Women's WCh. G1: A quiet Italian

by Albert Silver
3/3/2016 – The fanfare was a tribute to the passion and enthusiasm of Ukraine and especially Lviv as the match got underway. The media was present in force and game one was started. Playing black, Hou Yifan caught her opponent off-guard as she opted for an Italian game, and her choice was vindicated as Muzychuk failed to get anything from the opening. Report with GM analysis.

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2016 Women's World Chess Championship

The Women’s World Chess Championship Match 2016 between the current World Champion Mariya Muzychuk of Ukraine and Challenger Hou Yifan of China (former World Champion 2010-2012, 2013-2015) takes place in Lviv, Ukraine, on March 1-18, 2016. The first game is scheduled to start at 3 pm local time on 2nd of March 2016. You can watch the games live in our broadcast window at the bottom of this page.

Game one

Photos by Vitaliy Hrabar for the official site

Mayor of Lviv Andriy Sadoviy, together with six-year-old talent Kalyna Furmanova shares
his impressions with local journalists

“It’s a great honour for our city to welcome three-time Women’s World Champion Hou Yifan and current Women’s World Champion champion Mariya Muzychuk in Lviv. It’s going to be an interesting match between them and the next chess queen will be decided here in Lviv. I wish everyone to enjoy the games”, said the Mayor of Lviv Andriy Sadovyi.

On March 2nd, 2016 the first game of Women’s World Chess Championship Match was started.
Mayor of Lviv Andriy Sadovyi and one of the most promising young players of Ukraine 6-year-old
Kalyna Furmanova made the first move, e2-e4, with the white pieces.

‘The Women’s World Chess Championship Match has begun – this year chess queen will be chosen here in Lviv. I’d like to thank the organizers for the honour to make the first move. I believe everyone will enjoy the games. We want chess to become the dominant sport in our city, and in Ukraine. It’s a big responsibility to have this Match here and today is a very importnat day in the history of our city. There were no chess events of this level in Ukraine. I think this is a good start for Lviv and we hope to host other chess tournaments in the future, especially now, when every school of the city has chess lessons’, said Lviv Mayor Andriy Sadovyi.

The media was present in force for the start of the match

Neither Women’s World Champion Maria Muzychuk, nor Hou Yifan revealed the names of their seconds

The first game finished in a draw after 31 moves and three hours of play

Hou Yifan had black and decided to switch from her usual Sicilian, and chose 1…e5. An Italian game (or Giuoco Piano) appeared on the board and the Women’s World Champion was unable to obtain any edge out of the opening. After many exchanges the game finished in a drawish ending.

Game one analyzed by GM Alejandro Ramirez

 
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1.e4 0 e5!? 0 An interesting move, right from the get-go! Hou Yifan has never played 1...e5 against 1.e4 in her career, at least according to the 2016 MegaBase. This must've come as a surprise to Mariya, and although she replied relatively quickly, it took her some time to figure out exactly what to play. 2.Nf3 0 Nc6 0 3.Bc4 38 Bc5 7 4.0-0 2:24 Nf6 47 5.d3 35 0-0 3:00 6.c3 0 Thirteen minutes on 6.c3 isn't normal. d6 36 7.h3 0 7.Nbd2 a6 8.Bb3 Be6 9.Bc2 h6 10.h3 Re8 11.Re1 d5 12.exd5 Bxd5 13.b4 Ba7 14.a4 b5 15.Bb2 Qb8 16.Nf1 Qb6 17.Ne3 Rad8 18.a5 Qb7 19.Nxd5 Nxd5 20.Nh4 Re6 21.d4 Rf6 22.Qh5 Qc8 23.Be4 Nf4 24.Qf3 Ng6 25.Qg3 Nxh4 26.Qxh4 exd4 27.Bf3 d3 28.Rad1 Qf5 29.c4 g5 30.Qe4 Bd4 31.Bxd4 Nxd4 32.Rxd3 Ne2+ 33.Rxe2 Rxd3 34.Qe8+ Kg7 35.Be4 Rd1+ 36.Kh2 Qf4+ 37.g3 Qd6 38.cxb5 Rd2 39.Bg2 Rxf2 40.Rxf2 Rxf2 41.Qe3 Rf6 42.bxa6 Qxa6 43.Qc5 Qd6 44.Qc3 Kg8 45.b5 Rf2 46.Qe1 Ra2 47.a6 Qd5 48.Qf1 Qd4 49.Qg1 Qxg1+ 50.Kxg1 Kf8 51.Bd5 Ra3 52.Kf2 Ke7 53.g4 f6 54.Ke2 Kd6 55.Be4 Kc5 56.Bd3 Kd4 57.Bf5 Rxh3 58.Bd7 Ra3 59.Bc6 Kc5 60.Bd7 Kb6 61.Kf2 c5 62.bxc6 Rxa6 63.Kf3 Ra4 64.Ke3 Kc7 65.Kf3 Kd6 66.Ke3 Ra5 67.Ke4 Re5+ 68.Kf3 Re7 0-1 (68) Hou, Y (2673)-Eljanov,P (2760) Wijk aan Zee 2016 7...h6 4:00 The Italian game has a lot of subleties that differentiate the different move-orders, such as playing 7... h6, a6 or something else first. This is not the time or place to discuss all of them, but the reader should be aware that these moves are not as straight-forward or interchangeable as they seem. For example 7...a6 threatens to trap the bishop on c4 with 8...Na5, and must be defended against if White wants to somehow retain an advantage. 8.Re1 2:06 a6 1:32 9.a4 1:02 Ba7 0 10.Nbd2 1:45 Re8 4:10 Already this position has never been reached in top level chess. The position is quite typical, though, and the plans and maneuvers are well known. Amon others, White can play Nf1-g3-f5, or expand on the queenside with b4 at some point. Black retains a solid position, tries to trade some pieces and push d5 when appropiate. 11.Nf1 1:12 Be6 5:20 12.Bxe6 0 Rxe6 6 13.Be3 3:08 Bxe3 9:38 14.Nxe3 43 d5 6 It's hard to believe that White retains any real edge in this position. Black has managed to grab a significant amount of space in the center and with the trade of bishops it doesn't seem like White can accomplish very much. 15.Qc2 7:40 Qd7 4:44 16.Rad1 6:03 16.b4 Ne7 Doesn't look nearly as good to me as the computer is claiming, which is still not much (+0.24 or something along those lines, it just lookes equal to me). 16...Rd8 0 17.Nf5 2:45 Qe8 8:26 Among other things, this move really challenges Mariya to go for it. In a match setting, having a draw with Black is an excellent start, and Hou Yifan is happy sitting back and defending. 18.b4 10:55 b5 8:54 19.axb5 0 axb5 5 20.Nd2 57 Trying to exploit the weakness left by the move b5: c5. However the maneuver is not on time to create any problems. Ne7 9:51 21.Nxe7+ 5:37 Qxe7 22 22.Nb3 22 dxe4 5:51 23.dxe4 23 Red6 17 With everything coming off the board the draw seems inevitable. 24.Nc5 1:33 Rxd1 2:35 25.Rxd1 4 Rxd1+ 5 26.Qxd1 4 Qd6 0 27.Qe2 4:36 c6 59 28.g3 32 Nd7 49 29.Nxd7 1:28 Qxd7 10 30.Kg2 11 Qd6 38 31.Qe3 1:35 A solid start for the challenger. She was not afraid to try a new opening and surprise her oponent. She held the draw very comfortably, and now it will be her turn to push against Muzychuk's black. ½–½
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Muzychuk,M2563Hou,Y2667½–½ FWWCM 2016

‘I believe this is a normal beginning of the match. There will be many more interesting games. Really, 1..e5 is rare move in my practice, but anyway this move is quite popular’, Hou Yifan commented.

‘I am really pleased that so many people came to support me. I can’t say that I am satisfied, neither that I am dissappointed. It’s my first real match. Before I had only training matches’, noted Mariya Muzychuk the current Women’s World Champion.

 

Press conference after game one

Current standings

Player Fed Rtg G1 G2 G3 G4 G5 G6 G7 G8 G9 G10 Pts
Mariya Muzychuk UKR 2563 ½                   0.5
Hou Yifan CHN 2667 ½                   0.5

Schedule

March 2 Wednesday 15:00 Game 1
March 3 Thursday 15:00 Game 2
March 4 Friday Day Off  
March 5 Saturday 15:00 Game 3
March 6 Sunday 15:00 Game 4
March 7 Monday Day Off  
March 8 Tuesday 15:00 Game 5
March 9 Wednesday 15:00 Game 6
March 10 Thursday Day Off  
March 11 Friday 15:00 Game 7
March 12 Saturday 15:00 Game 8
March 13 Sunday Day Off  
March 14 Monday 15:00 Game 9
March 15 Tuesday Day Off  
March 16 Wednesday 15:00 Game 10
March 17 Thursday Day Off  
March 18 Friday 15:00 Tie-break games
March 18 Friday 18:00 Closing Ceremony

All games start at 3 p.m. local time, which is an hour ahead of European time, two ahead of Britain, and seven ahead of New York. You can find the starting time at your location here.

Women's World Chess Championship 2016 live broadcast

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Links

The games will be broadcast live on the official web site and on the 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 or any of our Fritz compatible chess programs.
 

 


Born in the US, he grew up in Paris, France, where he completed his Baccalaureat, and after college moved to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. He had a peak rating of 2240 FIDE, and was a key designer of Chess Assistant 6. In 2010 he joined the ChessBase family as an editor and writer at ChessBase News. He is also a passionate photographer with work appearing in numerous publications, and the content creator of the YouTube channel, Chess & Tech.

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