Sunday, February 26, 2017

Queen in Blue

侯逸凡 (Hóu Yìfán) – Richárd Rapport
Grand Prix 2017; 1st stage; Sharjah, February 26, 2017
Caro-Kann Defence B19

Notes by Andrew David Martin, “First Steps: The Caro-Kann”, Gloucester Publishers, London, 2018, pp. 58-61.

1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 dxe4 4. Nxe4 Bf5 5. Ng3 Bg6 6. h4 h6 7. Nf3 Nd7 8. h5 Bh7 9. Bd3 Bxd3 10. Qxd3 e6 11. Bd2 a5 Various ideas have been tried by Black to spice this line up and 11. ... a5 has not been scoring badly in recent times. Larsen liked to push his flank Pawns all the way, but the modern treatment is to prepare ... Bf8-b4. 12. 0-0-0 Bb4. Trying to force a concession on the Queenside. The notion is that if White moves the c-Pawn forward he (or she) is weakening his (or her) King position. Political correctness is a must in any modern chess book. 侯逸凡 (Hóu Yìfán) agrees. 13. Ne4 Ngf6 14. c3. 14. Bxb4, aiming for Ne4-d6+, can be met in two successful ways: 1) 14. ... axb4! 15. Nd6+ Ke7 16. Nxb7 Qb6 17. Nc5 Nxc5 18. dxc5 Qxc5 19. Qb3 Rhd8 and the very weak Pawn on h5 gives Black an undisputed advantage. 2) 14. ... Nxe4 is also good; e.g. 15. Be1 (15. Qxe4? axb4 16. Kb1 Qa5) 15. ... Nef6 16. Kb1 0-0 is equal. 14. ... Nxe4 15. Qxe4 Nf6 16. Qe2 Be7 17. g4. Perhaps White should prevent ... Qd8-d5 with the traditional 17. c4, but Black is comfortable after 17. ... a4 18. Kb1 a3 19. b3 Qc7. 17. ... Qd5! Inconvenient, as the Queen attacks a2 and threatens ... Qd5-e4. 18. c4 Qe4 19. Qxe4 Nxe4 20. Be3


20. ... f5! Rapport is known as an original and creative player and we see this with his choice of 20. ... f5. With the game already heading for a draw, Black finds a way to spice it up. 21. gxf5 0-0! 22. Nh4 exf5. White gets a little more active than she does in the game if Black trades on h4; e.g. 22. ... Bxh4 23. Rxh4 exf5 24. d5 cxd5 25. Rxd5 Rac8 26. b3 a4 27. Kc2 axb3+ 28. axb3 and White has an edge, with more active pieces and a better King. 23. Ng6 Rfe8 24. Nxe7+. The trump card can be played with 24. d5 but Black is safe enough after 24. ... Bg5. Therefore 侯 (Hóu) chops the Bishop off. 24. ... Rxe7 25. Rh4 Nf6 26. Rf4 Nxh5 27. Rxf5 Ng3 28. Rf3 Ne4 29. d5 cxd5 30. Rxd5. This way around, Black doesn&squo;t have a vulnerable Pawn on f5 to worry about. 30. ... a4 31. Kc2 Rc8 32. b3 axb3+ ½ : ½. I think we can safely say that 10. ... e6 is a tough nut to crack.

侯逸凡 (Hóu Yìfán), the Queen of draws. Photo: Maria Alekseevna Emelianova.

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