俄羅斯航空 (Aeroflot)

侯逸凡 (Hóu Yìfán) – Vasilios Kotronias
6th Aeroflot Open; Moscow, February 22, 2007
Sicilian Defence B57

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 d6 6. Bc4 Qb6 7. Nxc6 bxc6 8. 0-0 g6 9. Qe1 (Δ e4-e5)
9. ... Ng4. Both 9. ... Bg7 10. e5 and 9. ... Nd7!? 10. Na4! Qc7 11. Qc3 Rg8 12. f4 Bg7 13. Qf3 Nb6 14. Nxb6 axb6 15. c3⩲ (Asauskas – Nevednichy, 6th European Individual Chess Championship, Zegrze 2005) are more promising for White.
10. h3. If 10. Na4 then 10. ... Qd4! 11. Bb3 Ba6 12. Qd1 Qxd1 13. Rxd1 Bg7= Karjakin – Alekseev, 18th European Chess Club Cup, Kallithea 2002.
10. ... Ne5 11. Na4

11. ... Qb7?! Not 11. ... Qd4? 12. Bb3 Ba6?! on account of 13. Bd2!+− Golubev – Lupulescu, “Blue Autumn” International Tournament, Bucharest 2002. Comparatively better is 11. ... Qc7 12. Qc3 Rg8 13. Be2 Bg7 14. f4 Nd7 15. Qe1 Bb7 16. c4 c5= Ronchetti – Damljanović, 2nd International Chess Week, Frascati 2006.
12. Qc3 Rg8 13. Bb3 g5? Probably fearing consequences such as 13. ... Bg7 14. f4 Nd7 15. e5 with great advantage for White. Maybe it was not too late for the Queem to go where she should have gone on the previous move (⌓ 13. ... Qc7).

14. f4 gxf4 15. Bxf4 Bg7? But this costs a bit too much. 15. ... e6 costs a Pawn and well more in position, but perhaps it was a lesser evil.
16. Bxe5 Bxe5 17. Bxf7++− Kf8 18. Bxg8+ Kxg8 19. Qc4+ e6 20. Qe2 Qg7 21. Rf3 Bd7 22. Raf1 c5 23. Nc3 Kh8 24. Kh1 Bc6 25. Qf2 Rg8 26. Rf7 Qh6 27. Rf8 Be8 28. Rxg8+ Kxg8

29. Nd1 Qg7 30. Qh4 h5 31. Qd8 Qd7 32. Qa8 Kh7 33. Ne3 Qe7 34. Qb8 Bg3 35. Rf3 h4 36. Ng4 Kg7 37. Qb3 Bg6 38. Qe3 1 : 0.

侯逸凡 (Hóu Yìfán)’s deep thinking. Photo: Vadim Smalkov.