The ever stylish Hou Yifan
Twenty-five year old Hou Yifan, multiple times Women’s World Champion, is currently a Rhodes Scholar studying in England. She rarely has time for competitive chess these days, which makes her participation this weekend at the German Bundesliga special.
Yesterday Hou Yifan demonstrated that she has not lost her magic touch as she quickly and elegantly dispatched her young opponent, the 16 year old Danish fm Filip Boe Olsen .
gm Hou Yifan – fm Olsen, Filip (2340)Bundesliga 8.2.2020 1-0
1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5{[#] <strong style="color:red;">Hou Yifan rarely plays this move, but she decides to avoid the preparation of her young opponent.</strong>} Bf5 4.h4{[#] <strong style="color:red;">Something new in her repetoire, as she normally prefers 4.Nf3___</strong>} h5{[#] <strong style="color:red;">I hesitate to give this a ‘?!’ mark, as it is the mainline! But this way of playing has given the Black players some really poor results recently, and I think that the weakening on g5 is not justified. I prefer either …Qc8 or …h6.___</strong>} 5.Bd3 Bxd3 6.Qxd3 e6 7.Ne2{[#] <strong style="color:red;"> This move is not considered the most precise by the theoreticians, and this time I think that they are right.</strong>}
({<strong style="color:black;">All the rage is </strong> } 7.Bg5 )
c5 8.Bg5 Qa5+ 9.Nd2 Ne7$5 {[#]}
({<strong style="color:black;">I found one master game in my database with </strong> } 9...Nc6 10.O-O cxd4 11.Nf3
Qa6 12.Qd1 {<strong style="color:black;">with an unusual and complex struggle, Dmitriev Igor (RUS) 2455 – Kiselev Gennady (RUS) 2453 , Zabrze 1994</strong> }
)
10.O-O Qa6 {[#]}
({<strong style="color:black;">Also good is the immediate </strong> } 10...cxd4 )
11.dxc5$5{[#] <strong style="color:red;">Possibly not the strongest continuation, but a good psychological choice against a 16 year old youngster. As we shall soon see, Black quickly goes wrong.___</strong>} Nec6
( {<strong style="color:black;">Avoiding the weaker </strong> } 11...Nd7$6 12.Qxa6! bxa6
13.b4 Nxe5 14.a3 Nf5 15.Nb3 {<strong style="color:black;">and White has a clear advantage on the Queenside </strong> } )
12.Nf4$5 {[#] <strong style="color:red;">Hou Yifan continues to play psychologically, luring her opponent into complications___</strong>}
( 12.Qe3 Nd7! )
( {<strong style="color:black;">Objectively strongest is </strong> }12.Qxa6 Nxa6 13.c4 dxc4 14.Nxc4 Nxc5 15.Rfd1{<strong style="color:black;">with a small positional plus, but clearly this did not seem to satisfy Hou Yifan </strong> } )
Nxe5$2{[#] <strong style="color:red;">Olsen fails to spot Hou Yifan’s idea and now gets into trouble.</strong>}
( {<strong style="color:black;">Correct was </strong> }12...Qxd3! 13.Nxd3 Nd7 14.b4 ( 14.c4 d4 ) Ndxe5 15.Nxe5 Nxe5
16.Nb3 b6 {<strong style="color:black;"> and Black is not worse.</strong> } )
13.Qc3!{[#] <strong style="color:red;">Now Black’s King will not be able to get out of the centre. The rest of the game is a flawless demonstration by the ex-World Champion, who navigates the tactics with energy.</strong>} f6
({<strong style="color:black;">After </strong> } 13...Nbd7 14.b4 f6 15.Rfe1{<strong style="color:black;">we get into positions similar to the game </strong> } )
14.Nf3!{[#] <strong style="color:red;">No doubt Black based his defence on the premise that at some point he will be able to safely capture on g5, but this turns out to be mistaken.___</strong>} Nbd7
({<strong style="color:black;">Horrendous is </strong> } 14...Nxf3+ 15.Qxf3 fxg5 16.Nxe6!{<strong style="color:black;">when Black has no good way to defend his King </strong> } )
15.Nxe5 Nxe5
( {<strong style="color:black;">After </strong> } 15...fxe5
16.Ng6! Rg8 ( 16...Rh7 17.b4! ) 17.Qf3{<strong style="color:black;"> we get something similar to what happens in the game.</strong> } )
16.Rfe1!{[#] <strong style="color:red;">Preparing to simply rip the Knight on e5 to expose the Black King. This part of the game reminds me of one of Paul Keres most famous wins, against Laurentius in 1935, where he employed the exact same strategy.___</strong>} Rc8$5{[#] <strong style="color:red;"></strong>}
( {<strong style="color:black;">If </strong> } 16...fxg5 17.Nxe6!{<strong style="color:black;">is very strong </strong> } )
({<strong style="color:black;">After the more cautious </strong> } 16...Kf7 17.Rxe5!{<strong style="color:black;"> anyway!</strong> } fxe5 18.Qxe5 Re8 19.b4
Qc6 20.Qe3 e5 21.Nd3 e4 22.Nf4 {<strong style="color:black;">and Black is helpless </strong> } )
17.Rxe5!{[#] <strong style="color:red;"></strong>} d4{[#] <strong style="color:red;">A desperate move, but there is no satisfactory move!</strong>}
( {<strong style="color:black;">If </strong> } 17...fxe5 18.Qxe5
Kf7 19.Re1 Rc6 20.b4{<strong style="color:black;"> and Black can barely breath</strong> } )
({<strong style="color:black;"> Even the ‘tricks’ fail:</strong> } 17...Bxc5 18.Rxe6+ Qxe6 19.Nxe6 Bxf2+
20.Kxf2 Rxc3 21.bxc3 {<strong style="color:black;">and White will emerge with an extra piece </strong> } )
( {<strong style="color:black;"> And just the same follows after</strong> } 17...Rxc5 18.Rxe6+! )
18.Qf3{[#] <strong style="color:red;"></strong>}
({<strong style="color:black;">Also good enough is </strong> } 18.Qxd4 fxe5 19.Qxe5 Rxc5 20.Qe4{<strong style="color:black;">with a crushing advantage </strong> } )
fxe5 19.Ng6! e4{[#] <strong style="color:red;">Desperately trying to hang on___</strong>}
({<strong style="color:black;">After </strong> } 19...Bxc5 20.Nxh8! )
( {<strong style="color:black;">Equally depressing is </strong> } 19...Rg8 20.Qxh5 Kd7 21.Nxe5+{<strong style="color:black;">and the King can not save himself </strong> } )
20.Qxe4{[#] <strong style="color:red;"></strong>}
Rg8 21.Ne5 g6 22.Qxd4 Rg7{[#] <strong style="color:red;">Now would bre a good time to stop the clock and extend one’s hand in resignation. Probably Black was very short of time. </strong>} 23.b4 ( 23.Rd1 ) Qa4 24.Rd1 Be7 25.Bxe7
Rxe7 26.Nxg6 Rh7 27.Qf6!{[#] <strong style="color:red;">It is mate in a couple of moves. Black resigned.</strong>} 1-0
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