Friday, March 18, 2016

Pulsatilla

侯逸凡 (Hóu Yìfán) – Mariya Olehivna Muzychuk
Women’s World Chess Championship 2016; match game 9; Lviv, March 14, 2016
Sicilian Defence B59

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 d6 6. Be2 e5 7. Nb3 Be7 8. 0-0 0-0 9. Be3 Be6 10. f3 Na5 11. Nxa5. 11. Qd2?! is nonsensical as after 11. ... Nc4 Black wins the Bishop pair and with it an easier game, Siveri – Scafarelli, 6th Festival. San Benedetto del Tronto 1957.
11. ... Qxa5 12. Qd2 Rfc8 13. Rfd1 Kf8!? Indeed, it just make an impercetible difference with regard to 13. ... Kh8 14. Nb5 Qxd2 15. Rxd2 d5 16. Nxa7 (Harff – De Gleria, 13th Großenbaumer Whitsun Open, Duisburg 2006) and now Black ought to have played 16. ... Rc5! with strong compensation.
14. a4. 14. Nb5 Qxd2 15. Rxd2 d5 16. Nxa7 Rc5! is a quasi-transposition to the previous note.
14. ... a6 15. Nd5 Qxd2 16. Rxd2 Nxd5 17. exd5 Bd7 18. a5 Bb5 19. Kf1 f5?! “The International Master and famous trainer Viktor [Savelievich] Zheliandinov proposed entering a Rook endgame with good play after exchanging off the Bishops”, Grandmaster Adrian Bohdanovych Mikhalchishin said.
20. c3! Of course she knows how to mobilise her Pawns. 20. b3? Rc3 was a horrible mistake.
20. ... g5?! A little better is 20. ... Bxe2+ 21. Kxe2 Rc4, but even then after 22. Rc2! nothing can stop White from expanding with b2-b3 and c3-c4.


21. Rc2! Again, this is the strategic key for White’s Pawn expansion.
21. ... h5 22. c4 g4 23. b4 f4 24. Bf2 Bd7 25. c5 Bf5 26. Rc4 Kf7 27. Rd1 Rg8


28. g3! A classy prophylactic move which nullifies any attempt at counterplay. The rest is relatively easy — for 侯逸凡 (Hóu Yìfán).
28. ... fxg3 29. hxg3 Rac8 30. fxg4 hxg4 31. Kg2 Bd7 32. Rh1 Rg7 33. cxd6 Bxd6 34. Rxc8 Bxc8 35. Bc5 Bxc5. 35. ... Ke7 36. Rh6! does not make any difference.
36. bxc5 Bf5 37. Kf2 Rg8 38. Ke3 Rd8 39. Rf1 Kg6 40. Rd1 Kg5 41. d6 Rh8


42. d7! Rd8 43. c6! bxc6 44. Bxa6 c5. Of course the Pawn is taboo: 44. ... Bxd7 45. Bb7+− or 44. ... Rxd7 45. Rxd7 Bxd7 46. Bb7 c5 47. a6+− winning right off.
45. Bb7 c4 46. a6 1–0.

After a feverish night due to a too pervasive anti-doping test, 侯逸凡 (Hóu Yìfán) broke the day with fresh energy, finally closing the dispute over the crown. Photo: Vitaliy Hrabar.

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