Hou, Yifan – Koneru, Humpy

2606 2012 · White wins (resignation, time or agreement)

Vienna Game, 2012: Hou Yifan (2606) against Koneru Humpy (2610), queens off by 15...Qxd1 and everything left to technique. Black held the balance for a long stretch — 90% at least good moves against White’s 96% — until 30...Rd1 swung the evaluation from -0.4 to -3.2 and handed White something real to work with. Hou Yifan gave it back with 39.Kc6, from +2.6 to +0.2, but Koneru slipped twice more: 46...Ke8 (from -0.3 to -6.9) and 47...Kd8 (from -6.7 to -10.3). The c-pawn then ran, and 53.Bd7+ ended it, 1-0. The takeaway: in bishop endings, one wrong king square costs more than ten opening moves.