Budapest R4 (women): Uzbekistan keep up the pace, Mongolia beat Spain

by Carlos Alberto Colodro
9/15/2024 – Seven teams emerged as co-leaders after round 4 of the Women's Chess Olympiad, four of which were ranked in the top 10 at the start of the tournament. Among the surprises, Mongolia and Uzbekistan secured upset victories, with Uzbekistan continuing their strong run after defeating Hungary in round 3. Meanwhile, China have been the most dominant team so far, scoring an impressive 15½ out of 16 points on individual boards. | Pictured: Bulgaria v. Uzbekistan | Photo: FIDE / Michal Walusza

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A dominating performance by China

Three of the seven co-leaders after round 4 of the Women’s Chess Olympiad - India, China, and the United States - are not surprising contenders. Among them, China have shown remarkable dominance, with their youthful team securing an impressive 15½ points out of 16 on individual boards. Zhu Jiner, Guo Qi, Ni Shiqun, and 14-year-old Lu Miaoyi all have perfect scores so far, making them the standout team in the competition.

Kazakhstan and Armenia, ranked 10th and 11th in the starting seeding, are also in the leading group. Both countries have deep chess traditions and solid squads, each featuring four players rated above 2300. This balance of strength gives them the potential to challenge the higher-seeded teams going forward.

Mongolia and Uzbekistan have been the biggest surprises among the co-leaders. Mongolia, seeded 18th, secured a key victory over Spain thanks to two decisive wins with the white pieces from Batkhuyag Munguntuul and Bat-Erdene Mungunzul. Uzbekistan, seeded 34th, continued their impressive run by defeating Bulgaria. The Uzbek team drew on boards 2-4, while Afruza Khamdamova delivered a crucial win over former women's world champion Antoaneta Stefanova on the top board.

Round 5 promises exciting clashes as the leaders face off. India will meet Kazakhstan, with Bibisara Assaubayeva, one of the strongest young players in the world, leading the Kazakh team. China will take on Armenia, and the United States will face Mongolia in what is expected to be a tough battle.

Afruza Khamdamova

Uzbekistan's Afruza Khamdamova | Photo: FIDE / Michal Walusza

Women's Chess Olympiad 2024

China defeated England on Saturday | Photo: FIDE / Michal Walusza

Sabrina Vega's king walk

Despite suffering a painful loss against Mongolia, the women's team from Spain got to witness her representative on board 3, Sabrina Vega, playing a marvellous king walk to beat Mongolia's Nomin-Erdene Davaademberel.

White has a clearly winning position with her active major pieces completely dominating in this setup. Vega could have converted her advantage by pushing the f-pawn, but instead chose to walk her king to h6 via the dark squares to get the win.

There followed 32.Kg3 Ra8 33.Qf6 Rf8 34.Kf4 Kh7 35.Kg5 Qa8 36.Rxf7+ Rxf7 37.Qxf7+ Kh8 38.Kh6 and checkmate will follow.

38...Qg8 39.Qf6+ Qg7 40.Qxg7#

Women's Chess Olympiad 2024

Sabrina Vega on the left grabbed the only full point for Spain in their match against Mongolia | Photo: FIDE / Michal Walusza


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Standings after round 4 - Women

Rk. Team  TB1 
1 China 8
2 India 8
3 United States of America 8
4 Armenia 8
5 Kazakhstan 8
6 Uzbekistan 8
7 Mongolia 8
8 Poland 7
9 Turkiye 7
10 Georgia 7
11 Ukraine 7
12 Azerbaijan 7
13 Spain 6
14 Hungary 6
15 Bulgaria 6
16 Vietnam 6
17 Peru 6
18 France 6
19 Serbia 6
20 Argentina 6

...169 teams

Round 5 pairings - Women

Res. Res.

Team Pts. MP : MP Pts. Team
Kazakhstan 12 8 : 8 13½ India
Hungary *) 12½ 6 : 6 12 Estonia
China 15½ 8 : 8 14 Armenia
Mongolia 12 8 : 8 14½ United States
Uzbekistan 12 8 : 7 12 Georgia
Poland 13 7 : 7 12 Turkiye
Azerbaijan 12 7 : 7 11 Ukraine
Germany 11 6 : 6 12 Sweden
Norway 10 6 : 6 12½ Spain
Bulgaria 12 6 : 6 10½ Latvia
France 11 6 : 6 13 Iran
Peru 12½ 6 : 6 11 England
Netherlands 10½ 6 : 6 11 Croatia
Serbia 10½ 6 : 6 11½ Czech Republic
Montenegro 12 6 : 6 12½ Vietnam

...84 boards


  • Full pairings and standings on Chess-Results: Open | Women
  • All games on Live.ChessBase.com: Open | Women

All available games - Round 4 (Women)

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Carlos Colodro is a Hispanic Philologist from Bolivia. He works as a freelance translator and writer since 2012. A lot of his work is done in chess-related texts, as the game is one of his biggest interests, along with literature and music.
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