Rockin’ on the Rock

侯逸凡 (Hóu Yìfán) – Judit Polgár
10th Tradewise Gibraltar Chess Festival; Catalan Bay, January 24, 2012
Sicilian Defence B46

“China’s 侯逸凡 (Hóu Yìfán), 17, played the tournament of her life at Tradewise Gibraltar which ended on Thursday. She defeated several elite GMs, shared first prize on 8/10 with Nigel Short, won their play-off and beat the all-time No 1 woman, Judit Polgár”, Leonard Barden wrote in his The Guardian chess column of February 3, 2012. 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nc6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Be2 Nge7 7. Bf4 Ng6 8. Nxc6 bxc6 9. Bd6 Bxd6 10. Qxd6 Qe7 11. 0-0-0 Qxd6 12. Rxd6 Ke7 13. Rhd1 Nf4 14. Bf3 Rb8. The alternative is 14. ... Nd5!? 15. exd5 (15. e5? f6!∓) 15. ... Kxd6 16. dxc6+ Kc7 17. cxd7 Bb7! 18. Bxb7 Kxb7 (de la Villa Garcia – Sión Castro, 10th Torneo Magistral de Ajedrez “Ciudad de León”, León 1997) but then after 19. Na4! White should keep the upper hand. 15. R6d2 g5!? This is an interesting novelty by Polgár. No good is 15. ... d5? because of 16. g3 Ng6 17. Bg2 followed by f2-f4 with a powerful advantage. Instead, theory gave 15. ... e5 16. Na4 Rd8 17. Nc5 a5 with approximate equality, Orsini – Kovalyov, 83rd Argentine Chess Championship, La Plata 2008, but 16. Nb1! (intending Nb1-a3-c4) is certainly a big improvement for White. 16. Na4 d5 17. g3 Ng6 18. Re1 Kf6 19. Bh5. Preventing ... h7-h5-h4. 19. ... Rb4 20. Nc3. And now, as Grandmaster Lubomir Kavalek wrote in his The Huffington Post chess column of February 2, 2012, “The temptation to play actively led Polgár to a faulty decision:” 20. ... d4? Grandmaster Alejandro Tadeo Ramírez Álvarez suggests 20. ... a5 21. a3 Rb8, though after 22. b3(!) Black is not yet so close to a draw as he thinks.

21. e5+! Nxe5 22. Ne4+ Ke7. Not 22. ... Kf5?? on account of 23. Nd6+ Kf6 24. Rxe5! winning immediately. 23. Nxg5 h6? Kavalek writes: “An unfortunate move, dropping a Pawn. But even after the better 23. ... f6 24. Ne4 Rd8 25. b3 White’s Pawn structure is healthy and her are more actively placed. Black’s Pawn on d4 could be a target, the Bishop on c8 is dormant”. 24. Nxe6! Bxe6. Kavalek: “After 24. ... Kxe6 25. f4 f6 26. b3 threatening a2-a3, Black is in trouble: 26. ... Rd8 (26. ... c5 27. fxe5 fxe5 28. Rde2+−) 27. c3 Rb5 28. cxb4 Rbd5 29. Bg4+ Kf7 30. Bxc8 Rxc8 31. dxe5 fxe5 32. Rxe5+−”. 25. Rxe5. Kavalek: “侯 (Hóu) is a Pawn up and other Black Pawns are still scattered”. 25. ... Rd8 26. f4 Rb5 27. Rde2 Kf6 28. Bf3 c5 29. a4 Rb4. 29. ... Ra5 30. b3 looks quite horrible, resulting in the Black Rook being stalemated. 30. Rxc5 Rxa4 31. b3 Rb4 32. Be4! Bg4 33. Re1 Rd6 34. Bd3 Bd7 35. Ree5 Be6 36. Kd2 Rbb6 37. Ra5 Rbc6 38. Ra4 Rb6 39. Re4 Bf5 40. Rexd4. “The time control is over and 侯 (Hóu) brings the two Pawn advantage home”. (K). 40. ... Re6 41. Bc4 Rec6 42. Ra5 Bc8 43. Bd3 Be6 44. Rd8 Bc8 45. Rad5 Be6 46. Rh5 Kg7 47. f5 1 : 0. For if 47. ... Bc8 then 48. f6+ Kxf6 49. Rxc8 Rxc8 50. Rxh6+ followed by Rh6xb6. “You can never get used to losing. Always remains a bad feeling. Sometimes even worse. With my move 20. ... d4 I became overoptimistic for no reason”. Polgár eventually tweeted.

Passing the torch. Photo: Macauley Peterson.