Iron Girl

侯逸凡 (Hóu Yìfán) – Batkhuyag Munguntuul
FIDE Women’s Grand Prix 2009–11; 5th stage; Ulaanbaatar, August 10, 2010
Sicilian Defence B83

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 d6 6. Be3 Be7 7. f4 0-0 8. Be2 Nc6 9. Qd2 e5 10. Nb3. Interesting is 10. Nf5 Δ 10. ... Nxe4?! 11. Nxe7+ Qxe7 12. Nxe4 exf4 13. Bxf4 Qxe4 14. Bxd6 Rd8 15. 0-0-0⩲ (Lothar Vogt’s analysis). 10. ... a5 11. a4 Be6. More usual is 11. ... exf4 12. Bxf4 Be6 after which there can follow, for instance, 13. Rd1 Qb6 14. Be3 Qb4 15. Nd4 Ne5 16. 0–0 Rac8 17. Kh1 Nc4 18. Bxc4 Rxc4 19. Qc1 Rcc8 20. Bg5 Qc5 21. Nf5 Bxf5 22. Rxf5 Qc4 23. Qe3⩲ Spasov – Vogt, 16th “Interpolis” International Tournament, Tilburg 1992.

12. f5! Bxb3 13. cxb3 Nxe4 14. Nxe4 d5 15. f6 Bb4 16. Nc3 d4 17. fxg7 Re8 18. Bc4!? A novelty by 侯逸凡 (Hóu Yìfán). An earlier game continued 18. Bg5 dxc3 19. bxc3 Bxc3 20. Qxc3 Qxg5 21. 0-0 e4 with fine play for Black, Krämer – Vorobiov, 16th Czech Open GMA, Pardubice 2007. 18. 0-0-0 is probably White’s best. 18. ... dxe3 19. Qxe3 Qd4 20. Qf3 Re7 21. Rf1 Qf4 22. Qh3 Qe4+ 23. Kf2 Bc5+ 24. Kg3 Qg6+ 25. Qg4 Kxg7 26. Ne4 Qxg4+ (⌓ 26. ... Be3! 27. Rf6 Bf4+ 28. Kh3 Qxg4+ 29. Kxg4 Rd8=) 27. Kxg4 Bd4 28. Rf6 Rg8 29. Raf1

29. ... Kh8+? The present punctuation was then suggested by 侯逸凡 (Hóu Yìfán) herself, who apparently thought that 29. ... Nd8 at once was Black’s best play. 30. Kh3 Nd8 31. Bxf7 Nxf7 32. Rxf7 Rxf7 33. Rxf7. “I spend too much time thinking in opening. After exchange of Queens an equal situation developed. But I lost a Pawn on f7, and lost a difficult endgame”, Munguntuul said afterwards. 33. ... Rg7 34. Rf8+ Rg8 35. Rxg8+ Kxg8 36. Kg4 Kf7 37. Kf5 Ke7 38. g4 Kd7 39. Nf6+ Kc6 40. Nxh7 Kc5 41. g5 Bxb2 42. Nf6 Bc1 43. h4 Kb4 44. h5 1 : 0.

“In the middlegame I sacrificed a Pawn e4 and got an initiative. My opponent had better position, I think. The endgame was equal but as I think 29. ... Kh8+ was a mistake which gave me the opportunity to win”, 侯逸凡 (Hóu Yìfán) eventually summed up. Photo: FIDE Women’s Grand Prix 2009–11.