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侯逸凡 (Hóu Yìfán) – Hikaru Nakamura
3rd Speed Chess Championship; match game 6 (5+1); Chess.com, July 26, 2018
Alekhine Defence B04

Four-time Women’s World Chess Champion 侯逸凡 (Hóu Yìfán) was neatly defeated by the top seed Hikaru Nakamura 27½–2½ in the 1/8 final match of the 3rd Chess.com Speed Chess Championship. In dealing with a format (blitz and superblitz) in which her opponent was objectively stronger than her, however, she could have felt penalised by the (too) innovative “remote Internet gateway”, which, in fact, ended up eclipsing her as the reigning fashion symbol of the broadcast. 1. e4 Nf6 2. e5 Nd5 3. d4 d6 4. Nf3 Nc6 5. exd6 exd6 6. c4 Nb6 7. h3 Be7 8. Nc3 0-0 9. Bd3 Bf6 10. 0-0 Nb4 11. Bb1 c5. Black’s last two moves (and especially the last one) are more than questionable. The alternative was 11. ... Be6 12. a3 Na6 13. d5 (13. b3 might well have been better) 13. ... Bd7 14. Ne4 Bf5 15. Nxf6+ Qxf6 16. Bxf5 Qxf5 17. b3 Nc5 18. Be3 a5 ½ : ½ Itkis – Pavlov, 8th Vladimir Vladimirovich Nabokov Memorial, Kyiv 2010. 12. d5! White takes command of the game. Something similar occurred during the 1966 Championship in Italy: 1. e4 Nf6 2. e5 Nd5 3. d4 d6 4. c4 Nb6 5. exd6 exd6 6. Bd3 Nc6 7. Ne2 Be7 8. 0-0 0-0 9. Nbc3 Nb4 10. Bb1 c5 11. d5 Nd7 12. a3 Na6 13. Ng3 Nf6 14. Bf4 Re8 15. Qd3 g6 16. Bc2 Bf8 17. Rae1 Rxe1 18. Rxe1 Bd7 19. Bg5 h6 20. Bh4 Bg7 21. Nce4 g5 22. Nxf6+ Qxf6 23. Qh7+ Kf8 24. Nh5 Qxb2 25. Bg3 Be5 26. Bxe5 1 : 0 Giustolisi – Di Vincenzi, 27th Italian Chess Championship, Rovigo 1966. 12. ... Bxc3. Not 12. ... Nxc4? because of 13. a3 followed by Qd1-d3. 13. bxc3 Na6 14. Bg5 f6 15. Bf4 Nc7 16. a4 a5? As they say, in a bad position bad moves come easily. The text simply loses a Pawn.

17. Bxh7+ Kxh7 18. Qb1+ g6 19. Qxb6 Ra6 20. Qb2 Ne8 21. Rfe1 Ng7 22. Nd2 Rf7 23. Ne4 g5 24. Bd2 Bf5 25. Re2 Qd7 26. Qb5 Qd8. Black cannot exchange Queens, for White would win at least another Pawn with catastrophic effect. 27. Qb2 Qd7 28. Qb5 Qd8 29. Qb2 Qd7 ½ : ½. In a totally winning position (30. Rae1+−) White, maybe depressed because she had already lost too many games, decided to content herself with a draw by repetition.