Half of a Yellow Sun

侯逸凡 (Hóu Yìfán) – Vassily Mykhaylovych Ivanchuk

7th 海南 (Hǎinán) 儋州 (Dānzhōu) Super Grandmaster Chess Tournament “人民网 (People’s Daily Online) Cup”; 儋州 (Dānzhōu), July 11, 2016

Sicilian Defence B30

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 e6 4. 0-0 Nge7 5. d4 cxd4 6. Nxd4 Ng6 7. Be3 Qc7. Another try is 7. ... Be7 8. Be2 0-0 9. Nc3 a6 10. a4 Qc7 11. Nb3 b6 12. f4 Bb7 13. Qd2 Rad8 14. Bd3 d5 15. exd5 exd5 16. f5 Nge5 17. f6 Bxf6 18. Rxf6 d4 19. Rxc6 Nxc6 20. Nxd4 Nxd4 21. Bxd4 Rxd4 22. Bxh7+ Kxh7 23. Qxd4 Re8 24. Rd1 Re6 25. Rd3 Rg6 26. Rg3 Rxg3 27. Qh4+ Kg8 28. hxg3 Qc6 29. Qd8+ Kh7 30. Qh4+ Kg8 31. Qd8+ Kh7 32. Qd3+ Kg8 33. Qd8+ 1/2-1/2 Vachier-Lagrave – Gelfand, Grand Prix Series 2014/2015, 4th stage, Khanty-Mansiysk 2015. 8. Be2. 8. Nc3 a6 9. Be2 b5 may eventually transpose into 10. Nxc6 Qxc6 11. Qd4 b4 12. e5 Bb7 13. Bf3 Qc7 14. Bxb7 Qxb7 15. Ne4 Be7 16. Bg5 0-0 17. Bxe7 Nxe7 18. Nd6 Qc6 19. Rac1 Nd5 20. f4 f6 21. f5 fxe5 22. Qxe5 Rf6 23. Rf3 Ne7 24. Rcf1 Qd5 25. Qxd5 Nxd5 26. Ne4 Rxf5 27. Rxf5 exf5 28. Rxf5 Ne3 29. Rc5 Nd1 30. Rd5 Nxb2 31. Rxd7 Nc4 32. Ng5 Re8 33. Ra7 a5 34. Kf2 h6 35. Nf3 Re4 ½ : ½ Tal – Taimanov, 44th USSR Chess Championship, Moscow 1976. 8. ... Nxd4 9. Bxd4 Bd6 10. g3 0-0 11. c4 b6 12. Nc3 Be7 13. Rc1 Bb7 14. Bf3. Not seeing a way to get out of it any tangible advantage, 侯逸凡 (Hóu Yìfán) decides to sacrifice a couple of Pawns, glad enough to force the draw by repetition. 14. ... Qxc4

15. Nd5 Qxa2 16. Ra1 Qc4 17. Rc1 Qa2 18. Ra1 ½ : ½.

Bittersweetness corner
Photo: 李昕 (Lǐ Xīn)/sports.sina.com.cn