2:06-08 ;>D



[Fritz 10]: 1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 b6 3. Bf4 Bb7 4. e3 g6 5. h3 Bg7 6. Be2 d6 7. c4 Nbd7 8. Nc3 0-0 9. 0-0 e6 10. Qc2 [last book move] Nh5 11. Bh2 f5 12. d5 e5 13. g4 fxg4 14. hxg4 Nhf6 15. Ng5 Nxd5 16. Ne6 Nxc3 17. Nxd8 Nxe2+ 18. Qxe2 Bf3 19. Qd3 [19. Qd2 Raxd8 20. Bg3 Rf7 =] Nc5 [ ⩱] 20. Qa3 Rfxd8 21. e4 [21. b4!? and White hangs on Ne4 22. Rfc1 =] Rf8 [ ∓] 22. Rae1 [22. Qe3 Nxe4 23. Bg3 Nc5 ∓] Bh6 [-+] 23. b4 Ne6?? [23 ... Nxe4 24. Rxe4 Bxe4 ∓] 24. c5 [=] Nd4 [Weaker is 24 ... Bxg4 25. f3 Bh3 26. Rf2 ±] 25. Qd3 [25. cxd6 cxd6 26. b5 Rf6 =] b5 26. Bg3 Bg5 [26 ... a5 27. g5 Bxg5 28. a4 bxa4 29. Qc4+ Rf7 30. b5 ⩱] 27. a4 a6 28. Qa3 Bxg4 29. Rd1 [29. cxd6 Nf3+ 30. Kh1 cxd6 ⩲] Nf3+ [29 ... Bxd1!? looks like a viable alternative 30. Rxd1 Kg7 =] 30. Kg2 [ ⩲] dxc5 31. bxc5 h5 32. Qa2+ Kh7 33. Qd5 [33. axb5!? axb5 34. Qb2 =] Rae8 [ ⩱] 34. Qc6 [34. Qb7 Re7 ⩱] Re7 35. Rd3 h4 36. Bh2 [36. Qxa6 bxa4 37. Qxa4 Ref7 -+] bxa4 [36 ... Nxh2 37. Kxh2 Be2 38. Rdd1 Bxd1 39. Rxd1 ∓] 37. Qxa4 Kh6 [37 ... Nxh2 38. Kxh2 Be2 39. Rdd1 -+] 38. Qa3 [38. Qa2 Ref7 ∓] Ref7 39. Qb2 Re7 [39 ... a5!? ∓] 40. c6 a5 41. Rb3 [41. Kh1 Re6 =] Kg7 [41 ... Nd2 42. Kg1 Nxf1 43. Kxf1 a4 ⩱] 42. Rb5?? [42. Ra1 the rescuing straw Ref7 43. Bxe5+ Nxe5 44. Qxe5+ Bf6 45. Qxa5 =] h3+ [-+] 43. Kh1 Nxh2 44. Rxe5 [44. Rg1 Bf4 45. Rb3 Bf3+ 46. Rxf3 Nxf3 47. Qa3 Nxg1 48. Qxe7+ Rf7 49. Qa3 -+] Bf3+ 45. Kg1 Nxf1 46. Rxe7+ Kh6 47. Qg7+ Kh5 48. Qh7+ Kg4 49. Re8 Rxe8 50. Qd7+ Kh4 51. Kxf1 [51. Qh7+ does not solve anything Bh5 52. Qxh5+ gxh5 -+] Rd8 52. Qh7+ Kg4 0-1.

Yifan Hou is the #1 female player in the world and the only woman in the FIDE top 100, causing inevitable comparisons to Judit Polgar while bringing back the age-old men-women debate in chess. Hou's career has already featured major controversy about tournament pairings Yifan Hou vs B Lalith, 2017 and revisits questions about separate women's titles and events and prizes.

Black's double fianchetto set-up scores well against the London System, then this game has an interesting unbalanced Queen sacrifice gaining two active minor pieces. Black had several opportunities to win the exchange, yet the Bf3 rules the light squares near White's King until the h Pawn gets involved. Fritz makes lots of suggestions for such a sharp game, but Black's position is far easier to play in real time, especially with the clock ticking. How often has any of us given up a full Rook with Double Check (46. Rxe7+) calculating it out to a win?

Some insightful commentary:



<To me this game has conceptual similarities to the Caruana-Nakamura brilliancy in the recent London Chess Classic: Caruana vs Nakamura, 2016 In both games the Queen is sacrificed for two pieces - Bishop & Knight - and long term positional compensation. And in both cases the long term positional compensation consisted of weak squares around the opponents king. I don't know what the engines say - but in human praxis these sacrifices (more often than not) turn out to be fully compensated>

<There is one huge difference between this game and the positional Q sac played by Caruana against Naka. That one was home preparation. Hou Yifan's brilliancy was found at the board, with no help from a computer. She therefore deserves the greatest praise.>

<all her moves were sound - she was never worse, although it seems like she lost most of her advantage around moves 37-41. The engine thought she needs to win the exchange (which Ider offered many times) and keep an important plus. Apparently before 42.Rb5, which loses, white holds. Of course, this is based on chess24's online engine, which is probably weaker than Hou's calculation in this game. I find it quite likely her choice to keep all her minor pieces around the king is not only practically correct, but also objectively.>

<Unbelievable over the board calculation. (Or intuition, considering how deep some of the lines go at a material disadvantage?) That f3 bishop is more of a pope, dominating the board like some divine emissary. The sacrifice of a queen for two minor pieces and an amazing initiative reminds me of the game of the (last) century, though I feel the positional compensation here and less immediate tactical follow-up makes it a more sophisticated queen sacrifice to recognize than Fischer's. I'm curious whether the only computer assessed imperfections in her game, moves 37-40, reflect a rush to conclude the brilliancy with more time to think.>

Great game!