Solid Rock

侯逸凡 (Hóu Yìfán) – 余泱漪 (Yú Yāngyī)

7th 海南 (Hǎinán) 儋州 (Dānzhōu) Super Grandmaster Chess Tournament “人民网 (People’s Daily Online) Cup”; 儋州 (Dānzhōu), July 16, 2016

Sicilian Defence B92

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Be2 e5 7. Nb3 Be7 8. 0-0 0-0 9. Be3 Be6 10. Qd2 Nbd7 11. a4 Rc8 12. a5 Qc7 13. Rfd1 Rfd8. For 13. ... Rfe8 14. Qe1 Qc6 15. Bf3 h6 16. Nc1 Qc7 17. h3 Nf8 18. Nd3 Ng6 19. Nb4 Qd7 20. Na4 Bd8 21. Nc5 Qe7 see Kovchan – Korobov, 83rd Ukrainian Chess Championship, Lviv 2014. 14. Qe1 Qc6 15. Bf3 h6 16. Nc1 Qc7 17. h3. For 17. Nd3 d5 18. exd5 Bf5 see Zaw Win Lay – J. Polgár, Japfa Classic Chess Tournament, Denpasar 2000. 17. ... Re8. For 17. ... d5 18. exd5 Bf5 19. Nd3 Bd6 20. Ra4 Re8 21. Be2 e4 22. Nc1 Ne5 23. Nb3 Qd7 24. Rad4 Bxh3 see Kovchan – Borovikov, 77th Ukrainian Chess Championship, Poltava 2008. 18. Nb3 Qb8. For 18. ... Nf8 19. Bb6 Qb8 20. Nd2 N8h7 21. Be3 Ng5 see Kovchan – Areshchenko, 80th Ukrainian Chess Championship, Kiev 2011. 19. Rac1 Bd8 20. Ra1 Rc4 21. Nd2 Rc6 22. Nf1 Qc8 23. Rd2 b5 24. axb6 Nxb6 25. Rd3 Nc4 26. Bc1 Ba5 27. Qd1. White is forced into a general liquidation of material which leads very quickly to a draw. Since also 27. b3 Na3 leads nowhere, she must eventually look for improvement before.

27. ... Nxb2 28. Bxb2 Bxc3 29. Rxc3 Rxc3 30. Bxc3 Qxc3 31. Rxa6 Rc8 32. Rxd6 Qxc2 33. Rd8+ Kh7 34. Rxc8 Qxc8 35. Ne3 Qc5 36. h4 g6 37. g3 Kg7 38. Bg2 Qb4 39. Qa1 Qc5 40. Qd1 Qb4 41. Qa1 Qc5 42. Qd1 Qb4 ½ : ½.

侯逸凡 (Hóu Yìfán) vs. 余泱漪 (Yú Yāngyī)
Photo: cmsa.cn