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Monday, November 19, 2012

WWCC in Khanty-Mansiysk - Round 3

Saturday, 17 November 2012 07:32

THE FIRST GAMES OF THE THIRD ROUND FINISHED IN KHANTY-MANSIYSK

16 participants of the World Championship, who advanced to the third round, played the first games of the round on November 17th. The games were very spectacular and action-packed.

Monika Socko (Poland), who became a hero of the second round (she defeated the World Champion Hou Yifan, making her the youngest ex-World Champion in history), lost as White to the former World Champion Antoaneta Stefanova (Bulgaria). Socko seized the initiative after the opening, but a single lapse of concentration cost her a piece and a game. Stefanova confidently converted her advantage.

Ju Wenjun (China) won as White against Natalia Zhukova (Ukraine). In the previous round the Ukrainian grandmaster defeated the highest rated player of the tournament Humpy Koneru (India).

The most intriguing match was the one between Kosintseva sisters. Nadezhda, playing Black, surprised everybody by choosing the Caro-Kann defense, which she never played before. Tatiana started to improvise and soon ended up in an unpleasant position. Black had the initiative and managed to win a pawn, but White's tenacious defense saved her half a point.

It was a very unsuccessful day for two other Russian players, Alisa Galliamova and Natalia Pogonina. Galliamova lost to Marie Sebag (France), and Pogonina was defeated by Anna Ushenina (Ukraine).

Irina Krush (USA) crushed Huang Qian (China). The games Muzychuk (Ukraine) – Zhao Xue (China) and Javakhishvili (Georgia) – Dronavalli (India) ended in draws.

Results:

М. Socko (Poland) – А. Stefanova (Bulgaria) 0-1
Ju Wenjun (China) - N. Zhukova (Ukraine) 1-0
А. Ushenina (Ukraine) – N. Pogonina (Russia) 1-0
М. Muzychuk (Ukraine) — Zhao Xue (China) draw
L. Javakhishvili (Georgia) – H. Dronavalli (India) draw
T. Kosintseva (Russia) – N. Kosintseva (Russia) draw
Huang Qian (China) – I. Krush (USA) 0-1
А. Galliamova (Russia) - М. Sebag (France) 0-1

Official website

Round 2 Game 2

Ten players advanced to the third round of the Women's World Championship it Khanty-Mansiysk. Twelve players will return tomorrow to play tie-breaks.

The second games of the second round were played on Thursday, November 15th.

The players demonstrated very tense and spectacular chess, and there were many decisive games. Predicting the outcome of most encounters was nearly impossible. The outcome in many games was impossible to predict during the course of the round, because the evaluation was changing constantly, and emotions often prevailed over logic.

The main headline of the day was the loss of the World Champion Hou Yifan (China), who had White against grandmaster Monika Socko (Poland). Monika demosntrated exceptional determination and won on demand (she lost her first round game, so winning the second one was a must) with Black pieces, which is a big achievement. Tomorrow this match will be continued on tie-break.

Natalia Zhukova (Ukraine) played another great game against the rating favorite of the tournament Humpy Koneru (India) and won the match with the perfect score.

The Russian derby Gunina-Galliamova ended in favor of the experienced Alisa Galliamova, who won today with Black pieces. Natalia Pogonina won another very tough match against Alexandra Kosteniuk (both – Russia) and advanced to the next round. The Russian Tatiana Kosintseva completely crushed the defensive line of Hoang Thanh Trang (Hungary) and also proceeded to the third round. Olga Girya (Russia) lost to Marie Sebag (France) and was knocked out from the championship.

In the match of the former World Champions Antoaneta Stefanova (Bulgaria) defeated Zhu Chen (Qatar). Harika Dronavalli (India) and Maria Muzychuk (Ukraine) won against Elina Danielian (Armenia) and Maritza Arribas (Cuba) respectively and also advanced to the next stage. Lela Javakhishvili (Georgia) took the upper hand in a lengthy battle with Kateryna Lahno (Ukraine).

Irina Krush (USA) tied the score against Pia Cramling (Sweden) as Nino Khurtsidze (Georgia) angainst Zhao Xue (China).

Nadezhda Kosintseva (Russia) and Lilit Mkrtchian (Armenia) made a second draw and will continue their match on tie-break tomorrow. Also two draws occurred in the matches between Anna Muzychuk (Slovenia) and Anna Ushenina (Ukraine), and Ju Wenjun (China) and Anna Zatonskih (USA).

Results:

Hou, Yifan (CHN) – Socko, Monika (POL) 0-1, Zhukova, Natalia (UKR) – Koneru, Humpy (IND) 1-0, Muzychuk, Anna (SLO) – Ushenina, Anna (UKR) draw, Khurtsidze, Nino (GEO) – Zhao, Xue (CHN) 1-0, Lahno, Kateryna (UKR) – Javakhishvili, Lela (GEO) 0-1, Mkrtchian, Lilit (ARM) – Kosintseva, Nadezhda (RUS) draw, Cmilyte, Viktorija (LTU) – Huang, Qian (CHN) 0-1, Girya, Olga (RUS) – Sebag, Marie (FRA) 0-1, Gunina, Valentina (RUS) – Galliamova, Alisa (RUS) 0-1, Krush, Irina (USA) – Cramling, Pia (SWE) 1-0, Kosintseva, Tatiana (RUS) – Hoang, Thanh Trang (HUN) 1-0, Danielian, Elina (ARM) – Harika, Dronavalli (IND) draw, Arribas Robaina, Maritza (CUB) – Muzychuk, Mariya (UKR) draw, Pogonina, Natalija (RUS) – Kosteniuk, Alexandra (RUS) 1-0, Ju, Wenjun (CHN) – Zatonskih, Anna (USA) draw, Zhu, Chen (QAT) – Stefanova, Antoaneta (BUL) 0-1.

Tomorrow twelve players will return for the tie-breaks:
Hou, Yifan (CHN) – Socko, Monika (POL)
Muzychuk, Anna (SLO) – Ushenina, Anna (UKR)
Khurtsidze, Nino (GEO) – Zhao, Xue (CHN)
Mkrtchian, Lilit (ARM) – Kosintseva, Nadezhda (RUS)
Krush, Irina (USA) – Cramling, Pia (SWE)
Ju, Wenjun (CHN) – Zatonskih, Anna (USA)

Official website

Round 2

On Wednesday, November 14th, 32 participants of the championship, who won their first round matches, played the first games of the second round.
There were fewer decisive games compared to the first round, and the reason is obvious – the strength gap between the players is now much narrower. Yet the World Champion Hou Yifan (China) once again proved her power by winning as Black against the experienced Monika Socko (Poland). Another thriller produced Natalia Zhukova (Ukraine), who, also as Black, defeated the rating favorite Humpy Koneru (India). Zhao Zue (China) crushed Nino Khurtsidze (Georgia), Pia Cramling (Sweden) won against Irina Krush (USA), Harika Dronavalli (India) defeated Elina Danielian (Armenia), and Maria Muzychuk defeated the hero of the starting round Maritza Arribas Robaine (Cuba). The rest of the games were drawn.

Russian players Nadezhda Kosintseva, Tatiana Kosintseva and Olga Girya made draws against Lilit Mkrtchian (Armenia), Hoang Thanh Trang (Hungary) and Marie Sebag (France) respectively. There are two all-Russian pairs in the second round: Alisa Galliamova plays with Valentina Gunina, and Alexandra Kosteniuk faces Natalia Pogonina. These games also ended in draws, despite being the longest in the round.

Results:
Socko, Monika (POL) – Hou, Yifan (CHN) 0-1, Koneru, Humpy (IND) – Zhukova, Natalia (UKR) 0-1, Ushenina, Anna (UKR) – Muzychuk, Anna (SLO) draw, Zhao, Xue (CHN) – Khurtsidze, Nino (GEO) 1-0, Javakhishvili, Lela (GEO) – Lahno, Kateryna (UKR) draw, Kosintseva, Nadezhda (RUS) – Mkrtchian, Lilit (ARM) draw, Huang, Qian (CHN) – Cmilyte, Viktorija (LTU) draw, Sebag, Marie (FRA) – Girya, Olga (RUS) draw, Galliamova, Alisa (RUS) – Gunina, Valentina (RUS) draw, Cramling, Pia (SWE) – Krush, Irina (USA) 1-0, Hoang, Thanh Trang (HUN) – Kosintseva, Tatiana (RUS) draw, Harika, Dronavalli (IND) – Danielian, Elina (ARM) 1-0, Muzychuk, Mariya (UKR) – Arribas Robaina, Maritza (CUB) 1-0, Kosteniuk, Alexandra (RUS) – Pogonina, Natalija (RUS) draw, Zatonskih, Anna (USA) – Ju, Wenjun (CHN) draw, Stefanova, Antoaneta (BUL) – Zhu, Chen (QAT) draw.

The 8th Ugra Governor Cup starts tomorrow in Khanty-Mansiysk. This is a part of the Russian Cup series, the prize fund is 1 million 641 thousand roubles, which is slightly more than $50,000. More than 100 players from Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan already registered for the event, including Anton Korobov (2702), Nikita Vitiugov (2700), Alexey Dreev (2654) and Igor Kurnosov (2645). Evgenia Ovod (Russia) and Madina Davletbaeva (Kazakhstan), who already busted from the World Championship, will join the field as well. The tournament will run until November 24th.

Official web-site

Tie-break

Today the participants of the World Championship in Khanty-Mansiysk played the first round of tie-breaks. Now we know all 32 players who advanced to the second round.

It was the tie-breaking day at the Ugra Chess Academy. Those players who tied their classical matches 1-1, returned to the venue to determine winners in series of quicker games. First they had to play two rapid games with 25 minutes plus 10 seconds per move.

16 tie-break participants demonstrated uncompromising, fighting and very emotional chess. The positions were usually extremely sharp and double-edged, and the outcome was impossible to predict. The rating favorite Bela Khotenashvili (Georgia) lost her match to the Cuban Maritza Arribas Robaina. Russian grandmasters Natalia Pogonina and Alisa Galliamova defeated their compatriots Svetlana Matveeva and Ekaterina Kovalevskaya with the perfect score 2-0 and advanced to the second round.

Those players who drew their 25-minute matches had to continue with even quicker time control – 10 minutes plus 10 seconds per move. At this stage Ju Wenjun, Elina Danielian and Lela Javakhishvili defeated Atousha Pourkashiyan, Sopiko Khukhashvili and Anastasia Bodnaruk.

The longest matches today were Cristina-Adela Foisor (Romania) vs. Maria Muzychuk (Ukraine), and Irina Krush (USA) vs. Li Ruofan (Singapore). Irina Krush managed to win her match in blitz games – 5 minutes plus 3 seconds per move – with the score 1,5-0,5, while Muzychuk and Foisor advanced to the Armageddon game. At this stage White has one minute more than Black, but the draw counts in Black's favor. Muzychuk played Black and managed to hold a draw, thus advancing to the next round.

Thus the tie-breaks ended in favor of Maritza Arribas Robaina, Ju Wenjun, Natalia Pogonina, Elina Danielian, Irina Krush, Alisa Galliamova, Lela Javakhishvili and Maria Muzychuk.

Results:

Khotenashvili (Georgia) – Arribas Robaina (Cuba) – 0,5-1,5
Ju Wenjun (China) – Pourkashiyan (Iran) 3-1
Pogonina (Russia) – Matveeva (Russia) 2-0
Foisor (Romania) – Muzychuk (Ukraine) 3,5-3,5, Muzychuk advanced because of having Black in the Armageddon game.
Danielian (Armenia) – Khukhashvili (Georgia) 3-1
Krush (USA) – Li Ruofan (Singapore) 3,5-2,5
Kovalevskaya (Russia) – Galliamova (Russia) 0-2
Bodnaruk (Russia) – Javakhishvili (Georgia) 1,5-2,5

Pairings for the second round:

Hou, Yifan (CHN) – Socko, Monika (POL)
Koneru, Humpy (IND) – Zhukova, Natalia (UKR)
Muzychuk, Anna (SLO) – Ushenina, Anna (UKR)
Zhao, Xue (CHN) – Khurtsidze, Nino (GEO)
Lahno, Kateryna (UKR) – Javakhishvili, Lela (GEO)
Kosintseva, Nadezhda (RUS) – Mkrtchian, Lilit (ARM)
Cmilyte, Viktorija (LTU) – Huang, Qian (CHN)
Sebag, Marie (FRA) – Girya, Olga (RUS)
Gunina, Valentina (RUS) – Galliamova, Alisa (RUS)
Cramling, Pia (SWE) – Krush, Irina (USA)
Kosintseva, Tatiana (RUS) – Hoang, Thanh Trang (HUN)
Harika, Dronavalli (IND) – Danielian, Elina (ARM)
Arribas Robaina, Maritza (CUB) – Muzychuk, Mariya (UKR)
Kosteniuk, Alexandra (RUS) – Pogonina, Natalija (RUS)
Ju, Wenjun (CHN) – Zatonskih, Anna (USA)
Stefanova, Antoaneta (BUL) – Zhu, Chen (QAT)

Official web-site

Round 1 - Game 2

The second games of the first round were played in Ugra Chess Academy on November 12th. 24 players won their two-game matches. 11 of them won both games: World Champion Hou Yifan (China), Humpy Koneru (India), Anna Muzychuk (Slovenia), Zhao Xue (China), Kateryna Lahno (Ukraine), Nadezhda Kosintseva (Russia), Pia Cramling (Sweden), Valentina Gunina (Russia), Antoaneta Stefanova (Bulgaria), Zhu Chen (Qatar), and Lilit Mkrtchian (Armenia).

The following players advanced to the second round with the score 1,5-0,5: Viktorija Cmilyte (Lithuania), Marie Sebag (France), Tatiana Kosintseva (Russia), Harika Dronavalli (India), Alexandra Kosteniuk (Russia), Anna Zatonskih (USA), Olga Girya (Russia), Nino Khurtsidze (Georgia), Huang Qian (China), Anna Ushenina (Ukraine), Natalia Zhukova (Ukraine), Hoang Thanh Trang (Hungary), and Monika Socko (Poland). Grandmaster Olga Girya, representing Ugra, won today with Black pieces and thus advanced to the second round, where she meets with Marie Sebag from France.

The game between Natalia Zhukova and Guo Qi was a true masterpiece. The Chinese obtained a pleasant position after the opening and decided to sacrifice an exchange, which led to a highly complicated game with a lot of calculation involved. The Ukrainian had to return extra material and even gave up another piece, however, she secured a very strong passed pawn. The pawn eventually promoted, winning a fine game for Zhukova.

Tomorrow is a rest day for all the players who advanced to the second round. Those participants who tied their matches 1-1 will return tomorrow to play tie-breaks.

Four players who lost their games yesterday managed to equalize the score today: Maritza Arribas (Cuba), Atousa Pourkashiyan (Iran), Lela Javakhishvili, and Sopiko Khukhashvili (both Georgia).

g2 07

The tie-breaks begin with two rapid games – 25 minutes + 10 second per move for each player. If these games are tied as well, the players proceed to two blitz games – 5 minutes + 10 seconds per move. And if those do not determine the winner, the players will clash in a sudden death game, in which White has 6 minutes against Black's 5 minutes, but a draw counts as a victory for Black.

The following players are meeting tomorrow on tie-breaks: Ju Wenjun (China) – Atousa Pourkashiyan (Iran), Natalia Pogonina – Svetlana Matveeva (both Russia), Cristina-Adela Foisor (Romania) – Mariya Muzychuk (Ukraine), Elina Danielian (Armenia) – Sopiko Khukhashvili (Georgia), Li Ruofan (Singapore) – Irina Krush (USA), Alisa Galliamova – Ekaterina Kovalevskaya (both Russia), and Anastasia Bodnaruk (Russia) – Lela Javakhishvili (Georgia).

g2 09

The 8th Ugra Governor Cup starts on Wednesday, November 14th. This competition is a part of the Russian Cup series, and its prize fund exceeds $50,000. More than 100 players from Russia, Ukraine, Belarus and Azerbaijan have already registered for this event, including Anton Korobov (2702), Nikita Vitiugov (2700), Alexey Dreev (2654) and Igor Kurnosov (2645). The World Championship participants who get eliminated in the Round 1 will also be able to join the Governor Cup, which ends on November, 24th.

Results

Round 1- Game 1
The first leg games of the Round 1 were played today at the Ugra Chess Academy. The Governor of Ugra Natalia Komarova, who pays very close attention to chess events, made a symbolic first move in Hou Yifan-Ranasinghe game. The city mayor and Ugra chess federation president Vassily Filipenko, and director of Ugra sports department, biathlon Olympic champion Evgeny Redkin also addressed the players, wished them best of luck and good games.

A symbolic first move by the Governor of Ugra Natalia Komarova

The Governor inspected organization of the event and answered questions of journalists. She underscored her great respect for the participants of the championship: “I respect everyone fascinated with this ancient game. All chess players in my opinion have a very well organized mind and can achieve excellent results in any area”.

Inspecting the organization of event

There were no major upsets in the first round. The World Champion Hou Yifan (China) crushed her less experienced opponent from Sri Lanka. The third place finisher of the FIDE Grand Prix Anna Myzychuk (Slovenia) and one of the strongest Chinese players Zhao Xue also showed no mercy to their opponents. The second place finisher of the FIDE Grand Prix Humpy Koneru (India) had a difficult game, but managed to reverse the trend and defeat her opponent from South Africa.

The World U-20 Champion and Russian Cup winner Anastasia Bodnaruk (Russia) won a brilliant game again the experienced Lela Javakhishvili (Georgia), featuring a double rook sacrifice. The European Champion Valentina Gunina (Russia) sacrificed a bishop in her game against Gu Xiaobing (China) and obtained four pawns in return, which secured her the victory.

Iveta Rajlich and Olga Girya discussing their game

Other Russians did not shine in the first round. Former World Champion Alexandra Kosteniuk made a draw with an American player, Russian champion Natalia Pogonina drew with her compatriot Svetlana Matveeva, former Russian champions Alisa Galliamova and Ekaterina Kovalevskaya also drew their game. Local player and FIDE nominee Olga Girya got a promising position against Iveta Rajlich (Poland), but failed to convert her material advantage in the time trouble.

Results

FIDE Women’s World Chess Championship is opened

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Deputy Minister of Sport of the Russian Federation Pavel Kolobkov read a congratulatory telegram from the Minister of Sport of the Russian Federation Vitaly Mutko. Then FIDE President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, after his welcome speech, declared the championship officially open. The opening ceremony was attended by Natalia Komarova, the Governor of Khanty-Mansiysk Autonomous Area – Ugra, and Evgeny Redkin, director of the Department of Physical Education and Sports of Khanty-Mansiysk Autonomous Area – Yugra.

Drawing of colors was an important technical aspect of the ceremony. For that purpose Chief Arbiter Hal Bond (Canada) and the reigning Women’s World Champion Hou Yifan (China) went up to the stage. Hou Yifan chose one of the two proposed chess boards and found a white pawn. This means that Hou Yifan and all participants with the odd numbers will have white pieces in the first game.
The opening ceremony continued with the colorful theatrical show. Participants and guests of the championship saw the performances of the artists of dance theater “Ugra-Classic”, an ensemble of wind instruments, dance group “Courage”, illusionist Yevgeniy Kaverzina, dance theater “Show-karapuz”, and the program was completed with the fantastic vocals and music of “AngeliQuie and The Band”. The official part was followed by a banquet.

Official web-site