Triple Play

侯逸凡 (Hóu Yìfán) – Keti Tsatsalashvili

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

Sicilian Defence B53

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Qxd4 Nc6 5. Qd3 h6?! Dogmatically speaking, this appears to be losing time.
6. Be2 Nf6 7. c4 g6 8. Nc3 Bg7 9. 0-0 0-0 10. h3 Be6 11. Be3 Rc8 12. Nd5 Nd7 13. Qd2 Kh7 14. Nf4 Nc5 15. Nxe6 fxe6?! Retaking with the Knight was probably wiser.

16. e5! White temporarily sacrifices a Pawn in order to triple Black’s Pawns on the e-file.
16. ... Nxe5 17. Nxe5 dxe5 18. Qc2 e4 19. Rad1 Qc7 20. b3

20. ... Rcd8? Black gives back her extra Pawn in the worst way, since she does not get rid of any of her weaknesses with the last move.
21. b4 Nd3 22. Bxd3 exd3 23. Rxd3 Rxd3 24. Qxd3 a6 25. Rd1 Rc8 26. c5 Qc6 27. Qb3 Rc7 28. Qd3 Qa4 29. a3

29. ... Bb2? Black simply cannot afford such luxuries. White now breaks through.
30. Qd8 Qc6 31. Bf4 e5 32. Be3 Bd4 33. Qf8. Threatening Qf8-f7+ followed by Rd1xd4. It should be noted that 33. Rxd4! at once was even stronger.
33. ... Bxe3? Black does harakiri as she has no better idea. Now after 33. ... Qf6 34. Qd8 Qc6 White would probably have noticed 35. Rxd4! exd4 36. Bxd4 winning handily.
34. Qf7+ Kh8 35. Rd8+ 1 : 0.

侯逸凡 (Hóu Yìfán) continued her triumphant march on the Rheinterrasse, scoring her fourth victory in a row. Photo: Niki Riga/FIDE.