Midnight Express

Ruslan Olegovich Ponomariov – 侯逸凡 (Hóu Yìfán)

Rapid & Blitz World Chess Champions Showdown; match game 9; time control: 3 minutes plus 2 seconds per move; 深圳 (Shēnzhèn), July 7, 2018

Catalan Opening E05

In the end, ten blitz games did not change the general and personal conclusions about 深圳 (Shēnzhèn)’s clash of genders. Ruslan Olegovich Ponomariov also won the blitz tithe for 6½–3½, and thus, overall, the match for 11–7. 20,000$ is the prize money for him, 10,000$ for 侯逸凡 (Hóu Yìfán). 1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 d5 3. c4 e6 4. g3 Be7 5. Bg2 0-0 6. 0-0 dxc4 7. Qa4 a6 8. Qxc4 b5 9. Qc2 Bb7 10. Bd2 Bd6 11. Re1 Be4 12. Qc1 Bb7 13. a3 Nbd7 14. b4 Ne4!?TN (14. ... Ra7 15. a4 Qa8 16. axb5 axb5 17. Rxa7 Qxa7 18. Nc3 Bxb4 19. Nxb5 Qa5 20. Bxb4 ½ : ½ Láznička – Movsesian, 27th Czech Open, Pardubice 2016) 15. Nc3 (15. Ng5 Nxd2 16. Bxb7 Nb3) 15. ... Nb6 16. Qc2 Nxd2 17. Nxd2 Bxg2 18. Kxg2 f5 19. e4 f4 20. e5 Be7 21. Qe4 Qe8 22. Rac1

22. ... a5! 23. Rb1 axb4 24. axb4 Ra3 25. Rec1 Qf7 26. g4? f3+ 27. Kh1 Bg5? (27. ... Nd5!∓) 28. Nxb5 Bxd2? (28. ... Ra2 29. Rxc7 Qf4) 29. Rxc7 Qe8 30. Nxa3 Nd5 31. Nc4? (31. Rc4+−) 31. ... Rf4? Blitz jokes! After 31. ... Nxc7 32. Nxd2 White is clearly better, but 31. ... Bf4 32. Ra7 Nc3∞ would have kept things in a rather unclear balance. 32. Qc2? On his turn Ponomariov misses 32. Qxf4! Nxf4 33. Nd6 which would have won on the spot. 32. ... Nxc7 33. Qxd2 Rxg4 34. Qe3 Qg6 35. Qxf3?? The last hallucination. White’s best was 35. Rc1! Rf4! 36. Rg1 Rg4 37. Rc1 Rf4 drawing by repetition. 35. ... Qxb1+ 0 : 1.

侯逸凡 (Hóu Yìfán) vs. Ruslan Olegovich Ponomariov. Four-time Women’s World Champion said afterwards that she will soon go back to 北京 (Běijīng) to prepare for her exhibition match with Russian Grandmaster Nikita Kirillovich Vitiugov, which will take place concurrently to the 5th Russia–China Junior Match of Friendship in Belokurikha, Altai Krai, Russia from 14–18 July 2018, in fact her last chess appointment before going up as a Rhodes Scholar to the University of Oxford. Photos: Sina Sports.

Today 侯逸凡 (Hóu Yìfán) showed off a breathtaking black-and-white outfit, even if, of course, good taste should not carry a price tag. Photo: 樊璐璐 (Fán Lùlù).