WWch Rd4 G2: Harika first to semis

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), as well as other leading grandmasters. Unfortunately, the reigning champion Hou Yifan was unable to come for personal reasons, but as the winner of the FIDE Grand Prix she will still be able to challenge the new champion to a match.

The first five rounds consist of mini-matches of two games played at 90 minutes for 40 moves followed by 30 minutes for the rest of the game and a 30-second increment per move. The final match will consist of four games.

In the event of a tie, the winner will be determined by a series of tiebreak games: two rapid games of 25 minutes plus 10 seconds per move. If the score remains equal, the players then proceed to two more games played at 10 minutes plus 10 seconds per move. If the score continues tied a final mini-match will be played of two blitz games of 5 minutes plus 3 seconds per move. Finally, an Armageddon game will be played to decide the winner in which White has five minutes and Black has four minutes, with a three-second increment per move after move 61. Black will be declared the victor if the game is drawn.

Round four - game two

Today's games were extremely tense and all exceeded four hours. Natalia Pogonina finished her game first, successfully completing a must-win mission if she was to survive until the tiebreaks. Pogonina chose to take her fate into her hands, and employed a Benko Gambit, a double-edged opening that brought her many victories in her junior years. Zhao Xue responded with a very solid setup, keeping the extra pawn but giving up the initiative.

Zhao Xue tried hard but never quite neutralized her opponent

Zhao Xue vs Natalia Pogonina

A great fighting game by Pogonina, who used her old weapon the Benko,
to swashbuckle on the board.

A quick look in the online database shows that a number of strong grandmasters use it on occasion when the moods suits them. Names such as Ding Liren, Grischuk, Ponomariov, and more. If you would like to add it to your arsenal, GM Alejandro Ramirez, also a veteran Benko player, recently authored two DVDs on the Benko Gambit, and are well worth checking out.

The highest rated player, Humpy Koneru also managed to avenge her loss from the previous day

The Indian grandmaster chose a complicated opening system, in which the players castled on opposite wings. At first, Mariya Muzychuk maneuvered well, and her position appeared to be the more promising, but Koneru finally outsmarted her young opponent, exchanging two rooks for a queen and an important pawn. Making use of the vulnerable black king, Koneru shattered Black's defenses and prevailed.

In her game against veteran GM Pia Cramling, Anna Muzychuk (above) emerged from the opening with a clear advantage which she soon converted into an extra pawn. Cramling used her entire bag of tricks, transposing to a rook endgame that she eventually held. The two will also need to duke it out in the tiebreaks.

Of the eight players, only Harika Dronavalli (right) was able to secure a spot into the semifinals
without the ordeal of a tiebreak.

Her game with Meri Arabidze proceeded to a quiet rook ending soon after the opening, and although the Indian had an extra pawn, it was still a theoretical draw. As a sign of the tension of the moment, both players deviated from best play on several occasions, in which the assessment was constantly changing, but after five hours of play Harika finally broke Black's resistance and took the match. As the only player who can use the next day to rest, it should help give her a leg up in the next round.

The Indian news has been following closely the exploits of Koneru and Dronavalli as seen here.

On her day off, thanks to her win, perhaps Harika will join this intrepid bunch...

... to enjoy the activites at hand. There is nothing quite like riding a giraffe on a ski-slope.

Report by Albert Silver and Eteri Kublashvili
Photos by Eteri Kublashvili, Anastasia Karlovich, and Vladimir Barsky

Round 4 pairings / results

Schedule

Links Official tournament site All games in PGN 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.