This week, the FIDE Women’s World Chess Championship gets underway, in Lviv, Ukraine. The defending champion, Mariya Muzychuk of the Ukraine, takes on the challenge of Hou Yifan of China.
The word ‘challenge’ is perhaps misleading, as Hou is the former Women’s World Chess Champion, and Muzychuk’s predecessor, who relinquished her title by not defending it during FIDE’s knock out tournament of 2015. Not to mention, she is the current women’s world number 1.
I’m not going to get into their current World Championship match too much here, (there’s more on it at this page), but I thought it would be fitting to take a look at one of the players previous encounters.
Up to the match, the players have met 5 times, 2011 being the first recorded encounter I have. Hou dominates the score, notching up 3 wins and 2 draws. This would, on paper, make her the favourite for the match and she is widely expected to regain her title. Their last encounter, at the 2015 FIDE Grand-Prix in Monte Carlo, perhaps makes this case even stronger …
[Site “Monaco”]
[Date “2015.10.14”]
[Round “10”]
[White “Muzychuk, Mariya”]
[Black “Hou, Yifan”]
[Result “0-1”]
[BlackElo “2671”]
[ECO “B51”]
[WhiteElo “2528”]
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.Bb5+ Nd7 4.O-O a6 5.Bd3 Ngf6 6.c4 { Following
Saranya-Brunello, (Pune 2014), which was drawn in 48-moves. Not a common move,
c3 is by far the popular move here, when the bishop is withdrawn to c2 in
order to facilitate the advance of the d-pawn. } 6…g6 { Very logical development
by Black, here. A Dragon-type structure, it makes a lot of sense to place the
dark-squared bishop along the a1-h8 diagonal. } 7.Nc3 Bg7 8.Re1 Ng4 { Heading
for the e5-square. } 9.Bf1 { It’s not looking pretty this bishop. The question
is how it will be reactivated. If White intends to fianchetto, it will take an
investment of time — 3 moves to get it on g2. Meanwhile, Black, with her very
sensible and natural play, makes inroads. } 9…Nge5 10.d3 { It strikes me, here,
that the position is now a little like an English opening, but one in which
Black would be far more satisfied with the state of affairs than White. } 10…O-O 11.Be3 { Allowing Black to exchange on f3 rather than exchanging on e5 is a
strange decision. I think perhaps development concerns was a factor in this,
Muzychuk feeling that she just had to get pieces off of the back rank. She’s
not wrong, either, but she hands Hou a tempo. } 11…Nxf3+ 12.Qxf3 Ne5 13.Qd1 { Hardly positive play this, is it? The g3-square would have been way better for
the Queen, but this does not fit with the fianchetto plans and White wants to
stick to it. } 13…Nc6 { The theory of “control the centre” in practice. The
computer gives …Ng4 as being advantageous here, but I like Hou’s choice. } ( 13…Ng4 14.Bf4 { it is in White’s interests to keep this piece on. } 14…Bd4 15.Bg3 { with …f5 or …Bd7 being good ways to continue, here. } ) 14.Qd2 { So White’s plan is Kingside play, with h4, h5, Bh6 ideas, and Nd5 where at all
possible. From a Sicilian Defence, the game is now also very reminiscent of an
English Opening, and things are about equal. } 14…Rb8 { Black prepares to counter
on the Queenside. } 15.Ne2 e5 { I must confess, I don’t quite get this move,
Black gives White what she wants, which is a nice square on d5 for her knight.
There were other good options to this, one of which was getting her
counterplay moving with …b5. } ( 15…b5 16.Rab1 Be6 17.Nf4 Qd7 { When Black
would be quite happy. } ) 16.Nc3 { White heads for the d5-square, which has been
presented to her. } 16…Be6 17.Nd5 { A well known English opening theme, with this
kind of structure. White occupies the beautiful d5 ‘hole’ with a knight, when
Black is usually forced to either put up with it or relinquish the bishop pair
to get rid of it. } 17…b5 18.b3 f5 { White’s play has hardly been what one could
call ‘punchy’ and this allows Black to strike back on both wings. There is a
lot for both players to sort out here, and it a question of who crosses their
t’s and dots their i’s the best. } 19.g3 $2 { It’s quite appropriate to give a
‘?’ here, as this is a poor move. White has been intent on the fianchetto of
the Bf1 ever since she put it there on move 9. She seems to wish to achieve it
by hook or by crook. Not only that, but as I have said, the position contains
well known characteristics of an English opening. This kind of structure is
actually very common in systems such as the Botvinnik system. It is generally
accepted to be fine for White to capture on f5, when Black must recature with
bishop or rook, not knight. It seems to me that Muzychuk has the wish to
transpose in to a Botvinnik-esque system, yet does not know its nuances. I
feel that a player of her calibre should do. } ( 19.exf5 Bxf5 20.Rac1 Nd4 21.Bxd4 cxd4 22.g3 bxc4 23.Rxc4 Be6 24.Bg2 Rb5 { Should be around equal after
Nc7 } ) 19…f4 { This is the last thing that White wants, and Black
demonstrates that g3 was not the way to go about stopping it. } 20.gxf4 exf4 21.Nxf4 Bg4 { All of a sudden Black has a big initiative. } ( 21…Bxa1 $2 { White would be not at all displeased to see this. } 22.Nxe6 Qf6 23.Nxf8 Rxf8 24.Bg5 Qd4 { Qe3, Rc1, Rd1 all maintain an edge for White. } ) 22.Bg2 { White
finally gets this bishop to g2, something she has been striving for since move
9. Ironically, the cost of this has been too large for it to help her cause
much, now. Black is dominating. } ( 22.Rac1 { This would save the rook, but
Black would seize a winning initiative } 22…Ne5 { with the unignorable threat to f3. } 23.Bg2 Nf3+ 24.Bxf3 Bxf3 { And White’s predicament is horrific, with the
Black Queen poised to join the bishop on the Kingside. } ) 22…Ne5 { Black
shows the idea in the above variation, …Nf3+ and bringing the Queen over to
g5 or h4, or even g4 via d7. Very potent. } 23.h3 { Ineffective, but actually,
there is little that White could do, the position is very resignable. } 23…Nf3+ 24.Bxf3 Bxf3 25.Ne6 Qh4 26.Ng5 h6 { …Bxa1 was also perfectly fine, but Hou
stays to the point. } 27.Nxf3 Rxf3 28.d4 { This is exactly what White was
striving for — and were it not for the fact that Black is going to mate her,
she would be rather happy. } 28…Rxh3 { For mate in 6. } 29.Kf1 Qg4 { Cutting off any
hope the King had of escaping, for mate in 3. And here, White resigned. I
would imagine that Mariya Muzychuk would have been rather disappointed with
this game, some poor strategic decisions, coupled with a lack of theoretical
understanding of the structures she achieved cost her dearly. } 0-1
[/pgn]
