Atatürk Istanbul: just one draw so far

İş Bankası - Atatürk International Women Masters Chess Tournament

The tournament, announced in December last year, will take place from March 10th (arrival) to March 21 (departure) 2008. The venue is the İş Bankası Towers Complex, which has a total area of 225,000 square meters. It is the largest of its kind on the European continent. Games start at 14:30h local time (= GMT +2h). March 19 is a free day. The games are being broadcast on Playchess.com.

A view from the İş Bankası Tower over the city of Istanbul

Round two report

• Replay all games from round two

Thirteen-year-old Hou Yifan comprehensively outplayed her opponent WIM Yildiz Betul Cemre, never leaving the top Turkish junior a chance. The game ended with a queen promotion on move 40.

Starts with two victories: Chinese super-talent Hou Yifan

IM Irina Krush was close to a second victory, this time over IM Ekaterina Atalik, but the latter defended the queen-and-pawns ending tenaciously and the game ended on move 57 with a repetition.

IM Irina Krush in her round two game

Krush Irina (IM) - Atalik Ekaterina (IM)
Isbank Ataturk International Women Maste Istanbul (2), 12.03.2008
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.f3 d5 5.a3 Bxc3+ 6.bxc3 c5 7.cxd5 Nxd5 8.Qd3 b6 9.e4 Ba6 10.Qd2 Bxf1 11.Kxf1 Ne7 12.Ne2 Nd7 13.Kf2 0-0 14.h4 Nc6 15.h5 Na5 16.h6 g6 17.Qa2 Rc8 18.Bf4 Qe7 19.Rhd1 c4 20.Rh1 f5 21.exf5 Rxf5 22.Rae1 Rcf8 23.Bh2 R5f7 24.Kg1 Qg5 25.Ng3 Nf6 26.Qe2 Qxh6 27.Ne4 Nxe4 28.Qxe4 Qd2 29.Be5 Qd3 30.Qg4 Qf5 31.Qg3 Nc6 32.Bd6 Rd8 33.Rh4 Qd5 34.Be5 Nxe5 35.Rxe5 Qd6 36.Qe1 Qxa3 37.Rxe6 Qa5?

The last move (37...Qa3-a5) overlooks a nice little tactic: 38.Re8+ Rxe8 39.Qxe8+ Kg7 40.Rxh7+! Kxh7 41.Qxf7+ Kh6 and White has won back the pawn with a commanding position. In the following the US player attacks vigorously, but Ekaterina Atalik defends well and in the end the game is drawn. 42.Qxc4 Qa1+ 43.Kh2 b5 44.Qc8 Qe1 45.Qh8+ Kg5 46.Qd8+ Kh6 47.f4 Kg7 48.d5 Qe4 49.Qg5 Qf5 50.Qe7+ Qf7 51.Qe4 Qf6 52.g3 Qxc3 53.Qe7+ Kh6 54.Qh4+ Kg7 55.Qe7+ Kh6 56.Qh4+ Kg7 57.Qe7+ ½-½.

Just saved it: IM Ekaterina Atalik

Chen Zhu (GM) - Cramling Pia (GM)
Isbank Ataturk International Women Maste Istanbul (2), 12.03.2008
1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.e3 Bg4 5.h3 Bh5 6.cxd5 Bxf3 7.Qxf3 cxd5 8.Nc3 Nc6 9.Bd2 e6 10.Bd3 Bd6 11.Qe2 e5 12.dxe5 Nxe5 13.Bb5+ Nc6 14.Qf3 a6 15.Ba4 b5 16.Bb3 Ne5 17.Qe2 Nc4 18.a4 0-0 19.axb5 axb5 20.Rxa8 Qxa8 21.0-0 Qb7 22.Bc1 Rd8 23.Rd1 Rd7 24.Qc2 Rc7 25.Qf5 Rc5 26.Ne2 Be7 27.Nd4 g6 28.Qf3 Ne4 29.Bc2 Rc8 30.Bxe4 dxe4 31.Qf4 Rc5

At this stage everything went wrong for the Chinese GM: 32.Ne2? Ne5 33.b3 Nd3 34.Qg3 Rg5 [34...Qc8 35.Bd2 Rg5 36.Qh2 Qc2] 35.Qh2 Rd5 36.Nd4 Bd6 37.g3 Qc7 38.Qg2 Nxc1 39.Qxe4 Ne2+ 40.Kg2 Nc3 41.Qe8+ Kg7 42.Ra1 Re5 43.Qa8 Bc5 0-1.

Dry spell: former world champion Zhu Chen starts with 0-2

Swedisch veteran GM Pia Cramling

Xue Zhao (WGM) - Ushenina Anna (IM)
Isbank Ataturk International Women Maste Istanbul (2), 12.03.2008
1.c4 c5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.Nc3 e6 4.g3 Nc6 5.Bg2 d5 6.cxd5 Nxd5 7.0-0 Be7 8.d4 0-0 9.Nxd5 exd5 10.Be3 c4 11.Ne5 Bf5 12.Qa4 Nb4 13.g4 Bc2 14.Qb5 f6 15.Nd7

The white queen is sitting precariously on b5 and just asking to be trapped – 15...b6 followed by ...a6 is the imminent threat. 15...a6? The other way around, Anna! 16.Qxb7 Ba4 17.Nxf8 Kxf8 18.Bf4 Rc8 19.a3 Bc6 20.Qa7 Nc2 21.Rad1 Qa5 22.e3 c3 23.Rc1 Qa4 24.bxc3 Nxa3 25.Ra1 Qb5 26.Rfc1 Bb7 27.c4 Qb2 28.c5 Bd8 29.Bd6+ Ke8 30.c6 Rxc6 31.Bxa3 Rxc1+ 32.Rxc1 Qxa3 33.Rb1 Bc6 34.Qxg7 Qd3 35.Rc1 Bb5 36.Bxd5 1-0.

Chinese IM Zhao Xue

Dronavalli Harika (IM) - Javakhvishvili Lela (IM)
Isbank Ataturk International Women Maste Istanbul (2), 12.03.2008
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 b6 4.Nc3 Bb7 5.a3 d5 6.Bg5 Be7 7.Bxf6 Bxf6 8.cxd5 exd5 9.Qb3 0-0 10.Rd1 Re8 11.g3 c5 12.Bg2 Ba6 13.0-0 Bc4 14.Qa4 Nd7 15.Qc2 Rc8 16.Rfe1 cxd4 17.Nxd4 Nc5 18.e3 g6 19.Qb1 Nb3 20.Nde2 d4 21.Nxd4 Nxd4 22.Ne4 Bg7 23.exd4 f5 24.Nc3 Rxe1+ 25.Rxe1 Bxd4 26.Rd1 Qf6 27.Bd5+ Kg7 28.Bxc4 Rxc4 29.Qd3 Qc6 30.Qe2 Bf6 31.Rd3

What you need to see in the above position is that there is a rook fork looming on d6 (with the white queen on d2), and that the black rook on c4 has no protection. Ignoring this leads to 31...h5? 32.Qd2 f4? Careless. At least 32...Bxc3 should have been tried. 33.Rd7+ Kh6 34.Rd6 Bxc3 35.Rxc6 Bxd2 36.Rxc4 fxg3 37.hxg3 and White has an exchange for nothing. 37...Bg5 38.Rc6 Be7 39.b4 Bf8 40.f4 Bg7 41.f5 1-0.

Georgian IM Lela Javakhvishvili faces Indian IM Harika

Standings after two rounds

We come to the drawing average. As you can see from the table above there has been a single (very hard-fought) draw so far. One out of ten means that 10% of the games were drawn. White won six game = 60% and Black three games = 30%. Keep it up, ladies!

Pictures Özgür Akman in Istanbul

Links Official tournament page Download all games so far in PGN Main sponsor: Türkiye Is Bankasi Home page of the Turkish Chess Federation You can use ChessBase Light to read, replay and analyse the PGN games. It also gives you immediate access to play and watch events on Playchess.com server.