White Swan

侯逸凡 (Hóu Yìfán) – 黄茜 (Huáng Qiàn)

19th Chinese Chess League Division A Regular "武陵山大裂谷杯" (“Wǔlíng Mountain Great Rift Valley Cup”); time control: 90 minutes per 40 moves plus 30 minutes for the rest of the game plus 30 seconds per move starting on move 1; 重庆 (Chóngqìng), July 6, 2024

Sicilian Defence B33

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 e5 6. Ndb5 d6 7. Nd5 Nxd5 8. exd5 Nb8 9. a4 Be7 10. Bd2 a6 11. Na3 a5? This blatant loss of time is too much for Black. Playable is 11. ... 0-0 12. a5 Bf5 13. Nc4 Nd7 (so as to reply to 14. Bb4 with 14. ... Rc8!⇄ Iskandarov – Gukesh, 10th Chess World Cup, Baku 2023, match game 2).
12. Bb5+ Nd7 13. 0-0 0-0 14. Nc4 b6 15. Ra3 Nc5 16. Be3 Qc7 17. Re1 f5 18. Bxc5 bxc5

19. Rxe5! The beginning of a skirmish, which soon leads White to win material.
19. ... dxe5 20. d6 Bxd6 21. Qd5+ Qf7 22. Qxa8 Be6 23. Qc6 Bb8 24. Nxa5 Kh8 25. Qxc5 e4 26. Nc6 Rc8 27. Qd4 Bc7 28. a5 Qh5 29. h3 Qg5 30. a6 f4 31. Qxe4 Bd5

32. h4! White brilliantly rejects the desperate attacking attempts of her opponent.
32. ... Qh5 33. Qd4 Ra8 34. c4 Bxg2 35. Kxg2 Qxh4 36. Qd7 Qg5+ 37. Kf1 f3 38. Rxf3 Qc1+ 39. Kg2 Qg5+ 40. Kf1 Qc1+ 41. Kg2 Qg5+ 42. Rg3! Bxg3 43. fxg3 Rf8 44. Qd3 h5 45. Nd4 h4 46. Ne2 Qf6 47. Nf4 hxg3 48. Qxg3 Qxb2+ 49. Qf2 Qf6

50. Qh4+! 1–0.

侯逸凡 (Hóu Yìfán) made her grand début as the spearhead of the 山东外国语职业技术大学队 (Shāndōng Vocational and Technical University of International Studies Team) at this year’s Chinese League season. Photo: Sina Sports.