Mayflies and Stoneflies

侯逸凡 (Hóu Yìfán) – 丁立人 (Dīng Lìrén)
Grand Prix 2017; 2nd stage; Moscow, May 14, 2017
Giuoco Piano C54

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Nf6 4. d3 Bc5 5. 0-0 0-0 6. a4 d6 7. c3 a5 8. Bg5 h6. For 8. ... Ne7!? 9. Nh4 d5! 10. Bb3? (sounder was 10. exd5 followed by Nb1-d2) 10. ... dxe4 11. Bxf6 gxf6 12. Nd2 Ng6 13. Nxe4 Be7 14. Nxg6 hxg6 see 侯逸凡 (Hóu Yìfán) – Ivanchuk, “尚街杯” (“MEWE Cup”) 2017 World Champion Summit Chess Match, 深圳 (Shēnzhèn) 2017, match game 4. 9. Bh4 g5 10. Bg3 Kg7!? 丁立人 (Dīng Lìrén) goes on his own track. In Nijboer – Janssen, Dutch Championship Qualifier Chess Tournament, Delft 2017 was seen 10. ... g4 11. Nh4 Nh5 12. Na3 Qg5 13. Nb5 Bb6 14. d4 exd4 15. cxd4 Qg7 16. Nf5 Bxf5 17. exf5 Nxd4 18. f6 Qxf6 19. Qxg4+ Qg5 20. Qe4 Rae8 21. Qxb7 Nf5 22. Ra3 Nhxg3 23. hxg3 Ne3 24. fxe3 Rxe3 25. Rxe3 Bxe3+ 26. Rf2 Bxf2+ 0 : 1. 11. Re1 g4 12. Bh4!? White offers a very interesting Knight sacrifice which, if accepted, would provide her enough play to achieve at least a draw, so 丁立人 (Dīng Lìrén) goes for more. 12. ... Ne7 13. Bxf6+ Kxf6 14. d4 Bb6 15. Nh4 Kg7 16. Na3 exd4 17. cxd4 Nc6 18. Nf5+ Bxf5 19. exf5 h5 20. Nc2 Qf6. White must cede a Pawn, but luckily for her, she’s gonna get something for it. 21. Re4 Qxf5 22. Bd3 Qg5. With the deadly threat of ... d6-d5. White, however, finds an ingenious way – maybe the only one – to put her Rook in a limb. 23. g3 f5 24. Rf4. Curiously enough, White’s Rook ended up stalemated, but 侯逸凡 (Hóu Yìfán), through the sacrifice of a second Pawn, will succeed in finding interesting counterchances. 24. ... Rae8. If Black could bring his Knight to d5 (... Nc6-e7-d5) the game would be over, but unluckily for him 24. ... Ne7 would be met by 25. Ne3. 25. h4 gxh3 26. Qf3 d5. Already having the positional Exchange sacrifice in mind. 27. Rd1. Not 27. Qxd5? because of 27. ... Ne5! (28. dxe5?? Qxg3+), but 27. Rh4 might have been better (27. ... Re4 28. Rxh5 Qg6∞).

27. ... Re4! Perhaps the exclamation mark shouldn’t appear on your screen, because such a sacrifice was very easy to play and did not require any particular calculation, and nevertheless such things are never obvious. 28. Bxe4 fxe4 29. Qe3 Rxf4 30. Qxf4 Qxf4 31. gxf4 Ne7 32. Kh2 Ng6 33. f5. 侯逸凡 (Hóu Yìfán) is tremendously short of time and now cannot but rely upon little more than her own intuition. The alternative 33. f3 Nxf4 34. fxe4 dxe4 35. Re1 Nd3 36. Rxe4 Nxb2 also would have given Black exuberant compensation and good winning chances, but not necessarily a win. 33. ... Nf4 34. f3? Stockfish’s emergency line 34. b4 axb4 35. Nxb4 Kf6 36. Nc2 Kxf5 was probably White’s last chance to reach time control without having to contemplate a disaster. 34. ... c6! 35. fxe4 dxe4 36. Re1? With no more time to think about what to do, White goes down following a chimera (the e-Pawn), even though it’s not easy to suggest how to spend better the lost time – 36. Rg1+ Kf7 saves time, but probably not the game. 36. ... Bc7! 37. Rg1+. Not 37. Rxe4?? Nd3+ followed by a double check to King and Rook. 37. ... Kf7 38. Rf1 Kf6 39. Kg3 Kxf5 40. Ne3+ Kg5 41. Nc4 h4+ 42. Kf2 Nd3+ 43. Ke2 Bf4 44. Nxa5 h2 45. Nxb7 Nc1+. 45. ... Nxb2?? 46. Nc5 was too unreal to happen. 46. Kf2 e3+ 47. Kg2 e2 48. Re1 Bd2 49. Rh1 Nb3 50. Kxh2 e1=Q 51. Rxe1 Bxe1 0 : 1.

侯逸凡 (Hóu Yìfán). Photo © Valery Sharifulin/TASS.

侯逸凡 (Hóu Yìfán) and 丁立人 (Dīng Lìrén). Photo: Mikhail Vasin.