Atatürk Istanbul: three players in the lead

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.

Round three report

The meeting of the two leading players, Pia Cramling and Hou Yifan, ended in a draw. Ekaterina Atalýk, the top Turkish women player, won against ex-world champion Zhu Chen in a drawish rook endgame after the latter made a mistake while pushing too hard. Atalýk won the game to join the leaders. Zhao won against Yildiz while Krush and Javakhishvili played a drawn against each other. Indian star Dronavalli won for the second time in a row, against Anna Ushenina.

• Replay all games from round three

Ukraine vs India, Anna Ushenina vs Harika ended 0-1 in 43 moves

Two wins in succession: WGM Dronavalli Harika, rated 2480

Ushenina,Anna-Harika,Dronavalli
Isbank Ataturk International Women Mast Istanbul (3), 13.03.2008
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Bg5 e6 7.f4 Qb6 8.Qd2 Nc6 9.Bxf6 gxf6 10.Nb3 Bd7 11.0-0-0 0-0-0 12.Kb1 Kb8 13.Be2 h5 14.Bf3 Rc8 15.Qe2 h4 16.Bh5 Rh7 17.Bg4 Rc7 18.Qf3 Na5 19.f5 Nc4 20.fxe6 fxe6 21.Qxf6 Bg7 22.Qg6 Bxc3 23.bxc3 Bc8 24.Bxe6 Rhg7 25.Qf6 Bxe6 26.Qxe6 Rxg2 27.Qe8+ Ka7 28.Qa4 Nd2+ 29.Kb2 Rc4 30.Qa5 Qxa5 31.Nxa5 Ra4 32.Nb3 Nc4+ 33.Ka1 Rxc2 34.Nc1 Nd2 35.Rhe1 Nxe4 36.Re2 Raxa2+ 37.Nxa2 Rxe2 38.Rd4 d5 39.Nc1 Rxh2 40.c4 Rc2 41.Na2 Rxc4 42.Rxd5 Nc3 43.Nxc3 Rxc3 0-1.

The start of round three, with Ekaterina Atalik vs Zhu Chen

Atalik,Ekaterina-Zhu Chen
Isbank Ataturk International Women Mast Istanbul (3), 13.03.2008
1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.e3 Bf5 5.Nc3 e6 6.Nh4 Bg6 7.Be2 Nbd7 8.g3 Bd6 9.0-0 Qe7 10.a3 dxc4 11.Nxg6 hxg6 12.Bxc4 e5 13.Re1 0-0-0 14.b4 Rh7 15.f4 Bc7 16.Bf1 Qe6 17.Ra2 Ne4 18.Rc2 Nxc3 19.Rxc3 Kb8 20.Rd3 e4 21.d5 cxd5 22.Rxd5 Rhh8 23.Bc4 g5 24.Qe2 gxf4 25.exf4 Bb6+ 26.Be3 Rc8 27.Rc5 Qe7 28.Rxc8+ Rxc8 29.Bxb6 Nxb6 30.Bb3 Rc3 31.Qb2 Qf6 32.Re2 Qd4+ 33.Kg2 Nc4 34.Bxc4 Qxc4 35.f5 Qd3 36.Qd2 Qf3+ 37.Kg1 Rd3 38.Qf4+ Qxf4 39.gxf4 e3 40.a4 Rb3 41.Kg2 Rxb4 42.Rxe3 f6 43.Kf3 Rxa4 44.Re8+ Kc7 45.Re7+ Kc6 46.Rxg7 b5 47.Rf7 b4 48.Rxf6+ Kd5 49.Rf8 Ra6 50.Rb8 Kc4 51.Kg4 b3 52.Kg5

At this stage Zhu Chen had a clean draw at hand: 52...Rb6 53.Rxb6 axb6 54.f6 b2 55.f7 b1Q 56.f8Q Qg1+ 57.Kf5 Qxh2=. 52...Ra5? 53.h4 Kc3 54.h5 b2 55.h6 Ra1 56.f6 Rg1+ 57.Kf5 Rg8

58.Rxb2! Kxb2 59.f7 Ra8 60.Kg6 a5 61.Kg7 1-0.

Top representative for Turkey, Kemal Atatürk and İş Bankası: Ekaterina Atalik

Chinese WGM Zhao Xue defeated Turkey's Betul Cemre Yildiz with the black pieces

Yildiz,Betul Cemre-Xue Zhao
Isbank Ataturk International Women Mast Istanbul (3), 13.03.2008
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Be3 e5 7.Nb3 Be7 8.f4 Nbd7 9.Qd2 b5 10.Be2 Bb7 11.Bf3 Rc8 12.0-0-0 Qc7 13.Kb1 0-0 14.g4 b4 15.Nd5 Nxd5 16.exd5 a5 17.g5 a4 18.Nc1 f5 19.gxf6 Bxf6 20.Be4 exf4 21.Bd4 Nc5 22.Bxc5 Qxc5 23.Qd3 h6 24.Qh3 Rfe8 25.Bf5

25...b3 26.axb3 a3 27.Bxc8 Rxc8 28.Qd3 axb2 29.Ne2 Re8 30.Nd4 Qa3 31.c4 Bxd4 32.Qxd4 Qa1+ 33.Kc2 b1Q+

Some chess engines say this is mate in 18, others in 150 moves. Whatever: 0-1.

Still a long way to go: 18-year-old Betul Cemre Yildiz, Turkey's top junior

Clash of generations: Pia Cramling (right) completed her GM norm two years before Hou Yifan was born

Cramling,Pia-Hou,Yifan
Isbank Ataturk International Women Mast Istanbul (3), 13.03.2008
1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 e6 3.c4 b6 4.Nc3 Bb7 5.a3 d5 6.Bg5 Be7 7.Bxf6 Bxf6 8.cxd5 exd5 9.g3 0-0 10.Bg2 c5 11.0-0 Na6 12.e3 Nc7 13.Rc1 Qe7 14.Qd2 Rfd8 15.Rfe1 Rac8 16.h4 g6 17.Rcd1 Ne6 18.Qc1 Bg7 19.Qb1 Qf8 20.Qa2 Ba8 21.Ng5 Nxg5 22.hxg5 Qe7 23.f4 cxd4 24.exd4 Bxd4+ 25.Kh1 Qc5 26.Na4 Qa5 27.b4 Qxa4 28.Rxd4 Rc2 29.Qb1 Rc3 30.Qb2

Here 30...Rxg3 31.Rd2 Rxa3 with three pawns looks fairly convincing, but the young Chinese player went for something more subtle: 30...Rc2 31.b5 Rxb2 32.Rxa4 Rxb5 33.Rxa7 Ra5 34.Rxa5 bxa5 and now the win with one extra pawn is less obvious. 35.Kg1 Kg7 36.Re7 a4 37.Rc7 Rb8 38.Ra7 Bc6 39.Rc7 Rb1+ 40.Kf2 Rb2+ 41.Kg1 Bb7 42.Bf3 Rb3 43.Kf2 Rb2+ 44.Kg1 Rb3 ½-½.

Survived: Pia Cramling was under tremendous pressure from her 13-year-old opponent

Anna Ushenina and Zhao Xue follow the games on the official tournament site

Pictures Özgür Akman in Istanbul

Standings after three rounds

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.