The first stage of Women's World Championship is over. 20 of 63 ladies lost their respective matches and have to leave the cycle. 11 matches went into the tie-break with hair-raising pressure. Usually, the most interesting games of the second round of each stage's mini-matches are those in which a player that has lost the first game tries to win the second to stay in the competition. The first round of the first stage saw a number of surprises, in which, higher-rated players succumbed to their lower-rated opponents.
In Tehran, many of the players who lost their first games managed to bounce back and square the match, some did not. One of these higher rated players who did not manage to stay longer in Tehran was GM Natalia Zhukova, who went down at the hand of Georgian IM Nino Khurtsidze. The Ukrainian did not manage to level the match and was forced to leave the tournament. Dzagnidze managed to win with black. Bodnaruk managed to do a great come back after a heart-breaking blunder and beat one of the local superstars, Mitra Hejazipour to force a tie-break. On the other hand, the good news for the hosts was the return of Sara Khademalsharieh. After losing the first round one-sidedly to Sopiko Guramishvili, Sara managed to handle her nerves and win with white to level the match. Here are some of the breath-taking moments of the second day of round one.
GM Natalia Zhukova came to Tehran with a lot of hopes, having GM Anton Korobov as her coach. However, she had to leave sooner than expected!
Round one hero before the tie-breaks! IM Nino Khurtsidze from Georgia
Half-Windsor or full-Windsor? Ahh, come on! We are talking about scarves now!
Mona Khaled- Nana Dzagnidze
The dreadful battle between dark horse Mona Khaled and experienced but out of shape Nana Dzagnidze was extended for another day.
Nana Dzagnidze suffered the worst setback among the top rated players, losing with white against Mona Khaled of Egypt in the first game. She came back with a lot of energy and managed to seize the initiative early on in the game but similar to game one she started to run out of steam and made several passive moves, as a result of which, her previous over-extending pawn pushes turned into permanent weaknesses. Mona came back with a strong attack along h-file and a fantastic knight, nicely placed on f5. She even managed to win a piece but in the time scramble complication she lost most of her advantage and when accuracy was needed, she succumbed to the nerve-wrecking pressure.
Hero of the day: Ayelen Martinez was up to the task for mission impossible!
If Mona Khaled had a difficult task of drawing with white against Nana Dzagnidze, Argentine Ayelen Martinez had the impossible task of winning against the much higher rated opponent Zhao Xue from China with black pieces. Nevertheless, after a tupsy -turvy game, it was Zhao Xue who crumbled under pressure.
Mitra was Caissa's choice of day one. However, by picking Dzagnidze as I showed earlier, it seemed that Caissa forgot about Mitra entirely. In a tough game, Hejazipour cave in as Bodnaruk's pieces' activity became too much to handle.
Sara Khadem — relieved!
Sopiko Guramishvili: Make a draw? Not me. I leave that to Anish!
It seems that Elisabeth did not like the comment I made yesterday and changed the way she wears her scarf. Apparently, this works better for her than the Amish style since she comfortably won against a highly-experienced WGM Atousa Pourkashiyan.
However, Ekaterina Kovalevskaya stuck to her choice but she did not end up forwarding to the second round.
Deysi Corie might have come the longest way to Tehran but her efforts were short-lived since she has to leave Tehran after losing to Kashilinskaya.
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 14 or any of our Fritz compatible chess programs. |
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