Not Everything Is Impermanent

Wesley So – 侯逸凡 (Hóu Yìfán)
80th Tata Steel Chess Tournament; Wijk aan Zee, January 28, 2018
Catalan Opening E01

1. c4 e6 2. g3 d5 3. Bg2 Nf6 4. d4 Bb4+ 5. Bd2 Bd6 6. Nc3 0-0. “An unlucky idea, which had previously been played by strong players with success. However none of their opponents had played the direct response which So chooses”, Grandmaster Ian Rogers wrote in his report for the U.S. Chess Federation web site. 7. cxd5. A very simple solution. 7. ... exd5 8. Nxd5 Nxd5 9. Bxd5

9. ... Bxg3. Thus Black regains her Pawn, but now White can hope for the initiative out of the opening of the g-file. I feel that 9. ... Ba3(!) must be a much better move, not regaining but sacrificing a Pawn! 10. Qb3 Bd6 11. Nf3 c6. Black should have urgently played ... Nb8-d7-f6. 12. Bc4 Bf5. That’s all another story, but the way it goes it reminds me of R. J. Fischer – Addison, Interzonal Tournament, Palma de Mallorca 1970. 13. Ng5. Like Morphy in the “Opera Game”, So also disdains the gain of the b7-Pawn to focus instead on the f7-Pawn. 13. ... Qe7 14. Qf3 Bg6. 14. ... Qf6 15. h4 Nd7 16. 0-0-0 might be a little better, but not so much as to neutralise, in the mid run, White’s powerful initiative. 15. h4 Bb4. Preventing – at least for now – h4-h5. 16. 0-0-0 Bxd2+ 17. Rxd2 h5. If 17. ... h6 then 18. h5 Qxg5 19. hxg6 Qxg6 20. Rdd1 followed by Rd1-g1 with tremendous attack. 18. Rg1. Threatening Qf3-g3 followed by Ngxf7. Black can do very little, if nothing, to defend, so she prepares to pay a heavy material price for avoiding even worse consequences. 18. ... Nd7 19. Qg3 Nb6 20. Bb3 Qf6 21. e4 Rae8 22. e5 Qf5 23. Bc2 Qg4 24. Bxg6 Qxg3 25. Bh7+ Kh8 26. Rxg3 f6 27. Bg6 fxg5 28. Bxe8 gxh4 29. Rg5 Rxe8 30. Rxh5+ 1 : 0. Thus 侯逸凡 (Hóu Yìfán)’s passage in the Netherlands ends with 2½ points out of 13, that it’s not so bad for one who, like her, until recently has been devoting much of her time to her studies, winning the Rhodes Scholarship for the University of Oxford, where, starting next September, she’s gonna study for a Master’s Degree in Education, focusing on children’s development.

侯逸凡 (Hóu Yìfán) in black and white playing her last round game in Wijk aan Zee. Photo: Tata Steel Chess (@tatasteelchess).

But just before Dylan says “Lies that life is black and white”, here are Wesley So and 侯逸凡 (Hóu Yìfán) in full colours. Photo: Cathy Rogers.