Astana R2: Russia and China lead

The city of Astana in Kazakhstan is hosting the Women's World Chess Team Championship from March 2nd to 12 in the Duman Hotel in Astana. Ten best teams in the world are participating: China, Russia, Ukraine, USA, India, France, Turkey, Georgia, Rumania and Kazakhstan. Each team consists of five players, with four playing in each of the nine rounds of this round robin tournament. Time control is 90 minutes per 40 moves and thirty minutes until the end of the game plus 30 seconds increment per move.

Round two

One of the most dramatic matches of the second round was the encounter between two medalists of the previous world team championship, China and Georgia. Despite the fact that Georgian team was the rating favorite in the match, the result was not easy to predict as after a relatively quick draw on the last board all the other players continue to fight.

Before the first time control the leader of the Georgian team Nana Dzagnidze (above) blundered a simple tactical idea and had to resign. The victory of Chinese team was secured after the win of Huang Qian against Bela Khotenashvili.

The leader of the Russian team Valentina Gunina blundered a piece right after the opening and Kazakh player Guliskhan Nahbaevoy didn’t lose her chance to win the full point.

Coach Sergei Rublevsky with Alexandra Kosteniuk (left) and Valentina Gunina

This looked promising for the young team from Kazakhstan, but the Russian players didn’t let their opponents gain even half a point more. The match finished with 3-1 in favor of Russia.

The match between Ukraine and Romania (above) unexpectedly ended in a draw as all four games finished peacefully. It is undoubtedly successful result for Romanian team which placed seventh on the starting list.

The young team from Turkey put up stubborn resistance in the match against the USA. The turkish players on the first three boards made draws with the opponents, whose rating was at least 150 points higher. Nevertheless, Viktorija Ni managed to win on the last board and brought the victory to American team.

The same scenario was in the match France-India – the result on the fourth board was fatal for the final score. Soumya Swaminathan (above) outplayed Natacha Benmesbah and India won the match.

French WIM Natacha Benmesbah, 2266, facing WGM Soumya Swaminathan

As a result Russia and China are on the lead after two rounds, Ukraine and the USA share the third place. In the third round China will meet with the USA and Russia will fight Turkey.

The Women's World Team Championship has been organized since 2007, and the Chinese team won all the championships in the past. This time without their strongest players, Hou Yifan and Zhao Xue, the task will not be so easy this year. The Russian team, which won the Chess Olympiad last September and took three silver medals in previous Women’s World Team Championships, is also playing without their two top players, Nadezhda and Tatiana Kosintseva. So that evens things out for the top teams.

Photos from Astana by Anastasiya Karlovich

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Schedule and results

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