Hou Yifan leads Oxford to victory over Cambridge

by Daniel Fernandez
3/5/2019 – Hou Yifan played her first rated classical game since December, as she led her team from Oxford University to their third consecutive win over varsity rivals Cambridge. It was the first time the top-rated woman in the world participated, and the 137th such match overall. Cambridge clings to a tiny (and shrinking) lead of 59-56 wins (with 22 draws). Cambridge alumnus GM DANIEL FERNANDEZ takes a look at the games. | Pictured: Oxford's team Andrew Rogozinski (reserve), Daniel Abbas, Hou Yifan, Joris Gerlagh (captain), Benjamin Foo, Lisa Schut, Gordon Scott, Filip Mihov, Isaac Sanders | Photo: John Saunders

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Hou's on first board

It's a rivalry dating back to 1873 and, last Saturday, Oxford and Cambridge Universities squared off once more for the 137th "Varsity Match" at the Royal Automobile Club in central London. Oxford won this year's bout by a narrow margin of 4½ to 3½, despite being heavy rating favourites across the eight-board match.

The two teams have been competing — interrupted only by world wars — in a variety of sports, since the 19th century, and is cited as "one of the great traditions of British Chess".

Women only began to compete in the late 1970s, but back then the match was played on seven boards, with an eighth "Ladies board" not counted for the match scoring, except as a tiebreaker.

Since 1992, it has been an eight-board match and top female players like IM Harriet Hunt and WIM Ruth Sheldon competed on the top board. Neither, however, were World Champion calibre, so Hou Yifan's appearance is a first. Although she has not played much over the past year, it's still a small upset that Cambridge's 2396-rated FM Matthew Wadsworth was able to hold Hou to a draw with the black pieces.

Hou Yifan

Hou is a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford | Photo: John Saunders

GM Daniel Fernandez, who was on the losing Cambridge side when the teams faced off in 2017, takes a look at all the games, starting with the world number one woman.

 
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1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nc6 5.Nc3 Qc7 6.Be3 a6 7.Be2 One of several significant moves, but perhaps not the most poisonous. 7.Qf3 could be the most positional approach: the queen is typically headed for g3, whereupon it will be exchanged and White will try for a small endgame edge. Black has a few ambitious options though, including the Nf6 8.0-0-0 Ne5 9.Qg3 b5 10.f4 Neg4 11.Bg1 h5∞ of Karjakin,S-Caruana,F London 2017 7.Qd2 is the only move I've annotated a game in before: see Radjabov-Rapport, Tata Steel 2019 for 7...b5, Carlsen-Matlakov, Tata Steel 2018 for 7..Nf6 8.f4, or Das-Adhiban, Reykjavik 2018 for 7...Nf6 8.0-0-0. Having looked at the line fairly extensively I think 7...b5 is very playable. 7.Bd3 Nf6 8.0-0 Now Black has a move which is both principled (exploiting the placement of White's light-squared bishop) and cynical (somewhat simplistic for a Sicilian.) Nxd4!? (There is also ...Ne5, as you would expect.) 9.Bxd4 Bc5 As played by, for instance, Svidler. 10.Bxc5 10.Be2 d6 11.Qd2 Bxd4 12.Qxd4 e5 13.Qb4 Be6 14.Rad1 Ke7= 10.Bxf6 gxf6 11.Qg4 Qe5∞ 10...Qxc5 11.Na4 11.Kh1 d6 12.f4 Bd7 13.Qd2 Bc6 14.Rae1 Rd8 15.e5 dxe5 16.fxe5 Nd7 17.Qf4 0-0= Vachier Lagrave,M-Svidler,P Riadh 2017 11...Qc7 12.c4 d6 13.Nc3 The question for me is whether White has an advantage in this Maroczy-esque position. If not, then 8...Nxd4 is simply alright. 7...Nf6 8.0-0 Bb4 Best by test. 8...b5 This is possible, but Black has to continue in a counter-intuitive way. 9.Nxc6 dxc6 10.f4 Bb7 10...e5 11.fxe5 Qxe5 12.Bf4 Qc5+ 13.Kh1 Be6 14.e5 Nd5 15.Nxd5 Bxd5 16.Bd3 White has a small plus due to the greater clarity of his plans. 11.e5 Nd5 12.Nxd5 cxd5 We have now a position that does not inspire great confidence, but in fact to prevent Black's game from becoming freed White must swap both dark-squared bishops and queens, leading to a more or less equal endgame, as in the 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.e5 French. 9.Na4 Be7 9...Nxe4 10.Nxc6 Qxc6 10...bxc6 11.Qd4+- 11.Nb6 Rb8 12.Bf3 d5 13.Qd4+- leads to Black getting tied in all kinds of knots: there could be mate on d8, a Bf4-type motif, or simply carnage after White takes on g7. 10.c4 This move is known but not especially harmful. 10.Nxc6 bxc6 11.Nb6 Rb8 12.Nxc8 Qxc8 13.Bd4 c5 14.Be5 Rb6 This is the 'tabiya' of the 7.Be2 Taimanov, in which White has generally been able to prove a little something. 10...Nxe4 11.c5 0-0 12.g3 Nf6 12...e5!? tries to be better here. 13.Bf3!? 13.Nb3 d5 14.Nb6 Be6 15.Nxd5 Qd7 13.Nf5 d5! Whichever side ends up material down will have compensation for it, e.g. 14.cxd6 Nxd6 15.Bb6 Qd7 16.Nxe7+ Qxe7 17.Bc5 Rd8 18.Nb6 Rb8 19.Nc4 Nd4 20.Nxd6 Rxd6 13...Nxd4 13...exd4 14.Bf4 d6 15.Bxe4 Be6= 14.Bxe4 d5 15.Bg2 15.Bxd5 Bh3 16.Bxd4 Bxf1 17.Qxf1 exd4 18.Qc4 Rad8 15...Nf5! 16.Nb6 Be6 17.Nxa8 Rxa8 18.b4 Nxe3 19.fxe3 Rd8 13.Nb6 Rb8 14.Rc1 g6 Black is clearly trying to play ...e5, but this will now take more work than previously. 14...Rd8= followed by the brazen ...e5 and ...d5 was still enough to equalise. 15.Bg5 Rd8 16.Bf3 h6 17.Bxh6 e5 18.Nxc6 18.Nxc8 Qxc8 19.Nxc6 dxc6 20.Qe2= 18...dxc6 19.Qe2 Be6 20.Rfe1 Nd7! Keeping it solid. 21.b4 Nxb6 22.cxb6 Qxb6 23.Qxe5 Qd4 24.Bf4 Qxe5 25.Bxe5 Rbc8 26.Bc3 26.a3 Rd3 27.Rc3= was now the depressing reality of the position. 26...Rd3 26...Bg5!? 27.Bg4 Bxg4 28.Rxe7 Bf3 29.h3 Rcd8 30.Kh2 R3d7 31.Rce1 Personally, I would have found 31.Rxd7 Rxd7 32.g4 Rd3 33.Bf6 worth trying, if nothing else because the plan of Bg5-e3 and Kg3 is the only constructive one I can see. 31...f5 32.g4 fxg4 33.Kg3 Rxe7 34.Rxe7 Rd3 35.Re3 Rxe3 36.fxe3 Bd5 37.hxg4 Bxa2 38.Kf4 Kf7 39.Ke5 Ke7 40.Bd4 Bb1 41.g5 Kd7 42.Bb6 A good hold by Black- at some points he was equalising so well that he might even have been better. ½–½
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Hou,Y2662Wadsworth,M2396½–½2019Varsity Match

Cambridge team

The Cambridge squad: Peter Finn, Naomi Wei, Ryan Rhys Griffiths, Gustavo Leon Cazares, Gwilym Price, James Cole (captain), James Walsh (reserve), Conor Murphy, Matthew Wadsworth | Photo: John Saunders

 
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1.c4 c5 2.g3 f5!? Home-made chess of a rather agreeable type. 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.d4 cxd4 5.Nxd4 g6 6.Bg2 Bg7 7.0-0 0-0 8.Nc3 Nc6 It is in this position that both sides start to grapple for real with the big decisions in the position- which minor pieces to exchange, which side to attack on, and (for Black) what to do with the central pawns. 9.Nc2 After some consideration, the engine comes up with 9.c5!? which makes sense from a human perspective too- now, all of Black's central decisions will come with clearly delineated drawbacks, including of course the option to do nothing- that would leave a bishop and rook stuck at home. 9...d6 10.Rb1 Rb8 11.b3 Bd7 12.Bb2 a6 13.Nd5 b5 14.cxb5 White's last move was a positional error, unless of course it had been played with the intention of following up with: 14.c5! dxc5 15.Nxf6+ Bxf6 16.Bxf6 Rxf6 17.Qd5+ Kg7 18.Qxc5 Rc8 when he has somewhat better co-ordination. 14...axb5 15.Nxf6+ Bxf6 16.Bxf6 Rxf6 Now the engine still awards White an advantage, but on structural grounds this is already Black's game. The central majority will be of use in a rook and/or single-minor-piece endgame, while White's queenside majority is left with only the option to transform itself into a rather ineffective single passed pawn. 17.Nd4 17.Qd2 Qb6 Now it is already a good time for 18.Nb4!= preventing Black's ...b4 and ensuring the trade of knights. 17...Qb6 18.Bd5+ Kg7 19.Nxc6 Bxc6 20.Bxc6 Qxc6 21.Qd4 Qb6 22.Qxb6 Rxb6 Probably White was quite confident of making a draw in this position, but this is harder than it looks. 23.Rfc1 23.a4 Ra6 24.axb5 Rb6 25.Rb2 Rxb5 26.Ra1= is the cleanest way of drawing 23...Rf8 24.Rc2 Kf6 25.Kg2 g5 26.Rd1 On principle, I might make a move like 26.f4 just to keep some space. 26...Ra8 27.h3 Rba6 28.Rdd2 Ke6 28...h5 looks better, but in fact the question of whether anything has really changed after 29.g4= is a valid one. 29.g4 h6 30.e3 R6a7 31.f4 fxg4 32.hxg4 h5 33.Kf3 hxg4+ 34.Kxg4 gxf4 35.Kxf4 Rf8+ 36.Ke4 Rf5 The position is still equal, but it is clearly White who should be worried, with the 2 backward pawns and less active rooks. 37.Rd4 Re5+ 38.Kd3 Rd5 39.e4 Rh5 40.Ke3? 40.Rb4 makes sense, to try and create counterplay with Re2 and e5. 40...Rh3+ 41.Kf4 Ra8! Now Black is better for real and the position is a nightmare to defend. 42.Rd5 Rg8 43.Rf2 b4 43...Rhg3 44.Rf3 R8g4+ 45.Ke3 Rxe4+‼ was an easy tactic to miss- for both sides. 44.Rb5 Rgh8 45.Rxb4 Rd3 46.Re2?? It is easy enough to see that this move loses. 46.Rb5 Rh4+ 47.Kg5 Rxe4 was called for, with an intriguing pawn-race in prospect. 46...Rf8+ 47.Kg4 Rg8+ 48.Kf4 Rdg3 A good showing by Isaac Sanders, and probably the decisive game of the match: on paper, one would expect a result from the White player here. 0–1
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Griffiths,R2359Sanders,I23550–12019Varsity Match
Schut,L2242Murphy,C2361½–½2019C56Varsity Match
Price,G2138Gerlagh,J22581–02019C06Varsity Match
Foo,B2254Leon Cazares,G20590–12019Varsity Match
Finn,P1863Abbas,D22530–12019Varsity Match
Scott,G2237Cole,J1917½–½2019Varsity Match
Wei,N1787Mihov,F21520–12019Varsity Match

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Lisa Schut

Two other women competed: WIM Lisa Schut was on board 3 for Oxford | Photo: John Saunders

Naomi Wei

 Naomi Wei was badly out-rated on board 8 for Cambridge | Photo: John Saunders

Full results

Bd Oxford University
Rating
Fed.
4½:3½
 Cambridge University
Rating
Fed.
1w GM Hou Yifan
2662
CHN
½-½
 FM Matthew Wadsworth
2386
ENG
2b FM Isaac Sanders
2355f
ENG
1-0
 FM Ryan Rhys Griffiths
2359
IRL
3w WIM Lisa Schut
2259
NED
½-½
 FM Conor Murphy
2361
IRL
4b Joris Gerlagh
2258
NED
0-1
 Gwilym Price (Clare)
2138
ENG
5w CM Benjamin Foo Zhi Rong
2254
SGP
0-1
 Gustavo Leon Cazares
2059
MEX
6b FM Daniel Abbas
2253
ENG
1-0
 Peter Finn
1863
ENG
7w Gordon Scott
2237
ENG
½-½
 James Cole
1921
ENG
8b Filip Mihov
2155
MKD
1-0
 Naomi Wei
1787
ENG
  Av. Rating = 2304.1
 
 
4½-3½
 Av. Rating = 2109.2
 
 

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Once part of a 'golden generation' of young players in Singapore, he moved to England in his late teens and attended Cambridge University. Immediately after graduation, he began training as a time series analyst and also working on his chess, finally becoming a grandmaster in November 2017. He writes chess articles frequently and with enjoyment, and his first chess book is out in May. Away from the board, he enjoys table-tennis and language learning.

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