Spiral Draw

侯逸凡 (Hóu Yìfán) – Aleksandra Yuryevna Goryachkina

2nd Online Chess Olympiad Playoff; China – Russia; Semifinal match game 1; time control: 15 minutes plus 5 seconds per move; chess.com, September 14, 2021

Spanish Game C67

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. 0-0 Nxe4 5. Re1 Nd6 6. Nxe5 Be7 7. Bf1 Nxe5 8. Rxe5 0-0 9. d4 Bf6 10. Re1 Re8 11. c3 Rxe1 12. Qxe1 Ne8 13. a4 d5 14. a5 Nd6 15. Bf4 Bf5 16. Nd2 Bg5 17. Qe3 (17. Bxg5 Qxg5 18. Nf3 Qd8 19. Ne5 f6 20. Nd3 c6 21. Qd1 Qc7 ½ : ½ Kovalev – So, 82nd Tata Steel Chess Tournament, Eindhoven 2020) 17. ... h6!? A new move by which Black eludes most of the complications which arose in the only known theoretical reference so far: 17. ... Bxf4 18. Qxf4 Qd7 19. Nb3 Re8 20. Nc5 Qc8 21. a6 b6 22. Nb7 Ne4 23. Re1 Bd7 24. c4 Nf6 25. Rc1 Bc6 26. c5 Re4 27. Qg3 Bxb7 28. cxb6 Bxa6 29. Rxc7 Qe8 30. Bxa6 Re1+ 31. Bf1 axb6 32. Qd3 g6 33. f3 Qa4 34. Kf2 Rd1 35. Qc3 Kg7 36. Bd3 Rh1 37. b3 Qa2+ 38. Bc2 Qa3 39. Qe3 Qa1 40. Kg3 Re1 41. Qc3 Nh5+ 42. Kf2 Rf1+ 43. Ke3 Qc1+ 44. Qd2 Re1+ 45. Kd3 Nf4+ 46. Kc3 Re3+ 0 : 1 余泱漪 (Yú Yāngyī) – So, 1st Online Nations Cup, chess.com, May 9, 2020 (time control: 25 minutes plus 10 seconds per move).

18. a6 b6 19. Re1 Bxf4 20. Qxf4 Qg5 21. Qxg5 hxg5 22. c4 dxc4 23. Nxc4 Nxc4 24. Bxc4 Kf8 25. Re5 g6 26. f3 Rd8 27. d5 Re8. Inexorably pushing the game towards a draw. 28. Rxe8+ Kxe8 29. Kf2 Ke7 30. Ke3 Kd6 31. Kd4 Bd7 32. g3 f5 33. Bd3 Be8 34. f4 g4 35. b4 Bd7 36. Bc4 Be8 37. Bf1 Ba4 38. Bc4 Be8 39. Bd3 Bd7 40. Bc4 Be8 ½ : ½.