Walls and Vaults

侯逸凡 (Hóu Yìfán) – Arkadij Mikhailovich Naiditsch
4th GRENKE Chess Classic; Baden-Baden, April 22, 2017
French Defence C11

1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. e5 Nfd7 5. f4 c5 6. Nf3 a6 7. Be3 Qb6 8. Rb1 Nc6 9. Qd2 Qc7. The alternative is 9. ... Qa7, e.g. 10. Ne2 b5 11. c3 Nb6 12. b3 c4 13. g4 cxb3 14. axb3 b4 15. Bg2 a5 16. 0-0 Ba6 17. Rfc1 bxc3 18. Nxc3 h5 19. h3 hxg4 20. hxg4 Nb4 21. Ne1 Qe7 22. Bf2 Qd8 ½ : ½ Alekseev – Fridman, 26th Paul Keres Memorial 2017, Tallinn 2017. 10. Be2 cxd4!? A variation in theme. For 10. ... Be7 11. 0-0 0-0 12. Nd1 cxd4 13. Nxd4 Nc5 14. Nf2 Bd7 15. c3 b5 see Timman – Bareev, 47th Moscow Blitz tournament, Moscow 1993. 11. Nxd4 Bc5 12. 0-0 Nxd4 13. Bxd4 Bxd4+ 14. Qxd4 Qc5 15. Qxc5 Nxc5 16. Kf2 Bd7 17. Bd3 Ke7 18. Ke3 Bb5 19. Bxb5 axb5 20. a3 Ra5 21. Rf3 Rc8!? After 21. ... Na4 22. Ne2 Nb6 the game seems rather balanced, but Naiditsch comes up with a very interesting Exchange sacrifice that locks down the position leaving Black with excellent dynamic compensation if White ever decides to open it up.

22. b4! Rxa3 23. Kd4 Ra4! Of course, both 23. ... Ne4 and 23. ... Na4 would be met by 24. Nxd5+ followed by Rf3xa3. 24. Nxa4 Nxa4 25. Kd3 g6 26. Kd2 h5 27. g3 Rc4 28. h3. White finally decides to break the wall, just to find out that she herself is who has to be content with a draw. 28. ... Kd7 29. g4 Rd4+ 30. Kc1 hxg4 31. hxg4 Kc6 32. Rbb3 Re4 33. Rf1 g5 34. fxg5 Rxg4 35. Rxf7 Rxg5 36. Rh3 Rxe5 37. Rhh7 Re4 38. c3 Kd6 39. Rd7+ Ke5 40. Rh5+ Kf6 41. Rh6+ Kf5 42. Rh3 b6 43. Rf7+ Ke5 44. Rf2 Rc4 45. Re2+ Kd6 46. Kd2 d4 47. cxd4 Rxb4 48. Rh4 Rb2+ 49. Kd3 Rb3+ 50. Kc2 Rc3+ 51. Kd2 Rc6 52. Rh6 Kd5 53. Re5+ Kxd4 54. Rhxe6 Rxe6 55. Rxe6 ½ : ½.

侯逸凡 (Hóu Yìfán) vs. Arkadij Mikhailovich Naiditsch. Photo: Georgios Souleidis/GRENKE Chess Classic.