More of a Long Story

Humpy Koneru – 侯逸凡 (Hóu Yìfán)

1st Online Chess Olympiad Top Division Pool A; India – China; time control: 15 minutes plus 5 seconds per move; chess.com, August 23, 2020

Queen’s Gambit Declined D38

1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 e6 3. c4 d5 4. Nc3 Bb4 5. Bg5 h6 6. Bxf6 Qxf6 7. e3 0-0 8. Rc1 Nd7. 侯逸凡 (Hóu Yìfán) is a specialist of the Ragozin Variation, and it should be noted that so far she has always continued (at least in her classical games) 8. ... dxc4 9. Bxc4 c5; for instance: 10. 0-0 cxd4 11. Nxd4 Bd7 12. Ne4 Qe7 13. Qh5 Nc6 14. Nb3 Be8 15. a3 f5 16. Qe2 Bxa3 17. bxa3 fxe4 18. Nc5 Ne5 19. Ba2 Nf3+ 20. Kh1 Qh4∞ So – 侯逸凡 (Hóu Yìfán), 77th Tata Steel Chess Tournament, Wijk aan Zee 2015. 9. Qb3 Bxc3+ 10. Qxc3 c6 11. Bd3 Re8 12. 0-0. White can also go into the Exchange Variation of the Queen’s Gambit, but with very little hope of any advantage from it: 12. cxd5 exd5 13. b4 a6 14. a4 Nb6 15. a5 Nd7 16. 0-0 Nf8 17. Qc2 Qd6 (17. ... Bg4!? 18. Ne5 Bh5) 18. Qc5 Qxc5? (18. ... Qf6 is perfectly good, leaving White with nothing better than repeating moves by 19. Qc2) 19. bxc5± Ipatov – Yelken, 52nd Turkish Chess Championship, Antalya 2013. 12. ... e5 13. dxe5 Nxe5 14. Nxe5 Qxe5 15. Qxe5 Rxe5 16. cxd5 Rxd5 17. Bc4 Rd8 18. Rfd1 Bf5 19. f3 g5 20. e4 Bg6 21. Kf2 Kf8 22. b4 Ke7 23. Ke3 f5 24. exf5 Bxf5 25. g4 Bg6 26. f4 gxf4+ 27. Kxf4 Rxd1 28. Rxd1 Rf8+ 29. Kg3 Rf6 30. h4. “Humpy offered a draw to 侯逸凡 (Hóu Yìfán) in a slightly better position, but the Chinese player declined it. The game went on for quite a few moves, but it was always a slight edge for Humpy, who had no issues holding the World No.1 women player”, International Master Sagar Shah wrote in his report for ChessBase India. 30. ... b6 31. Re1+ Kd7

32. g5 (32. Re3 a5! 33. bxa5 bxa5 34. Ra3 Be4 Δ 35. Rxa5 Rf3+=) 32. ... hxg5 33. hxg5 Rd6 34. a3 Rd4 35. Be6+ Kd6 36. Re3 c5 37. bxc5+ bxc5 38. Bg4 Kd5 39. Bf3+ Kd6 40. Bg4 Kd5 41. Bf3+ Kd6 42. Bg4 ½ : ½. Apart from 侯逸凡 (Hóu Yìfán)’s draw, China lost 4–2 to India, which thus advanced to the knockout quarterfinals on Friday. Instead, on Thursday, China is set to face Ukraine in a playoff match to the quarterfinals (winner plays United States).