Chengdu R4: Big Gift

by Alejandro Ramirez
4/22/2015 – In a series of tough match-ups, it was clear that the most important one would be India vs. Russia. The two powerhouses met and the score was 1.5-1.5, except for the Humpy-Gunina game. In deep time pressure, White had a completely winning position, but she blundered badly and Russia took the full match point. Georgia won against Kazakhstan and, at least for now, keep their lead.

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The city of Chengdu in China is hosting the Women's World Chess Team Championship from April 18th to 28. The organizers are Chinese Chess Association, FIDE World Chess Federation, with the support of Board and Card Administrative Center of General Administration of Sport of China and Chengdu Municipal Government.

The best teams of the world will participate in the coming championship, among which the previous event's Women’s World Team Champion, the three highest-placed teams in the FIDE Olympiad prior to the event, the four Continental Champions, a team from the organizing federation, a team to be nominated by FIDE President. The ten countries are: China, Russia, Ukraine, USA, India, Poland, Armenia, Georgia, Egypt and Kazakhstan. Every team consists of five players and the team-winner will be determined in a round-robin event after 9 rounds. Time control is 90 minutes per 40 moves and thirty minutes until the end of the game plus 30 seconds increment per move.

This year's participants are Kazakhstan, India, China, USA, Ukraine, Russia, Gerogia, Armenia, Poland and Egypt.

Round Four

Name Res. Name
Ukraine
2.0-2.0
India
USA
2.0-2.0
Kazakhstan
Georgia
2.5-1.5
Poland
Armenia
3.0-1.0
Egypt
China
1.0-3.0
Russia
4.1 10 INDIA   1½ - 2½ 7 RUSSIA  
1 GM Koneru Humpy 2581 0 : 1 GM Gunina Valentina 2532
2 GM Harika Dronavalli 2492 1 : 0 GM Kosteniuk Alexandra 2529
3 WGM Padmini Rout 2446 ½ : ½ WGM Goryachkina Aleksandra 2473
4 WGM Soumya Swaminathan 2347 0 : 1 WGM Girya Olga 2464

Some words of encouragement for Padmini Rout before the game

Alexandra Kosteniuk lost to Harika Dronavalli in her third appearance this tournament

What a blunder! Kosteniuk was defeated by Harika Dronavalli in a nice game, while Soumya Swaminathan was unable to prove compensation for her pawn against Girya and lost. It all came down to the following game:

[Event "Women's World Teams 2015"] [Site "Chengdu CHN"] [Date "2015.04.22"] [Round "4.1"] [White "Koneru, Humpy"] [Black "Gunina, Valentina"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "D10"] [WhiteElo "2581"] [BlackElo "2528"] [SetUp "1"] [FEN "q5k1/r4pp1/2p4p/p1R1P3/np1P4/1N6/1PQ2PPP/6K1 w - - 0 31"] [PlyCount "24"] [EventDate "2015.04.19"] [SourceDate "2015.02.07"] [WhiteTeam "INDIA"] [BlackTeam "RUSSIA"] [WhiteTeamCountry "IND"] [BlackTeamCountry "RUS"] 31. Rxc6 Nc3 {White has a crushing position. She is currently up a pawn and her pieces are active. Also there are very serious problems with the pin on the knight on c3.} 32. Rc4 $6 (32. d5 $1 a4 33. Qf5 $1 {with the unstoppable Rc8+ and a winning advantage.}) 32... a4 33. Na1 $2 {Why put this knight in a corner?} (33. Nc1 $18) 33... Rb7 34. h3 $2 (34. Qf5 $1) 34... Rb8 {Suddenly the position is not so clear. Humpy makes matters worse.} 35. bxc3 b3 36. Qb1 b2 $2 (36... a3 $1 {and stopping the pawns is very difficult. For example} 37. Nxb3 a2 38. Qf5 g6 $1 $19) 37. Nc2 a3 38. Rb4 Rxb4 39. cxb4 $4 {An amazing blunder.} (39. Nxb4 {Makes Black work very hard for the point, if it is possible at all...} Qc8 $1 40. Qc2 Qe6 $1 41. Qb1 Qb3 42. Na2 {and I still don't see how to break through.}) 39... Qa4 {now the game is obviously over. White has lost the support needed to play Nb4.} 40. b5 Qb3 41. Nxa3 Qxa3 42. b6 Qa1 0-1

A big gift for Valentina Gunina, and for Russia

4.2 8 EGYPT   0 - 4 6 CHINA  
1 WIM Moaataz Ayah 2022 0 : 1 WGM Tan Zhongyi 2487
2 WIM Wafa Shahenda 2118 0 : 1 IM Shen Yang 2459
3 WIM Sherif Amina 1971 0 : 1 WGM Lei Tingjie 2444
4 WGM Wafa Shrook 2058 0 : 1 WGM Ding Yixin 2434

Shen Yang beat Wafa Shahenda

China, very predictably, massacred Egypt

Wafa Shrook was unable to upset her opponent today

4.3 9 POLAND   1½ - 2½ 5 ARMENIA  
1 GM Socko Monika 2463 1 : 0 GM Danielian Elina 2488
2 WGM Zawadzka Jolanta 2422 0 : 1 IM Mkrtchian Lilit 2442
3 WGM Szczepkowska Karina 2414 0 : 1 IM Galojan Lilit 2277
4 WGM Bartel Marta 2350 ½ : ½ WGM Kursova Maria 2290

Poland keeps being a dangerous opponent, but they couldn't keep up with Armenia today. Socko used the power of her better bishop to outplay Danielian, but Mrktchian retaliated by beating Zawadzka from a slightly better endgame. Szepkowska-Horowsa was clearly outplayed by her lower rated opponent, Galojan. Bartel was unable to bring home a full point and Armenia won by the minimum difference.

Poland board four today: Marta Bartel

Monica Socko keeps a good performance with a victory over Elina Danielian

4.4 1 KAZAKHSTAN   1 - 3 4 GEORGIA  
1 WGM Abdumalik Zhansaya 2411 0 : 1 GM Khotenashvili Bela 2513
2 WGM Saduakassova Dinara 2393 ½ : ½ IM Javakhishvili Lela 2481
3 WGM Nakhbayeva Guliskhan 2329 ½ : ½ IM Arabidze Meri 2374
4 WIM Dauletova Gulmira 2201 0 : 1 IM Batsiashvili Nino 2473

Another rough day for Kazakhstan. Khotenashvili handedly outplayed Abdmualik, who has been having a very rough time on board one, scoring only half a point so far. Batsiashvili played a very nice game against Dauletova, including a magnificent break on e4 which seemed impossible to play.

Board three for Kazakhstan: Guliskhan Nakhbayeva

4.5 2 UKRAINE   3 - 1 3 USA  
1 GM Muzychuk Anna 2552 1 : 0 WGM Abrahamyan Tatev 2301
2 IM Muzychuk Mariya 2526 ½ : ½ WGM Nemcova Katerina 2279
3 GM Zhukova Natalia 2471 1 : 0 WIM Ni Viktorija 2188
4 IM Gaponenko Inna 2384 ½ : ½ FM Melekhina Alisa 2235

Nemcova is solid with four draws

USA suffered their first defeat in this tournament against the powerhouse of Ukraine. Anna Muzychuk outplayed Tatev Abrahamyan on board one in a King's Indian, Fianchetto Variation. Meanwhile in board one the game between Natalia Zhukova and Viktorija Ni was not close at all. The rating difference just seemed a little too big in this match-up.

A little pre-game death stare worked this time around

Interview with Anna Muzychuk

Replay Round Four Games

Select from the dropdown menu to replay the games

Standings

Rank Team MP Pts.
1 GEORGIA 7 11½
2 RUSSIA 6
3 CHINA 5 10
4 UKRAINE 5 9
5 ARMENIA 5
6 UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 4 8
7 POLAND 3
8 KAZAKHSTAN 3 6
9 INDIA 2 7
10 EGYPT 0 2

 

Matches won give two points, draws one point and losses zero points.

Photos by Liu Yunpeng & Anatasiya Karlovich

Schedule

Round 1 - April 19, 15:00 Beijing

Name
Res.
Name
Kazakhstan
2.5-1.5
India
Ukraine
0.5-3.5
Poland
USA
3.0-1.0
Egypt
Georgia
2.0-2.0
Russia
Armenia
1.0-3.0
China

Round 2 - April 20, 15:00 Beijing

Name Res. Name
India
2.0-2.0
China
Russia
2.0-2.0
Armenia
Egypt
0.0-4.0
Georgia
Poland
2.0-2.0
USA
Kazakhstan
0.5-3.5
Ukraine

Round 3 - April 21, 15:00 Beijing

Name Res. Name
Ukraine
2.0-2.0
India
USA
2.0-2.0
Kazakhstan
Georgia
2.5-1.5
Poland
Armenia
3.0-1.0
Egypt
China
1.0-3.0
Russia

Round 4 - April 22, 15:00 Beijing

Name Res. Name
India
1.5-2.5
Russia
Egypt
0.0-4.0
China
Poland
1.5-2.5
Armenia
Kazakhstan
1.0-3.0
Georgia
Ukraine
3.0-1.0
USA

Round 5 - April 23, 15:00 Beijing

Name Res. Name
USA
-
India
Georgia
-
Ukraine
Armenia
-
Kazakhstan
China
-
Poland
Russia
-
Egypt

Round 6 - April 25, 15:00 Beijing

Name
Res.
Name
India
-
Egypt
Poland
-
Russia
Kazakhstan
-
China
Ukraine
-
Armenia
USA
-
Georgia

Round 7 - April 26, 15:00 Beijing

Name
Res.
Name
Georgia
-
India
Armenia
-
USA
China
-
Ukraine
Russia
-
Kazakhstan
Egypt
-
Poland

Round 8 - April 27, 15:00 Beijing

Name
Res.
Name
India
-
Poland
Kazakhstan
-
Egypt
Ukraine
-
Russia
USA
-
China
Georgia
-
Armenia

Round 9 - April 28, 11:00 Beijing

Name
Res.
Name
Armenia
-
India
China
-
Georgia
Russia
-
USA
Egypt
-
Ukraine
Poland
-
Kazakhstan

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 13 or any of our Fritz compatible chess programs.

 


Grandmaster Alejandro Ramirez has been playing tournament chess since 1998. His accomplishments include qualifying for the 2004 and 2013 World Cups as well as playing for Costa Rica in the 2002, 2004 and 2008 Olympiads. He currently has a rating of 2583 and is author of a number of popular and critically acclaimed ChessBase-DVDs.

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