World Women Chess Championship round 2 LIVE!

LIVE updates from Nalchik

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11:00 CET

After the drama at the round 1 tiebreaks yesterday, we continue our live coverage on Chessdom.com directly from the playing hall in Nalchik.

11:10 CET

From the initial 53 players, 30 continue their participation in round 2 of the competition. Game 1 will be played today and starts at 13:00 CET. All the results from this weekend, as well as the live coverage of all rounds and tiebreaks can be found on the left sidebar or directly at this link.

11:15 CET

Today will be the first game for Antoaneta Stefanova, Anna Gasik, Nguyen Thi Thanh An, Elena Sedina, Claudia Amura, Anna Zatonskih, and Svetlana Mateeva.

11:30 CET

There will be serious clashes between young players in the 2nd round of the World Women Chess Championship. Exactly around this fact was revolving day 2, as young talents were presented on the second press conference: the winner of several strong women open tournaments Anna Muzychuk, who represents Slovenia, the Russian champion and the highest rated Russian player Tatiana Kosintseva, the first board of Hungarian national team Hoang Thanh Trang, Harika Dronavalli from India, and one of the strongest players from the «new wave» of Chinese talents, Zhang Jilin. You can read their full interviews at the WWCC round 1 bulletin excerpt

11:45 CET

Elizabeth Paehtz had one of the most difficult games of round 1. She played against Kadimova and needed 2 classical games, 2 rapid games, 2 blitz games, and 1 Armageddon to win the match. Here is a photo of Paehtz press conference yesterday, the video, courtesy of the official website, is at this page.

Today Paehtz will play against Anna Ushenina, who had a birthday during round 1.

12:00 CET

One hour is left to the games. During the live coverage on Chessdom expect many exclusive statements from the players, directly after the end of their game.

12:15 CET

Pairings for Game 1 Round 2 of the World Women Chess Championship: Mateeva - Xu Yuhua, Mongontuul - Yifan Hou, Stefanova - Ju, Tan Zhongyi - Pia Cramling, Anna Gasik - Mkrtchian, Shen Yang - Zhao Xue, T. Kosintseva - Anna Zatonskih, Cmylite - N. Kosintseva, Harika - Muzychuk, Ruan Lufei - Claudia Amura, Gaponenko - Rohonyan, Nguyen - Elena Sedina, Socko - Hoang Thanh, and Paehtz - Ushenina.

12:30 CET

Humpy Koneru and Alexandra Kosteniuk advance directly to round 3 as they were paired against Georgians.

12:35 CET

On a question what do they think about the players that did not come to Nalchik, Muzychuk, Hoang Thanh Trang, Kosintseva, and Zhang Jilin replied:

Muzychuk: I think that the strongest players are here, and those who did not come made their choice.

Tatiana Kosintseva: It’s a pity that this happened, I don’t have any explanation to this.

Hoang Thanh Trang: It is a big pity that some players did not arrive… but it did not affect the status of the event. We are here and we play.

Dronavalli: I am sorry for this situation. It is their choice. Those who wanted to play, have arrived. As for those who didn’t want – well, it’s their problem!

Zhang Jilin: Pity that some players did not arrive. But on the other hand all the strongest are participating. And let the strongest of all win!

12:41 CET

20 minutes before the start of the games some of the players are heading towards the playing hall.

12:45 CET

Photos from this round will be available a few minutes after the start of the games. Photos from the previous rounds are in the World Women Chess Championship photo gallery.

13:00 CET

The games have started! One more time no moves different than 1. e4 and 1.d4

13:05 CET

Ushenina and Paehtz are blitzing through the opening. Similar is the situation in Kosintseva - Zatonskih and Gasik - Mkrtchian.

13:07 CET

Harika was a bit late for her game with Muzychuk. She is the only one to open with 1. Nf3

13:15 CET

As we did in day 1 and day 2, in the net 15 minutes we will present you the Chessdom.com photographers pictures from the start of today's round.

13:30 CET

Every 10 minutes a new photo will appear in the day 4 photo gallery, with lot's of impressions from the playing hall.

13:45 CET

GM Vladimir Belov has fantastic commentary from the last round on the official website.

14:00 CET

Very interesting is the clash between Shen Yang and Zhao. There are many Chinese players at the competition. Here is what Zhang Jilin told the journalists at the press conference:

Q: The Chinese team is represented at this Championship with many players. Do your have a special plan for this tournament as to make it an open China Championship for instance?

Zhang Jilin: We were not even thinking about special team tactic, especially as some of our girls will lay each other already in the second round. It is doubtful that this tournament can become some kind of an open championship of our country, though we would all try to get the maximum success. Let’s talk about it when the event is over.

Q: Can you share with us the secret of such numerous successes of Chinese players in recent years? What is the reason for such a fantastic development? And every year the number of strong players keeps growing.

Zhang Jilin: We don’t have any special secrets which we should hide. We just consider chess being the main thing in our lives; we dedicate all our time to it and constantly improve our game. So our main secret is work, work and work!

14:05 CET

Even though Harika and Muzychuk were the last to start, they are the first to go past move 20.

14:10 CET

Yifan Hou is cruising smoothly through her game. She is the big hope of Chinese chess. You can find some of her results here.

14:25 CET

The locals from Nalchik have come to the hotel to watch the games on the display screens or listen to the commentary of GM Evgeny Vasjukov. GM Sergei Shipov and Anna Zatonskih's husband, Daniel Fridman, are also in the room in front of the monitors.

14:45 CET

Several games are already heading to the endgame in a rapid pace, among them Zhongyi - Pia Cramling and Harika - Muzychuk. Kosintseva and Zatonskih are also without the light pieces on the board, each with two rooks and a queen.

14:55 CET

Fresh news from Vietnam, GM Le Quang Liem has won the 1st Dragon Vietnam open that we have been following in the past days. Second place is for GM Azmaiparashvili, third for Wesley So.

15:25 CET

A video of Socko and Foisor, the last minute of the game at >http://nalchik2008.fide.com/video/?lang=rus, a copy by Mr. Surov has been uploaded to Youtube. Yesterday the tiebreaks finished dramatically. Read the whole story at our live coverage of day 3, which finished with a letter by the appeals committee.

15:30 CET

First result of the day Harika - Muzychuk 1/2 - 1/2. Stay tuned for the press conference!

15:35 CET

Rohonyan and Gaponenko heading to a severe time trouble.

15:45 CET

Zhongyi and Cramling draw after entering an endgame with opposite color bishops.

15:53 CET

Big time trouble for Elena Sedina, 3 minutes for 20 moves.

15:57 CET

Anna Gashik (POL 2211) - Lilit Mkrtchian (ARM 2436) draw. Anna Gasik is now with us in the improvised studio to share a few words.

16:10 CET

Anna expected French defence and prepared Tarrasch variation with one of her coaches. Black's 11...Qc7 slightly surprised her because she didn't look at this line. Later on more details from the interview!

16:15 CET

The Bilbao Chess Grand Slam starts tomorrow. Take a look at the first photo report from our good friend Susan Polgar. More photos on the blog of Susan Polgar.

16:30 CET

First decisive game of the day, Shen Yang wins the Chinese derby.

16:31 CET

Kosintseva defeats Zatonskih to grab the second decisive result of the day.

16:35 CET

More results from the last minutes: Inna Gaponenko - Katherine Rohonyan 1:0, Ruan Lufei - Claudia Amura 1/2:1/2.

16:40 CET

There is a big concert on Abkhasian square in downtown Nalchik. On this day Kabardino-Balkaria is celebrating the establishment of the Republic (1991)

16:50 CET

Nguyen vs Elena Sedina draw.

17:05 CET

Monica Socko and Hoang Thanh Trang signed a draw, while Anna Ushenina converted extra pawn into full point in the game against Elisabeth Paehtz.

17:10 CET

Chinese Wenjun Ju, who earlier eliminated Natasa Bojkovic, resisted strongly against higher rated Antoaneta Stefanova and achieved a draw in an endgame with opposite-colored Bishops.

17:20 CET

Kabardino-Balkarian sports heroes, Aslan Khushtov (gold medal in wrestling in Beijing) and Khadzmurat Akkaev (bronze medal winner in weightlifting in Beijing), have visited the Championship today.

17:25 CET

Nadezhda Kosintseva draws her game with Viktoria Cmylite after 50 moves.

17:27 CET

The only unfinished game is Mateeva - Xu Yuhua. Mateeva has 1 minute on the clock, Xu Yuhua has 19 minutes, serious time trouble for the Russian player. Yet, she has a draw in hand.

17:35 CET

Mateeva holds the time pressure and wins the game!

17:50 CET

As the press conferences will start in 2 hours, we will close the live blog for today. However, stay tuned as interesting information from Bilbao and the WWCC is oming. Also, do not forget to check out the Nalchik WWCC photo gallery.

Thank you for following Chessdom.com live coverage of the World Women Chess Championship! See you again tomorrow at 7:00 EST/13:00 CET.