Gemstones

Parimarjan Negi – 侯逸凡 (Hóu Yìfán)

2015 Showdown in Saint Louis — Fischerandom Chess; match game 1; time control: 20 minutes plus 10 seconds per move; Saint Louis, November 13, 2015

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Position #112

As it is well known the Saint Louis Chess Club was not able to provide any PGNs on occasion of its inaugural Fischerandom showdown in 2015, the official reason being that the DGT board could not read and process the castling rules. 侯逸凡 (Hóu Yìfán) demonstrated her impressive strength also at Fischer’s chess, by winning a mini-match of four games against Parimarjan Negi 3½ – ½. What remains of all this, however, is a series of fragments to be taken by the video footage and then reassembled in logical sequence (sometimes with a good dose of imagination). Not everything is to be taken for granted though, except for the final position.

1. e4 e5 2. b4 b6 3. a3 c6 4. c4 Ne7 5. d4 exd4 6. Qxd4. Threatening mate in one. 6. ... Ne6 7. Qb2 f6 8. Nd3 0-0 9. Ng3 c5 10. 0-0 Ng6 11. Nh5?! This is sure a compromising adventure. ⌓ 11. Qd2 at once was preferable. 11. ... Be5 12. Nxe5 fxe5 13. Qd2 d6

14. g3? And this proves catastrophic. White was understandably apprehensive about the jump of a Black Knight to f4, but the cure is even worse as it only weakens the King’s side (h-side). ⌓ 14. f3! was called for. 14. ... Rf7−+ 15. f3 Ref8 16. Kg2 (16. Qg2 Qg5 17. Qh3 Ngf4! 18. Nxf4 Nxf4 19. Qh4 Qxh4 20. gxh4 Bb7!−+)

16. ... Ne7! It is like a cat and mouse game, not only but also because Negi finds himself under terrific time pressure, with a few seconds left and no way out. 17. Rd1 Nd4. In his live commentary, Grandmaster Maurice Ashley also considered 17. ... Nc6 18. Qxd6 Qc8! which is strong as well. 18. Bxd4 cxd4 19. Ba2 g6 20. c5

20. ... d5! 21. Qg5 Nf5! And White resigned, just one second before losing on time. 0 : 1.

A handshake worth a diagram. Screenshots from the live stream.