既視感 (Déjà-vu)

侯逸凡 (Hóu Yìfán) – Jens-Uwe Maiwald
40th German Schach Bundesliga; Deizisau, November 24, 2019
Sicilian Defence B42

By a curious coincidence, just like a year ago 侯逸凡 (Hóu Yìfán) played with Jens-Uwe Maiwald, and exactly on the same day of the same month as on last year! 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 a6 5. Bd3 Bc5 6. Nb3 Ba7 7. Qe2 Nc6 8. Be3 Nge7 9. Nc3 0-0 10. 0-0 e5 11. Bxa7 Rxa7 12. Nd5 d6 13. Qe3 Ra8. Or, alternatively, 13. ... Be6 14. Rfd1 Ra8 15. Rd2 a5 16. Nb6 Ra7 17. Bc4 (but 18. Bb5! seems more promising) 18. ... a4 18. Nc1 Nd4= Zagrebelny – Bologan, 10th Goodricke Open, Calcutta 1999. 14. c4 a5!? A pseudo-novelty, and hardly an improvement over 14. ... Nxd5 15. exd5 Ne7 16. f4 exf4 17. Rxf4 Ng6= Kinnmark – Rantanen, 2nd Eksjö Schackklubb International Tournament, Eksjö 1974. Now, who knows what 侯逸凡 (Hóu Yìfán) had in mind about it. 15. Nb6 Ra7 16. Na4 Be6 17. Rac1 Qb8. 17. ... f5!? was probably a most principled continuation. 18. Rfd1 Rd8 19. h3 h6 20. Be2 Ng6 21. Bf1 Kh8 22. Nc3 a4. Overall, Black’s last moves are quite inconclusive, and White, with energetic play all over the board, will easily take advantage of it. Hence 22. ... b6 23. Nd2 Nce7 eventually followed by ... f7-f5 might have been taken into consideration. 23. Na1 Ra8 24. Nc2 Nge7 25. Nb5 Na7 26. Nca3 Nac6 27. Rd2 b6 28. Rcd1 Nc8 29. Nc2 Na5

30. Nb4! A temporary Pawn sacrifice which allows White’s Queen to deliver her crushing blows on both wings, so as to soon end the game. 30. ... Bxc4 31. Nc6 Nxc6 32. Bxc4 Ra5 33. Qa3 Kg8 34. Qf3 Rf8 35. Qc3 Nd4. Black has to return the Pawn anyway (for if 35. .. Rd8 then 36. Bxf7+), with not even a material consolation to “compensate” for his miserable position. 36. Nxd4 exd4 37. Rxd4 Rc5 38. Qb4 b5 39. Be2 h5 40. Rd5 1 : 0. There was no sense in continuing, for White wins both material and positional victories.

侯逸凡 (Hóu Yìfán), the female star of the German Bundesliga, signing the book of the town of Deizisau. Screen capture from SchachBundesliga in Deizisau 2019 Impressions Day 1/GRENKE Chess YouTube Channel.