Wild Cards

Pavel Eljanov – 侯逸凡 (Hóu Yìfán)
3rd Gashimov Memorial; Şəmkir, June 2, 2016
Queen’s Pawn Game D02

1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 d5 3. Bf4. The so-called London System used to be Eljanov’s favourite. It’s hard to imagine something more dull, and yet it is not so easy to get bored by it. 3. ... e6. For 3. ... Bf5 4. e3 e6 5. Bd3 Ne4 see Eljanov – 李超 (Lǐ Chāo), 4th Altibox Norway Chess, Stavanger 2016. 4. e3 c5 5. c3 Nc6 6. Nbd2 Bd6 7. Bg3 0-0 8. Bb5 a5 9. a4 Ne7 10. Qe2 Nf5 11. Bd3 Be7 12. Be5 b6 13. Bxf6. White cedes the Bishop pair for launching himself into a Kingside assault which appears well grounded. 13. ... Bxf6 14. g4 Nd6 15. h4 Be7 16. g5 Bb7 17. Ne5 Qe8. Intending ... f7-f5. 18. Rg1 f5 19. gxf6 Bxf6 20. Qg4 Ba6. 侯逸凡 (Hóu Yìfán) shows all her qualities as a counter attacker, defending while keeping an eye on the White’s King stuck in the centre. 21. Bc2 Ra7 22. Ndf3 Bxe5 23. dxe5 Nf5 24. Ng5 h6 25. Nh3

25. ... d4. Black launches into a wild counterattack, sacrificing her Knight for two Pawns in the hope to bite hard enough to hurt. 25. ... b5 was a less committal continuation, but not so consistent with the aim of playing for a win. 26. e4 d3 27. Bb3 c4 28. Bd1. But Eljanov didn’t lose his head, at least so far. 28. ... Qb8 29. exf5 Qxe5+ 30. Kd2 Rxf5 31. f4 Qf6 32. Bf3 Bb7 33. Bxb7 Rxb7 34. Qf3 Rf7. Both players are in serious time trouble, so no wonder if, especially from a computer point of view, their next few moves are not the best ones. 35. h5 Qh4 36. Rg4 Qxh5 37. Rag1 Rd5 38. Nf2 Qf5 39. Ne4 Rdd7 40. Qe3 b5. The time control is finally reached. The endgame is actually far unbalanced, but in the long run Black won’t manage to retain her three extra Pawns as a compensation for the sacrificed Knight. 41. Nc5 Rde7 42. Qe5 bxa4 43. Ke3 Kh7 44. Rh4 Qxe5+ 45. fxe5 Rf5 46. Rxc4 Rxe5+ 47. Ne4 g5 48. Rxa4 Kg6 49. Kxd3 Rf7 50. Nd2 h5 51. Re4 Rxe4 52. Nxe4 g4 53. c4 Rf3+. Also after 53. ... Rd7+ 54. Ke3 Rb7 55. c5! Rxb2 56. Rc1 White should win. 54. Kd4 Kf5 55. Ng3+ Rxg3. She gets her last satisfaction before of her resignation. After all, she lacks only one tempo! 56. Rxg3 h4 57. Rg1 g3 58. Ke3 Kg4 59. Rd1 e5 60. c5 1 : 0. A very hard fought struggle. It’s worth a wildcard for the less lucky one.

Pavlovian antipodes. Photos: gashimovchess.com.