Tradewise Gibraltar Chess Festival 2012 (10)
Women's World Champion Hou Yifan edged out by Short after playoff in Gibraltar
IM Malcolm Pein - Saturday 4th February 2012
IM Malcolm Pein reports Nigel Short won the Gibraltar Masters 2012 after beating Hou Yifan in a rapid playoff. However it was Hou's performance that caught the imagination with the idea she may catch Judit Polgar as the women's top player. Shirov-Hou from round 9 is examined.
Alexei Shirov went down to defeat against Hou Yifan in Round 9. Photo © | http://www.gibraltarchesscongress.com
Nigel Short won the Tradewise Gibraltar Masters after a playoff win over the Women's World Champion Hou Yifan but the 17 year old Chinese girl's performance overshadowed Short's best result for some time. Hou's score of 8/10 included victories over four of the world's top 50 players. She defeated two chess legends; Judit Polgar and Alexei Shirov, and her rating performance was a staggering 2872 which means that in effect, even Garry Kasparov, whose all time high was 2851 would not have been expected to do better against the quality of opposition she faced.
Hou faced seven elite grandmasters rated 2700 or over. As well as victories over Polgar and Shirov, she defeated Zoltan Almasi and Le Quang Liem. In the last round, Hou was in clear first place and boldly sacrificed two pawns against Shak Mamedyarov ranked world number 14. Hou also sacrificed two pawns against Le Quang Liem and this approach put the established players under pressure they found hard to cope with.
Let's see how Hou overcame Alexey Shirov, the man known for creating 'Fire on Board'. Far from trying to neutralise the tactical genius, Hou took him on in the Poisoned Pawn variation of the Sicilian Najdorf, one of the sharpest lines of opening theory.
The endgame is quite instructive as a rook and bishop are usually superior to rook and knight on an open board. In this game Shirov has an outside passed 'a' pawn but Hou's central pawns and active king control the board and the knight is deadly at close quarters.
A Shirov - Hou,Yifan
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Bg5 e6 7.f4 Qb6
Hou Yifan
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Alexei Shirov
Position after 7...Qb6, the Poisoned Pawn, this girl has no fear.
8.Qd2 Qxb2 9.Rb1 Qa3 10.e5 h6 11.Bh4 dxe5 12.fxe5 Nd5 13.Nxd5 exd5 14.e6 Bxe6 15.Nxe6 fxe6 16.Be2
(16.Bd3 Be7 17.Bg6+ Kd8 18.Bxe7+ Qxe7 19.0-0 Nd7! Motylev-Sutovsky Chess Olympiad 2010)
16...Be7 17.Bh5+ Kd8 18.Bxe7+ Qxe7 19.0-0 Nd7 20.Rxb7
(20.c4!?)
20...Qc5+ 21.Kh1 Rb8
Not the only move, but sufficient. Black's king is safe enough after rook exchanges
22.Rxb8+ Nxb8 23.Qe2 Qb5 24.Qxb5 axb5 25.Rf7
By the time Shirov regains a sacrificed pawn, Hou has organised her pieces
25...Nc6 26.Rxg7 Rf8 27.Kg1 Nb4 28.Rb7 Nxc2 29.Rxb5 Ke7 30.a4 Ra8 31.Rb2 Ne3 32.Kf2 Nc4 33.Rb7+ Kd6 34.Bd1 e5 35.Rh7 Nb2!
(35...Rf8+ 36.Ke1 Rf6 37.Be2 Kc5 38.Rc7+ Kd4 39.Bxc4 dxc4 40.a5 Is better for Black but probably a draw)
36.Rxh6+ Kc5 37.Bc2 Nxa4
(37...e4 38.h4 Kd4 is also strong)
Hou Yifan
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Alexei Shirov
Position after 37...Nxa4
38.h4
A misguided winning attempt I guess
38...Nc3! 39.Bf5
(39.g4?? Ra2)
39...Ra2+ 40.Kf1
(40.Kg3! Ne2+ 41.Kg4 Nd4)
40...Ra1+ 41.Kf2 Ra2+ 42.Kf1 Nd1
(42...e4 43.Re6 Kd4 44.h5 e3 wins)
43.g4 Ne3+ 44.Ke1 Kd4 45.Bc8 Ng2+ 46.Kd1 e4
Rook, knight, king and pawn force mate
47.h5 e3 48.Ba6 Nf4 49.Rb6 Nd3 50.Bxd3
(50.g5 e2#)
50...Kxd3 51.Rb3+ Ke4 52.h6 d4 53.h7 Rh2 0-1
Hou Yifan
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Alexei Shirov
Final position after 53...Rh2
The Grand Prix Attack against the Sicilian Defence played a major role in the play off between Nigel Short and Hou Yifan as we will see on Monday. Today's puzzle is from a GP miniature played at Gibraltar.
NK Nuri - M Bihi
1.e4 c5 2.Nc3 Nc6 3.f4 e6 4.Nf3 d5 5.Bb5 Nge7 6.0-0 a6 7.Bxc6+ Nxc6 8.d3 Be7 9.Qe1 0-0 10.Qg3 b5 11.f5 b4 12.Bh6! Bf6 13.e5! Nxe5 14.Nxe5 bxc3 15.Nc6 Qd7
M Bihi
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NK Nuri
White to play and win
Answer:
16.Bxg7 Bh4 17.Qxh4 Kxg7 18.Qg5+ 1-0
