Ten Minutes to Spare

侯逸凡 (Hóu Yìfán) – Levon Grigori Aronian

7th Chess World Cup; tie-break game 2; time control: 25 minutes plus 10 seconds per move; Tbilisi, September 8, 2017

Giuoco Piano C54

The only female player in the running for the World Cup bowed out today, after a fierce battle with the higher rated Armenian Grandmaster Levon Grigori Aronian. After two draws in the two classical games, and two draws in the two rapid tie-break games (25 minutes plus 10 seconds per move), 侯逸凡 (Hóu Yìfán) lost both the two super-rapid tie-break games (10 minutes plus 10 seconds per move). We common mortals could never comprehend the reason of the quickness with which, in the second of the two classical games, she gave up both her Bishops in exchange of venially ruining her opponent’s Pawn formation, but since such idle disquisitions can be neither denied nor confirmed, we can only hope that her managerial team finally got what it expected. 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. 0-0 Nf6 5. d3 0-0 6. Nbd2. Two days earlier, in the first of the two classical games, 侯逸凡 (Hóu Yìfán) preferred 6. Re1. 6. ... d6 7. c3 a6 8. Bb3 Ba7 9. h3 Kh8. Once again Aronian shows how deeply he has studied his opponent’s opening repertoire. 10. Re1 Nh5 11. Nf1 f5

12. exf5. Strangely (but not too much) here 侯逸凡 (Hóu Yìfán) takes the most unpredictable route off her known itinerary. Actually, after 12. Ng5 Qe8 13. Bf7 Rxf7 14. Qxh5 g6 15. Nxf7+ Qxf7 16. Qe2 f4 17. Nh2 g5 18. b4 Bd7 19. Bb2 Rg8 20. d4 h5 Black obtained an excellent strategic (and dynamic as well) compensation for the Exchange, 侯逸凡 (Hóu Yìfán) – Kosteniuk, 1st World Mind Sports Games, Women’s Teams Blitz Event, 北京 (Běijīng) 2008. Maybe White could improve something somewhere, but overall Black’s Exchange sacrifice seems perfectly sound, so she decides to cut away the ground under her opponent’s feet. Objectively speaking, the text is nothing special, except for the fact that now Aronian has to play on his own. 12. ... Bxf5 13. Be3 Bxe3 14. Nxe3 Bg6 15. d4 Nf4. White has ceded any initiative and now must deal with quite an uncomfortable position. Luckily for her, Aronian does not seem particularly interested in pushing hard for the win in the rapid tie-break games. 16. dxe5 Nd3. 16. ... Be4 17. Nd2 Bxg2 18. Nxg2 Nxh3+ 19. Kh2 Nxf2 20. Qh5 Nxe5 is a line which the engines evaluate as more promising for Black, even though the situation would actually be very unclear. Aronian prefers to not take risks and bet on the two super-rapid tie-break games (10 minutes plus 10 seconds per move). The facts will show he is right. 17. Rf1 Nxb2 18. Qd5 Nd3 19. exd6 Nf4 20. Qg5 Ne2+ 21. Kh1 cxd6 22. Qxd8 Raxd8 23. Nd5 Na5 24. Rfe1 Nxb3 25. axb3 Nf4 ½ : ½.

A long undressing. Photo: Maria Alekseevna Emelianova.