All photos by David Llada

Sopiko saw her good fortune from game one swing back to Natalia Buksa in game two

Chief Arbiter Anastasia Sorokina in a good mood. It seems that the initial stress is completely gone!
After being back in her element, Nana Dzagnidze showed another poor performance against Olega Zimina and was completely outplayed on the white side of the English opening. However, once more Nana’s colossal experience came handy and she managed to trick her opponent with a somewhat hard-to-see piece sacrifice. In a must win situation, Zimina declined making a draw and succumbed to White’s attack along the g-file. A great 2-0 victory for Nana but things could have been very different if Zimina had not run out of steam.

Ju Wenjun was almost winning but a draw was good enough for her to advance to the second round
After an overly-optimistic opening, Zhu Chen might easily have ended up 0-2 against Ju Wenjun but Ju Wenjun did not play accurately and all of her advantage was gone once Zhu Chen managed to get her king to safety. Nevertheless, the Women world No.2 showed her class and demonstrated a consistent performance to secure an easy draw to advance to the next round.
After a loss with the white pieces, Anastasia Bodnaruk had to go all in against Olga Girya. Unfortunately, her endeavors did not pay off and Girya got a very solid position out of the opening, after which, she gradually managed to grind down Bodnaruk and advance to the third round.

In a lot of even matches, like Pia Cramling vs Elizabeth Paehtz (above), the players showed consistent and cautious play and saved their nerves for the black-hole of energy, tie-breaks!
However, Aleksandra Goryachkina had a different approach and after her winning chance fizzled out against Vietnamese Pham Thanh Nguyen, she lost her objectivity and nerve, and went down at the hands of Pham, who is the dark horse and surprise of the event by reaching the Top 16.
Goryachkina - Pham
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1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 d5 4.Nc3 Bb4 5.Bg5 h6 6.Bxf6 Qxf6 7.Qa4+ Nc6 8.e3 0-0 9.Rc1 Qg6 10.Qc2 Qxc2 11.Rxc2 Rd8 12.a3 Bf8 13.Be2 13.Nb5 Rd7 14.cxd5 exd5 15.Bd3 a6 16.Nc3 Na7 17.Bf5 17.g4!? Rd8 18.Rg1 Nc6 19.h4 g6 17...Rd8 18.Bxc8 Nxc8= 13...Na5 14.c5 Nc6 15.b4 g5 16.b5N 16.g4 e5! 17.Nxe5 Nxe5 18.dxe5 a5 19.0-0 axb4 20.axb4 c6 21.Rd1 Bg7 22.f4 Re8 16...Ne7 17.0-0 Bg7 18.h3 f6 19.Rd1 Bd7 20.a4 a5 21.bxa6 bxa6 22.Rb2 Be8 23.Ne1 Nc6 24.Bd3 Kf8 25.Nc2 Ke7 26.g4 Rab8 27.Rbb1 Rxb1 28.Rxb1 Ra8 29.Kf1 Kd8 30.Ke2 Ne7 31.f3 a5 32.e4 Bc6 33.Bb5 Bb7 34.Ne3 dxe4 35.fxe4 Bc8 36.Kd2? 36.d5! Ng6 37.Rd1 Ke7 38.dxe6! Nf4+ 39.Kf3 Bxe6 40.Ncd5+ 36...f5 37.exf5 Bxd4? 37...c6 38.f6? 38.Rd1! c6 39.Ke2 e5 40.Bc4 38...Bxf6 39.Rf1 Ng8 40.Ne4 Ke7 41.Nc4 Bg7 42.c6? 42.Ned6! Nf6 42...cxd6 43.cxd6+ Kd8 44.Ne5+- 43.Nxc8+ Rxc8 44.Nxa5 Rd8+ 45.Ke2 Rd5 46.Nc6+ Kf8 47.Rc1+- 42...Nf6 43.Nxf6 Bxf6 44.Ke3 Bc3 45.Ke4 Ba6 46.Rf3 46.Rd1 46...Bb4 47.Ne5 Bxb5 48.axb5 Kd6 49.Rf7 Kc5 49...Bc3! 50.Rxc7 Kxb5 51.Rb7+ Kc5 52.Rh7 52.c7 Rc8 52...Bc3 53.c7? 53.Rxh6 a4 54.Rxe6 Rc8 55.Nd7+ Kb5 56.Kd3 53...Rc8 54.Rd7 Kb6 55.Rd6+ 55.Nc4+ Kc6 56.Rd6+ Kxc7 57.Kd3 Bb4 58.Rxe6 55...Kb7 56.Rxe6 Rxc7 57.Kd5 Bxe5 58.Rxe5 Rc6 59.h4 gxh4 60.Rh5 a4 61.Rxh4 a3 62.Rh2 Ra6 63.Ra2 Kc7 64.Kc4 Kd6 65.Kb3 Ke5 66.Re2+ Kf4 67.Ka2 Kxg4 68.Re8 h5 69.Rg8+ Kh3 0–1
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Goryachkina,A | 2466 | Pham,L | 2351 | 0–1 | 2017 | D38 | FIDE Women's World Championship | 11.15 |
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This was not the only bad news for Russians, Valentina Gunina, a world class player and a world class rapid player, succumbed to Ni Shiqun for the second time to leave the event earlier than expected.
As we mentioned earlier, many of the players who had lost their first matches, tried to complicate matters in the second game. This backfired in most cases, though Tan Zhongyi had a different approach today: She chose a well-known theoretical positon in the Slav with a clear plan for White. Afterwards, she kept her composure and executed White’s plan step by step and with a little help from Anna Ushenina, she managed to force a tie-break.
Tan Zhongyi vs A. Ushenina
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1.c4 c6 2.Nf3 d5 3.d4 Nf6 4.Nc3 dxc4 5.a4 Bf5 6.e3!? e6 7.Bxc4 Bb4 8.0-0 Nbd7 9.Qe2 0-0 10.e4 Bg6 11.Bd3 Bh5 12.e5 Nd5 13.Nxd5 cxd5 14.Qe3 Be7 15.Ne1 Bg6 16.f4 f5?! 16...Rc8 17.g4 h6?! 17...Bxd3 18.Nxd3 Rc4 17...Nc5!?N 18.f5 Nb3 19.fxg6 hxg6! 20.Bxg6 Qb6 21.a5 Qxd4! 22.Qxd4 Nxd4 23.Bd3 Nb3 18.Bxg6 fxg6 19.Nd3 Qb6 20.Bd2 Qb3 21.Rf2 Nb6 22.Raf1 Nc4 23.Qe2 Nxb2 24.Nxb2 Qxb2 25.Qd3 Qc2 26.Qb5 Bh4 27.Rg2 Qe4 28.Qxb7 Qxd4+ 29.Kh1 Rc2 30.Qb4 Qd3 31.Rfg1 Qf3 32.Rb1 Be7 33.Qb3 Qxb3 34.Rxb3 g5 35.f5 exf5 36.gxf5 Rxf5 37.Re2 g4 38.Kg2 Bg5 39.Rb8+ Kh7 40.e6 d4 41.Rb5 d3 42.Rxf5 dxe2 43.Be1 Bh4 17.Bd2 Nb8 18.b4 Nc6 19.Nc2 a6 20.Kh1 Qb6 21.Rab1 Rfc8 22.Rg1 Bf8 23.h3 Qd8 24.a5 Rc7 25.Ne1! b6?! 26.Nf3 b5 27.g4 fxg4? 28.Ng5! Qe8 29.hxg4 h6 30.f5 Bf7 31.Nf3+- Ne7 32.Rg2 Kh8 33.Rh2 Ng8 34.Rf1 Rac8 35.f6 Rc4 36.g5 Bxb4 37.Bxb4 Rxb4 38.fxg7+ Kxg7 39.gxh6+ Kh8 40.Qg1 1–0
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Tan,Z | 2502 | Ushenina,A | 2444 | 1–0 | 2017 | D19 | FIDE Women's World Championship | 11.9 |
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Unlike Tan Zhongyi, Anastasia Savina did not manage to equalize and has to leave Tehran at the hands of...

...Chinese She Yang, who has demonstrated a consistent and solid performance so far.
I truly believe, in my humble opinion, that Tan’s approach is one of the best possible ones for tournaments with such a brutal formant: One should play chess in a consistent level, even if you level of play is not high, hold your nerve, and have faith… and a little bit of luck!
Finally, Kashilinskaya had Muzychuk over the ropes for the entire game but the Russian never managed to find a decisive cut through the game and Muzychuk survived with a bit of good fortune.

Kashlinskaya had Muzychuk on the ropes and almost scored but unfortunately for her, she ran out of steam and let Anna off the hookKashlinskaya - A. Muzychuk
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24...Kg7 25.Nd4?! 25.Kb3 Rd2 26.Ra2 25...Rf6 25...Rd5! 26.b6 cxb6 27.c7 Na6 28.c8Q Rxc8 29.Rxc8 Rxd4 30.Rxa3 Nb4+ 31.Kc3 e5 26.f4?! 26.f3 26...gxf4 27.gxf4 Rg6 28.g3 Kh7 29.Rc3 Rd6 30.Kd3 a2 31.Ke3 Ra4 32.Nc2 e5 33.Ra3 exf4+ 34.gxf4 Rc4 35.R1xa2 Re6+ 36.Kf3 Rf6 37.Ra8 Rcxf4+ 38.Ke3 Rf3+ 39.Ke2 Rf2+ 40.Ke3 R2f3+ 41.Ke2 Rf2+ ½–½ - Start an analysis engine:
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Kashlinskaya,A | 2418 | Muzychuk,A | 2558 | ½–½ | 2017 | D83 | FIDE Women's World Championship | 2.2 |
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Round 2 Game 2 |
SNo. |
Name |
Res |
SNo. |
Name |
1 |
Ju Wenjun |
1/2-1/2 |
32 |
Zhu, Chen |
31 |
Kashlinskaya Alina |
1/2-1/2 |
2 |
Muzychuk Anna |
3 |
Kosteniuk Alexandra |
1/2-1/2 |
30 |
Gaponenko Inna |
29 |
Saduakassova, Dinara |
1/2-1/2 |
4 |
Harika Dronavalli |
5 |
Dzagnidze, Nana |
1-0 |
28 |
Zimina Olga |
27 |
Ni Shiqun |
1-0 |
6 |
Gunina Valentina |
7 |
Stefanova Antoaneta |
1/2-1/2 |
26 |
Melia Salome |
25 |
Padmini, Rout |
1/2-1/2 |
8 |
Zhao Xue |
9 |
Tan Zhongyi |
1-0 |
24 |
Ushenina, Anna |
23 |
Khurtsidze Nino |
1/2-1/2 |
10 |
Batsiashvili Nino |
11 |
Pogonina Natalija |
1/2-1/2 |
22 |
Huang Qian |
21 |
Savina Anastasia |
1/2-1/2 |
12 |
Shen Yang |
13 |
Buksa Nataliya |
1-0 |
20 |
Guramishvili Sopiko |
19 |
Cramling Pia |
1/2-1/2 |
14 |
Paehtz Elisabeth |
15 |
Goryachkina Aleksandra |
0-1 |
18 |
Pham, Le Thao Nguyen |
17 |
Girya Olga |
1-0 |
16 |
Bodnaruk Anastasia |
Check out more games with master analysis by Soumya Swaminathan and Sagar Shah here.