Flat World

Humpy Koneru – 侯逸凡 (Hóu Yìfán)
Women’s World Chess Championship match game 6; Tirana, November 21, 2011
Queen’s Gambit Declined D38

“On the evening before the sixth game 侯 (Hóu) suffered acute stomach pain and was rushed to hospital. She refused pills, declined to ask for a postponement and won that game in style”, Leonard Barden wrote in his The Guardian chess column of December 2, 2011. 1. d4 e6 2. c4 Nf6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 Bb4. 侯逸凡 (Hóu Yìfán)’s specialty. “It was a normal opening, I prepared some line. I’ve got very decent position after the opening. I had two bishops. I wanted to press for a win. At the beginning I had a lot of time but then I was trying to find the best line. I was afraid that some variations would lead to draw”, then Koneru said. 5. Qa4+. In the second game Koneru preferred 5. cxd5, but after 5. ... exd5 6. Bg5 h6 7. Bh4 c5 8. e3 c4 9. Be2 g5 10. Bg3 Ne4 11. Rc1 Qa5 12. Ne5 Bxc3+ 13. bxc3 Nc6 14. 0-0 0-0 15. Bf3 Nxg3 16. fxg3 Nxe5 17. dxe5 Be6 18. Bh5 Qxa2 19. Rf6 Qb2! 20. Rxh6 Bf5! Black seized the upper hand, Koneru – 侯逸凡 (Hóu Yìfán), Women’s World Chess Championship match game 2, Tirana 2011. 5. ... Nc6 6. e3 0-0 7. Bd2 dxc4 8. Bxc4 Bd6 9. Qc2. 9. 0-0 a6 10. Be2 Bd7 11. Qb3 b5 12. Qc2 e5 13. dxe5 Nxe5 14. Nxe5 Bxe5 15. f4 Bd6 16. Bf3 c6 17. Kh1 Qc7 18. Ne2 Nd5 19. Rac1 Rac8 20. Qd3 Nb4 21. Qb1 a5 22. e4 f6? (22. ... Rfd8 23. a3 Na6) 23. Rfd1 Be6 24. a3!!+− Ba2 25. Bxb4! Bxb1 26. Bxd6 Qf7 27. Rxb1 Rfe8 28. e5 h6 29. Nd4 Qd7 30. h3 fxe5 31. fxe5 c5 32. Bg4 Qb7 33. Bxc8 Rxc8 34. Nb3 Qb6 35. Nxc5 Rxc5 36. Bxc5 Qxc5 37. e6 Kf8 38. Rbc1 Qg5 39. Rc7 Kg8 40. e7 1 : 0 周健超 (Zhōu Jiànchāo) – 侯逸凡 (Hóu Yìfán), 1st 海南 (Hǎinán) 儋州 (Dānzhōu) Super Grandmaster Chess Tournament, 儋州 (Dānzhōu) 2010. 9. ... a6 10. a3 e5 11. dxe5. Koneru: “This move is not a novelty, there were few games played in this variation before”. 11. ... Nxe5 12. Nxe5 Bxe5 13. f4 Bxc3 14. Bxc3 Qe7 15. 0-0! An interesting Pawn sacrifice. If, instead, 15. Bd4 Black could reply with 15. ... b6 followed by ... c7-c5. 15. ... Qxe3+ 16. Kh1. 侯逸凡 (Hóu Yìfán): “I was spending a lot of time here as I knew White has a better position so I tried to find some plan”. 16. ... Qb6 17. f5. The initiative and the Bishop pair compensate for the Pawn. 17. ... Bd7 18. Bb4 Rfe8. Asked at the press conference if she had been considering 18. ... Ng4, 侯逸凡 (Hóu Yìfán) replied: “Already at this moment in the game I had a little time. I saw this move, but decided to simply move the Rook”. 19. Rad1 Qc6 20. Qb3. Koneru also considered 20. Bxf7+ Kxf7 21. Qb3+ Be6 22. fxe6+ Rxe6 but eventually discarded it as “In this position I did not see a proper plan for White”. However, after 23. Rc1 Qb6 24. Rc5 White keeps a slight edge. 20. ... Kh8. Black gives back the Pawn for the second (seventh) rank (20. Bxf7 Re2). 21. Rc1 Qb6. Most engines gave the “tricky variation” 21. ... Re5 (Δ 22. Bxf7? Rxf5!), but White could content herself with 22. Bd3 Qd5 23. Bc4 repeating moves. 22. Bxf7 Re5 23. Bc3. Or 23. Qg3 Re2(!) with equality. 23. ... Qxb3 24. Bxb3 Re3 25. Bc4 Rae8 26. Bd4 R3e7 27. Ba2 Re2 28. Bf7 R8e7 29. Bc4 R2e4. Koneru: “After this move I had already bad position”. 30. Bc5? Koneru: “I saw the move 30. Bxf6 before, but I missed it in this position!”. After 30. ... gxf6 31. Bd5 White retains an edge. 30. ... Re8 31. Bf7 T8e5 32. Ba2? Koneru wastes time. With 32. Bb4 Bc6 33. Rc2 White safely stays within the draw zone; for instance: 33. ... Re2 34. Rxe2 Rxe2 35. Rd1 g6 36. Bc4 Rc2 37. Bc3 Kg7 38. fxg6 Rxg2 39. Bd5 Bxd5 40. Rxd5 Rxg6 41. Rd7+ Kg8 42. Rxc7 b5 with equality. 32. ... Bc6. The threat of ... Re4-e2 is in the air. 33. Rg1? White’s best was 33. Rfd1(!) in order to met 33. ... Re2 by 34. Be6!∞ with unclear play. 33. ... Re2 34. Bd4 (34. Be6?? Rxc5! 35. Rxc5 Ne4−+) 34. ... Rxf5 35. Bc4 Rd2 36. Bc3? Still a mistake, but 36. Be6 Rh5 cannot be too better. 36. ... Ne4! With a mate in mind: 37. Bxd2?? Nf2#. The “dual” is 36. ... Ng4! with the elegant pointe of 37. h3 Rf3!!−+ (38. hxg4 Rh3#). 37. Rge1? Tantamount to surrender, but also 37. h3 Nxc3 38. Rxc3 Rff2 is an easy win for Black.

37. ... Ng3+! 38. hxg3 Rh5+ 0 : 1. Because of 39. Kg1 Rxg2+ 40. Kf1 Rh1#.

Humpy Koneru (left) vs. 侯逸凡 (Hóu Yìfán) (right). Photo: Anastasiya Karlovich.