Women's World Cup: Most favourites start with wins

The 21 top seeds sit out in the first round

The first game of the first round at the FIDE Women's World Cup was played this afternoon at the outstanding Grand Bellagio Batumi Convention & Casino Hotel. Located on the new boulevard, the playing venue is just under four minutes walking distance from the beach. Both players and accompanying persons can enjoy all the amenities of a five-star hotel.

At 3:00 pm sharp, the Chief Arbiter Mahdi Abdulrahim introduced Georgian Federation President Akaki Iashvili and FIDE President Arkady Dvorkovich, who performed the ceremonial first move on board number one.

Arkady Dvorkovich played the first move on Carissa Yip's board

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Dvorkovich opted for 1.Nf3 and IM Carissa Yip, playing with White, chose to leave it on the board in her game against WFM Hannah Wilson.

The rest of the games started immediately, but something was off. A quick scan of the room made it quite apparent that one of the 86 players was missing. Most of the players had arrived more than fifteen minutes before the round, to avoid delays with the fair-play scanning.

IM Aleksandra Maltsevskaya waited patiently and finally her opponent, Jana Mohamed Zaki, appeared through the door, just under the 15-minute time limit permitted to avoid forfeit. Apparently, she had taken the wrong elevator and lost her way.

Aleksandra Maltsevskaya

Although she made it on time to play her first-round game, according to the tournament regulations she will be fined with a hefty 300 US dollars, which will be deducted from her prize money.

It's important to consider that the top twenty-one seeds of the event will join the forty-three winners of round one for the next pairing, in three days' time.

Some of them have arrived sooner than expected: among others, I spotted 2021 World Cup winner Alexandra Kosteniuk, India's Olympiad winner Vaishali Rameshbabu and two of the three top Chinese players - Tan Zhongyi and Lei Tingjie - in the dining area.

Game of the day

The first game to finish was probably one of the best of the round. French IM Deimante Daulyte-Cornette played a fantastic model Sicilian with white against WIM Ahmed Wadifa. She was kind enough to pop-in to the media centre to explain what she was thinking about during the game.

As is customary in knockout-format tournaments, where chess players of unequal level face off in the early rounds, there have been a few striking surprises and upsets. Nonetheless, most of the favourites cruised through with no major difficulties.

On board one, IM Carissa Yip played at an outstanding 96% accuracy to score her first win, only surpassed at 97% by IM Stavroula Tsolakidou on board two!

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Other contenders to pull ahead in their encounters with ease were GM Bella Khotenashvili, GM Anna Ushenina and 16-year-old WGM Anna Shukhman.

Shukhman, the current World Junior Girls champion took down her opponent from the Philippines, WFM Ruelle Canino, in a complex Ragozin, and then came along to the media centre to be interviews by yours truly, and showcase her tactical skills on the digital board.

Check out the interview on YouTube and marvel at the youngster's huge chess talent!

Other favourites had to work hard to reap the award. Both IM Klaudia Kulon and former Women's World Champion GM Antoaneta Stefanova were playing great for most of the game, but a small mistake in the ending could have cost them half a point if their opponents had found some unexpected fortresses.

Upsets and comebacks

Being that today was only the first game of the two-game match, everyone has a chance to make a comeback tomorrow, forcing a tiebreak that will take place the day after.

On board four, CM Isabelle Yixuan Ning was out-rated by more than 400 points! Even so, she played a solid game with no mistakes and was able to hold her opponent, GM Valentina Gunina, to a draw.

Isabelle Yixuan Ning

Further down on board eighteen, WFM Lala Shohradova, rated 2149, also played very solidly, clocking in a 98% accuracy score, and will force her opponent IM Vantika Agrawal to try and advance with the white pieces tomorrow.

GM Irina Krush, WGM Govhar Beydullayeva, IM Olivia Kiolbasa, IM Sophie Milliet and IM Marsel Efroimski were also all rating favourites that were only able to get a draw and must wait for the second game to try to impose their theoretical superiority.

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Finally, towards the lower part of the tree bracket, ratings and playing strength are much closer – and therefore to use the word "surprise" is not really called for. In any case, IM Ann Matnadze Bujiashvili (now Spanish but originally from Talavi, Georgia) will need to win tomorrow to tie her match against local prodigy WFM Anastasia Kirtadze.

Tied to the same fate are Peruvian IM Cori Deysi, who will play White against WIM Wang Chuqiao and needs to win, and IM Le Thao Nguyen Pham, who will need to bounce back from her defeat with White against local WFM Kesaria Mgeladze.

Upset wins by Kaliakhmet, Mgeladze and Wang

Select an entry from the list to switch between games

The second game of the first round will be played tomorrow, 7 July, at 15.00 (local time) and can be followed live on FIDE's YouTube channel - with expert commentary. Join us there!

All available games

Links

• Official website
• Goryachkina wins Women's World Cup, Muzychuk reaches Candidates (2023)
• Magnus Carlsen "completes" chess as he bags World Cup title (2023)