法式千層酥 (Mille-feuille)

侯逸凡 (Hóu Yìfán) – 张潇 (Zhāng Xiāo)

17th Chinese Chess League Division A Regular-Standard “武陵山大裂谷杯” (“Wǔlíng Mountain Great Rift Valley Cup”); time control: 90 minutes plus 30 seconds per move; 重庆 (Chóngqìng), September 15, 2022

Caro-Kann Defence B12

1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. f3. The Fantasy Variation.
3. ... Qb6. If 3. ... dxe4 then 4. fxe4 e5 5. Nf3 Bg4 6. c3! Nd7 then 7. Bd3! Bd6 8. 0-0 Ngf6 9. h3 Bh5 10. Nbd2 0-0 11. Nc4 Qc7 12. Qc2 Bg6 13. Bg5⩲ 侯逸凡 (Hóu Yìfán) – Danielian, FIDE Women’s Grand Prix 2011–12, 1st stage, Rostov-on-Don 2011.

4. Nc3 dxe4 5. Nxe4. More usual is 5. fxe4 e5 6. Nf3 exd4 7. Nxd4 Nd7 8. Be2 Ne5 9. Bf4 Ng6 10. Be3 Qxb2?? 11. Na4? (11. Ndb5!+−) 11. ... Qb4+ 12. c3 Qa5 13. 0-0 with more than enough for the Pawn, 侯逸凡 (Hóu Yìfán) – Ruck, 18th Corsican Circuit, Bastia 2014, Semifinal tie-break game 2 (time control: 3 minutes plus 2 seconds per move).
5. ... Nf6 6. c3 Bf5 7. Bd3 Bg6 8. Qe2 Qc7 (8. ... e6 9. Nh3 Nbd7 10. Be3 Nxe4 11. fxe4 e5 12. 0-0 Be7 13. Kh1⩲ Timofeev – Gagunashvili, 10th European Individual Chess Championship, Budva 2009)
9. Nh3 Nxe4 10. Bxe4 e6 11. Ng5 Bd6 12. Bd2 Bf4 13. 0-0-0 Bxg5 14. Bxg5 Qa5

White now sacrifices a Pawn or two for the initiative:
15. d5! 0-0 16. Bxg6 hxg6 17. h4 cxd5 18. h5 d4 19. f4 dxc3? The move that loses the game — more or less. After 19. ... Qxa2 20. hxg6 fxg6 21. Qe4 dxc3 22. bxc3 Qa3+ it doesn’t seem that White can escape a draw.
20. hxg6 cxb2+ 21. Kb1 Qf5+ 22. Kxb2 fxg6? This loses right off, but 22. ... Qxg6 23. Rd3 followed by the doubling of Rooks on the h-file did not offer any hope either.

23. g4 Qf7 24. Qh2 Qc7 25. Qh7+ Kf7 26. Rh6 Qb6+ 27. Ka1 Qe3. Or 27. ... e5 28. fxe5+− (Δ Bg5-f6).
28. Qxg6+ Kg8 29. Qh7+ Kf7 30. Rf6+ Ke8 31. Qg6+ 1 : 0. Mate follows next move.

The only thing that seems the same after such a long absence is the bare board. Photo: 我要有耐心 (I have to be patient).