The Queen Is Coming to Tea

侯逸凡 (Hóu Yìfán) – Mariya Olehivna Muzychuk
Women’s World Chess Championship 2016; match game 5; Lviv, March 8, 2016
English Opening A11

1. c4 c6 2. Nf3 d5 3. g3 g6 4. Bg2 Bg7 5. Qa4 dxc4 6. Qxc4 e5 7. d3 Ne7 8. 0-0 Na6!?TN (8. ... 0-0 9. Qc2 Na6 10. Nc3 Nb4 11. Qb3 c5 12. Qc4 b6 13. Nxe5 Bxe5 14. Bxa8 Bd4 15. Bg2 Be6 16. Qb5 Bd7 17. Qc4 ½–½ Rajković – Sveshnikov, 7th “Liberation” International Tournament, Novi Sad 1979)
9. Bd2

9. ... 0-0. Not 9. ... e4? on account of 10. Qxe4 (or 10. dxe4!? Bxb2 11. Bc3! with similar consequences) 10. ... Bxb2 11. Bc3! Bxa1 12. Bxa1 0-0 13. Bf6 with overwhelming black-square domination.
10. Qc1 Nf5 11. Na3!? Nd4 12. Re1 Bg4. Black has achieved a comfortable equality.
13. Nxd4 exd4 14. Bh6 Re8 15. Bxg7 Kxg7 16. Qd2 Qd7 17. Nc4 f6 18. h4! Re7

19. e4! Whatever Black replies, White will get rid of the potential weakness on e2.
19. ... dxe3 20. Nxe3 Be6 21. d4. The isolated Pawn is not a concretely exploitable target for Black.
21. ... Rae8. 21. ... Rd8 22. Rad1 Bxa2 23. Qc3 (threatening both b2-b3 and Qc3-a3) gives White good compensation.
22. b3 Nc7 23. Qb4 Nd5 24. Nxd5 Bxd5 25. Rxe7+ Qxe7 26. Qxe7+ Rxe7 27. Bxd5 cxd5. A symmetrically balanced evidence is now on the board.
28. Rc1 Kf7 29. Kf1 Ke6 30. Ke2 Kd6+ 31. Kd3 Rc7 32. Re1 Re7 33. Rc1 Rc7 ½–½. An uninteresting draw which gets 侯逸凡 (Hóu Yìfán) closer to the Crown.

侯逸凡 (Hóu Yìfán) just did what she had to do and moved on. Photo: Vitaliy Hrabar.