呆河马

侯逸凡 (Hóu Yìfán) at the press conference.
Photo: Cathy Rogers

Alisa Galliamova – 侯逸凡 (Hóu Yìfán)
19th Women’s European Club Cup; Bilbao, September 19, 2014
Queen’s Pawn Game A40

Notes by Grandmaster Ian Rogers, Chess Life Online, September 19, 2014

Apart from the race for first place, the other side issue of interest was Hóu Yìfán’s race to overtake the newly retired Judit Polgár as the top woman in the world. Hóu was fortunate to defeat Anna Ushenina (against whom she won her most recent world title match easily) in the fifth round but her game the next day, which moved Hóu to within four points of Polgár, owed nothing to luck.

1. d4 e6 2. c4 b6!? “I just wanted a game”, said Hóu, channelling Carlsen. 3. e4 Bb7 4. d5!? Bb4+ 5. Bd2 Bxd2+. “Probably Black should play 5. ... Qe7 but after 6. Bxb4 Qxb4+ 7. Qd2 I must exchange Queens and I wanted to keep Queens on the board”, explained Hóu. 6. Qxd2 d6 7. Nc3 Nd7 8. f4?! “Too ambitious”, said Hóu. “She should just develop her pieces”. 8. ... e5! 9. g3?! exf4 10. gxf4 Qh4+ 11. Qf2 Qxf2+ 12. Kxf2 Ngf6 13. Re1 0-0 14. Bh3 Nc5 15. Re3 Rae8 16. Kf3 c6! 17. Nge2 cxd5 18. exd5 b5!

19. Rxe8? Now White’s position collapses. 19. b4! was playable because Hóu’s intended 19. ... bxc4 fails to 20. Rxe8 Rxe8 21. bxc5 Nxd5 22. Rb1!. 19. ... Rxe8 20. Rd1 bxc4. The rest is easy for Hóu, with Galliamova adding time trouble to her woes. 21. Rd4 g6 22. Ng3 h5 23. Bf1 h4 24. Nge2 Ba6 25. Rd2 Nd3 26. Nd4 Ne1+ 27. Kf2 Ne4+ 28. Nxe4 Rxe4 29. Bg2 Nxg2 30. Kxg2 Rxf4 31. Nc6 c3! 32. bxc3 Bf1+ 33. Kg1 Bh3 34. Rd1 Rg4+ 35. Kf2 Rg2+ 36. Kf3 Rxa2 37. c4 Kg7 38. Kf4 Rc2 39. Rd4 Rxh2 40. Nxa7 Bd7 41. Nc6 Rg2 42. c5 Rg4+ 43. Ke3 Rxd4 44. Nxd4 dxc5 0 : 1.

Bilbao, September 18, 2014. Women’s World Chess Champion, 侯逸凡 (Hóu Yìfán), playing for Cercle d’Échecs de Monte-Carlo. Photo: David Llada