Luck on the Line

侯逸凡 (Hóu Yìfán) – Ruslan Olegovich Ponomariov

2nd Chess Festival Eighth Centenary 2019 of Salamanca University; time control: 40 minutes plus 5 seconds per move; Salamanca, November 27, 2019

Spanish Game C65

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. d3 Bc5 5. Bxc6 dxc6 6. Nbd2 Bg4 7. Nc4. If 7. h3 then 7. ... Bh5 8. Nf1 Nd7 9. Ng3 Bxf3 10. Qxf3 g6 11. Be3 Qe7 12. 0-0-0 0-0-0 with approximate equality, Anand – Carlsen, Chennai 2013, World Chess Championship match game 7. 7. ... Nd7 8. h3 Be6. 8. ... Bh5 transposes into well-known fields; for instance: 9. g4 Bg6 10. Qe2 Qe7 11. Bd2 0-0-0 12. 0-0-0 f6 13. Ne3 Nf8 14. Nf5 Qf7 15. Kb1 Ne6 16. Be3 Rhe8 17. Bxc5 Nxc5 18. Qe3 b6 19. Rhe1 Ne6 20. d4 Bxf5 21. gxf5 Nxd4 22. Nxd4 exd4 23. Rxd4 Rxd4 24. Qxd4 Qh5 25. Qe3 g6 26. fxg6 hxg6 27. f4 Rh8 28. Rh1 g5 29. fxg5 Qxg5 30. Qf3 Kb7 31. b3 ½ : ½ Láznička – Goganov, 17th European Individual Chess Championship, Gjakova 2016. 9. Na5 Rb8. 9. ... Bb4+ 10. Bd2 Bxa5 11. Bxa5 c5 12. Bc3 f6 also seems finely balanced, Warmerdam – Swinkels, 10th BPB Limburg Open, Maastricht 2016. 10. 0-0 f6 11. Qe1 0-0 12. Be3 Bxe3 13. Qxe3 c5 14. a3 c6 15. b4 Qc7 16. Nd2 b6 17. Nab3 Qd6 18. bxc5 Nxc5 19. Nxc5 bxc5 20. Rfb1 Rb6 21. a4 Rfb8 22. Rxb6 axb6 23. a5!? 侯逸凡 (Hóu Yìfán) gives up the a-Pawn in order to force a Queen ending a Pawn down, feeling confident that she would be able to save it. Quite probably 23. c4!? Rd8 24. a5! bxa5 (not 24. ... Qxd3?? on account of 25. Qxd3 Rxd3 26. axb6 Rxd2 27. b7+−) 25. Nb3= would have set White on a safer way towards a draw. 23. ... Ra8 24. Nb3. 24. a6 Bc8 must ultimately lead to the fall of the a-Pawn anyway, with little difference with respect to the game. 24. ... Bxb3 25. cxb3 Rxa5 26. Rxa5 bxa5 27. Qe2 Kf8 28. Qg4 Qxd3 29. Qc8+ Kf7 30. Qxc6 Qd4 31. g4 h6 32. Qc7+ Kg6 33. Qxa5 Qxe4 34. Qxc5 Qb1+ 35. Kg2 Qxb3 36. Qc6 Qd3 37. h4 e4 38. Qe6 Qf3+ 39. Kg1 Qf4 40. Kg2 Qe5! The best offer. 41. Qxe5?? It sounds like a curse for 侯逸凡 (Hóu Yìfán) to go into a dead lost Pawn endgame! The best and almost only move was 41. Qd7! keeping the Queens on the board with pretty good drawing chances. 41. ... fxe5 42. Kf1

42. ... h5? Luckily for 侯逸凡 (Hóu Yìfán), Ponomariov misses his big chance: 42. ... Kf6!!−+ 43. Ke2 g5! 44. h5 Ke6 45. Kd2 Kd6! winning by force. 43. gxh5+ Kf5 44. Ke1 Kg4 45. Ke2 Kf4 46. h6! The only move to save the game. 46. ... gxh6 47. h5 e3 48. f3 e4 49. fxe4 Kxe4 50. Ke1 Kf3 51. Kf1 Kg4 52. Ke2 Kf4 53. Ke1 Kf3 54. Kf1 e2+ 55. Ke1 Ke3 stalemate.

Well, there’s not much to say except that Pawn endings can be tricky. Photo: Manuel Laya/El Norte de Castilla.