Metamath

侯逸凡 (Hóu Yìfán) – Thies Heinemann
40th German Schach Bundesliga; Kiel, February 9, 2020
Sicilian Defence B20

So today is just another day. 侯逸凡 (Hóu Yìfán)’s opponent is Grandmaster Thies Heinemann, a mathematician. He defends the colours of the Hamburger Schachklub von 1830 (HSK). 1. e4 c5 2. Ne2 d6 3. g3 g6 4. d4 cxd4 5. Nxd4 Bg7 6. Bg2 Qb6!? 7. Nb3 Nc6 8. Nc3 Bxc3+!? The surrender of the fianchettoed Bishop constitutes, not so strangely, a theoretical novelty. Usual is 8. ... Nf6 9. 0-0 0-0 10. h3 transposing into a sort of Modern Defence. 9. bxc3 Nf6 10. h3 Be6 11. Bh6 Nd7 12. 0-0 f6 13. Nd4 Bc4 14. Re1 Nd8 15. h4 e5 16. Rb1 Qc5 17. Nb3 Qc7 18. Qd2 Be6 19. f4 Rc8. Of course, on 19. ... Nf7 White’s 20. f5! comes just in time. 20. f5 Bf7 21. Rbd1 gxf5? (21. ... Rg8! 22. Kh2 Ke7)

22. Qxd6? “A horse, a horse, my kingdom for a horse!”. And a Knight came to 侯逸凡 (Hóu Yìfán), but she had not enough time to note it: 22. Nd4! exd4 (22. ... fxe4 23. Nf5 d5 24. Ng7+ Ke7 25. c4!→ also gives White a potent attack) 23. exf5+ Ne5 24. cxd4 Bh5 25. dxe5 dxe5 26. Kh2! Bxd1 27. Rxd1 Nf7 28. Bg7 Rg8 29. Bxf6 Rg4 30. c3! with powerful compensation for the Exchange. 22. ... Bh5. Maybe too hasty. Here ... Rh8-g8 was probably best — before or after exchanging Queens. 23. Qxc7? (23. exf5! Bxd1 24. Qxd1 Qxc3 25. Qh5+ Ke7!?∞) 23. ... Rxc7 24. Rd3. Other moves are no good either; for instance: 24. Rd5 Bf7 forcing White to make painful concessions. 24. ... f4! By this classic Pawn sacrifice Black interrupts the diagonal c1-h6 and ultimately traps White’s Bishop. The price paid — three Pawns — is merely temporary, because White’s Pawns are too weak and scattered to be maintained. 25. gxf4 Nf7 26. fxe5 Nxh6 27. exf6 Ne5 28. Rd5 Nhf7 29. Nd4 Bg4 30. Rf1 Rg8 31. Nf5 Bxf5 32. Rxf5 Rxc3. White’s game is now hopeless, even though it took Heinemann some time to believe it was true. 33. Rf2 Rg6 34. h5 Rh6 35. Rf5 Kf8 36. Rd2 Rc6 37. Rdf2 Rd6 38. Bh3 Rd4 39. Re2 Ra4 40. Kh2 Rxa2 41. Kg3 Ra3+ 42. Kg2 Ra6 43. Ref2 Rc6 44. Kg3 a5 45. Bf1 Rc3+ 46. Kf4 Rc6 a4 47. Rxe5 Nxe5 48. Kxe5 Kf7 49. Kd4 Rhxf6 0 : 1.