Taizhou 01: Hou Yifan strikes first

Women’s World Chess Championship Match 2013 between the current World Champion Anna Ushenina of Ukraine and her challenger, Hou Yifan of China (former World Champion 2010-2012), is being played from September 11th to 27 in the Taizhou Hotel (Taizhou, China). The time control is 90 minutes for the first 40 moves, followed by 30 minutes for the rest of the game, with an increment of 30 seconds per move starting from move one. The games start at 3 p.m. local time. That translates to 09:00 a.m. CEST, 03:00 a.m. New York, 10:00 a.m. Kiev. You can find your local time here.

Round one report

Anna Ushenina managed to get a pleasant advantage with white pieces in the first game of the Women’s World Championship match but spent too much time in the opening and didn’t find a precise way to really squeeze her opponent with the typical Nimzo-Indian bind she was able to obtain. The position turned drastically when Ushenina underestimated the threats that Hou Yifan was piling on the kingside. An interesting rook sortie coupled with the quick advance of the f-pawn suddenly exposed just how few pieces were defending the white king. The game started to turn sour for the Ukrainian after she didn't take advantage of the tactical positioning of her pieces, especially with the strong knight on f5. Instead of 26.Nxe7?! exchanging a strong knight for a somewhat awkward bishop, it seemed that 26.Nxb5 might have put the Chinese contender in trouble.

The stage is set: the World Champion starts with the white pieces, the contender will defend with black

Carol Jarecki, Deputy Arbiter of the event, checks absolutely everyone for electronic devices

The Ukrainian team has their own reserved seats in the spectator area. Here GM Anton Korobov enjoys his space while the rest of the team arrives.

The organizers of the World championship match assume numerous security measures. Hou Yifan and Anna Ushenina play on the stage which is separated from the spectator’s area. The photographers and cameramen have an opportunity to take pictures and record videos next to the stage only for the first 5 minutes of the game. After that the spectator’s area plunges into darkness. 

The opening move for Anna Ushenina was executed by FIDE president Kirsan Ilyuzhimov

With a swift reply by the director of Taizhou sports bureau, Ge Zhizhui

Anna Ushenina was as well prepared as expected. With two strong seconds on site, it seems that the opening battles might be in favor of the Ukrainian player. However this proved to not be enough today. She will have the black pieces tomorrow and it will be interesting to see if she chooses something solid to hold down the fort with black and then attempt to win with White, or if she will try to immediately equalize the score by taking some risks.

Ushenina showed that the lines involving dxc5 in the Nimzo-Indian are still positionally scary for Black

With Black's knight on b7, it seemed unlikely that Yifan's position would be particularly good. However it was this very knight that maneouvered to f3 and checkmated White!

At the press conference after the game Hou Yifan said she was happy to play in Taizhou: ”I have been living in Beijing for the last ten years but it’s always nice to come back to your native city. My friends and relatives came to support me here”. According to Anna Ushenina, the organization is good, but in any case it’s not comfortable to play on the territory of your opponent.

Guest commentator WGM Tatev Abrahamyan gives us her impressions of the game:

Tatev Abrahamyan Born in 1988 in Yerevan, Armenia, the Women's Grandmaster now lives in Glendale, California and is one of the strongest players in the American women's olympic team. After graduating in 2011 from California State University, Long Beach with a double major in psychology and political science, Tatev focused on becoming a full time chess professional. She recently scored her second IM norm and is already qualified for the next Women's World Championship

Information and pictures by Anastasiya Karlovich, FIDE Press Officer

Score

Schedule

Links Official tournament site All games in PGN The games will be 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.