8th Russia-China match – China wins classical game encounter
7/8/2012 – In the first phase of the competition, the Russian men were able to show an edge in classical games against their Chinese peers, with Dmitry Jakovenko showing the way. It was not enough though, as the Chinese women, led by Ju Wenjun and a superb comeback by Zhao Xue, scored heavily for an even more convincing win, giving China a 26-24 lead over Russia. Illustrated report.
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Date: The 8th Russia vs China match takes place July 1st - 9th, 2012 in St. Petersburg, Russia. |
8th Russia-China match – China wins classical game encounter
The playing hall with the teams at play. Kneeling in the middle is Alexander Motylev
who enjoys taking pictures, though the ones here are signed by Eteri Kublashvili.
In the first phase of the Russia-China match, the Chinese bounced back with an overall win in the classical games section after incurring a slight 9-11 deficit after the first two rounds. This turned out to be very much thanks to the men’s team actually winning one of the rounds, while drawing two, while the women’s team racked up three straight wins in rounds three to five.
Zhao Xue overcame a tough loss in round two against Alexandra Kosteniuk with
three straight wins for her team.
Dmitry Jakovenko was the best scoring player in the men's section
In the men’s section, European Champion justified his Elo favoritism by scoring 2.5/3 in the final rounds for a 3.5/5 score, the best of all the men. That said the top Chinese boards, Wang Hao and Wang Yue both scored 3.0/5 doing their side credit. Ultimately the Russian men took it by 13.5-11.5.
Wang Yue performed well with a +1 score and 3.0/5
The problem is that the Chinese women were merciless in the latter half of the classical games, and if they traded blows in rounds one and two, there was no such leniency thereafter. Zhao Xue bounced back from her second round loss to Alexandra Kosteniuk with three straight wins, tying Ju Wenjun as the top scorer’s in the women’s section with 3.5/5. As a result, the Chinese women won 14.5-10.5 giving the China an overall 26-24 lead entering the next phase of rapid games.
Although Yu Yangyi was unablke to shine as he might have wished, his win in round
five against Nikita Vitiugov was crucial for the overall Chinese victory in classical games.
Pictures by Eteri Kublashvili
Men's standings after five rounds
Women's standings after five rounds
Links
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 11 or any of our Fritz compatible chess programs. |
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