3/18/2015 – It would be surprising not to see any surprises at the Women's World Championship. After all, it is a knock-out tournament. But the first round brought hardly any upsets, the favorites won or drew, hoping for better opportunities in the second game. With one exception: Yuan Yuanling used a lethal counter to win against Marya Muzychuk.
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Tournament conditions
The Women's World Chess Championship takes place from March 17 – April 7 in Sochi, Russia. The knock-out tournament is attended by 64 players, including the former World Champions Alexandra Kosteniuk (Russia), Anna Ushenina (Ukraine), and Antoaneta Stefanova (Bulgaria), the three-time Russian champion Valentina Gunina, the World Vice-Champion Humpy Koneru (India), and other leading grandmasters. Unfortunately, the reigning champion Hou Yifan was unable to come due to personal reasons, but she will still have an opportunity to challenge the new champion in a match, as the winner of the FIDE Grand Prix.
The first five rounds consist of mini-matches of two games with 90 minutes per 40 moves plus 30 minutes for the rest of the game with bonus 30 seconds per each move. The final match consists of four games.
If the match score is tied, its winner is determined on tiebreak: two rapid games of 25 minutes + 10 seconds per move. If the score remains equal, the players proceed to another two games with a slightly faster time control – 10 minutes + 10 seconds per move. If these games do not determine the winner as well, then there are two blitz games: 5 minutes + 3 seconds per move. Finally, if the score is still even, there is an Armageddon game: White has five minutes, Black has four minutes, and a three-second increment per move after the move 61.
Replica of a Lunochod lunar rover at the "Galactica"
Security check
The Women's World Championship started with a certain amount of delay - it was originally scheduled for autumn 2014 - twelve draws and 20 wins. In the majority of games the favorites prevailed, but there was one big surprise: Yuan Yuanling won against Mariya Muzychuk.
During the Chess Olympiad in Tromso 2014 Daniel King had the opportunity for a short and interesting interview with the Canadian player:
A quick chat with Yuan Yuanling (Tromso)
Top seed Humpy Koneru
Ju Wenjun is one of the favorites to win the title
Tatev Abrahamyan from the US
Former Women's World Champion Alexandra Kosteniuk
Antoaneta Stefanova - she also is a former Women's World Champion
Hoang Than Trang
Sophie Milliet and Irina Krush
Tatiana Kosintseva
Anna Ushenina, winner of the last knock-out World Championship
The first move
Informal: Andrey Filatov
Results of the first round
Koneru, Humpy
IND
1-0
Moaataz, Ayah
EGY
Wafa, Shrook
EGY
0-1
Ju, Wenjun
CHN
Muzychuk, Anna
UKR
1-0
Mezioud, Amina
ALG
Shamima, Akter Liza
BAN
0-1
Cmilyte, Viktorija
LTU
Kosteniuk, Alexandra
RUS
1-0
Berezina, Irina
AUS
Baginskaite, Camilla
USA
0-1
Gunina, Valentina
RUS
Zhao, Xue
CHN
1-0
Zuriel, Marisa
ARG
Yuan, Yuanling
CAN
1-0
Muzychuk, Mariya
UKR
Stefanova, Antoaneta
BUL
½-½
Nguyen, Thi Than An
VIE
Ozturk, Kubra
TUR
0-1
Khotenashvili, Bela
GEO
Cramling, Pia
SWE
1-0
Hejazipour, Mitra
IRI
Abrahamyan, Tatev
USA
0-1
Harika, Dronavalli
IND
Danielian, Elina
ARM
½-½
Marrero Lopez, Yaniet
CUB
Nakhbayeva, Guliskhan
KAZ
½-½
Tan, Zhongyi
CHN
Ushenina, Anna
UKR
1-0
Zhang, Xiaowen
CHN
Lujan, Carolina
ARG
1-0
Galliamova, Alisa
RUS
Kosintseva, Tatiana
RUS
½-½
Gomes, Mary Ann
IND
Wang, Jue
CHN
0-1
Sebag, Marie
FRA
Javakhishvili, Lela
GEO
1-0
Guramishvili, Sopiko
GEO
Arabidze, Meri
GEO
½-½
Paehtz, Elisabeth
GER
Krush, Irina
USA
1-0
Milliet, Sophie
FRA
Arakhamia-Grant, Ketevan
SCO
1-0
Hoang, Thanh Trang
HUN
Huang, Qian
CHN
½-½
Kovanova, Baira
RUS
Gaponenko, Inna
UKR
½-½
Zhukova, Natalia
UKR
Socko, Monika
POL
½-½
Daulyte, Deimante
LTU
Sukandar, Irine Kharisma
INA
½-½
Melia, Salome
GEO
Girya, Olga
RUS
1-0
Atalik, Ekaterina
TUR
Kashlinskaya, Alina
RUS
½-½
Shen, Yang
CHN
Khurtsidze, Nino
GEO
0-1
Kovalevskaya, Ekaterina
RUS
Mkrtchian, Lilit
ARM
½-½
Goryachkina, Aleksandra
RUS
Pogonina, Natalija
RUS
½-½
Guo, Qi
CHN
Cori T., Deysi
PER
0-1
Lei, Tingjie
CHN
Impressions of the press conferences and the opening ceremony
Press conference with Anastasya Karlovich, Humpy Koneru, Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, Andrey Filatov and Alexandra Kosteniuk
Humpy Koneru, Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, Andrey Filatov
Press officer Anastasya Karlovich, Humpy Koneru
The players at the opening ceremony
The dignitaries
Official speech by Andrey Filatov
Kirsan Ilyumzhinov
Music
Schedule
Date
Event
Time
March, 16
Arrival of the participants Opening Ceremony
Players’ meeting – after the official part of the Opening Ceremony
19.30 (preliminary)
Round 1 - 64 players
March, 17
Game 1
3:00 p.m. local time
March, 18
Game 2
3:00 p.m. local time
March, 19
Tie breaks
3:00 p.m. local time
Round 2 - 32 players
March, 20
Game 1
3:00 p.m. local time
March, 21
Game 2
3:00 p.m. local time
March, 22
Tie breaks
3:00 p.m. local time
Round 3 - 16 players
March, 23
Game 1
3:00 p.m. local time
March, 24
Game 2
3:00 p.m. local time
March, 25
Tie breaks
3:00 p.m. local time
Round 4 - 8 players
March, 26
Game 1
3:00 p.m. local time
March, 27
Game 2
3:00 p.m. local time
March, 28
Tie breaks
3:00 p.m. local time
Round 5 - 4 players
March, 29
Game 1
3:00 p.m. local time
March, 30
Game 2
3:00 p.m. local time
March, 31
Tie breaks
3:00 p.m. local time
Rest day - April, 1
Round 6 - 2 players
April, 2
Game 1
3:00 p.m. local time
April, 3
Game 2
3:00 p.m. local time
April, 4
Game 3
3:00 p.m. local time
April, 5
Game 4
3:00 p.m. local time
April, 6
Tie breaks
3:00 p.m. local time
April, 7
Closing Ceremony*
*Closing Ceremony can be shifted to April, 6 in case of the absence of tie breaks
The games are being broadcast live on the official web site and on the chess server Playchess.com. If you are not a member you can download a free Playchess client there and get immediate access. You can also use ChessBase 13 or any of our Fritz compatible chess programs.
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