22 March 2015
The Women's World Championship, day 6 results
The 2nd Round of the championship is in the books.
Bela Khotenashvili is getting ready for the blitz drama
The tie-breaks of the Women's World Chess Championship in SCC Galactica (Sochi, Krasnaya Polyana) were played on March 22. Five pairs of players who drew their 2nd Round matches returned to the venue for the quickplay finish.
The tie-breaks started with an unfortunate incident – the ex-World Champion Anna Ushenina (Ukraine) was a couple of minute late to the start of the clocks, and received a loss by default in accordance with the so-called zero tolerance rule (chess players must be present at the board in the beginning of the round). Ushenina was unable to tie the score, despite having the initiative for the entire game. Marie Sebag gradually neutralized White's pressure and successfully defended an endgame without a pawn.
Four out of five winners were determined already after two rapid games (25 minutes plus 10 seconds per move for each player). The Ukrainian Mariya Muzychuk won the opening duel against Monika Socko (Poland) and by the move 15 had an overwhelming position. Monika continued hopeless resistance for a long time, but no miracles happened, and Mariya won the game. In the next game Muzychuk held the balance until move 30, and then capitalized on the opponent's blunders.
Irina Krush (USA) played a passive game against Harika Dronavalli (India). Dronavalli seized the initiative, went on a full-scale offense all over the board and soon won a pawn without compromising her position. Despite missing several instant wins, the Indian eventually converted her advantage into a point. In the second game Krush had the initiative and a certain advantage, but didn't have real winning chances, and the game ended in a draw. Dronavalli advanced to the next stage.
The second rapid game between Inna Gaponenko (Ukraine) and Antoaneta Stefanova (Bulgaria) was decisive. In an approximately even ending Gaponenko played too forcefully on the queenside, however she failed to create threats to the enemy king and soon lost two pawns and the game.
The match between Bela Khotenashvili (Georgia) and Huang Qian (China) was completely equal until the blitz games (5 minutes plus 3 seconds per move). Khotenashvili won the first game and won completely lost in the second one. Everybody was getting ready for the Armageddon, when the Chinese player suddenly sacrificed a rook for a pawn, falling a victim to some hallucination. Khotenashvili took the rook and easily stopped Black's passed pawns, advancing to the next round.
The third round of the championship begins on March 23. The pairings are: Koneru (India) – Galliamova (Russia), Sebag (France) – Pogonina (Russia), A. Muzychuk (Ukraine) – Javakhishvili (Georgia), Arabidze (Georgia) – Cmilyte (Lithuania), Kosteniuk (Russia) – Dronavalli (India), Cramling (Sweden) – Gunina (Russia), Zhao Xue (China) – Khotenashvili (Georgia), Stefanova (Bulgaria) – M. Muzychuk (Ukraine). All games start at 3 pm Moscow time.
