3 December 2022
Aleksandra Goryachkina Qualifies for FIDE Women's Candidates Tournament Semi-final
Kateryna Lagno and Tan Zhongyi go into tie-break.
Round Four of the FIDE Women’s Candidates Tournament finished in Khiva. The World Chess Olympiad winners as part of team Uzbekistan – Nodirbek Yakubboev and Shamsiddin Vokhidov – made symbolic first moves in the Lagno vs. Tan game.
Alexandra Kosteniuk, who needed only victory to equalise the match score against Aleksandra Goryachkina, met 1.d4 with the King's Indian setup. Having obtained a stable edge, White charged on the queenside and in the centre, while Black started a rather risky offensive at the opposite flank that involved a pawn sacrifice. Nevertheless, later on Goryachkina chose reliability and gave the material back. Following the exchange of queens the position fizzled out completely and a draw by repetition was agreed after move 37.
By winning the match with 2.5-1.5, Aleksandra Goryachkina reached the semi-final.
Kateryna Lagno and Tan Zhongyi opened into the Sicilian Dragon with the white bishop fianchettoed. White began to actively advance pawns in the centre in the middlegame, and Black went for a counterbreak. Tactical ramifications eventually resulted in massive exchanges, and by move 29 there remained only queens, bishops, and pawns. Soon after the queens left the board as well, the game ended in a draw on move 41.
As the match score has remained equal, a tie-break is to take place on Sunday, December 4. Tan Zhongyi is White in game one.
Tie-break:
If the score is level after the standard games, after a new drawing of colours done immediately after the last standard game, four tie-break games shall be played with time control of 15 minutes for each player + 10 seconds increment per move, starting from move 1. If the scores are level after the games, then after a new drawing of colours, two games shall be played with time control of 5 minutes for each player + 3 seconds increment per move, starting from move 1. If the score is still level, then after a new drawing of colours, one game with a time control of 3 minutes + 2 seconds increment per move, starting from move 1 shall be played to determine the winner. If the game is drawn, another game shall be played with a time control of 3 minutes + 2 seconds increment per move, starting from move 1 with the colours reversed from the previous game. If the game described is drawn again, the procedure shall be repeated until the first game won by one of the players.
Photos by Eteri Kublashvili
