All photos by David Llada
With nine out of sixteen matches going into the tie-break zone, it was no wonder that we had a day full of drama! The common theme today was as follows: the experienced players managed to keep calm, play the board, and with consistent play, they took their chances and scored in the most crucial moments. However, on the other hand, many who did not manage to handle their nerves and keep their composure capitulated to the stress. After all, in such a win-or-die format, one has to have the stomach and gut for such a nerve-wracking job in order to win. Speaking of getting the job done, two thrilling Armageddons would tell us enough about the high tension in this tournament.
Is it mate or stalemate?
The most topsy-turvy event of the day was once again among the two lower-rated players, who had managed to upset their opponents in the first round’s tie-breaks. Sopiko Guramishvili and Natalia Buksa had their share of luck in each of their classical games to end up with a point apiece in their encounter. However, when a draw is not going to be enough, things got highly tenacious and dramatic for these ladies. After two draws, Buksa drew first blood with black but Sopiko leveled the match in the most dramatic fashion with the help of her opponent:
After this painful loss, Natalia still managed to draw the next game but succumbed to Sopiko’s attack in the game after that, Thus, her story in Tehran ended here.
The theory does not matter. Immense experience and a great fighting experience — sounds like a recipe for success!
Veteran and living legend Pia Cramling is a true fighter and a role model for chess players. One should not forget that she made it to the semi-final in the last cycle and in this cycle and she is now in top 16 eliminating IM Elizabeth Paehtz. Cramling’s unconventional approach in this match was quite interesting: she chose to play 4…g6?! on the black side of the Catalan and despite having a worse position managed to win the game and the match.
Indians are good at rapids!
Indian champion Padmini Rout is definitely ‘en route’!
Both representatives of India, GM Harika Dronavalli and Padmini Rout won their respective matches with a good show. Padmini specifically is en route to something big in this event, dismantling the much higher-rated Zhao Xue 1.5-0.5. Read more with master analysis here.
On the other tables, the experienced ones got the better of their less experienced opponents. Thus, Stefanova and Pogonina made it to the next round while, Melia Salome, Huang Qiang, have to go home.
Antoneta Stefanova
Natalia Pogonina
Kosteniuk managed to outplay Gaponnenko despite the latter’s great performance in this tournament. This leaves us with two nail-biting matches which led to the Armageddons!
Nino Batsiashvili
Khurstsidze and Batsiashvili had a very close match in which the latter had played a little bit better in the entire match. However, every time Batsiashvili went ahead, Khurtsidze managed to pull herself together and keep the match balanced. They went all the way to the Armageddon, in which, Batsiashvili got a winning position on the white side but in an Armageddon, anything can happen!
Anna Ushenina
The other Armageddon game happened between Anna Ushenina and Tan Zhongyi in a game where the tables turned around several times. It was Ushenina who made the final mistake and Let Zhongyi slip out of her hand. Thus, Tan Zhongyi made it to the third round!
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