Three in One

侯逸凡 (Hóu Yìfán) – Fabiano Caruana

2nd Speed Chess Championship; match game 8; time control: 5 minutes plus 2 seconds per move; chess.com, August 24, 2017

nrbkrbqn/pppppppp/8/8/8/8/PPPPPPPP/NRBKRBQN w EBeb - 0 1

Position #358

1. Nb3 f5 2. f4 Nb6 3. g3 Ng6 4. Bg2 e5 5. fxe5 Nxe5 6. Nf2 d5 7. d3 Bd7 8. Bg5+ Be7 9. Bxe7+ Rxe7 10. Kc1!? A very subtle concept: White does not castle on the a-side, judging that her Rook on the b-file is optimally placed already. 10. ... 0-0-0. Black adopts a more classic approach, apparently not being afraid of her opponent’s aggressive intentions on the a-side. 11. Nc5 Kb8 12. Nd1 Bc8 13. a4 Qe8 14. a5 Na4 15. Ra1 Nxc5 16. Qxc5 Ng4. Black consolidated very well and has now an excellent position. 17. Nc3. If 17. Bxd5 there might follow 17. ... Re5! (or, more minimally, 17. ... Rxe2 18. Rxe2 Qxe2 19. a6 b6 20. Qc6 Rxd5! 21. Qxd5 Qxd1+! 22. Kxd1 Ne3+ leaving White the task of defending a very unpleasant endgame) 18. c4 c6 19. Nc3 Rd7 (not 19. ... cxd5?? 20. Nb5 and it is White who wins!) 20. d4 Qe7! with clear advantage to Black. 17. ... Rxe2?? Here Caruana, with no more time to move, just blunders a Rook. With 17. ... Ne3 Black would have retained his good chances. 18. Rxe2 Qxe2 19. Nxe2 1 : 0.

Fabiano Caruana – 侯逸凡 (Hóu Yìfán)

2nd Speed Chess Championship; match game 17; time control: 3 minutes plus 2 seconds per move; chess.com, August 24, 2017

nbbrnkrq/pppppppp/8/8/8/8/PPPPPPPP/NBBRNKRQ w GDgd - 0 1

Position #180

1. c4 c5 2. Nb3. An older (and very qualified) try is 2. d4 cxd4 3. Rxd4 Be5 4. Rd1 0-0 5. Nf3 Bf6 6. Bc2 g6 7. b3 Nac7 8. Ne3 Bb2 9. 0-0 Bxc1 10. Rxc1 Nf6 11. h3 b6 12. Qh2 d6 13. Qg3 Qg7 14. Qh4 Bb7 15. Rfd1 Rc8 16. Nd4 Rfd8 17. Rc3 e6 18. Nef5 exf5 19. Nxf5 g5 20. Qg3 Nh5 21. Qe3 Qf6 22. Ne7+ Kf8 23. Nxc8 Rxc8 24. Qd2 Nf4 25. Rg3 Rd8 26. Bxh7 Nce6 27. e3 Nh5 28. Rg4 Qh6 29. Bf5 Neg7 30. Qc2 Qf6 31. Be4 Bc8 32. Bf3 Qe5 33. Re4 Bf5 34. Rxe5 Bxc2 35. Rd2 Bg6 36. Bxh5 Nxh5 37. Rxg5 Nf6 38. f3 Ke7 39. e4 Nh7 40. Rgd5 f6 41. f4 1 : 0 Aronian – Svidler, 5th Clerical Medical World Chess960 Championship, Mainz 2006, match game 1. 2. ... b6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Bb7 5. Nef3 Nac7 6. h4 Nd6 7. b3 0-0-0!? The most committal castle, trusting in her two Bishops’s command of long diagonals. 8. Bf4 Ne6 9. Nxe6 dxe6 10. 0-0 h6!? Given the time control (and the overall partial match score) 侯逸凡 (Hóu Yìfán) is interestingly playing for a win, even at the cost of compromising her position. 11. Qh3? Caruana, too, is playing to win, but in his hurry he overlooks something important. 11. ... Bc7? Black misses 11. ... g5! 12. hxg5 hxg5 13. Qxh8 Rxh8 14. Nxg5 (or 14. Bxg5 Rdg8! 15. Bf4 Rh5! with a terrific attack) 14. ... Rdg8 which would have given her an excellent attacking position for the sacrificed Pawn. 12. Ne5! Now Black looks doomed. 12. ... Kb8!? A clever way of trying her luck. Now 12. ... g5 would have been met by 13. Nxf7 gxf4 14. Nxh8 Rxg2+ 15. Qxg2 Bxg2 16. Kxg2 Rxh8 17. Rc1 with a decisive advantage to White. If, instead, 12. ... Rgf8 there might follow 17. h5! which seems to leave Black in a kind of zugzwang. On the other hand, the impending threat by White of Rxd1xd6 does not seem to be satisfactorily parable. 13. Nxf7? Caruana apparently mis-shuffles his winning moves and takes the wrong way. After 13. Rxd6! Bxd6 14. Nxf7 (Her Majesty is trapped) 14. ... Bxf4 15. Nxh8 Rxh8 16. Qxe6 Black has no compensation for the lost crown. 13. ... Nxf7 14. Bxc7+ Kxc7 15. Qxe6 Nd6? But it is Black who makes the last mistake. The right way was 15. ... Rxd1 16. Rxd1 Rd8! 17. Qxe7+ Kb8 and certainly Black should not lose. 16. c5! This little tactics makes all the difference, and now Black can no longer defend herself. 16. ... bxc5 17. Qxe7+ Rd7 18. Qe5 Rgd8 19. Bf5 Qe8 20. Qxc5+ Kb8 21. Bxd7 Qxd7 22. Rd4 Qe6 23. Rfd1 Qg6 24. f3 1 : 0.

Fabiano Caruana – 侯逸凡 (Hóu Yìfán)

2nd Speed Chess Championship; match game 27; time control: 1 minute plus 1 second per move; chess.com, August 24, 2017

qnrknrbb/pppppppp/8/8/8/8/PPPPPPPP/QNRKNRBB w FCfc - 0 1

Position #207

1. g4 Nc6 2. f4 g6 3. c4 0-0-0 4. Nc3 e6 5. Nf3 f5 6. g5 d5 7. cxd5 exd5 8. Nb5 Nd6? This is a bad positional mistake due to the inhuman time control. 9. Nxd6+ Rxd6. Since 9. ... cxd6 10. Bd4 would be horrible for Black, 侯逸凡 (Hóu Yìfán) decides to reconvert her previous blunder into an Exchange sacrifice, which, quite incredibly, might even offer some compensation (especially if White doesn’t play at his best). 10. Bc5 Rfd8 11. Bxd6 Rxd6 12. Qb1 a5 13. Qc2 Qa6 14. Ne5 Qb6 15. Qc3? White should have been content with something like 15. Nxc6 Rxc6 16. Qb3 retaining his edge. 15. ... d4? And 侯逸凡 (Hóu Yìfán), on her part, throws away her last chance of saving the game: after 15. ... Nxe5 16. fxe5 Rc6 17. Qa3 Rxc1+ 18. Kxc1 Bxe5 Black seems to have full dynamic compensation for the Exchange. 16. Qc5 Qxb2? This quickly runs into mate, but being positionally doomed Black must play for his opponent to commit some error. 17. Nxc6 bxc6 18. Bxc6 Qxa2 19. Rf3. White could have already played his mating Bishop sacrifice here as well on his 21st move. 19. ... Bb3+ 20. Ke1 Qb2 21. Kf2 d3 22. Bb7+! Kxb7 23. Qxc7+ Ka8 24. Qc8+ Ka7 25. Rc7+ 1 : 0. Fischerandom chess would need more classic time control games rather than super-syncopated blitz’n’bullet jokes, but what offered by the online circuit of chess.com is at least better than nothing.