2010 Women's World Championship - Heads start to roll

by ChessBase
12/10/2010 – The second round of the world championship was brutal, and while the very top-seeds such as Kosteniuk, Koneru, and Yifan, went through, others such as Kosintseva, Dzagnidze, and Stefanova, saw an abrupt end to their journeys. Players who were particularly strong at faster time controls benefited from the tiebreaks, but others not. Only sixteen players remain now. Round two report.

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The Women's World Chess Championship is being held at Hatay, Turkey, from December 2nd to 25th. It is a 64-player knockout tournament, with two-game mini-matches qualifying a player to the next round, until the final and 6th round, which is a four-game match to determine the champion. In the event of a draw after the two tournament time-control games, there will be a rapid game tie-breaker, followed by a possible blitz playoff, and finally an armageddon blitz game. The time control is 90 minutes for 40 moves, followed by 30 minutes for the rest of the game, and a 30-second increment per move as of the first move. The games are held daily at 3 PM local time (2 PM Paris / 8 AM New York / 5 AM Los Angeles). The full schedule is available here.

Note that the organizers pulled out all the stops to provide coverage of the highest quality, including daily live video coverage during the rounds.


Indian IM Dronavalli Harika (2525) observing the game between Zhao Xue and
legendary Maia Chiburdanidze (World Champion 1978-1991).

Round two


World Champion Kosteniuk is still on course for her title defense

With the end of the second round, the initial 64 players are down to 16, and already a few names have dropped out, whi le others still pursue their ambitions. World Champion Kosteniuk was taken to the rapid games where she won with few troubles, while the top-rated Koneru (2600) and Yifan (2591) were not seriously challenged by their opponents. After Kosintseva’s complete self-destruction in the first game against Dembo, she was faced with the challenge of a must-win in the second, but it was not to be, and she is the top rated player to stumble at this stage.


Almira Skripchenko (2462) dominated her higher-rated opponent
Nana Dzagnidze (2551) in the rapid games.


Bulgarian Stefanova was one of several top-rated players to fall out in the second round

She was not alone though, as Georgian GM Dzagnidze (2551) fell prey to Skripchenko, who beat her in the tiebreaker 2-0, and a similar fate was reserved for Bulgarian Stefanova (2548), who lost her second game to Chinese Qian (2402), and then both the rapid games, ending her journey.


Turkish Yildiz was unable to repeat her surprise result against Mariya Muzychuk

Both Muzychuk sisters, Anna (2530) and Mariya (2462), made it to the next stage, with Mariya making short work of the surprise round one hero, Yildiz (2225). Indian junior, Harika (2525) went through with a 2-0 victory over Russian WGM Shadrina (2384), while fans of German IM Elisabeth Paehtz were chagrined to see her unable to get past Lithuanian GM Cmilyte, after losing the second game, and then the tiebreaker.


Alas for her supporters, Elisabeth Paehtz was elminated by Cmilyte in the tiebreaker


Kovanova was also unable to repeat her first round success and lost to Wenjun


Ju Wenjun has had an excellent year and was a top gun in the
top division of the Chinese leagues.


Seeing Marie Sebag all bundled up, it is rather striking how some players look as if
they were facing deep winter.


While enjoying a a warm beverage, French GM Marie Sebag, who lost to American
IM Anna Zatonskih, chats with Europe Echecs reporter, GM Robert Fontaine.


GM Robert Fontaine is seen enjoying a moment with his wife GM Kateryna Lahno


Lahno was one of the few top-rated players to successfully play the rapid games
tiebreaker. Then again, she is the reigning World Women's Blitz champion.

Pictures by Turkish Federation

 
Europe Echecs is providing daily video reports

Round two results

Name
FED
Tit.
Rtg
G1
G2
Rp1
Rp2
Bz1
Bz2
SD
Total
  Round 2 Match 01
Kosteniuk, Alexandra
RUS
GM
2507
½
½
1
1
     
3
Khukhashvili, Sopiko
GEO
IM
2430
½
½
0
0
     
1
  Round 2 Match 02
Koneru, Humpy
IND
GM
2600
1
½
     
Houska, Jovanka
ENG
IM
2421
0
½
     
½
  Round 2 Match 03
Hou, Yifan
CHN
GM
2591
1
½
         
Romanko, Marina
RUS
IM
2414
0
½
         
½
  Round 2 Match 04
Kosintseva, Tatiana
RUS
GM
2581
0
½
         
½
Dembo, Yelena
GRE
IM
2454
1
½
         
  Round 2 Match 05
Dzagnidze, Nana
GEO
GM
2551
½
½
0
0
     
1
Skripchenko, Almira
FRA
IM
2460
½
½
1
1
     
3
  Round 2 Match 06
Stefanova, Antoaneta
BUL
GM
2548
1
0
0
0
     
1
Huang, Qian
CHN
WGM
2402
0
1
1
1
     
3
  Round 2 Match 07
Muzychuk, Anna
SLO
IM
2530
1
½
         
Ovod, Evgenija
RUS
IM
2387
0
½
         
½
  Round 2 Match 08
Yildiz, Betul Cemre
TUR
WIM
2225
0
0
       
0
Muzychuk, Mariya
UKR
IM
2462
1
1
       
2
  Round 2 Match 09
Harika, Dronavalli
IND
IM
2525
1
1
         
2
Shadrina, Tatiana
RUS
WGM
2384
0
0
         
0
  Round 2 Match 10
Ju, Wenjun
CHN
WGM
2524
½
1
         
Kovanova, Baira
RUS
WGM
2380
½
0
         
½
  Round 2 Match 11
Lahno, Kateryna
UKR
GM
2522
½
½
1
1
     
3
Hoang Thanh Trang
HUN
GM
2473
½
½
0
0
     
1
  Round 2 Match 12
Cmilyte, Viktorija
LTU
GM
2514
0
1
½
1
     
Paehtz, Elisabeth
GER
IM
2474
1
0
½
0
     
  Round 2 Match 13
Chiburdanidze, Maia
GEO
GM
2502
0
½
         
½
Zhao, Xue
CHN
GM
2474
1
½
         
  Round 2 Match 14
Socko, Monika
POL
GM
2495
½
½
0
0
     
1
Zhu, Chen
QAT
GM
2477
½
½
1
1
     
3
  Round 2 Match 15
Sebag, Marie
FRA
GM
2494
0
0
         
0
Zatonskih, Anna
USA
IM
2478
1
1
         
2
  Round 2 Match 16
Ruan, Lufei
CHN
WGM
2480
1
0
1
1
     
3
Zhang, Xiaowen
CHN
WGM
2339
0
1
0
0
     
1

Links

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