One World in Common

侯逸凡 (Hóu Yìfán) – Meruert Kamalidenova

Rapid Women Teams Match “Kazakhstan vs. the World”; time control: 15 minutes plus 10 seconds per move; Astana, April 17, 2023

Spanish Game C77

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. d3 d6 6. c3 g6 7. 0-0 Bg7 8. Re1 0-0 9. h3 Kh8. This move could well turn out to be a loss of time.
10. d4 b5 11. Bb3 Qe7 12. Nbd2 Nh5 13. Nf1 Bd7? (13. ... Na5 14. Bc2 c5 15. a4⩲)
14. Ne3 Nf4

15. Nd5! Nxd5 16. exd5 Na5 17. dxe5 dxe5 18. Nxe5 Bxe5 19. f4 f6 20. fxe5 fxe5 21. Bc2 Nc4 22. b3 Nd6

23. c4! The opening of the a1-h8 diagonal sounds like a death bell.
23. ... bxc4 24. Bb2 Kg8 25. Rxe5 Qh4 26. Qd2 Qf4 27. Qc3 Nb5 28. Qxc4 Qxc4. Black succeeded in avoiding the worst only at the cost of heavy concessions, leaving White with an easily won endgame.
29. bxc4 Nd6 30. Re7 Rf7 31. Rxf7 Kxf7 32. c5 Nc4 33. Bd4 Rd8 34. Bd3 Na3 35. Rf1+ Kg8 36. Bf6 Rb8 37. Bxa6 Bb5 38. Bxb5 Rxb5 39. Rc1 Ra5 40. Bd8 Ra7

41. d6. 41. Bxc7! Rxc7 42. d6 was an elegant way to win.
41. ... cxd6 42. cxd6 Rd7 43. Bc7 Kf7 44. Rc5 Ke6 45. Kf2 Rf7+ 46. Ke2 Rf8 47. Rc3 Nb5 48. Re3+ Kd7 49. Re7+ Kc6 50. Rxh7 Ra8 51. Rg7 Rxa2+ 52. Kf1 Nxd6 53. Bxd6 Kxd6 54. Rxg6+ Ke5 55. Rg3 Kf4 56. Rf3+ Kg5 57. Kg1 Kh4 58. Kh2 Rb2 59. Rf4+ Kg5 60. Rg4+ Kh5 61. Rg8 Ra2 62. Rf8 Kh4 63. Rf4+ Kg5 64. Re4 Ra3 65. h4+ Kh5 66. g3 Ra1 67. Re5+ Kg4 68. Rg5+ Kf3 69. h5 1 : 0.

Every now and then for a quarter of an hour at a time. Photo: Sergey Alekseyonok.