The Phantom of the Kiel Opera House

侯逸凡 (Hóu Yìfán) – Filip Boe Olsen
40th German Schach Bundesliga; Kiel, February 8, 2020
Caro-Kann Defence B12

Despite her absorption in her academic studies, four-time Women’s World Chess Champion and Rhodes Scholar 侯逸凡 (Hóu Yìfán) took out a little time this weekend to offer her help to her OSG Baden-Baden teammates. 1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. e5 Bf5 4. h4 h5 5. Bd3 Bxd3 6. Qxd3 e6 7. Ne2 c5 8. Bg5 Qa5+ 9. Nd2 Ne7 10. 0-0!? A novelty and an obvious improvement on 10. b4!?? cxb4 11. 0-0 Qa6 which gives White nothing for the Pawn, Pruess – Kaufman, 52nd Frank K. Berry U.S. Chess Championship, Tulsa 2008. 10. ... Qa6 11. dxc5 Nec6 12. Nf4 Nxe5? Black is too much in the hurry to win back the Pawn, thus giving his illustrious opponent the opportunity to tighten her grip on the position. He just needed a little patience: 12. ... Qxd3 13. Nxd3 Nd7 eventually restoring material equality with reasonable chances for defence. 13. Qc3!

13. ... f6. Now after 13. ... Nbd7 14. Rfe1! White builds up a powerful attack similarly to the game. 14. Nf3! Nbd7 15. Nxe5 Nxe5 16. Rfe1! Rc8? A little better may be 16. ... Kf7, but even then, after 17. Rxe5! fxe5 18. Qxe5 Re8 19. Re1 Qc6 20. b4 White dominates the board. 17. Rxe5! Now Black’s defence easily disintegrates. 17. ... d4 18. Qf3 fxe5 19. Ng6 e4 20. Qxe4 Rg8 21. Ne5 g6 22. Qxd4 Rg7 23. b4 Qa4 24. Rd1 Be7 25. Bxe7 Rxe7 26. Nxg6 Rh7 27. Qf6 1 : 0.