Kosteniuk beat Hou Yifan in the WWC Final, Game 1

Chinese prodigy - Hou Yifan lost to Russian - Alexandra Kosteniuk in their first game of the 2008 Women World Championship Final in Nachik, Russia. They will play another 3 classical time control game and if the score is tied, both players will play the tiebreak games with faster time control.

I'm following live the game 1 of the 2008 Women World Championship Final between Alexandra Kosteniuk and Hou Yifan. Below are the game.



WGM Hou Yifan (2557) - GM_Alexandra Kosteniuk (2510)
2008 WWC Final Game 1, 14.09.2008

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0–0 Be7 6.Re1 b5 7.Bb3 0–0 Kosteniuk show that she is willing to play the famous Marshall Attack with 8...d5 8.a3 I'm not an expert in opening theory but as far as my patzer opening knowledge is concern, there's two ways to play the Anti - Marshal - 8.a4 or 8.h3. Logically 8. a3 is to make the retreat Ba2 possible for white later

8...d6 9.c3 Now i'm more confused. White play 8. a3 and later play 9.c3 indicating that she's want to retreat his bishop at c2 9...Bg4!?

A new move !? Fritz gave many other lines except this one. Usually black play ...Bg4 move if white already play d4 because the f3 knight will be pinned from defending the d4 pawn and black threaten ...Bxf3 - winning the d4 pawn 10.d3 Na5 11.Bc2 so what the points of 8.a3 ? 11...c5 12.h3 Bd7 Probably this is the idea of 9...Bg4. Black provoke white to play h3 and she will retreat her bishop to d7, which is not the usual retreat maneuver Bh5 and later Bg6. At d7 the bishop is more active attacking white king side whereas at g6 - it has less prospect because white's e4 pawn was strongly protect by her d3 pawn 13.d4 Qc7 14.d5 according to the official site, white's plan to closed the center gave black a slight advantage 14...c4 Black is planning to relocate his a5 knight to c5 - and idea which is also played in Modern Benoni defense 15.Nbd2 Nb7 16.Nf1 Nc5 17.g4 Quite an aggressive move. White have to do something before black queen side play become stronger. 17...h5!

Black take the bull by it horn ! thanks to his unusual bishop on d7, black can afford to play this move which create weakness on white king side 18.N3h2 hxg4 19.hxg4 Qc8 20.f3 Nh7 21.Ng3 Bg5 ! brilliant strategic play by Kosteniuk. She trade white dark square bishop to exploit white weakness on dark square 22.Nf5 Qd8 23.Kg2 g6 24.Ng3 Kg7 25.Rh1 Rh8 26.Nhf1 Qf6 27.Be3 Bxe3 28.Nxe3 Ng5

White has many weak points - f4, f3 and d3 but black does not have any ! 29.Qe2 Rag8 30.Raf1 Qf4 31.Rxh8 Rxh8 32.Rh1 Rxh1 33.Nxh1 Nd3

34.Bxd3 Black must capture this wild horse before thing getting worse !34.Bd1 Nxf3 35.Qxf3 Ne1+ 36.Kf2 Nxf3; 34.Bb1 Nxf3 35.Bxd3 Nh4+ 36.Kh3 cxd3 37.Qf2 Nf3 34...cxd3 35.Qf2 d2 this naughty passed pawn make life difficult for white 36.Ng3 Nxf3! Brilliant sacrifiece. Black can afford this due to his strong passed pawn on d2! 37.Qxf3 Bxg4 38.Qf2 d1Q 38...Bh3+ 39.Kg1 Qxe3 40.Qxe3 d1Q+ 41.Kh2 Bg4 39.Nxd1 Bxd1 40.Qe1 white is clearly lost 40...Bf3+ 41.Kg1 f5 42.exf5 gxf5 43.Qf2 Kg6 not 43...Bxd5?? 44.Nh5+ 44.b3 e4 is still winning but probably stronger is 44...Qg4 45.Kf1 (45.Kh2 f4 46.Nf1 Qh5+ 47.Kg1 Qh1#) 45...Bxd5 45.c4 Hou Yifan tried his last chance. Creating passed pawn but it just too slow 45...bxc4 46.bxc4 Qg5 46...e3 47.Qe1 (47.Qh2 e2 48.Qf2 Qc1+ 49.Nf1) 47...Qd4 48.Ne2 Qg4+ 49.Ng3 Qh3 47.c5 47.Kh2 f4 48.Nf1 Qh5+ 49.Kg1 Qh1#; 47.Kf1 Qc1+ 48.Qe1 Qxc4+ 47...f4 48.cxd6 48.c6 fxg3 49.Qc2 Qf6 50.Qc1 Qh4 48...fxg3 0–1 Hou Yifan resign. A total dominant by Kosteniuk - with Black !

photo from kosteniuk.com