Tea And Biscuits

侯逸凡 (Hóu Yìfán) – Elisabeth Pähtz

7th Karpov Trophy; time control: 20 minutes plus 10 seconds per move; Cap d’Agde, October 26, 2019

French Defence C11

1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Bg5 dxe4 5. Nxe4 Be7 6. Bxf6 gxf6 7. Nf3 f5 8. Nc3 a6 9. g3 b5 10. Bg2 Bb7 11. 0-0 c5 12. a4. Poor opening play by White. 12. ... b4 13. Ne2 0-0 14. Re1 Bf6 15. dxc5 Qc7 16. Qd2 Qxc5 17. Nf4 Rd8 18. Nd3 Qe7 19. Qe3 Nd7 20. Nd4 Bxg2 21. Kxg2 Nb6 22. Nf3 Nd5 23. Qh6 Bg7 24. Qh5 Qb7 25. Qh4 Rac8 26. Re2 b3 27. cxb3 Qxb3 28. Nde5 h6 29. Rc1 Qb7 30. Nc6 Re8 31. Rec2 Rc7 32. b4 Kf8 33. Qc4 Rec8 34. Qc5+ Kg8 35. b5 axb5 36. axb5 Bf8 37. Qd4 Bg7 38. Qd3 Qb6? (38. ... Ra8) 39. Qe2? (39. Ne7++−) 39. ... Kf8 40. Nce5 Kg8 41. Rc6 Rxc6 42. bxc6 Ne7 43. Qc4 Qc7 44. Qc5 Nd5 45. Nd7 Bf8 (more solid seems to be 45. ... Qd8 followed by ... Qd8-e7) 46. Nxf8 Rxf8 47. Nd4 Qe5 48. Nf3 Qe4. As it was, after repeatedly failing to take her chances, Pähtz had now nothing better than 48. ... Qb2! with a likely draw in the offing.

49. Rc4. Under other circumstances 侯逸凡 (Hóu Yìfán) would probably keep playing for a win with 49. c7 Rc8 50. Qb5! Qb4 51. Qa6! — but not in this case, where a draw is almost as a win. 49. ... Qe2 50. Qd4 Ne3+! 51. Qxe3 Qxc4 52. Qxh6 Qxc6 53. Qg5+ Kh7 54. Qh5+ Kg7 ½ : ½.

侯逸凡 (Hóu Yìfán) finally survived her German opponent’s French Defence. Photo: Le Récap’, No. 2, Sunday, October 27, 2019/capechecs.com.