Favourites go through, while stars tumble

by ChessBase
3/13/2006 – The first round of the 64-player Women's World Championship that is being staged by FIDE in Ekaterinburg, Russia, saw the top rated players going through in their mini-matches, while thee stars, Almira Skripchenko, Elisabeth Pähtz and Kateryna Lahno, were knocked out before they could really get started. Big illustrated report.

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Women's World Championship

Ekaterinburg, Russia, March 10–27, 2006

The World Women's Championship is being held from 10-27 March 2006, in Ekaterinburg, Russia.

The knockout event has 64 participants, with reigning world champion Antoaneta Stefanova of Bulgaria defending her title.

The first round in Ekaterinburg began with a number of strong players faltering in the two-game mini-matchs of this knockout tournament. Almira Skripchenko, winner of the strongest women's event of all time, staged in the same region two years ago, lost to Jovanka Houska of England; Elisabeth Pähtz, reigning Women's Youth World Champion from Germany, went down to her angstgegner (nemesis) Peng Zhaoqin of the Netherlands; and Kateryna Lahno, 16-year-old reigning European Women's Champion, bowed out to Karen Zapata, Elo 2218 from Peru.

The top favourites fared better: reigning FIDE world champion Antoaneta Stefanova, world's top-rated female player (after Judit Polgar) Koneru Humpy of India, veteran Pia Cramling of Sweden, Russian Champion Alexandra Kosteniuk. former women's world champion Maia Chiburdanidze, and Chinese star Xu Yuhua are all through to round two.

Results of round one

 Name  Rtng  G1 G2 R1 R2 B1 B2 SD Tot
Round 1 Match 01
 Mezioud, Amina (ALG) 1989 0 ½           0,5
 Stefanova, Antoaneta (BUL) 2499 1 ½           1,5
Round 1 Match 02
 Koneru, Humpy (IND) 2537 1 1           2
 Sabure, Tuduetso (BOT) 2072 0 0           0
Round 1 Match 03
 Basta-Sohair, F. (EGY) 2083 0 0           0
 Cramling, Pia (SWE) 2515 1 1           2
Round 1 Match 04
 Kosteniuk, Alexandra (RUS) 2514 1 1           2
 Khoudgarian, Natalia (CAN) 2106 0 0           0
Round 1 Match 05
 Rivera, Ingris (COL) 2128 0 ½           0,5
 Chiburdanidze, Maia (GEO) 2511 1 ½           1,5
Round 1 Match 06
 Xu, Yuhua (CHN) 2502 1 ½           1,5
 Hoang, Xuan Thanh Khiet (VIE) 2196 0 ½           0,5
Round 1 Match 07
 Zapata, Karen (PER) 2218 ½ 1           1,5
 Lahno, Kateryna (UKR) 2500 ½ 0           0,5
Round 1 Match 09
 Hou, Yifan (CHN) 2269 1 ½           1,5
 Kosintseva, Nadezhda (RUS) 2480 0 ½           0,5
Round 1 Match 10
 Vijayalakshmi, Subbaraman (IND)  2479 1 ½           1,5
 Berezina, Irina (AUS) 2285 0 ½           0,5
Round 1 Match 11
 Meenakshi, S. (IND) 2289 0 0           0
 Kosintseva, Tatiana (RUS) 2479 1 1           2
Round 1 Match 12
 Socko, Monika (POL) 2475 ½ 0           0,5
 Ju, Wenjun (CHN) 2290 ½ 1           1,5
Round 1 Match 13
 Pourkashiyan, Atousa (IRI) 2296 ½ 0           0,5
 Cmilyte, Viktorija (LTU) 2475 ½ 1           1,5
Round 1 Match 14
 Zhao, Xue (CHN) 2473 ½ 0           0,5
 Kursova, Maria (RUS) 2319 ½ 1           1,5
Round 1 Match 15
 Aketaeva, Dana (KAZ) 2330 0 ½           0,5
 Qin, Kanying (CHN) 2469 1 ½           1,5
Round 1 Match 16
 Galliamova, Alisa (RUS) 2467 1 ½           1,5
 Purtseladze, Maka (GEO) 2341 0 ½           0,5
Round 1 Match 17
 Lujan, Carolina (ARG) 2346 ½ 1           1,5
 Dembo, Yelena (GRE) 2461 ½ 0           0,5
Round 1 Match 18
 Skripchenko, Almira (FRA) 2461 0 ½           0,5
 Houska, Jovanka (ENG) 2355 1 ½           1,5
Round 1 Match 19
 Pina, Sulennis (CUB) 2358 0 ½           0,5
 Kovalevskaya, Ekaterina (RUS) 2458 1 ½           1,5
Round 1 Match 20
 Mkrtchian, Lilit (ARM) 2453 ½ ½ ½ 0       1,5
 Ruan, Lufei (CHN) 2361 ½ ½ ½ 1       2,5
Round 1 Match 21
 Ovod, Evgenija (RUS) 2366 0 1 1 0 0 0   2
 Dzagnidze, Nana (GEO) 2452 1 0 0 1 1 1   4
Round 1 Match 22
 Krush, Irina (USA) 2447 1 0 1 ½       2,5
 Amura, Claudia N. (ARG) 2366 0 1 0 ½       1,5
Round 1 Match 23
 Turova, Irina (RUS) 2379 ½ 0           0,5
 Javakhishvili, Lela (GEO) 2444 ½ 1           1,5
Round 1 Match 24
 Zhukova, Natalia (UKR) 2432 ½ ½ 1 0 1 ½   3,5
 Shen, Yang (CHN) 2380 ½ ½ 0 1 0 ½   2,5
Round 1 Match 25
 Wang, Yu A. (CHN) 2385 ½ ½ ½ 0       1,5
 Khurtsidze, Nino (GEO) 2430 ½ ½ ½ 1       2,5
Round 1 Match 26
 Matveeva, Svetlana (RUS) 2428 1 1           2
 Vasilevich, Irina (RUS) 2386 0 0           0
Round 1 Match 27
 Ushenina, Anna (UKR) 2398 ½ ½ 1 1       3
 Korbut, Ekaterina (RUS) 2427 ½ ½ 0 0       1
Round 1 Match 28
 Arakhamia-Grant, Ketevan (GEO) 2426 ½ ½ ½ 1       2,5
 Zielinska, Marta (POL) 2398 ½ ½ ½ 0       1,5
Round 1 Match 29
 Foisor, Cristina Adela (ROM) 2402 ½ ½ ½ 0       1,5
 Danielian, Elina (ARM) 2423 ½ ½ ½ 1       2,5
Round 1 Match 30
 Paehtz, Elisabeth (GER) 2422 1 0 1 0 0 0   2
 Peng, Zhaoqin (NED) 2407 0 1 0 1 1 1   4
Round 1 Match 31
 Sebag, Marie (FRA) 2415 ½ 1           1,5
 Zaiatz, Elena (RUS) 2422 ½ 0           0,5
Round 1 Match 32
 Radziewicz, Iweta (POL) 2421 1 1           2
 Kononenko, Tatiana (UKR) 2417 0 0           0

Picture Gallery

By Sergey Tiviakov


A main street with typical Russian onion dome buildings


A chapel in Yekaterinburg


An orthodox cathedral


Lenin still very much present in the city


Monument of Tatischev and De Gennin, founders of Yekaterinburg

Georg Vilgelm de Gennin (1676-1750) was a Dutchman of German origin, author of "The description of the Ural and Siberian plants". Tatischev Vasily Nikitich (1686-1750) was a politician, diplomat and historian. Both are regarded as the founders of Yekaterinburg.


A bronze guitarist and admirer. They did not find anything


The theatre for opera, ballet and dramatic plays


The Children's Theatre, caught in the wintery Ekaterinburg landscape


The house of one of the richest traders in pre-Revoltuion days: Kharitonov's house


The Ural State University in Yekaterinburg


Modern residential areas


The opening spectacular for the FIDE Women World Championship


FIDE President Kirsan Nikolayevich Ilyumzhinov


US IM Irina Krush at the reception


Ekaterina Korbut (Russia) Elisabeth Pähtz (Germany) and Irina Vasilevich (Russia). All three were knocked out in the first round. We will explain Elisabeth's uniform in a separate report.


The Kosintseva sisters Nadezhda and Tatiana, with Maria Kursova (all Russia)


Anna Ushenina (Ukraine), Dana Aketaeva (Kazakhstan) and her mother


Inside the playing hall, at the start of the round


Top seed Koneru Humpy from India


The author, GM Sergey Tiviakov, with his charge, Elisabeth Pähtz (Germany)

Schedule

Opening Ceremony/Players' meeting 10 March
Round 1: 2 days play + tiebreaks 11-12 March
Round 2: 2 days play + tiebreaks 13-14 March
Round 3: 2 days play + tiebreaks 15-16 March
Free Day 1 day free 17 March
Round 4: 2 days play + tiebreaks 18-19 March
Round 5: 2 days play + tiebreaks 20-21 March
Free Day 1 day free 22 March
Round 6: 4 days play 23-26 March
Tie-breaks/Closing Ceremony: 27 March

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