Formidable

侯逸凡 (Hóu​ Yì​fán) – Olga Alexandrovna Girya
Women’s Grand Prix 2013–2014; 4st stage; Khanty-Mansiysk, April 19, 2014
Sicilian Defence B85

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. Nc3 Nc6 4. d4 cxd4 5. Nxd4 Qc7 6. Be3 a6 7. Be2 Nf6 8. 0-0 Be7 9. f4 d6 10. Kh1 0-0 11. Qe1 Nxd4 12. Bxd4 b5 13. Qg3 Bb7 (13. ... b4 14. e5!) 14. a3 Bc6 15. Rae1 Qb7 16. Bd3 b4. On 16. ... Rad8 17. Qh3! h6 18. Re3! White holds the initiative, Hartston – B. Larsen, 3rd Gran Torneo Internacional de Ajedrez “Ciudad de Las Palmas”, Las Palmas 1974. 17. Nd1 bxa3. On 17. ... g6 18. Nf2! bxa3 19. bxa3 d5 20. e5 Ne4 21. Bxe4 dxe4 22. Ng4 Rfd8 23. Nh6+ leads to a very strong attack, Sznapik – Smejkal, International Tournament, Sandomierz 1976. Another try is 17. ... Bb5 18. axb4 Bxd3 19. cxd3 Qxb4 20. Bc3 Qb5 21. Ne3 Rfe8 22. e5 dxe5 23. fxe5 Nd5 24. Ng4 Rf8 25. Nh6+ Kh8 26. Nxf7+ Kg8 27. Qg4 Qd7 28. Nh6+ Kh8 29. Nf7+ Kg8 30. Nh6+ Kh8 31. Nf7+ ½ : ½ 侯逸凡 (Hóu​ Yì​fán) – Navara, 71st Corus Chess Tournament, Wijk aan Zee 2009. 18. bxa3 Rac8!? Possibly better than 18. ... g6 19. Nf2 Rac8 20. Qh3 Rfd8 21. Rb1 Qd7 22. Qh6 Bb5 23. Nh3 Bf8 24. Qh4 Nh5 25. g4 Be7 26. Ng5 e5? 27. gxh5 Bxg5 28. Qxg5 exd4 29. f5 Re8 30. f6 Kh8 31. hxg6 Re5 32. Qh6 1 : 0 Areshchenko – Lammers, Bremen 2010. For if 32. ... fxg6 then 33. f7 wins. 19. Nf2. Not 19. Ne3?! on account of 19. ... Bxe4 20. Bxf6 Bxf6 21. Ng4 Bxd3 22. Nxf6+ Kh8 23. Rb1 Qe7 24. Qxd3 Qxf6 25. Qxd6 Rfd8 26. Qxa6 Rxc2 with slight advantage to Black, Lautier – Movsesian, 7th Sigeman & Co. Chess Tournament, Malmö 1999. 19. ... Nh5. Nerwal: “19. ... Bb5 is certainly possible. It’s not clear how exactly Black is doing after 20. Rb1 (assessed as +/= by Ftacnik) or 20. Ng4, though. Possibly White keeps some initiative”. 20. Qg4 g6 21. Qh3! Well conceived, threatening Nf2-g4. True to her style, Miss 侯逸凡 (Hóu​ Yì​fán) attacks the King, her favorite target! For the more stereotyped 20. Qf3 g6 21. Ng4 f6 22. f5 (or 22. Qe2 Bb5 23. c4 Bc6 24. c5 Bb5 25. cxd6 Bxd6 26. e5 Bxd3 27. Qxd3 fxe5 28. fxe5 Rxf1+ 29. Rxf1 Bf8 30. Nf6+ Nxf6 31. exf6 Kf7 32. Rb1 Qc6 33. h3 Rc7 34. Be5 ½ : ½ Parligras – Movsesian, 30th SchachBundesliga, Baden-Baden 2010) 22. ... exf5 23. Nh6+ Kh8 24. Nxf5 gxf5 25. Qxh5 fxe4 26. Qg5 Rf7 27. Bc4 Rg8 28. Qe3 d5 29. Bb3 Qd7 see Shirov – Movsesian, 30th International Tournament “Bosna”, Sarajevo 2000. 21. ... Bd7. Girya is not in the mood to verify the correctness of 侯逸凡 (Hóu​ Yì​fán)’s “theory”. If 21. Qh3!? Nxf4 22. Ng4 e5 23. Rxf4!? exd4 24. Nh6+ Kg7 25. Nf5+! (Urcan) Black can reply with 25. ... gxf5 26. exf5 Bxg2+! simplifying matters. 22. Ng4 e5. 22. ... f6 23. f5 may not be too good! 23. fxe5 Bxg4. 23. ... dxe5 24. Bxe5 Bxg4 is just an inversion. 24. Qxg4 dxe5 25. Bxe5 Bxa3 26. Re3 Rc6 27. Rh3 Qc8 28. Qf3 Re6. More to the point was 28. ... Qe6 29. Ba1 f6 30. Qe2 with advantage to White.

29. Rxh5! A devastating Exchange sacrifice! 29. ... gxh5 30. Bf6 Rxf6. Forced. 31. Qxf6 Qe6 32. Qg5+ Qg6 33. Qd5 Re8. Careless. Anyway, after 33. ... Be7 34. e5 Qe6 35. Qe4 Qh6 36. h3 White has a big edge. 34. e5 Qg7. On 34. ... Qe6 35. Qe4 Qh6 36. Qa4 Bf8 37. Bc4 the same theme appears. 35. Qb3. Clearly 35. Qa2 is a dual. The rest is easy. 35. ... Bf8 36. Rxf7 Qxf7 37. Bc4 Qxc4 38. Qxc4+ Kg7 39. Qd5 Be7 40. Qd7 Kf8 41. Qf5+ Kg7 42. Qxh5 Rb8 43. g3 Rb5 44. Qg4+ Kf8 45. Qf4+ Kg7 46. e6 1 : 0.

侯逸凡 (Hóu​ Yì​fán) vs. Olga Girya. Photos: Nikolay Bochkarev, Alina l’Ami.