Friday, September 2, 2022

Teacher Free Day

Ekaterina Aleksandrovna Lagno – 侯逸凡 (Hóu Yìfán)
4th Online Women’s Speed Chess Championship Main Event; Final match game 6; time control: 5 minutes plus 1 second per move; chess.com, September 2, 2022
Sicilian Defence B90

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Be2 e6 7. Be3 Qc7 8. Qd2 b5 9. a3 Bb7 10. f3 Nbd7. Out of superstition, 侯逸凡 (Hóu Yìfán) varies from 10. ... Nc6 which brought her bad luck in game 2.
11. 0-0-0 d5. Otherwise, there follows g2-g4-g5.
12. exd5 Nxd5 13. Nxd5 Bxd5 14. Kb1


14. ... Rb8. 14. ... Nf6 15. g4 Bc4 16. Bf4 favours White, M. Adams – Topalov, FIDE World Chess Championship Knockout Tournament, New Delhi 2000, match game 1. Here Kasparov’s recommendation 14. ... Bc5! is probably Black’s best play.
15. Bf4 Bd6 16. Bxd6 Qxd6 17. Nf5 Qe5


18. Ne3. Lagno apparently lets slip her initiative. Better seems 18. g4 exf5 19. Qxd5 Qxd5 20. Rxd5 fxg4 21. fxg4 with a definite edge for White.
18. ... Nb6 19. Rhe1 0-0 20. Bd3 Qc7 21. Nxd5 Nxd5 22. Be4 Rfd8 23. Qe2 Nf6 24. g3 g6 25. c3 a5 26. Rxd8+ Qxd8 27. Rd1 Qe7 28. Qd2 b4 29. cxb4 axb4 30. axb4 Nxe4 31. fxe4 Rxb4 32. e5? Simpler is 32. Qd8+ forcing the exchange of Queens and leaving White with a drawish Rook ending.
32. ... Kg7


33. Qd6? After all, White was still in time for exchanging Queens by 33. Qd7! Qc5 (or 33. ... Qf8 34. Qd6) 34. Rf1 Qf8 35. Qd6 entering a (drawable) Rook ending with a Pawn down.
33. ... Qb7! 34. Rd2 Qe4+ 35. Rd3. Probably not the best, but also 35. Qd3 Qxe5 must be a win for Black.
35. ... Rb5 36. Kc2? A farewell to arms. However, if 36. Ka2 then 36. ... Ra5+ 37. Kb3 Qb7+ 38. Kc2 Rb5 and Black’s attack must succeed.
36. ... Rd5 37. Qa3 (37. Qa6 Qe2+−+)
37. ... Qe2+ 0 : 1.

侯逸凡 (Hóu Yìfán) was not in great form, but even a bad performance by her is exceptionally good. Screenshot from the live stream.

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