Last Rounds
The tournament had clear favorites. Rating wise, it was Hou Yifan and Nigel Short that were to beat, but certainly Zhu Chen and Seirawan were powerful contenders.

Despite being the pre-tournament favorites, Hou Yifan and Nigel Short couldn't claim first place
The top rated team started the tournament well with two victories without problems. However they really stumbled in the next two rounds. The solid team of Yu Shaoteng and Xu Yuhua held them to a draw but the real disaster came in round four against Zhu Chen and Seirawan:

Yasser Seirawan and Zhu Chen stepped up to take advantage of their opponent's mistakes
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1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.Qc2 d5 5.cxd5 Qxd5 6.Nf3 Qf5 7.Qb3 Nc6 8.e3 8.Bd2 8...a5 9.a3 a4 10.Qd1 Bxc3+ 11.bxc3 e5 12.Be2 0-0 13.0-0 Re8 14.Bb2 e4 15.Nh4 Qg5 16.g3 Bg4! 17.c4 Na5 18.Bxg4 Qxg4 19.Qxg4 Nxg4 20.Rac1 Ra6 21.Rc2 Rc6 22.Rfc1 Nb3 23.Rd1 b5 24.c5 Rd8 25.Rf1 Re6 26.Ng2 c6?! 26...g5! 27.f3 exf3 28.Rxf3 h6 27.Nf4 Ree8 28.d5! cxd5 28...f6 29.d6 29.dxc6 Rc8= 29...Ne5 29.c6 d4 30.c7 Rc8 31.Bxd4 Nxd4? 31...Re7! 32.Nd5 32.h3 Nxd4 33.exd4 Nf6 34.Rb1 34.Rfc1 g5 35.Ne2 Nd5= 34...Rcxc7 35.Rxc7 Rxc7 36.Rxb5= 32...Rd7 32.exd4 Re7 33.Nd5 Rd7 34.Rc5 h6 34...Nf6 35.Nb6 Rdxc7 36.Nxc8+- 35.Rfc1 1–0
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Zhu,C | - | Hou Yifan:Short,N | - | 1–0 | 2014 | E34 | Star Mixed Pair 2014 | 4 |
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After this loss it was nearly impossible to catch the top teams. A full point behind Zhu Chen and Seirawan and half a point behind Xu Yuhua and Yu Shaoteng with only one round to go meant that the standings were basically set.

Despite the high rating combination of Arthur Jussupow and Maia Chiburdanidze, it seems that their styles were too clashing and they never got along on the chessboard
Zhu Chen and Seirawan took no risks and chose a super-solid variation in the last round against Jussupow and Chiburdanidze; a team that never found any momentum but certainly posed real danger. The draw suited them fine, but it allowed Xu Yuhua and Yu Shaoteng to catch up with them by beating the relatively weak team of Liu Shilan and Xie Jun.

Ye Jiangchuan and Alisa Maric had their glory moment with their win on round two, but no other big successes

Yu Shaoteng (left) and Xu Yuhua played solid, good chess al through-out. Their styles truly matched!

Final round ready to begin

In the team of Xie Jun and Liu Shilan it was Xie Jun that was given the honorary "man" role in the pair, which basically meant she played first.
Overall the event was very fun to watch. The high ratings didn't mean that the teams would do well. Things such as style, coordination and general knowledge of openings were key to success. For example, Alisa Maric prefers to play the Caro-Kann but has never played a Sicilian... the opening that her partner preferred! It was a great way to blur the traditional rating lines and to create a new and interesting way of playing chess. Hopefully next year's event is slightly longer.
Standings

Photos by Liang Ziming from the Official Website
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Replay and check the LiveBook here |
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- Start an analysis engine:
- Try maximizing the board:
- Use the four cursor keys to replay the game. Make moves to analyse yourself.
- Press Ctrl-B to rotate the board.
- Drag the split bars between window panes.
- Download&Clip PGN/GIF/FEN/QR Codes. Share the game.
- Games viewed here will automatically be stored in your cloud clipboard (if you are logged in). Use the cloud clipboard also in ChessBase.
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Select from the dropdown menu to replay the games. Note: It seems the last round games have some relay errors.