The Good Old Times

侯逸凡 (Hóu Yìfán) – Polina Sergeevna Shuvalova

1st FIDE World Rapid Team Chess Championship; WR Chess – Freedom; time control: 15 minutes plus 10 seconds per move; Düsseldorf, August 27, 2023

Scandinavian Defence B01

1. e4 d5 2. exd5 Qxd5 3. d4 Nc6 4. Nf3 Bg4 5. Be2 0-0-0 6. Nc3 Qf5 7. h3 Bxf3 8. Bxf3 Nf6 9. Bxc6 Qe6+ 10. Be4 Nxe4 11. 0-0 Nxc3 12. bxc3 Qc6 13. Qd3 e6 14. Bg5!? (14. c4 Be7 15. Rd1 Bf6 16. Be3 Rd7 17. Qb3 Rhd8 18. c3 Qa6 19. a4 c5 20. dxc5 Rxd1+ 21. Rxd1 Rxd1+ 22. Qxd1 Qxc4 23. Qh5 Qxa4 24. Qxf7 Qd7 25. Qg8+ Kc7 26. Qxh7 a5 27. Bf4+ e5 28. Be3 a4 29.Qb1 Qe6 30. Qb4 Qb3 31. Qa5+ Kd7 32. c6+ Kxc6 33. c4 Qxc4 34. Qb6+ Kd7 35. Qxb7+ Ke6 36. Qb6+ Kf7 37. Bc5 ½ : ½ Giaccio – Rodríguez Céspedes, Gran Torneo Abierto Internacional Miguel Najdorf, Buenos Aires 1997)
14. ... Rd5 15. Bd2 Be7 16. Rfe1 Bf6 17. a4 Kb8 18. a5 a6 19. Be3 h5 20. Reb1 Ka8 21. Rb4 g5 22. c4 Rd7 23. Rab1 Rb8 24. c3 g4

Black has bet on the sharp, double-edged feature of heterogeneous castling, but a nasty surprise awaits her:
25. h4! Thus neutralising any initiative for Black on the Kingside.
25. ... Be7. Not 25. ... Bxh4?? because of 26. d5! followed by Qd3-d4 with mating attack.
26. R4b2 Bf6 27. g3 Qf3 28. c5. With the threat of Qd3xa6+.
28. ... Qc6 29. Qc4 Rd5 30. Rb4 Bg7 31. Qe2 Rd7 32. Qf1 f5? (⌓ 32. ... e5)
33. Bf4 e5 34. dxe5 Rd5

35. e6?! A gamble which will pay off.
35. ... Rxc5? The drama begins. Black should have played at once 35. ... Bxc3 36. R4b3 Be5 37. e7 Bxf4 38. gxf4 Rd4! 39. Re3 Re8 with a defensible game.
36. e7! Bxc3

37. Bxc7? But White too misses her winning chance: 37. Rb6! cxb6 38. Rxb6 leaving Black the choice of losing the Queen or being checkmated; for example: 38. ... Qc8 39. e8=Q! Qxe8 40. Rxa6+! and mate next move.
37. ... Bxb4! (37. ... Qxc7? 38. Qxa6+!+−)
38. Bxb8 Kxb8 39. Rxb4 Re5?? A last blunder due to the clock. 39. ... Qe6 40. Qxa6 Qxe7 41. Qb6 Rc6 would have saved the day for Black.
40. Qd1! Re6 1 : 0. Black resigned without waiting for 41. Rb6.

侯逸凡 (Hóu Yìfán) is playing brilliantly and quite up to her form of the Swiss summer of 2017. Photo: Mark Livshitz/FIDE.