
Round nine report
By FM Geoffrey Borg
Munguntuul, Batkhuyag |
½-½ |
Zhao Xue |
Dzagnidze, Nana |
1-0 |
Fierro Baquero, Martha |
Ju Wenjun |
½-½ |
Mkrtchian, Lilit |
Yildiz, Betul Cemre |
0-1 |
Shen Yang |
Zhu Chen |
0-1 |
Xu Yuhua |
Kovanova, Baira |
1-0 |
Sebag, Marie |
A very eventful round! The standings after this round show some norms which
have been achieved by some players so far, namely IM norms for WGM Mungutuul
and WGM candidate Ju Wenjun.
# |
Title |
Name |
Rtg |
FED |
Pts |
Ra |
Rp |
Rtg+/- |
1 |
GM |
Dzagnidze Nana |
2535 |
GEO |
6½ |
2431 |
2597 |
7.8 |
2 |
GM |
Xu Yuhua |
2485 |
CHN |
6½ |
2440 |
2606 |
14.8 |
3 |
GM |
Sebag Marie |
2519 |
FRA |
6 |
2425 |
2550 |
4.0 |
4 |
GM |
Zhao Xue |
2542 |
CHN |
5½ |
2419 |
2499 |
-4.5 |
5 |
IM |
Mkrtchian Lilit |
2469 |
ARM |
5 |
2465 |
2508 |
4.6 |
6 |
WGM |
Munguntuul Batkhuyag |
2418 |
MGL |
5 |
2442 |
2485 |
8.2 |
7 |
WGM |
Shen Yang |
2453 |
CHN |
4½ |
2447 |
2447 |
-0.6 |
8 |
WGM |
Kovanova Baira |
2408 |
RUS |
4½ |
2447 |
2447 |
4.8 |
9 |
|
Ju Wenjun |
2443 |
CHN |
4½ |
2458 |
2458 |
2.1 |
10 |
GM |
Zhu Chen |
2488 |
QTR |
4 |
2440 |
2397 |
-10.4 |
11 |
IM |
Fierro Baquero Martha |
2386 |
ECU |
2 |
2480 |
2260 |
-14.0 |
12 |
WIM |
Yildiz Betul Cemre |
2224 |
TUR |
0 |
2477 |
1677 |
-23.8 |
Round nine proved to be an eventful and surprising one, with leader GM Marie
Sebag from France being outplayed by WGM Kovanova from Russia. White played
a position variation in the Sicilian Najdorf (6.g3) which gave Black little
chance. GM Sebag faced a difficult position throughout and the game was converted
nicely into a win by White. Kovanova is short by four performance rating points
off the mark to make an IM norm.

Stopped in round nine: French GM Marie Sebag...

... who was beaten by WGM Baira Kovanova of Elista, Kalmykia (Russia)
As the pack at the top are so close to each other, it let the other top players
immediately in. Two former World Champions battled it out, and GM Xu Yuhua had
the better of it over GM Zhu Chen. In a Nimzo Indian 4.Qc2 variation Black innovated
early and a complex game resulted. Black sacrificed a pawn early on to gain
complete piece activity and Black then uncorked a beautiful combination.

Round nine game between GM Xu Yuhua (left) and GM Zhu Chen
Zhu Chen - Xu Yuhua [E36]
FIDE GP w Nanjing CHN (9), 07.10.2009
1.d4 e6 2.c4 Nf6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.Qc2 0-0 5.a3 Bxc3+ 6.Qxc3 d5 7.cxd5 Ne4
8.Qc2 exd5 9.Bf4 Bf5 10.Qxc7 Qxc7 11.Bxc7 Rc8 12.Bf4 Nc6 13.f3 Nf6 14.g4 Bc2
15.e3 Na5 16.b4 Nb3 17.Ra2 Nc1 18.Rb2
18...Nxg4! Followed by some other great moves, 19.e4
Nd3+ 20.Bxd3 Bxd3 21.Kd2 Nf2 22.Be3 Bf1! 23.Bxf2 Bg2 24.exd5 Rd8 25.Ke3 Rxd5
26.Ke4 Rh5 27.Bg3 Re8+ 28.Kf4 Bxh1 29.h4 g6 30.Kg4 Rf5 31.Bf2 Rc8 32.Rd2 h5+
33.Kg3 Bxf3 34.Nxf3 Rc3 35.Kg2 Rfxf3 36.a4 Rfd3 37.Re2 Rc4 38.Rb2 f5 39.a5 Kf7
40.Kh2 Rdc3 0-1.

Don't mess with me – former World Champion Xu Yuhua

She tried and got bitten: former World Champion Zhu Chen
The other critical game to decide one of the leaders was GM Dzagnidze against
IM Martha Fierro. White had much the worse of it throughout the game and it
was only with resilience that Dazgnidze survived. Eventually the fourth hour
approached and, as Martha pointed out, she has been suffering at this time.
Once agin, she let the position slip and unfortunately turned a winning position
into a losing one.
Today, we also had another novelty, albeit not in a chess game. Unfortunately,
at 2.00 a.m. in the morning WGM Mungutuul from Mongolia was not feeling very
well and asked for the hotel doctor. She was diagnosed with chicken pox, and
immediately Chief Arbiter Ignatius Leong was informed.

With face mask and sergical gloves: chicken pox stricken Batkhuyag Munguntuul
After a long discussion and consultation with organisers, players and arbiters,
it was agreed that WGM Munguttul would be isolated in a special room which was
set up by the Nanjing organisers at record speed. All remaining players also
sportingly agreed that they had no objection with playing her under these conditions.
So at 3.05 p.m. the game between Mungutuul and Zaho Xue got underway, with great
media attention. For once it seemed the journalists had forgotten everything
else!

Quarantine: WGM Batkhuyag Munguntuul vs GM Zhao Xue was played in the separate
room
Anyway, back to the game. The players followed a main line of the Spanish and
once again Zhao Xue showed that her opening preperation is of the highest standards.
Unfortunately she could not gain much more than equality, and despite having
the two bishops "advantage", black could not squeeze out more than
a draw.

Ju Wenjun and Lilit Mkrtchian squared off in a great fight, and although Black
could have had chances to win the game in a Queen's Indian Defence, she did
not find them in the game and a draw was the final result.

WGM Shen Yang, who beat WIM Betul Yodiz in round nine
Yildiz-Shen Yang was just another bad day for the player from Turkey. Black
took the initiative early on in a Scotch game, and a tactical miscalculation
ended up with black getting a winning rook endgame.

During the day there was also a match between four universities Najing, Peking,
Tsinghua and South East University – 200 hundred players in total!

FM Geoffrey Borg, who has been providing us with these lovely reports
Current standings

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