CHESS#1237

The Tradewise "Super" Open at Gibraltar saw an unusual last-round protest from the world champion, and women's #1 Hou Yifan. The 22-year-old is scrupulously polite but she's also known for strong views and moral courage. Hou has said that she's going to stop playing the women's title cycle (after a final defence against her compatriot Ju Wenjun, who beat her at Gibraltar). She disapproves of the selection method. She also wants to face higher rated players and improve her own game.
 
The Chinese Federation would prefer her to continue contending for the title and to continue playing for the women's team. But there are signs she's unwilling to do for much longer. Hou did play the Baku Olympiad where China took gold with her on top board. But she was the only team-member who did not wear the red uniform.  
 
At Gibraltar, she was paired against seven women in the first nine rounds. The gender-bias is statistically unlikely (there were 150 men and 30 women) but not impossible. Hou suspected tampering in her pairings and resigned her last round game against Lalith Babu, in five moves, as an act of protest. Gibraltar ended in a playoff between David Anton Gujarro, Hikaru Nakamura and Yu Yangyi (all 8/10). Nakamura beat Yangyi and Gujarro.
 
Wesley So won the Tata Steel and jumped to World #2. So scored 9 from 13 games  at Tata (5 wins, 8 draws). Magnus Carlsen came second, scoring 8 (4 wins, 1 loss to Richard Rapport). The trio of Baskaran Adhiban, Wei Yi and Levon Aronian (all 7.5) shared 3rd-5th.
 
The bottom-rated Indian GM finished his first Super GM event with an  2800-plus performance.  He played unusual cheeky openings, fought hard  and showed he belongs in the elite. Wei Yi was also tremendous. Harikrishna (6/13) hovered at the 50 per cent mark until he lost in the last round after a terrible opening.  The Tata "B" was won by Gawain Jones (9/13). Jones tied Markus Ragger (9) but he had the better tiebreak. The 15-year-old Jeffery Xiong, (8.5) was just about edged out by them.
 
The Diagram, Black to Play (White: Ider Vs Black: Hou,Yifan,  Gibraltar 2017)  is a remarkable effort. Hou made a queen sacrifice on move 15. It's move 42.
 
Hou played 42...h3+ 43.Kh1 Nxh2!! 44.Rxe5 Bf3+ 45.Kg1 [Forced since 45.Kxh2 Bf4+ 46.Kxh3 Rxe5 ] Now she thought 7 minutes and played 45...Nxf1!!  This allows an attack but after 46.Rxe7+ Kh6 47.Qg7+ Kh5 48.Qh7+ Kg4 white is stuck. He tried 49.Re8 [Desperate but the alternative is 49.Rxc7 h2+ 50.Kxf1 h1Q+ 51.Qxh1 Bxh1.; Or 49.Kxf1 Rb8!]  Black finished 49...Rxe8 50.Qd7+ Kh4 51.Kxf1 Rd8 52.Qh7+ Kg4 (0–1). Super calculation and courage of convictions.

Devangshu Datta is an  internationally rated chess and correspondence chess player