Women's SCC: Ju and Lagno advance to the semifinals

by Carlos Alberto Colodro
9/4/2024 – Ju Wenjun will face Kateryna Lagno in the second semifinal of the Women's Speed Chess Championship. Ju and Lagno knocked out Alice Lee and Valentina Gunina in Tuesday's quarterfinals, respectively. The women's world champion got a clear victory over Lee in the 5-minute and 3-minute sections, while Lagno outscored Gunina in the 1-minute segment of their match. | Photo: Alexander Demianchuk

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Age is just a number?

Ju Wenjun and Kateryna Lagno, aged 33 and 34 respectively, advanced to the semifinals of the Women's Speed Chess Championship by obtaining victories in their matches against Alice Lee and Valentina Gunina on Tuesday.

While Lagno is slightly younger than Gunina, Ju got the better of a player almost 20 years younger than her in their fast-paced online chess encounter. Despite the rating difference (the world champion is clearly higher-rated than Lee), chess.com's predictions gave Lee a 55% chance of beating Ju ahead of the match. Surely, this is a justified prediction based on the players' previous performances in online blitz and bullet games - but one should never write off a competitor of Ju's calibre.

In the match against Lee, the Chinese star obtained a few remarkable positional victories in the 5-minute and 3-minute sections to get a 4-point lead going into the bullet. Still, 15 minutes of 1-minute games were left to be played, and Lee has already shown that she is capable of showing her best in high-pressure situations - like in her match against Irina Krush at this year's American Cup. Ju managed to maintain her advantage, though, drawing the final section to get a 9½-5½ overall victory in the end.

Finally, the fourth quarterfinal of the event saw Lagno and Gunina trading 3-2 wins in the blitz sections to go into the bullet with a tied score. However, Lagno was clearly stronger than her compatriot in the last 15 minutes of play, especially in the handling of the clock - perhaps the most crucial factor in 1-minute games (in this case, with 1-second increments per move).

Ju and Lagno will face off in the semifinals, and the winner of their encounter will play in the final against the winner of the Vaishali Rameshbabu v. Polina Shuvalova matchup.

Women's Speed Chess Championship 2024

Women's Speed Chess Championship 2024

Ju's positional dexterity

5-minute game

All games - Quarterfinals

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MoveNResultEloPlayers
Position not in LiveBook
1.e4 c5 2.d4 cxd4 3.Qxd4 Nc6 4.Qd3 d6 5.Nc3 g6 6.Nf3 Bg7 7.Be2 Nf6 8.0-0 0-0 9.Nd5 Nxd5 10.exd5 Bf5 11.Qd1 Nb4 12.c3 Na6 13.Nd4 Bd7 14.Bxa6 bxa6 15.Re1 Re8 16.Bg5 h6 17.Be3 Rc8 18.Qd2 Kh7 19.Nb3 a5 20.Bd4 a4 21.Bxg7 Kxg7 22.Nd4 Qb6 23.Re3 Rb8 24.b3 Qc5 25.c4 e5 26.dxe6 Bxe6 27.Rae1 Bd7 28.Qc3 Kg8 29.Re7 axb3 30.axb3 d5 31.R7e5 Bc6 32.Nxc6 Qxc6 33.Rxe8+ Rxe8 34.Rxe8+ Qxe8 35.cxd5 Qe2 36.g3 Qd1+ 37.Kg2 Qxd5+ 38.Qf3 Qd7 39.h4 h5 40.Qe3 a5 41.Qc3 Qd5+ 42.Qf3 Qb5 43.Qc3 Kf8 44.Qc8+ Ke7 45.Qc7+ Ke6 46.Qc8+ Ke5 47.Qc3+ Kd6 48.Qf6+ Kc5 49.Qxf7 Kb4 50.Qxg6 Kxb3 51.Qg5 Qb7+ 52.Kh2 a4 53.Qxh5 a3 54.Qd1+ Kb2 55.Qd2+ Kb1 56.Qd1+ Ka2 57.Qd2+ Qb2 58.Qd5+ Ka1 59.Qd1+ Qb1 60.Qd4+ Qb2 61.Qd1+ Ka2 62.Qd5+ Qb3 63.Qd2+ Kb1 64.Qe1+ Kb2 65.Qd2+ Qc2 66.Qd4+ Kb1 67.Qb4+ Qb2 68.Qe4+ Kc1 69.Qe1+ Kc2 70.Qe4+ Kc3 71.Qe5+ Kc4 72.Qe6+ Kb4 73.Qe7+ Kb3 74.Qe6+ Kc2 75.Qe2+ Kb1 76.Qe1+ Ka2 77.Qe6+ Ka1 78.Qe1+ Qb1 79.Qe5+ Ka2 80.Qe2+ Qb2 81.Qe6+ Kb1 82.Qe1+ Qc1 83.Qe4+ Qc2 84.Qe1+ Kb2 85.Qe5+ Qc3 86.Qe2+ Kc1 87.Qf1+ Kd2 88.h5 a2 89.h6 a1Q 90.Qg2 Qf6 91.f4+ Kd3 92.Qf3+ Kc4 93.Qe4+ Qad4 94.Qc2+ Qc3 95.Qe4+ Kb3 96.h7 Qb2+ 97.Kh3 Qh6+ 98.Kg4 Qbg7+ 99.Kf3 Qh5+ 100.Kf2 Qh2+ 0–1
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Hou,Y2795Shuvalova,P27240–12024Main Event2.1
Ju,W2706Lee,A27631–02024Main Event2.1
Kosteniuk,A2715Vaishali,R26940–12024Main Event2.1
Lagno,K2757Gunina,V26771–02024Main Event2.1
Gunina,V2671Lagno,K27631–02024Main Event2.2
Lee,A2754Ju,W2715½–½2024Main Event2.2
Shuvalova,P2734Hou,Y27850–12024Main Event2.2
Vaishali,R2702Kosteniuk,A27070–12024Main Event2.2
Hou,Y2792Shuvalova,P27270–12024Main Event2.3
Ju,W2716Lee,A27531–02024Main Event2.3
Kosteniuk,A2715Vaishali,R2694½–½2024Main Event2.3
Lagno,K2753Gunina,V26810–12024Main Event2.3
Gunina,V2691Lagno,K2743½–½2024Main Event2.4
Lee,A2744Ju,W2725½–½2024Main Event2.4
Shuvalova,P2736Hou,Y2783½–½2024Main Event2.4
Vaishali,R2694Kosteniuk,A2715½–½2024Main Event2.4
Hou,Y2782Shuvalova,P27371–02024Main Event2.5
Ju,W2725Lee,A2744½–½2024Main Event2.5
Kosteniuk,A2715Vaishali,R26941–02024Main Event2.5
Lagno,K2742Gunina,V2692½–½2024Main Event2.5
Gunina,V2693Lagno,K27410–12024Main Event2.6
Lee,A2744Ju,W2725½–½2024Main Event2.6
Shuvalova,P2730Hou,Y2789½–½2024Main Event2.6
Vaishali,R2686Kosteniuk,A27231–02024Main Event2.6
Hou,Y2788Shuvalova,P27310–12024Main Event2.7
Ju,W2725Lee,A27441–02024Main Event2.7
Kosteniuk,A2714Vaishali,R26951–02024Main Event2.7
Lagno,K2748Gunina,V26861–02024Main Event2.7
Gunina,V2679Lagno,K27550–12024Main Event2.8
Lee,A2736Ju,W27331–02024Main Event2.8
Shuvalova,P2740Hou,Y27790–12024Main Event2.8
Vaishali,R2687Kosteniuk,A27220–12024Main Event2.8
Hou,Y2699Shuvalova,P26930–12024Main Event2.9
Ju,W2725Lee,A27441–02024Main Event2.9
Kosteniuk,A2668Vaishali,R2733½–½2024Main Event2.9
Lagno,K2761Gunina,V26730–12024Main Event2.9
Gunina,V2683Lagno,K27511–02024Main Event2.10
Lee,A2736Ju,W27330–12024Main Event2.10
Shuvalova,P2701Hou,Y26910–12024Main Event2.10
Vaishali,R2732Kosteniuk,A26691–02024Main Event2.10
Hou,Y2699Shuvalova,P2693½–½2024Main Event2.11
Ju,W2618Lee,A2884½–½2024Main Event2.11
Kosteniuk,A2662Vaishali,R27390–12024Main Event2.11
Lagno,K2749Gunina,V25921–02024Main Event2.11
Gunina,V2587Lagno,K27541–02024Main Event2.12
Lee,A2879Ju,W26230–12024Main Event2.12
Shuvalova,P2693Hou,Y26990–12024Main Event2.12
Vaishali,R2745Kosteniuk,A26561–02024Main Event2.12
Hou,Y2707Shuvalova,P26850–12024Main Event2.13
Ju,W2636Lee,A28660–12024Main Event2.13
Lagno,K2742Gunina,V25991–02024Main Event2.13
Gunina,V2594Lagno,K27470–12024Main Event2.14
Lee,A2869Ju,W26330–12024Main Event2.14
Shuvalova,P2694Hou,Y26981–02024Main Event2.14
Hou,Y2690Shuvalova,P27021–02024Main Event2.15
Ju,W2646Lee,A28560–12024Main Event2.15
Lagno,K2752Gunina,V25891–02024Main Event2.15
Lee,A2860Ju,W26422024Main Event2.16
Shuvalova,P2694Hou,Y2698½–½2024Main Event2.16
Hou,Y2698Shuvalova,P26940–12024Main Event2.17
Vaishali,R2713Shuvalova,P27012024Main Event3.1
Lagno,K2797Ju,W26482024Main Event3.1

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Carlos Colodro is a Hispanic Philologist from Bolivia. He works as a freelance translator and writer since 2012. A lot of his work is done in chess-related texts, as the game is one of his biggest interests, along with literature and music.

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