Stefanova wins Women's World Rapid in Batumi

6/3/2012 – The top-ranked players were all battling for the medals, but it was the luckiest (by her own admission) who took Gold in the end. Antoneta Stefanova could hardly complain – two of her highest-ranked opponents blundered winning positions to mate in two or mate in one. The Blitz Championship starts on Monday. From the final rounds of the Rapid we are treated to Europe Echecs video reports.

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The Women's World Rapid and Blitz Championship 2012 is taking place from May 30 to June 6 in Batumi, Georgia. The event is organized and conducted by the ACP and the Georgian Chess Federation, and is approved by FIDE. Format: eleven round rapid Swiss at 25 min + 10 seconds, 11 rounds; 15 round blitz at 4 min + 2 seconds. FIDE rules without the unpopular zero tolerance rule – the game is lost by the player who arrives at the chessboard after her flag has fallen.

Final standings (after eleven rounds)

Rk. Title Name
FED
Rtg
Pts.
TB1 
TB2
Perf
1 GM Stefanova Antoaneta
BUL
2518
8.5
61.5
74.5
2700
2 GM Kosteniuk Alexandra
RUS
2457
8.0
61.5
74.5
2672
3 GM Koneru Humpy
IND
2589
8.0
60.5
74.5
2630
4 GM Lahno Kateryna
UKR
2546
8.0
57.5
70.5
2639
5 GM Muzychuk Anna
SLO
2598
7.5
59.5
70.5
2554
6 GM Harika Dronavalli
IND
2508
7.5
53.0
64.0
2563
7 GM Dzagnidze Nana
GEO
2547
7.0
53.0
65.5
2562
8 GM Cramling Pia
SWE
2478
6.5
57.5
68.0
2545
9 GM Zhao Xue
CHN
2549
6.5
56.0
69.5
2535
10 WGM Guo Qi
CHN
2360
6.5
56.0
69.0
2562
11 IM Paehtz Elisabeth
GER
2491
6.5
54.5
64.5
2491
12 WGM Tan Zhongyi
CHN
2430
6.5
54.0
65.5
2528
13 IM Javakhishvili Lela
GEO
2449
6.5
52.0
63.5
2514
14 GM Zhukova Natalia
UKR
2442
6.5
52.0
63.0
2527
15 GM Zhu Chen
QAT
2491
6.5
52.0
63.0
2485
16 GM Kosintseva Tatiana
RUS
2532
6.5
48.0
57.0
2424
17 WGM Huang Qian
CHN
2417
6.0
62.5
75.5
2542
18 IM Khurtsidze Nino
GEO
2456
6.0
58.5
71.5
2530
19 Wang Jue
CHN
2364
6.0
55.5
67.0
2540
20 IM Gunina Valentina
RUS
2530
6.0
54.5
67.5
2481
21 IM Mkrtchian Lilit
ARM
2449
6.0
51.0
63.0
2460
22 IM Ushenina Anna
UKR
2454
5.5
52.0
63.5
2445
23 GM Arakhamia-Grant Ketevan
SCO
2426
5.5
51.0
63.0
2459
24 WGM Batsiashvili Nino
GEO
2436
5.5
50.0
62.5
2442
25 IM Melia Salome
GEO
2410
5.5
46.0
58.0
2443
26 WGM Pogonina Natalija
RUS
2447
5.5
46.0
55.0
2370
27 GM Danielian Elina
ARM
2484
5.5
45.0
55.0
2370
28 IM Khukhashvili Sopiko
GEO
2414
5.5
43.0
52.5
2390
29 IM Gvetadze Sofio
GEO
2338
5.0
53.0
66.5
2426
30 IM Muzychuk Mariya
UKR
2456
5.0
51.0
61.0
2407
31 GM Chiburdanidze Maia
GEO
2500
5.0
49.5
60.5
2386
32 WGM Cori T Deysi
PER
2386
5.0
47.5
58.0
2365
33 WGM Ding Yixin
CHN
2353
5.0
45.0
55.0
2381
34 IM Purtseladze Maka
GEO
2348
5.0
44.0
54.0
2380
35 IM Krush Irina
USA
2457
5.0
43.0
51.0
2340
36 IM Lomineishvili Maia
GEO
2366
5.0
41.5
51.0
2362
37 IM Kovalevskaya Ekaterina
RUS
2417
4.5
48.5
60.0
2396
38 GM Socko Monika
POL
2484
4.5
48.0
58.5
2347
39 WGM Mammadova Gulnar
AZE
2345
4.5
47.5
59.0
2381
40 IM Matnadze Ana
ESP
2446
4.5
44.0
53.0
2304
41 WIM Mikadze Miranda
GEO
2323
4.5
41.5
49.0
2315
42 WIM Arabidze Meri
GEO
2351
4.5
41.0
50.0
2330
43 WGM Charkhalashvili Inga
GEO
2334
4.5
41.0
49.5
2323
44 WIM Janjghava Natia
GEO
2306
4.0
42.0
51.5
2261
45 IM Klinova Masha
ISR
2318
3.5
46.0
54.5
2246
46 IM Khotenashvili Bela
GEO
2500
3.5
44.5
53.0
2258
47 IM Gurieli Nino
GEO
2329
3.5
40.5
49.0
2218
48 WIM Umudova Nargiz
AZE
2231
3.0
39.5
48.0
2188
49 WIM Bezgodova Svetlana
RUS
2120
2.5
44.5
54.0
2192
50 GM Gaprindashvili Nona
GEO
2356
2.0
39.0
48.0
2105

GM Robert Fontaine and his video producer Gérard Demuydt have castled from the World Championship in Moscow to the Women's Rapid and Blitz in Batumi. They are producing video reports and interviews after each round for the French chess magazine Europe Echecs. We are grateful to receive these reports and that they include interviews with players and personalities.

Interview with legendary trainer Mark Dvoretsky

Interviews with Qian Huang and Melia Salome

Stefanova Women's World Rapid Champion

In this video Anotaneta Stefanova says: "It was a very difficult tournament. The result may look easy, but okay, I was quite lucky, first against Zhao Xue – I had a very bad position and she blundered...

[Event "Women's World Rapid Championship"] [Site "Batumi. Georgia"] [Date "2012.06.01"] [Round "6.2"] [White "Zhao, Xue"] [Black "Stefanova, Antoaneta"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "D96"] [WhiteElo "2549"] [BlackElo "2518"] [Annotator "Round 6"] [PlyCount "80"] [EventDate "2012.??.??"] 1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Nf3 g6 5. e3 Bg7 6. h3 O-O 7. Bd3 a6 8. a4 a5 9. O-O Na6 10. e4 dxe4 11. Nxe4 Nb4 12. Nxf6+ exf6 13. Ra3 Qc7 14. Be3 Be6 15. Qc1 Nxd3 16. Rxd3 Rfd8 17. Rfd1 Rd7 18. Bf4 Qb6 19. d5 cxd5 20. cxd5 Bf5 21. Rc3 Be4 22. Bc7 Qa7 23. d6 f5 24. Rc4 Qa6 25. Nd4 Bh6 26. Qc3 Bg7 27. f3 Bc6 28. Qc2 Bxd4+ 29. Rcxd4 Re8 30. R4d2 Qa7+ 31. Kh1 Qe3 32. Bxa5 Qf4 33. b3 Qg3 34. Rd3 g5 35. Qd2 Re6 36. Kg1 h6 37. Bc3 f4 38. Bb2 f6 39. Bc3 Kf7 {[#]Black has a dangerous looking attack, but White is clearly winning. All she has to do it to keep the second row protected.} 40. Qc1 $4 Re2 {and nothing can prevent 41...Qxg2 mate.} 0-1

... and then against Katya Lahno, when I was the most lost in my life, and she blundered mate in one..."

[Event "Women's World Rapid Championship"] [Site "Batumi. Georgia"] [Date "2012.06.02"] [Round "9.1"] [White "Lahno, Kateryna"] [Black "Stefanova, Antoaneta"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "D10"] [WhiteElo "2546"] [BlackElo "2518"] [Annotator "Round 9"] [PlyCount "74"] [EventDate "2012.??.??"] 1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. e3 Nf6 4. Bd3 e5 5. Nc3 exd4 6. exd4 dxc4 7. Bxc4 Bg4 8. Qb3 Qc7 9. Bg5 b5 10. Be2 Be6 11. Qc2 Nd5 12. a3 Nxc3 13. Qxc3 h6 14. Bh4 b4 15. axb4 Qb7 16. b5 Bd6 17. d5 Bxd5 18. Qxg7 Rf8 19. Nf3 Bb4+ 20. Kf1 cxb5 21. Nd4 Nd7 22. Bxb5 Qc7 23. Nf5 Bc4+ 24. Bxc4 Qxc4+ 25. Kg1 Rc8 26. Qxh6 Ne5 27. h3 Rc6 28. Qe3 Re6 29. Ng7+ Kd7 30. Nxe6 Kxe6 31. Bg3 f6 32. Rc1 Qd5 33. Qe2 Rg8 34. Kh2 Kf7 35. Rhd1 Qb7 36. Qh5+ Ke6 {[#]Black is an exchange and two pawns down, with a hopelessly lost position, but then:} 37. Bxe5 $4 Qxg2# 0-1

"I cannot complain about my luck in this tournament – obviously everything was working for me..."


The video ends with scenes from a dolphin show

Remaining schedule

4 June Blitz (rounds 1-8) 15:00, 15:30, 16:00, etc...
5 June Blitz (rounds 9-15), 15:00, 15:30, 16:00, etc... Closing Ceremony.
6 June Departure

Links

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