Thursday, July 28, 2022

The War of Two Queens

侯逸凡 (Hóu Yìfán) – Alexandra Konstantinovna Kosteniuk
4th Online Women’s Speed Chess Championship Main Event; Quarterfinal match game 5; 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 b5 6. Bb3 Be7 7. Re1 0-0 8. c3 d5 9. d3 Bg4 10. Nbd2 dxe4. Varying from the first game, in which Kosteniuk played 10. ... Na5 without luck.
11. dxe4 Bc5 12. h3 Be6 13. Qe2 Nh5 14. Nf1 Qf6? In hindsight, it would have been preferable for Black to first exchange Bishops.


15. Bd5! Bd7 16. Bg5 Qg6 17. b4. 17. Bxc6 Bxc6 18. Nxe5 Qxg5 19. Nxc6 Nf4 20. Qf3 leaves White a clear Pawn up, but 侯逸凡 (Hóu Yìfán) pursues a more dynamic approach.
17. ... Bb6 18. Rad1 Rae8 19. Kh2 h6 20. Bc1


20. ... Nf4? (⌓ 20. ... Qf6 21. g3±)
21. Bxf4 exf4 22. e5 Nb8 23. Be4 Qh5? Her Majesty seeks for trouble where there is plenty of it. If 23. ... Qe6 then 24. Bc2! with scary mating threats on the b1-h7 diagonal. Hence, Black ought to try 23. ... f5, which at least for a while avoids worse outcomes.


24. Rxd7! Nxd7 25. g4 fxg3+ 26. Nxg3 1 : 0. The Black Queen is trapped and lost.

It’s like saying that there cannot be two Queens on one throne. Screenshot from the live stream.

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