Crushing It

侯逸凡 (Hóu Yìfán) – Anastasia Mikhailovna Bodnaruk

6th Online Women’s Speed Chess Championship “Julius Bär” Main Event; Round of 16 match game 5; time control: 3 minutes plus 1 second per move; chess.com, August 26, 2024

Sicilian Defence B53

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Qxd4 a6 5. Be2 Nc6 6. Qd3 g6 7. Nc3 Bg7 8. 0-0 Nf6 9. Nd5 0-0 10. c3 Bg4 11. Bg5 Nxd5 12. exd5 Bxf3 13. Qxf3 Ne5

14. Qe4! Probably an improvement over 14. Qe3, which has been employed more than one time in online blitz games by a past chess queen, Alexandra Konstantinovna Kosteniuk.
14. ... h6 15. Be3 f5 16. Qb4 Qd7 17. f4 Ng4 18. Bb6

18. ... Kh7? This loss of time will leave White with an overwhelming superiority of position. Better was 18. ... Nf6 at once, for after 19. Bf3 Qb5 20. Qxb5 axb5 21. Rfe1 Black can reply 21. ... b4! 22. Rxe7 bxc3 23. bxc3 Ne4! with good chances of defence.
19. Rae1 Nf6 20. Bf3 Rf7 21. a4 Ne8 22. Re2 Bf6 23. Rfe1 Ng7 24. h3 Re8 25. Bd4 h5 26. Bxf6 Rxf6 27. Qd4 Rf7 28. a5 Qc7 29. b4 Rc8 30. Re3 Kg8 31. Be2 Rb8 32. Kh2 Ne8 33. Rg3 Kh7 34. Bd3 Nf6 35. Rge3 Re8 36. Re6 Qd7 37. c4 Qc7 38. Qe3

38. ... h4? A Pawn is finally immolated on the altar of crushed and ruined hopes. Even without the text, however, Black could hardly prevent White from bringing the Queen to h4 and then pushing on g4.
39. Qf2 Nh5 40. Qxh4 Qd7 41. g4! 1–0. For after 41. ... fxg4 42. Qxh5+ Kg8 43. Rxg6+ Rg7 44. Ree6 White forces mate in a few moves.