
First World Women's Team Chess Championship 2007, Russia
This event is taking place from May 19 to 30 in Ekaterinburg, Russia, with
women's teams from ten national federations – smong them Russia, Ukraine,
China, Armenia, Georgia, Netherlands, Poland and Vietnam – participating.
The venue is the five-star Atrium Palace Hotel, where the teams are also staying.
Round 5 – 24.5.2007
Russian fans were worried about the first board in the important match against
Georgia, which fielded Maya Chiburdanidze against Russia's Tatiana Kosintseva.
But as it turned out later their concern was groundless. Tatiana managed to
equalize with black and got a good position in end game. She later admitted
that she intended to struggle for victory, not taking into consideration Chiburdanidze’s
enormous experience. But a pitiful mistake changed the position and soon Tatiana
and Maya agreed to draw. On the second board sister Nadezhda Kosintseva, playing
Lela Javakhishvili with white, got a difficult position. But the game ended
in a draw. On boards three and four the Russians didn’t their opponents
any chances: Ekaterina Kovalevskaya beat Nino Khurtsidze, Elena Tairova outplayed
Sopiko Khukashvili. As a result Russia scored 3:1.

The Chinese squad: Huang Qian, Zhao Xue, Hou Yefan, Sheng Yang and Ruan
Lufei

Anna Ushenina, Kateryna Lahno and Inna Gaponenko of the Ukraine team

Start of a critical game between China and Ukraine
The struggle of the tournament leaders lasted longer, although in the end the
Chinese team turned out to be much stronger than the Ukraines. They won confidently
on the first two boards. Zhao Xue beat Katerina Lahno; and the youngest participant
of the tournament Hou Yifan managed recover nicely from her previous loss by
outplaying Anna Ushenina. The other boards resisted longer, but in the end the
Ukrainians managed to win only 0.5 points, and China became the sole leader
of the tournament.
Poland |
2-2 |
Vietnam |
Socko, Monika |
0-1 |
Le Kieu Thien Kim |
Rajlich, Iweta |
0-1 |
Le Thanh Tu |
Zawadzka, Jolanta |
1-0 |
Nguyen Thi Thanh An |
Przezdziecka, Marta |
1-0 |
Pham Le Thao Nguyen |
Georgia |
1-3 |
Russia |
Chiburdanidze, Maya |
½-½ |
Kosintseva, Tatiana |
Javakhishvili, Lela |
½-½ |
Kosintseva, Nadezhda |
Khurtsidze, Nino |
0-1 |
Kovalevskaya, Ekaterina |
Khukhashvili, Sopiko |
0-1 |
Tairova, Elena |
Ukraine |
0.5-3.5 |
China |
Lahno, Kateryna |
0-1 |
Zhao Xue |
Ushenina, Anna |
0-1 |
Hou Yifan |
Gaponenko, Inna |
½-½ |
Ruan Lufei |
Vozovic, Oksana |
0-1 |
Shen Yang |
Armenia |
1.5-2.5 |
Germany |
Danielian, Elina |
½-½ |
Paehtz, Elisabeth |
Mkrtchian, Lilit |
½-½ |
Kachiani-Gersinska, Ketino |
Aghinian, Nelly |
½-½ |
Nill, Jessica |
Andriasian, Siranush |
0-1 |
Ohme, Melanie |
Czech Republic |
4-0 |
Botswana |
Jackova, Jana |
1-0 |
Sabure Tuduetso |
Sikorova, Olga |
1-0 |
Lopang Tshepiso |
Blazkova, Petra |
1-0 |
Modongo Boikhutso |
Nemcova, Katerina |
1-0 |
Sabure, Ontiretse |
A day off with the Botswana team
The most active group on the day off was the team from Botswana, which visited
a chess school for children in the Chkalovskiy district of Yekaterinburg. The
girls from Africa took great pleasure in playing chess in the school with the
children. Before their arrival the school had staged a special tournament, and
the the best players of the school had the honour to play against the guests.
After the games the players from Botswana gave autographs and made a lot of
photos with the children, who were also taking pictures of their own.

An encounter between chess players from Botswana and Chkalovskiy

Playing against the best chess kids the school has produced

Getting to know you, getting to like you, getting to hope you like me.
The second part of the program was the visit to the industrial complex of
Shabrovskiy. The guests were impressed by the beauty of landscape and nature
around the complex. The ended with an outdoor picnic, and the guests also got
to taste some of Russian drinks.

Enjoying the great outdoors at the Shabrovskiy complex

...and the cool splash of a Ural waterfall

Just feeling good about being here
Almost all the teams attended the show “Stars on Ice”, enjoying
the great performances of such honoured masters of figure skating as Alexey
Yagudin, Tatyana Navka, Roman Kostomarov, Mariya Petrova and Alexey Tikhonov.

An ice spectacular in the land of ice skating

Many great stars of figure scating are in the show
Round 6 – 26.5.2007
The Chinese team met Armenia, with Zhao Xue playing Elina Danielyan on board
one. White won a pawn, Danielyan activated her central pieces and soon won a
pawn back. The game was drawn.

The star in the Chinese team: 13-year-old Hou Yifan
On the second board the youngest participant of the World Championship, Hou
Yifan, played Lilit Mkrtchyan. After three hours the physical condition of the
players influenced the situation; Hou Yifan turned out to be more enduring,
she kept on making precise moves, while Lilit let a couple of small mistakes
slip in, which was enough to lose her the game. On the third board the superiority
of the Chinese players was clear: Shen Yang beat Nelly Aghinyan. And on board
four Liana Aghabekyan, playing Sicilian Defence, sacrificed a piece for an attack,
but Huang Qian cooly counted all threats, kept th piece and earned the point.
As a result, Chinese team scored heavils again: 3.5:0.5.

Lela Javakhishvili on board two for Georgia
Ther was one more important match in round six: Russia-Ukraine. On board one
we had an encounter between two permanent rivals: Tatiana Kosintseva and Kateryna
Lahno. These two have played about ten games against each other. This time it
was a Ruy Lopez, and there was a complicated positional struggle in the middlegame.
Tatiana won a piece for three pawns; the situation with the pawns was quite
dangerous, but the Russian girl managed to overcome the problems and celebrate
victory.

Following the running games with a visitor in the audience (no it isn't, really!)

...and analysing the position on a pocket chess set
Tatiana’s sister Nadezhda drew playing Anna Ushenina. But on the rest
of the boards things didn’t go so well for the hosts of the tournament.
On the third board Ekaterina Korbut playing Inna Gaponenko had an advantage,
but a mistake lead to a loss. The experienced Ekaterina Kovalevskaya saved the
Russian team from defeat by drawing a complicated game against Tatiana Vasilevich.
Vietnam |
4-0 |
Botswana |
Le Kieu Thien Kim |
1-0 |
Sabure Tuduetso |
Le Thanh Tu |
1-0 |
Lopang Tshepiso |
Nguyen Thi Thanh An |
1-0 |
Modongo Boikhutso |
Pham Le Thao Nguyen |
1-0 |
Sabure, Ontiretse |
Germany |
2-2 |
Czech Republic |
Paehtz, Elisabeth |
½-½ |
Jackova, Jana |
Nill, Jessica |
1-0 |
Sikorova, Olga |
Ohme, Melanie |
½-½ |
Blazkova, Petra |
Schoene, Maria Randi |
0-1 |
Nemcova, Katerina |
China |
3.5-0.5 |
Armenia |
Zhao Xue |
½-½ |
Danielian, Elina |
Hou Yifan |
1-0 |
Mkrtchian, Lilit |
Shen Yang |
1-0 |
Aghinian, Nelly |
Huang Qian |
1-0 |
Aghabekian, Liana |
Russia |
2-2 |
Ukraine |
Kosintseva, Tatiana |
1-0 |
Lahno, Kateryna |
Kosintseva, Nadezhda |
½-½ |
Ushenina, Anna |
Korbut, Ekaterina |
0-1 |
Gaponenko, Inna |
Kovalevskaya, Ekaterina |
½-½ |
Vasilevich, Tatiana |
Poland |
1-3 |
Georgia |
Socko, Monika |
½-½ |
Chiburdanidze, Maya |
Rajlich, Iweta |
0-1 |
Javakhishvili, Lela |
Zawadzka, Jolanta |
0-1 |
Khurtsidze, Nino |
Przezdziecka, Marta |
½-½ |
Gvetadze, Sofio |
Match standings after six rounds
Pictures and information supplied by Elmira Mirzoeva,
Press-attaché of the 1st World Women’s Team Championship
Links