Gaziantep: Tatiana Kosintseva wins European Rapid

3/16/2012 – The two-day European Women's Rapid Chess Championship saw two Russians on the winners' rostrum: GM Tatiana Kosintseva won with 9.0/11 points, followed by GM Alexandra Kosteniuk and German IM Elisabeth Pähtz, both with 8.5/11 points, but Kosteniuk taking Silver on tiebreak points. We bring you pictures and highlights. This weekend is the Blitz Championship.

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The European Individual Women's Rapid Chess Championship was held on March 15 and 16 in the Anatolian Hotel in Gaziantep, Turkey. After day one, with six rounds of play, Nana Dzagnidze, Alexandra Kosteniuk and Tatiana Kosintseva were leading in the championship. Sensationally Turkish WGM Betul Cemre Yildiz had four points and shares fifth place. She managed to beat Nino Khurtsidze and Lillit Mkrtchian in the last two rounds and showed a 2585 performance. European Champion Valentina Gunina finished the day with 3.5 points and shared 15th place.

The second day brought the decision and saw Russian players on pedestal once again! Tatiana Kosintseva became the winner of the European Rapid Championship, and Alexandra Kosteniuk got the silver medal. German IM Elisabeth Paehtz, who defeated Antoaneta Stefanova in the last round, placed third. Nana Dzagnidze lost against Tatiana Kosintseva in the last round and shared the fourth place with Katerina Lahno, Anna Muzychuk, Nino Batsiashvili, Antoaneta Stefanova and Valentina Gunina.


The winner with 9.0/11 points: Russian GM Tatiana Kosintseva


Silver: former women's world champion GM Alexandra Kosteniuk


She said she would wear her beloved hats, and wear them she
did – bronze medal winner IM Elisabeth Pähtz of Germany

Here some highlights – starting with a decisive encounter in the final round:

[Event "Europen Individual Women's Rapid Chess C"] [Site "Gaziantep"] [Date "2012.03.15"] [Round "?.1"] [White "Kosintseva, Tatiana"] [Black "Dzagnidze, Nana"] [Result "1-0"] [PlyCount "73"] [EventDate "2012.??.??"] 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 a6 5. Bd3 Bc5 6. Nb3 Be7 7. Qg4 Bf6 8. Nc3 Nc6 9. Qg3 Nge7 10. Bf4 e5 11. Bd2 d6 12. h4 Be6 13. O-O-O Rc8 14. Kb1 h5 15. Bg5 Ng6 16. Nd5 Bxg5 17. hxg5 h4 18. Qe3 Nce7 19. c4 O-O $2 20. Nf6+ $1 gxf6 (20... Kh8 21. Qg3 $1 {leaves Black with a completely lost position.}) 21. gxf6 Nf4 22. g3 $1 Neg6 23. gxf4 exf4 24. Qd4 b5 25. cxb5 axb5 26. Rdg1 Bxb3 27. axb3 Re8 28. Rxh4 Re5 29. Rxf4 Kf8 30. Rf5 Qc7 (30... Rxf5 31. exf5 Ne5 32. Qh4 $18) 31. Qe3 Qc5 32. Qh6+ Ke8 33. Rxg6 Rxf5 (33... fxg6 {loses to} 34. f7+ Kd7 35. f8=Q) 34. Rg8+ Kd7 35. Rxc8 Qd4 {hoping for some kind of perpetual.} ( 35... Kxc8 36. Qf8+ Kb7 37. Qxf7+ Kb6 38. exf5 $18) 36. exf5 (36. Qf8 {forces mate.}) 36... Qxd3+ 37. Rc2 1-0

Here is another important final round game, one that gave German IM Elli Pähtz her bronze medal:

[Event "Europen Individual Women's Rapid Chess C"] [Site "Gaziantep"] [Date "2012.03.15"] [Round "?"] [White "Stefanova, Antoaneta"] [Black "Paehtz, Elizabeth"] [Result "0-1"] [PlyCount "112"] [EventDate "2012.??.??"] 1. d4 d6 2. Nf3 g6 3. g3 Bg7 4. Bg2 Nf6 5. O-O O-O 6. a4 c6 7. a5 Na6 8. Re1 Qc7 9. e4 e5 10. dxe5 dxe5 11. h3 Rd8 12. Qe2 Nc5 13. Nbd2 h6 14. b3 Ne6 15. c3 Rb8 16. b4 b5 17. axb6 axb6 18. Nc4 Nd7 19. Rd1 b5 20. Nd6 Nb6 21. Nxc8 Rxd1+ 22. Qxd1 Rxc8 23. Bf1 Rd8 24. Qb3 Na4 25. Be3 Qe7 26. h4 Kh7 27. Ne1 f5 28. exf5 gxf5 29. Bh3 Rf8 30. Qc2 Qf6 31. Rd1 Kh8 32. Rd6 Qe7 33. Rxc6 Qd7 34. Ra6 e4 35. Qb3 Nc7 36. Rxh6+ Bxh6 37. Bxh6 Rf7 38. Be3 Qd5 39. Qc2 Ne6 40. Qe2 Kg8 41. Qh5 Ng7 42. Qg6 Nxc3 43. h5 Qd1 44. h6 Qh5 45. Qc6 Qxh3 46. Qxc3 Nh5 47. Ng2 Qg4 48. Qc6 Nf6 49. Nh4 Kh7 50. Qxb5 Qd1+ 51. Kg2 Ng4 52. Bb6 {After a long and tough struggle the game is basically a draw, but Black, with a small advantage, plays for a win.} e3 53. Bxe3 Nxe3+ 54. fxe3 Qc2+ 55. Kh3 Qe4 56. Qb6 {Threatening Qg6+ and Qxf7. But there is a fatal flaw in her reasoning:} Qh1# 0-1

Here's a nice little incident from the second round:

[Event "European Individual Women's Rapid Chess C"] [Site "Gaziantep"] [Date "2012.03.15"] [Round "?.3"] [White "Hoang, Thanh Trang"] [Black "Lahno, Kateryna"] [Result "0-1"] [PlyCount "62"] [EventDate "2012.??.??"] 1. d4 Nf6 2. Bg5 e6 3. e4 h6 4. Bxf6 Qxf6 5. c3 d6 6. Bd3 g6 7. Ne2 e5 8. O-O Bg7 9. f4 Qe7 10. Nd2 O-O 11. Nf3 c6 12. Qc2 Bg4 13. h3 Bxf3 14. Rxf3 Nd7 15. Raf1 exd4 16. cxd4 c5 17. dxc5 Nxc5 18. b4 Ne6 19. Kh1 Rac8 20. Qa4 Nd4 21. Nxd4 Bxd4 22. f5 g5 23. b5 Qe5 24. f6 Bb6 25. Rf5 Qg3 26. Qd1 Rc3 27. R1f3 Qh4 28. Bf1 Rfc8 29. Rxc3 Rxc3 {Black is better, but still has a lot of work ahead of her. However, her opponent relieves her of this burden:} 30. Qxd6 $4 Qxe4 $1 31. Re5 {Did she miss something?} Rxh3# {Yes, that the pawn is pinned!} 0-1

And here's another incident from round one, involving the player who had just won the European Women's Championship in classical chess:

[Event "European Individual Women's Rapid Chess C"] [Site "Gaziantep"] [Date "2012.03.15"] [Round "?"] [White "Gunina, Valentina"] [Black "Molchanova, Tatjana"] [Result "0-1"] [PlyCount "68"] [EventDate "2012.??.??"] 1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 Nd7 4. Nc3 Ngf6 5. Bg5 h6 6. Bh4 Bb4 7. e3 g5 8. Bg3 Ne4 9. Qc2 h5 10. cxd5 exd5 11. Bd3 f5 12. Be5 Rg8 13. O-O Bxc3 14. bxc3 g4 15. Ne1 Nxe5 16. dxe5 Qg5 17. c4 Be6 18. cxd5 Bxd5 19. Bxe4 Bxe4 20. Qxc7 Rg7 21. Qc4 h4 22. Rc1 g3 23. Qe6+ Re7 24. Qf6 Qxf6 25. exf6 Rf7 26. f3 Bc6 27. Rc5 Rxf6 28. Re5+ Kf7 29. Nc2 Re8 30. Rxe8 Kxe8 31. hxg3 hxg3 {In a drawn position the European Women's Champion 2012 plays a careless move:} 32. Rd1 $4 Ba4 33. Rb1 ({White cannot defend the knight with} 33. Rc1 {because of the pin} Rc6) ({ nore can she defend with} 33. Rd2 {because} Rc6 {is still a pin owing to the threat of mate in one on c1.}) 33... Bxc2 34. Rxb7 Rb6 0-1

Top final standings (after eleven rounds)

#
Sd
Ti.
 Name
Rtng
FED
Points
Perf
BH1.
BH2.
wins
1
6
GM
 Kosintseva Tatiana 2513 RUS
9
2682
65½
70
8
2
15
GM
 Kosteniuk Alexandra 2448 RUS
8½
2680
71
76
7
3
11
IM
 Paehtz Elisabeth 2459 GER
8½
2649
66½
70
7
4
2
GM
 Dzagnidze Nana 2559 GEO
7
2586
72
77½
5
5
3
GM
 Lahno Kateryna 2546 UKR
7
2565
67
72
5
6
1
GM
 Muzychuk Anna 2583 SLO
7
2557
69½
74½
6
7
19
WGM
 Batsiashvili Nino 2438 GEO
7
2547
64½
68½
6
8
5
GM
 Stefanova Antoaneta 2531 BUL
7
2543
71½
76
6
9
7
IM
 Gunina Valentina 2511 RUS
7
2510
58½
62½
6
10
21
IM
 Bodnaruk Anastasia 2412 RUS
6½
2530
69½
69½
6
11
9
IM
 Muzychuk Mariya 2490 UKR
6½
2523
65½
70½
5
12
4
GM
 Kosintseva Nadezhda 2535 RUS
6½
2474
65½
70½
4
13
25
WGM
 Kovanova Baira 2392 RUS
6½
2439
59
63
4
14
17
IM
 Khurtsidze Nino 2447 GEO
6½
2436
56½
60
5
15
28
IM
 Galojan Lilit 2364 ARM
6½
2407
55½
59½
6
16
34
IM
 Gvetadze Sofio 2334 GEO
6
2469
66½
71½
5
17
27
WGM
 Charochkina Daria 2371 RUS
6
2446
64
64
5
18
26
WGM
 Kashlinskaya Alina 2377 RUS
6
2436
59½
64
4
19
12
IM
 Mkrtchian Lilit 2458 ARM
6
2399
55
59
4
20
22
IM
 Paikidze Nazi 2406 GEO
6
2385
59½
61½
4
21
18
GM
 Hoang Thanh Trang 2438 HUN
6
2377
54½
58
5
22
24
WGM
 Guramishvili Sopiko 2395 GEO
5½
2401
56½
61
5
23
8
IM
 Khotenashvili Bela 2490 GEO
5½
2383
60½
65
5
24
10
IM
 Skripchenko Almira 2468 FRA
5½
2339
55
59½
4
25
13
IM
 Ushenina Anna 2458 UKR
5½
2310
52½
54½
5

Remaining schedule

Saturday March 17
Blitz
Sunday March 18
Blitz
Monday March 19
Departure Day

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

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 11 or any of our Fritz compatible chess programs.

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