Kosintseva, N – Yifan [C11]
Corus 2007, 13.01.2007
1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.e5 Nfd7 5.f4 c5 6.Nf3 Nc6 7.Be3 cxd4 8.Nxd4 Bc5 9.Qd2 0-0 10.0-0-0 a6 11.Kb1 Nxd4 12.Bxd4 b5 13.Qe3 Qc7 14.Bd3 Bxd4 15.Qxd4 Rb8 16.Ne2 b4 17.Qe3 Nc5 18.Ng3 Nxd3 19.Rxd3 a5 20.Nh5 Ba6 21.Rd4 Rb6 22.Qg3 f5 23.exf6 g6 24.Qg5 Rc6 25.Rc1 Qf7 26.g4 h6 27.Qe5 gxh5 28.g5 hxg5 29.fxg5 Rfc8 30.Rd2 Qg6 31.Rf2 Kf7 32.Qd4 Bd3 33.Ka1 Qxg5 34.Re1 Rxc2 35.Rxc2 Rxc2 36.Qa7+ Kxf6 37.Qd4+ e5 38.Qb6+ Kf5 39.Rb1 Qc1 Black wins 0-1
Click here to replay the game.
Chess Daily News from Susan Polgar
Susan is right about Yifan. She’s good.
She’s also very lucky. N. Kostinseva missed a clear continuation and her time management was terrible. She only had 3 minutes on her clock to Yifan’s 26 minutes.
Yifan’s last move was not the best. She played Qg5-c1. But much stronger was either Rc1 or Rxb2. However I am not going to complain about success.
I see sets like this in a lot of photos. Why do they make the rooks so small and out of proportion to the other pieces?
A great game. Kosintseva relied only on a pin to protect her knight and Yifan punished her for it. What I’m wondering is why K. played 27. Qe5 instead of Qxh6 which builds some pressure.
32… Bd3 is in my eyes the greatest move in the game. Accepting the sacrifice with either cxd3 (..Rxc1#) or Qxd3 (..Qxd3) means pain. Declining means less pain, but still a lot. Kosintseva could have resigned immediately after Yihan played that move. It’s that good.