5 21. axb5 Ne3 22. Bd3 axb5 23. Rb1 Nxc2+ 24. Ke2 Nc6 25. Rhc1 b4 26. Kf1 Ne3+ 27. Ke2 Nc4 28. Bxc4 Qxa5 29. Bd3 Ke7 30. Kf1 Ra8 31. Qb2 Qb6 32. Qc2 Ra3 33. Ra1 Rga8 34. Rxa3 Rxa3 35. Be2 Rc3 36. Qb1 d4 37. Rd1 b3 38. Qh7 b2 39. Qh4+ Kd7 40. Qf6 b1=Q 0 : 1 Kupper – Schmid, 2nd Clare Benedict Cup, Zürich 1954) 15. Ne2 Nf5 16. g3 Nce7 17. Rc1 Bb5 18. Qb3 Qc6 19. Qc3 Qd7 20. Qb2 d4 21. Rg1 Rh8 22. h4 Rg8 23. Kf2 Nc6 24. Bh3 d3 25. Bxf5 dxe2 26. c4 Ba4 27. Be4 Rd8 28. Be3 Bd1 29. Bf3 e1=Q+ 30. Rxe1 Bxf3 31. Kxf3 Qd3 32. Kf2 Qg6 33. Rg1 Rd3 34. Rc3 Nxe5 35. fxe5 Rd8 36. Bf4 1 : 0 Zinser – Durão, 6th “Costa del Sol” International Tournament, Málaga 1966. 15. g3 Nf5 16. Bg2 Na5 17. Bh3 Bc6

18. Bxf5 exf5 19. Qxf5+? The capture of the Pawn is very unsound. ⌓ 19. Qd4 Nc4∞ was what one might expect — not an easily assessable issue. 19. ... Kb8 20. Qd3? The second error in a row is grave enough to lose the game. There was probably nothing better than 20. 0-0 d4 21. Ne4 Nc4 22. Rf2! b6∓ with the upper hand for Black. 20. ... d4−+ 21. Ne4 f5 22. Nf2 Bxh1 23. Nxh1 Rh8 24. h4 Nc4 25. Kf1 Qc6

26. Nf2. Or 26. Kf2 Nb2 27. Qb3 (27. Qxf5 d3−+) 27. ... d3−+ finis. 26. ... Rhg8 27. g4 (27. Bc1 Ne3+ 28. Bxe3 Rxg3−+) 27. ... fxg4 28. Re1 Nxd2+ 29. Qxd2 Qf3 30. Qd3 Qxf4 31. Qe4 Qh2! 32. Qg2 (32. Rb1 Rg7−+) 32. ... g3 33. Ne4 (33. Rb1 Rg7−+) 33. ... Rg4 0 : 1.

Through the Lens

Playing for the Cercle d’Échecs de Monte-Carlo at the 16th European Women’s Chess Club Cup held in Rogaška Slatina, Slovenia from September 25 to October 1, 2011, Women’s World Champion 侯逸凡 (Hóu Yìfán) not only made the best score on first board (+4 −2), but she has also dabbled with taking pictures. Photo: Uroš Hočevar.