Women World Chess Championship, Nalchik, Russia

While Alexandra Kosteniuk needed only two regular games to pass on to the finals, the Indian and Chinese representatives had to battle the tiebreaks to settle the second finalist.

Having held a lead from the first game, Alexandra Kosteniuk yesterday cleverly transposed the opening into nowadays-solid Queen’s Gambit Accepted. Pia Cramling tried to squeeze out something with White, but the Russian had wonderfully placed pieces to halt any possibility of a kingside attack. Black allowed only one inaccuracy, by playing 28…Nc3, but Pia immediately returned the favour with 30. Rcf2?!, after which the position dispersed into a draw, allowing Kosteniuk to move into the finals.

Alexandra Kosteniuk

Much more excitement was seen in the second game of Koneru-Yifan match. The Chinese enjoyed 1-0 lead from the previous day, but Koneru was eager to fight back. It was a very complicated Sicilian Maroczy Bind, with many tactical possibilities and lots of demanding lines to calculate with precision. Needing a win, Koneru constantly pushed forward even if her plans carried huge risks for her own position. Yifan Hou countered brilliantly, holding a good control on White’s aggressive intentions. Through most of the late middlegame, the Chinese enjoyed some advantage due to displaced White Bishop. Eventually, when Black appeared to be on the verge of another victory, Yifan panicked and collected a “dangerous” White a-pawn (simple 32…Ra2 was sufficient to contain the passer). Koneru then finally found a purpose for Bh6 and delivered checkmate.

The second finalist was to be decided after tiebreak matches. Koneru and Yifan exchanged wins in rapid games, but then the Chinese prodigy won both blitz games and eliminated the top-rated participant from the tournament.

Yifan Hou

Tomorrow is a rest day, when guests and officials will take an excursion to the plateau bellow mountain Elbrus, the highest pick in Europe. The four-games final match starts on Sunday, September 14th.

Svetlana Matveeva, who earlier eliminated the defending champion Xu Yuhua, said that her main impression from the Championship was warm reception in Nalchik: – “I have played in many World Championships, but such a wonderful admission, as in Nalchik, I haven’t seen before”, Matveeva said. – “All participants were given huge attention, the organizers tried to ‘read our minds’ and make us feel good. I liked Nalchik very much, beautiful city, clean air, a perfect place for recreation, and I would like to go there again.”

Women World Chess Championship official website