Gaziantep: Sebag lead alone with a perfect score

by ChessBase
3/6/2012 – Marie Sebag defeated one of her main rivals, Viktorija Cmilyte, while the other, Cristina-Adela Foisor, drew her game against Antoaneta Stefanova. This left the French GM in the sole lead after four rounds of the European Women's Championship in Turkey. Six players are half a point behind, and twelve at 3.0/4. We start our report with a panorama sweep of Gaziantep.

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The European Individual Women Chess Championships are being held from 2 to 13 March, 2012, in the Anatolian Hotel in Gaziantep, Turkey. The event will be followed by the European Rapid Championship and European Blitz Championship (15-18 of March). The EIWCC consists of eleven games. The rate of is 90 minutes for 40 moves plus 30 minutes for the rest of the game with an increment of 30 seconds per move, starting from move one. Games start at 16:00h local time.

Organizers and prize fund: The Turkish Chess Federation, with the sponsorship and support of the Gaziantep Metropolitan Municipality, under the auspices of the City of Gaziantep and the European Chess Union, provided a prize fund of 150,000 Euro for all three events. This is the biggest prize fund in the history of European Women's Chess events. For the first time in the chess history the European Women's Champion will get a higher prize sum, 20,500 Euros, than the Champion of the (Open or "Men's") European Individual Championship, which will be held in Plovdiv after this event.

Here's a panorama view of Gaziantep from the roof of the Anatolian Hotel:

Round four


In the top game between two leaders Marie Sebag beat Viktorija Cmilyte

[Event "European Women's Championship"] [Site "GAZIANTEP"] [Date "2012.03.05"] [Round "?.1"] [White "Sebag, Marie"] [Black "Cmilyte, Viktorija"] [Result "1-0"] [PlyCount "85"] [EventDate "2012.??.??"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 f5 4. d3 fxe4 5. dxe4 Nf6 6. O-O Bc5 7. Qd3 Nd4 8. Nxd4 Bxd4 9. Nd2 Qe7 10. Nf3 Bc5 11. Bg5 c6 12. Bc4 d6 13. a3 Bg4 14. h3 Be6 15. b4 Bb6 16. Bxf6 Qxf6 17. a4 a6 18. b5 axb5 19. axb5 Ke7 20. Rab1 Rhb8 21. Rb3 Bd7 22. Rfb1 Qf4 23. Qe2 Bc5 24. Ne1 cxb5 25. Bxb5 Bxb5 26. Rxb5 b6 27. Nd3 Qf6 28. Nxc5 dxc5 29. R5b3 Ra4 30. Rd1 Rd4 31. Ra1 Rb7 32. Rf3 Qc6 33. Rf5 Rxe4 34. Rxe5+ Rxe5 35. Qxe5+ Kf7 36. Qh5+ Kf6 37. Qxh7 Re7 38. Ra3 Re1+ 39. Kh2 Qc7+ 40. Rg3 Re7 41. Qg6+ Ke5 42. c4 Rd7 43. Rg4 1-0


Cristina-Adela Foisor (left) drew her game against Antoaneta Stefanova...


... , which meant the French GM Marie Sebag took the sold lead after four rounds

Valentina Gunina, Nastassia Ziazulkina, Nino Khurtsidze, Thanh Trang Hoang, Zoya Schlening managed to win. They share the second place, half a point behind of Sebag. Turkish player Betul Yildiz and Armenian Elina Danielian played an attention-grabbing game. After an interesting theoretical battle in the French Defence Betul managed to convert to a winning ending, but didn't play precisely and almost lost the game.

[Event "European Women's Champion"] [Site "GAZIANTEP"] [Date "????.??.??"] [Round "?"] [White "Yildiz, Betul Cemre"] [Black "Danielian, Elina"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [PlyCount "138"] 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nd2 Nf6 4. e5 Nfd7 5. Bd3 c5 6. c3 Nc6 7. Ne2 cxd4 8. cxd4 f6 9. Nf4 Nxd4 10. Qh5+ Ke7 11. exf6+ Nxf6 12. Ng6+ hxg6 13. Qxh8 Kf7 14. Qh4 e5 15. Nf3 Nxf3+ 16. gxf3 Bf5 17. Bxf5 gxf5 18. Bg5 Qa5+ 19. Kf1 g6 20. Qh8 Qa6+ 21. Kg2 Re8 22. Rac1 Be7 23. Qh6 Qd6 24. Rc2 Qd8 25. Bxf6 Kxf6 26. Rhc1 Rh8 27. Qd2 Rh4 28. Rc7 d4 29. Qa5 d3 30. Re1 Qd6 31. Qc3 Rd4 32. Rc4 Rxc4 33. Qxc4 Bf8 34. Rd1 d2 35. f4 Bh6 36. fxe5+ Qxe5 37. Qc3 Qxc3 38. bxc3 Ke5 39. Kf3 Kd5 40. Ke2 Kc4 41. Rb1 b5 42. Rg1 Kxc3 43. Rxg6 Bf4 44. h4 a5 45. h5 b4 46. h6 a4 47. h7 Be5 48. Rc6+ $6 ({White missed the following quick and sure win:} 48. f4 Bh8 49. Rg8 Bf6 50. h8=Q Bxh8 51. Rxh8 $18) 48... Kb2 {Betul is still winning, but now comes the decisive mistake:} 49. Rc4 $2 ({Once again} 49. f4 { wins.}) 49... b3 $1 50. axb3 a3 51. Ra4 $2 (51. Kxd2 a2 52. Rc1 Kxb3 ({Not} 52... a1=Q 53. Rxa1 Kxa1 54. b4 $18) 53. Ke3 Kb2 54. Rd1 a1=Q 55. Rxa1 Kxa1 { was an easy draw.}) 51... Kc2 $1 52. Rc4+ Kxb3 53. Rc8 a2 54. Ra8 d1=Q+ ({Or} 54... a1=Q 55. Rxa1 Bxa1 56. Kxd2 Kc4 $19) 55. Kxd1 a1=Q+ 56. Rxa1 Bxa1 57. Kd2 Kc4 58. Ke3 Kd5 59. Kf4 Ke6 60. Kg5 {Black was completely lost, then completely winning, and now gives away a half-point:} Bh8 $2 (60... Bf6+ $1 { was the move to find. Black wins, for instance after} 61. Kg6 f4 62. f3 Ke5 63. Kf7 Kf5 64. Kg8 Kg5 65. Kf7 Bb2 66. Ke6 Kh4 67. Kf5 Kg3 68. Ke4 Ba1 $19) 61. f4 Bg7 62. Kg6 Bf6 63. Kh5 Kf7 64. Kh6 Bg7+ 65. Kg5 Ke6 66. Kg6 Bc3 67. Kg5 Bh8 68. Kg6 Bf6 69. Kh5 Kf7 {and since Black can make no progress a draw was agreed.} 1/2-1/2


Missed a win and almost lost a tough game: Betul Cemre Yildiz


Ukrainian GM Katerina Lahno, 2546, vs Russian WGM Russian Alina Kashlinskaya,
2377, with Russian IM Valentina Gunina, 2511, looking on. The game was drawn.


Bulgarian WIM Nastassia Ziaziukina, 2343, ground down IM Almira Skripchenko of
France, rated 2468, in a tough 72-move game

Top standings after four rounds

#
Sd
 Ti.
Name Rtng
FED
Pts
ratP
BH.
BH.
wins
1
7
GM
Sebag Marie 2512
FRA
4
3191
7
9
4
2
51
WGM
Schleining Zoya 2326
GER
2702
7
3
3
8
IM
Gunina Valentina 2511
RUS
2690
3
4
31
IM
Foisor Cristina-Adela 2398
ROU
2664
7
3
5
20
IM
Khurtsidze Nino 2447
GEO
2655
3
6
44
WIM
Ziaziulkina Nastassia 2343
BLR
2640
7
8
3
7
21
GM
Hoang Thanh Trang 2438
HUN
2638
7
9
3
8
53
WIM
Mammadova Gulnar 2324
AZE
3
2658
9
11½
2
9
9
GM
Cmilyte Viktorija 2497
LTU
3
2575
10½
3
10
5
GM
Stefanova Antoaneta 2531
BUL
3
2565
10½
2
11
6
GM
Kosintseva Tatiana 2513
RUS
3
2555
9
3
12
1
IM
Muzychuk Anna 2583
SLO
3
2522
7
2
13
66
WGM
Sandu Mihaela 2253
ROU
3
2494
6
7
3
14
28
WGM
Girya Olga 2406
RUS
3
2486
2
15
22
WGM
Batsiashvili Nino 2438
GEO
3
2482
9
10½
2
16
10
IM
Khotenashvili Bela 2490
GEO
3
2470
3
17
47
WIM
Arabidze Meri 2337
GEO
3
2446
6
6
2
18
19
IM
Javakhishvili Lela 2448
GEO
3
2436
7
2
19
29
WGM
Paikidze Nazi 2406
GEO
3
2268
6
7
2

All photos by WGM Anastasiya Karlovich, with kind permission of the TCF


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