Half Way

侯逸凡 (Hóu Yìfán) – 黄茜 (Huáng Qiàn)

17th Chinese Chess League “泰来杯” (“Tàilái Cup”) Knockout Final; 重庆体育彩票 (Chóngqìng Sports Lottery) – 杭州银行 (Hángzhōu Bank); Final match game 1; 聊城 (Liáochéng), February 10, 2023

Sicilian Defence B95

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Qd3!? “This is a new attempt to confuse the usually well-prepared Najdorf players, but it does not seem very logical to me. I consider it weaker than any other early Queen move at this point, but still it has to be treated seriously”, Grandmaster Miloš Pavlović wrote in his book “The Modernized Najdorf”, Thinkers Publishing, Landegem, 2018, p. 26.
6. ... Nc6. 6. ... Nbd7 is regarded by Pavlović as “the most reasonable response”. There can follow 7. Be2 g6 8. 0-0 Bg7 9. Rd1 0-0 10. Qe3 Qc7 11. a4 Nc5 12. a5 Bd7 13. h3 Rac8 14. Qf3 Bc6 15. Nd5 Bxd5 16. exd5 e5! 17. dxe6 fxe6⇄ with dynamic equality according to his analysis.
7. Bg5 e6 8. Nxc6 bxc6 9. 0-0-0 Qa5

Mutatis mutandis, 侯逸凡 (Hóu Yìfán) channeled the game from the Najdorf to a Richter-Rauzer Attack (B62), reaching a well-known position in which White usually continues 10. Qg3! claiming the initiative. She instead goes on her own way:
10. e5!? An adventurous Pawn sacrifice which can be hardly regarded as a significant improvement over theory.
12. ... Qxe5 11. f4 Qf5 12. Qxf5 exf5 13. Bxf6 gxf6. Black is a Pawn up, but only formally, as of course her tripled Pawns do not count as three.
14. Bd3 Rg8 15. Rhe1+ Kd8 16. Rd2 Ra7 17. Nd1 h5 18. Ne3 Re7 19. Rf2 h4 20. Kd2 d5 21. Ree2. After 21. Nxf5 Rxe1 22. Kxe1 Bc5 23. Re2 Rg4 24. Nh6 Rxf4 25. Nxf7+ Kc7 26. h3 Rd4 the position is more or less balanced as both the f7-Knight and the d4-Rook have their squares counted.

21. ... Re4! Black can now cause some apprehensions to her illustrious adversary by a positional Exchange sacrifice.
22. c4! The immediate 22. Bxe4 fxe4 23. c3 a5! could really turn out to be very unpleasant for White.
22. ... Bb4+ 23. Kc2 Bc5 24. Bxe4. The time has come for claiming equality by a mutual liquidation.
24. ... fxe4 25. cxd5 cxd5

26. b4! Ba7 27. Nxd5 Bxf2 28. Rxf2 f5 29. Rd2 Rg6 30. Ne3+ Kc7 31. Rd4 Be6 32. a3 Rg8 ½ : ½.

重庆体育彩票 (Chóngqìng Sports Lottery) fell to 杭州银行 (Hángzhōu Bank) 3–2 today in the first day of the final. Photos: photo.sina.com.cn.