Four Days, Five Nights

Vassily Mykhaylovych Ivanchuk – 侯逸凡 (Hóu Yìfán)

“尚街杯” (“MEWE Cup”) 2017 World Champion Summit Chess Match; match game 1; 深圳 (Shēnzhèn), April 5, 2017

Scotch Game C45

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 exd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nxc6 bxc6 6. Nd2. This used to be Savielly Tartakower’s favourite, and, just to say it with him, “As long as an opening is reputed to be weak it can be played”. 6. ... d5 7. exd5 cxd5 8. Bb5+ Bd7 9. Bxd7+ Qxd7 10. 0-0 Be7 11. b3 0-0 12. Bb2 Qf5. If 12. ... Rfe8 there might follow 13. Qf3 Ng4 14. h3 Bf6 15. hxg4 Bxb2 16. Rad1 c6 17. c3 Qe7 18. Nb1 a5 19. Rd2 Ba3 20. Nxa3 Qxa3 21. Rfd1 ½ : ½ Volokitin – Efimenko, 82nd Ukrainian Championship, Kiev 2013. 13. Nf3 Rfe8. Black finally disconnects herself from the theoretical matrix set by her opponent: 13. ... Ne4 14. Qd3 Rfe8 15. Rad1 Rad8 16. Nd4 Qd7 17. f3 Nd6 18. Ne2 Nf5 19. Rfe1 Bh4 20. g3 Re3 21. Qd2 Be7 22. Nd4 Rxe1+ 23. Rxe1 Bc5 24. Kg2 Nxd4 25. Bxd4 Bb6? (now it’s easy to say that Black should have played 25. ... Bf8! with a perfectly tenable game) 26. Bxg7! Kxg7 27. Qg5+ Kf8 28. Qf6 Bd4 29. Qxd4 Kg8 30. Qh4 Re8 31. Qg4+ 1 : 0 Tartakower – G. Wood, 22nd Hastings International Chess Congress, Hastings 1946/1947. 14. Qd3. More than one kibitzer praised here Ivanchuk’s fighting spirit with gentle irony, but, objectively speaking, this is quite consistent with the unambitious character of the opening line chosen. The alternative 14. Nd4 Qd7 15. Qd3 Ne4 would have led to a balanced play, quite similarly to the aforementioned game Tartakower – G. Wood. 14. ... Qxd3 15. cxd3 Nd7 16. Rac1 Nc5 17. Rfd1 Ne6 18. g3. Ivanchuk thought a very long time about his last four moves, but didn’t succeed in getting any remarkable advantage. 18. ... Rec8 19. Rc6

19. ... a5! Black has equalised completely, and the game ends in a draw very quickly. 20. Nd4 Nxd4 21. Bxd4 a4 22. Rdc1 Ba3 23. R1c2 axb3 24. axb3 Rab8 25. Rxc7 Rxc7 26. Rxc7 h6 27. Rd7 Rxb3 28. Rxd5 Rxd3 29. Ra5 Rxd4 30. Rxa3 h5 ½ : ½.

Vassily Mykhaylovych Ivanchuk vs. 侯逸凡 (Hóu Yìfán)
Photo: sports.sohu.com