Astana R7+8: Ukraine poised to take Gold

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 seven

The Ukrainian team showed very stable play and won the fourth match in a row. They outplayed the Georgian team with 3:1 score. The World Champion Anna Ushenina (picture above) defeated Bela Khotenashvili to gain her 5th victory in the championship. In a sharp position the game Khurtsidze-Muzychuk the Georgian player made a crucial mistake and let Maria Muzychuk win the game and bring the victory to her team.

China outplayed the team of Kazakhstan with 3:1 score, winning two games on the bottom boards. Guliskhan Nakhbaeva, who has shown a great 2553 performance, made a draw against the leader of the Chinese team Ju Wenjun.

France could have tried to play for more than draw in the match against Romania. Sophie Millet (above) on board one created a very dangerous attack on the opponent’s king but didn’t find the winning continuation and let Cristina Adela Foisor escape. As a result, all the games finished peacefully.

The Romanian team, with IM Adela Cristina Foisor, WGM Irina Bulmaga,
WGM Carmen Voicu-Jagodzinsky and WGM Luminita Elena Cosma (seated)

The fifth member of the Romanian team, WGM Alina L'Ami,
had the day off and shot the photos from this round

The USA team gathered all their strength and managed to outplay Russia 2.5-1.5. Alexandra Kosteniuk was defeated by Irina Krush and Olga Girya, who had shown a perfect result before the seventh round, unexpectedly lost to Victorija Ni. The victory of Natalija Pogonina over Sabina Foisor could not save the match.

Turkish team had good chances to make a draw today, but the Indians were luckier. Kubra Ozturk and Cemhan Kardelen had winning positions and it seemed Turkey could keep the balance. But Cemhan didn’t play precisely and let her opponent Rout Padmini make a draw with perpetual check. Turkey once again lost 1½-2½.

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Round eight

Women's World Champion Anna Ushenina lost her first game in this tournament, against Irina Krush (above), but Ukraine still was stronger in the match against the USA. Nataliya Zhukova and Katerina Lahno defeated their opponents and Maria Muzychuk made a draw to secure the team's victory.

Kazakhstan outplayed France with 2.5-1.5 score and moved to seventh place. WGM Guliskhan Nakhbaeva (above), who has shown a great result on the first board, defeated IM Sophie Milliet. The talented player from Kazakhstan has already secured an IM norm.

China crushed Turkey with 4:0 score. Georgia won against Romania 3:1. Nana Dzagnidze was defeated by Irina Bulmaga but all other Georgian girls managed to win.

WGM Padmini Rout, chess prodigy from Orissa, India,
won the World Under-14 girl's championship in 2008.

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Sandings after eight rounds

Ukraine has already secured at least the silver medal, and only needs not to lose against the Russian team in the final round to win the championship. On the other hand Russian team is also fighting for the place on the pedestal. So this is going to be the match to watch in the final round. The Chinese girls play India, and a victory would give them chances to win Gold. Georgia needs to outplay Kazakhstan to keep chances for the bronze medal. The crucial battles for the medals will begin Tuesday, March 12, at 11 a.m. local time – two hours earlier than the previous rounds.

Report and photos provided by Anastasiya Karlovich

Schedule and results

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 12 or any of our Fritz compatible chess programs.