Wonderland

侯逸凡 (Hóu Yìfán) – Christopher R. Duncan
25th Four Nations Chess League — Division 1; Telford, May 5, 2019
Sicilian Defence B53

Finally, after a long courtship, the all-conquering Guildford succeeded in persuading four-time Women’s World Chess Champion and Rhodes Scholar 侯逸凡 (Hóu Yìfán) to join their team for the 25th Four Nations Chess League (4NCL). Her grand début happened today as Guildford played against Blackthorne Russia at Telford. 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Qxd4 Nc6 5. Bb5 Bd7 6. Qd3 Nf6 7. c4 e6 8. Nc3 Be7 9. 0-0. 侯逸凡 (Hóu Yìfán) repeated the variation she successfully played in the 2nd and 4th games of her Showdown Blitz against Parimarjan Negi at Saint Louis in 2015. 9. ... a6 10. Bxc6 Bxc6 11. Nd4 0-0 12. b3 Qa5 13. Bb2 Rfd8 14. Rfe1. The flashy 14. Nd5!? exd5 15. Nf5 dxe4! doesn’t seem to lead anywhere. 14. ... Be8 15. a4 Nd7 16. Rad1 Rac8!? A novelty, in place of 16. ... Bf6 17. Nce2 Be5 18. Bc3 Qb6 19. a5 Qc7 20. Qe3 Nf8? (but 20. ... b6! seems to be satisfactory for Black) 21. f4 Bf6 22. Ng3 e5? 23. Nh5! with a very powerful attack, Campora – Salmensuu, 34th Chess Olympiad, Istanbul 2000. 17. Qg3. With the powerful threat of Nc3-d5. 17. ... Qg5 18. Qh3 Ne5 19. Ba3 Nc6 20. Nde2 Qa5 21. Nf4 Qb6. The Black Queen starts to go back and forth without finding peace nor rest. 21. ... Bf6 22. Nce2 Be5 was playable and good. 22. Nce2. At this point, however, the classic Knight sacrifice 22. Ncd5! may be worth considering, as 22. ... exd5 23. Nxd5 Qa7 24. e5! seems to give White more than enough compensation, but 侯逸凡 (Hóu Yìfán) prefers (even understandably) to play it safe. 22. ... Qa5 23. Bb2 Bf8 24. Qg3 Ne5 25. Bc3 Qc7 26. Nd4 Qe7 27. Re3 Rb8. Black is even thinking about pushing the b-Pawn (... b7-b5). 28. a5 Nc6? This blatant error puts immediately an end to Black’s game. Also after 28. ... g6 29. Nh5! (Δ f2-f4) White keeps a very dangerous initiative, so Black should have probably considered 28. ... Qf6! (in order to reply to 29. Nf3 with 29. ... Qh6) looking ahead to better times.

29. Nf5! exf5 30. exf5 1 : 0. For after 30. ... Ne5 31. Nd5 the Black Queen is doomed.

David J. Eggleston – 侯逸凡 (Hóu Yìfán)
25th Four Nations Chess League — Division 1; Telford, May 5, 2019
French Defence C01

The second game of the day — against Cheddleton’s sixth board David J. Eggleston — was a non-budgeted 16-move draw. 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Nxe5 d6 4. Nf3 Nxe4 5. d3 Nf6 6. d4 d5 7. Bd3 Bd6 8. 0-0 0-0. What had begun as a Russian Defence became a French Defence (Exchange Variation), as the same position can be reached by 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. exd5 exd5 4. Nf3 Nf6 5. Bd3 Bd6 6. 0-0 0-0. 9. Re1 Bg4 10. Bg5 Nbd7 11. Nbd2 c6 12. c3 Qc7 13. Qc2 Rfe8 14. Bh4 Bh5 15. Bg3 Bg6 16. Bxg6 ½ : ½. No longer mirror symmetry, so it’s better to end it here.