Just a Queen

Alexandra Konstantinovna Kosteniuk – 侯逸凡 (Hóu Yìfán)

5th Online Women’s Speed Chess Championship “Julius Bär” Main Event; Semifinal match game 4; time control: 5 minutes plus 1 second per move; chess.com, November 16, 2023

Sicilian Defence B92

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Be2 e5 7. Nb3 Be7 8. 0-0 0-0 9. Be3 Be6 10. Nd5 Nbd7 11. Nxe7+ Qxe7 12. Bf3. White’s last two moves appear to be quite questionable. Yet now, after 12. f3 d5! Black would achieve all her strategic goals in one blow.

12. ... a5!? 侯逸凡 (Hóu Yìfán) claims the honour of the initiative by instinctual means. Theoretically speaking, the reference is at least consistent with what is happening on our board today: 12. ... Rfd8 13. Qd2 Rac8 14. Rfd1 Nf8 15. Bg5 h6 16. Bxf6 Qxf6 17. Rac1 Ng6 18. Qe3 Nh4 19. Nd2 d5 20. exd5 Bxd5 21. Bxd5 Rxd5 22. Ne4 Qg6 23. Qh3 Rxc2!! 24. Qxh4 Rd4! 25. Qd8+! Rxd8 26. Rxd8+ Kh7 27. Rxc2 Qxe4 28. Rc1 Qe2! 29. Rb1 f5! 30. Rdd1 e4 31. Re1 Qc4 32. a3 Qa2! 33. g3 Kg6⩱ (L. M. Evans – Rossolimo, 17th U.S. Chess Championship, New York 1965) and, as International Master Mark Izrailevich Dvoretsky wrote in his homonymous “Dvoretsky’s Endgame Manual” (Russell Enterprises, Milford, 2000, p. 377), “here Evans should have seized the opportunity to activate his position, as shown by Yuri Averbakh: 34. Rbc1! Qxb2 35. Rb1 Qxa3 36. Rxb7 or 35. ... Qd2 36. Rb6+ Kg5 37. Re3”.
13. a4 Rfc8 14. Ra3 Rc4 15. Nd2 Rc6 16. Rd3 Nc5 17. Bxc5 Rxc5 18. b3 b5 19. axb5 Rxb5 20. Qa1 h6 21. Rd1 Rb6 22. Nf1 Nd7 23. Ne3 Nc5

24. R3d2?! The “tricky” 24. Nf5! Bxf5 25. exf5 Raa6 26. Rd5 a4⩱ may be easier for Black, but it probably was a defensible compromise.
24. ... a4 25. Qa3 Qb7 26. Rxd6?? A deadly poisoned Pawn. White first ought to play 26. b4! Rxb4 27. Rxd6 Rb8⩱ keeping her disadvantage to more manageable proportions.
26. ... Rxd6 27. Rxd6

27. ... axb3! The b-Pawn is going to queen without hindrance.
28. Qb2 (28. Qxc5 b2−+)
28. ... Na4 29. Qb1 b2! 30. Nd1 Ba2! 0 : 1.

When asked by Jennifer Shahade and Keti Tsatsalashvili how she could play so sharply despite playing so rarely, 侯逸凡 (Hóu Yìfán) replied: “Am I playing sharp!? I didn’t really feel like that. It’s hard to say, probably it’s something born in nature...”. Screenshot from the live stream.