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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 moves 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.
The pairings of the first round were anything but balanced, and played a big role in why some players cruised to the next round, while others had to grind their teeth. Top seed Humpy Koneru was obviously expected to proceed to the next round, but no doubt even she was pleasantly surprised to see that her first opponent was rated well over 500 Elo less.
Humpy Koneru (2581) had no problem dispatching Ayah Moaataz (2022)
On the other hand, a number of players found themselves battling against opponents with identical or near-identical ratings. Naturally the players had no say in this, but it was an oddity to say the least. Still, this didn't prevent several players from potentially huge upsets depending on how the tiebreaks go. The most notable being Marisa Zuriel (2219) from Argentina, who won her second game against Zhao Xue (2527) to push her match to a tiebreak, or the Cuban Yaniet Marrero Lopez (2322) who actually eliminated her higher rated opponent Elina Danielian (2488).
Sophie Milliet fell to Irina Krush in the first round
Elizabeth Paehtz will need to win her tiebreak match against Meri Arabidze to continue
Olga Girya (2459) had a tough assignment in Ekaterina Atalik (2419) but won 2-0
Among the heroes who lived to see another day was Sopiko Guramishvili who fought back
against her compatriot Lela Javakhishvili to push for a tiebreak
A young fan is inspired by the players and competition
|
White
|
Result
|
Black
|
Match
|
| Moaataz, Ayah (EGY) | 0-1 | Koneru, Humpy (IND) | 0-2 |
| Ju, Wenjun (CHN) | 1-0 | Wafa, Shrook (EGY) | 2-0 |
| Mezioud, Amina (ALG) | ½-½ | Muzychuk, Anna (UKR) | 0.5-1.5 |
| Cmilyte, Viktorija (LTU) | 1-0 | Shamima, Akter Liza (BAN) | 2-0 |
| Berezina, Irina (AUS) | 0-1 | Kosteniuk, Alexandra (RUS) | 0-2 |
| Gunina, Valentina (RUS) | 1-0 | Baginskaite, Camilla (USA) | 2-0 |
| Zuriel, Marisa (ARG) | 1-0 | Zhao, Xue (CHN) | 1-1 |
| Muzychuk, Mariya (UKR) | 1-0 | Yuan, Yuanling (CAN) | 1-1 |
| Nguyen, Thi Than An (VIE) | 0-1 | Stefanova, Antoaneta (BUL) | 0.5-1.5 |
| Khotenashvili, Bela (GEO) | ½-½ | Ozturk, Kubra (TUR) | 1.5-0.5 |
| Hejazipour, Mitra (IRI) | 0-1 | Cramling, Pia (SWE) | 0-2 |
| Harika, Dronavalli (IND) | 1-0 | Abrahamyan, Tatev (USA) | 2-0 |
| Marrero Lopez, Yaniet (CUB) | 1-0 | Danielian, Elina (ARM) | 1.5-0.5 |
| Tan, Zhongyi (CHN) | 1-0 | Nakhbayeva, Guliskhan (KAZ) | 1.5-0.5 |
| Zhang, Xiaowen (CHN) | ½-½ | Ushenina, Anna (UKR) | 0.5-1.5 |
| Galliamova, Alisa (RUS) | 1-0 | Lujan, Carolina (ARG) | 1-1 |
| Gomes, Mary Ann (IND) | ½-½ | Kosintseva, Tatiana (RUS) | 1-1 |
| Sebag, Marie (FRA) | ½-½ | Wang, Jue (CHN) | 1.5-0.5 |
| Guramishvili, Sopiko (GEO) | 1-0 | Javakhishvil,i Lela (GEO) | 1-1 |
| Paehtz, Elisabeth (GER) | ½-½ | Arabidze, Meri (GEO) | 1-1 |
| Milliet, Sophie (FRA) | ½-½ | Krush, Irina (USA) | 0.5-1.5 |
| Hoang, Thanh Trang (HUN) | ½-½ | Arakhamia-Grant, Ketevan (SCO) | 0.5-1.5 |
| Kovanova, Baira (RUS) | ½-½ | Huang, Qian (CHN) | 1-1 |
| Zhukova, Natalia (UKR) | 0-1 | Gaponenko, Inna (UKR) | 0.5-1.5 |
| Daulyte, Deimante (LTU) | ½-½ | Socko, Monika (POL) | 1-1 |
| Melia, Salome (GEO) | ½-½ | Sukandar, Irine Kharisma (INA) | 1-1 |
| Atalik, Ekaterina (TUR) | 0-1 | Girya, Olga (RUS) | 0-2 |
| Shen, Yang (CHN) | ½-½ | Kashlinskaya, Alina (RUS) | 1-1 |
| Kovalevskaya, Ekaterina (RUS) | ½-½ | Khurtsidze, Nino (GEO) | 1.5-0.5 |
| Goryachkina, Aleksandra (RUS) | ½-½ | Mkrtchian, Lilit (ARM) | 1-1 |
| Guo, Qi (CHN) | 0-1 | Pogonina, Natalija (RUS) | 0.5-1.5 |
| Lei, Tingjie (CHN) | 1-0 | Cori T., Deysi (PER) | 2-0 |
|
White
|
Result
|
Black
|
Match
|
| Zhao, Xue (CHN) | * | Zuriel, Marisa (ARG) | 1-1 |
| Yuan, Yuanling (CAN) | * | Muzychuk, Mariya (UKR) | 1-1 |
| Lujan, Carolina (ARG) | * | Galliamova, Alisa (RUS) | 1-1 |
| Gomes, Mary Ann (IND) | * | Kosintseva, Tatiana (RUS) | 1-1 |
| Guramishvili, Sopiko (GEO) | * | Javakhishvil,i Lela (GEO) | 1-1 |
| Paehtz, Elisabeth (GER) | * | Arabidze, Meri (GEO) | 1-1 |
| Huang, Qian (CHN) | * | Kovanova, Baira (RUS) | 1-1 |
| Socko, Monika (POL) | * | Daulyte, Deimante (LTU) | 1-1 |
| Melia, Salome (GEO) | * | Sukandar, Irine Kharisma (INA) | 1-1 |
| Shen, Yang (CHN) | * | Kashlinskaya, Alina (RUS) | 1-1 |
| Goryachkina, Aleksandra (RUS) | * | Mkrtchian, Lilit (ARM) | 1-1 |
Photos by Eteri Kublashvili
LinksThe 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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