Firmly by the Tail

侯逸凡 (Hóu Yìfán) – Alexandra Konstantinovna Kosteniuk

4th Online Women’s Speed Chess Championship Main Event; Quarterfinal match game 1; time control: 5 minutes plus 1 second per move; chess.com, July 28, 2022

Spanish Game C89

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. 0-0 Be7 6. Re1 b5 7. Bb3 0-0 8. c3 d5 9. d3. Solidly on the sidelines.
9. ... Bg4. More than one theoretician could be tempted to give it a question mark.
10. Nbd2 Na5 11. Bc2 dxe4. Or by transposition: 11. ... Nc6 12. h3 Bh5 13. Qe2 Bd6 14. Nf1 Qd7 14. Ng3 Bg6 15. Nh4 with advantage for White, H. Wolf – Spielmann, International Tournament, Teplitz-Schönau 1922.
12. dxe4

12. ... c5? (⌓ 12. ... Nd7!)
13. h3 Bxf3 14. Qxf3 g6 15. Nf1 Nh5 16. Bh6 Re8 17. Rad1 Qb6 18. Ne3 Qf6 19. Qg4 Qe6. If 19. ... Qc6 then 20. Nf5! with powerful attack.
20. Nd5

20. ... Rac8? A mistake which costs Black the game. After 20. ... Bd8 21. b3 White is obviously much better, but the game goes on.
21. Qxe6 fxe6 22. Nxe7+ Rxe7 23. Rd6 Nc4 24. Rxa6 Nxb2 25. Rb1 Na4 26. Rxb5 Nxc3

侯逸凡 (Hóu Yìfán) finishes brilliantly, taking advantage of Black’s back-rank weakness:
27. Rxc5! Rxc5 28. Ra8+ Re8 (28. ... Kf7 29. Rf8#) 29. Rxe8+ Kf7 30. Rf8+ Ke7 31. Bb3 Nf4 (31. ... Nxe4 32. Rh8+−)
32. Rh8 Ra5 33. Rxh7+ Kf6 34. Bg7+ Kg5 35. Kh2 Nh5 36. Bh6+ Kf6 37. g4 Nxe4 (37. ... Nf4 38. g5#)
38. gxh5 gxh5 39. Be3 Nc3 40. Rxh5 1 : 0.

Apparently Kosteniuk’s Marshall Counter-Attack did not catch 侯逸凡 (Hóu Yìfán) by surprise. Screenshot from the live stream.