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Without a moment to spare, Khanty-Mansiysk continues to host high level tournaments. The Women's World Rapid Championship has finished and it started only a couple of days after the end of the Grand Prix that wtas won by Hou Yifan. Tomorrow the Blitz World Championship will take place, also for Women, but let's take a look first at what happened in the rapids:
No event in Khanty-Mansiysk starts without a grand opening ceremony
Full of acrobats, dancers...
and singers, of course
Harika Dronavalli enjoyed the opening festivities
Everything ready for the games to start!
The format was a brutal 15-round tournament with a time control of 25+10. Many of the players were surely exhausted since they had just played in the Grand Prix and basically without rest they jumped into this tournament, but surprisingly none of them faltered and the top spots were all taken by players from the GP. Maybe practice was more important than rest?
The playing hall was a little more crowded than usual
Anna Muzychuk was one of the players that stayed for the event, she finished tied for third but fifth by tiebreaks
Many people came to watch the event, old and not so old
Continuing her string of successes: Olga Girya clinched the bronze medal
Maria Forminykh had played a strong rapid tournament
in Moscow earlier this month to prepare for this Championship
Mariya Muzychuk didn't do nearly as well as her sister, finishing at only 6.5/15
Russia's prodigy, Aleksandra Goryachkina, finished with 50%
Birthday girl! Kosteniuk turned 30 on the first day of the event.
She celebrated by tying for first, but getting second on tiebreaks.
No Rapid tournament goes without disputes...
A solid 8.5/15 for Zhao Xue, but tiebreaks did not favor her
Gunina eventually determined the winner of the event...
It was impossible to predict who would win the event. Even though Lagno started with 4.0/4 she was stopped in round five and many other players were also on fire, including Kosteniuk. In the final round the tournament could have potentially be won by any of Lagno, Kosteniuk, Girya, Stefanova or Muzychuk! Lagno had the best tiebreak, though and a win for her clinched first place no matter what, but she needed serious help for this to happen:
[Event "WWRC 2014"] [Site "Khanty-Mansiysk"] [Date "2014.04.25"] [Round "15.1"] [White "Gunina Valentina (RUS)"] [Black "Lagno Kateryna (UKR)"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "D70"] [SetUp "1"] [FEN "2r5/4p2k/3p1np1/3n2N1/5P1N/1P1r2P1/4R1KP/4R3 b - - 0 38"] [PlyCount "3"] [EventDate "2014.??.??"] [SourceDate "2014.01.04"] [WhiteClock "0:04:42"] [BlackClock "0:05:04"] 38... Kh6 {Black is down a pawn but she is quite active. On top of this b3 is hanging and although her king looks like it's a little weak it can survive. Winning, however, looks close to impossible.} 39. Kh3 $4 {Unless White plays this.} Nxf4# {Surprise! This is what playing 15 games in three days does to you, grandmasters are no exception.} 0-1
The first tiebreak was individual encounter, the second was amount of games won. Since Lagno (above) defeated Kosteniuk in round three she had the better tiebreak against the Russian and she won the gold medal!
Kosintseva finished with 9.5/15, better than she did in the Grand Prix for sure
"pssst, I think she blundered"
Liz Paethz, a strong Blitz and Rapid player, finished in the middle of the standings
Batchimeg Tuvshintugs was exhausted, surely, and she finished with 7.0/15
Some popular players!
Irina Krush traveled all the way from America for this, and she will return for the
U.S. Women's Championship that start on May 8th.
Had Stefanova beaten Khotenashvili in the last round she would have clinched at least third,
but that did not happen
| Place | Name | Fed. | Total | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lagno, Kateryna | |
UKR | 10.5 |
| 2 | Kosteniuk, Alexandra | |
RUS | 10.5 |
| 3 | Girya, Olga | |
RUS | 10.0 |
| 4 | Stefanova, Antoaneta | |
BUL | 10.0 |
| 5 | Muzychuk, Anna | |
SLO | 10.0 |
| 6 | Kosintseva, Tatiana | |
RUS | 9.5 |
| 7 | Ushenina, Anna | |
UKR | 8.5 |
| 8 | Krush, Irina | |
USA | 8.5 |
| 9 | Khotenashvili, Bela | |
GEO | 8.5 |
| 10 | Zhao, Xue | |
CHN | 8.5 |
| 11 | Gunina, Valentina | |
RUS | 8.5 |
| 12 | Dzagnidze, Nana | |
GEO | 8.5 |
| 13 | Gaponenko, Inna | |
UKR | 8.0 |
| 14 | Bezgodova, Svetlana | |
RUS | 8.0 |
| 15 | Kashlinskaya, Alina | |
RUS | 7.5 |
| 16 | Guseva, Marina | |
RUS | 7.5 |
| 17 | Paehtz, Elisabeth | |
GER | 7.5 |
| 18 | Harika, Dronavalli | |
IND | 7.5 |
| 19 | Goryachkina, Aleksandra | |
RUS | 7.5 |
| 20 | Zhu, Chen | |
QAT | 7.5 |
| 21 | Cramling, Pia | |
SWE | 7.5 |
| 22 | Drozdova, Dina | |
RUS | 7.0 |
| 23 | Zhukova, Natalia | |
UKR | 7.0 |
| 24 | Batchimeg, Tuvshintugs | |
MGL | 7.0 |
| 25 | Muminova, Nafisa | |
UZB | 7.0 |
| 26 | Ambartsumova, Karina | |
RUS | 7.0 |
| 27 | Muzychuk, Mariya | |
UKR | 6.5 |
| 28 | Fominykh, Maria | |
RUS | 6.0 |
| 29 | Ubiennykh, Ekaterina | |
RUS | 5.5 |
| 30 | Charochkina, Daria | |
RUS | 5.5 |
| 31 | Shaydullina, Sandugach | |
RUS | 5.5 |
| 32 | Sukhareva, Evgeniya | |
RUS | 5.0 |
| 33 | Popova, Natalija | |
BLR | 4.0 |
| 34 | Sviridova, Vlada | |
RUS | 2.0 |
We will bring you coverage of the Award Ceremony and of the Blitz World Championships, which start tomorrow!
Select games from the dropdown menu above the board
LinksThe 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 12 or any of our Fritz compatible chess programs. |
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