Women’s GP round 2 report by WGM Anna Sharevich

Round 2 report by WGM Anna Sharevich

Kosteniuk Alexandra – Zhao Xue

After yesterday’s victory the Alexandra’s fans expected better result. But after move 13. Qf3 in the opening white gave an opportunity for black to push f7-f6 in the right moment. After move 14. … f6 black managed to use the advantage quite confident and transferred it into a victory.

In the conference Zhao Xue said that actually she hadn’t remembered how to play this line correctly. But she developed the initiative without any problems.

Alexandra didn’t expect two knights defense, because usually Zhao Xue played Italian. She confirmed that after move 14. … f6 her position had become bad. Of course she tried to keep her together and fight till the end.

Kovalevskaya Ekaterina – Kosintseva Tatiana

This game was the first to be finished in the 2d round. After the opening absolutely equal position appeared. Very fast it became clear that the draw would be agreed soon.

During the press-conference Ekaterina said that in the opening she hadn’t got any advantage, and nothing interesting was promised in the position. But she rather expected 5. … e5 instead of e6.

Tatiana confirmed that the game was quite simple after the symmetrical position arose.

Munguntuul Bathuyag – Lahno Kateryna

Najdorf variation of the Sicilian defense appeared in the game and the position promised to be very competitive and interesting. The game proceeded in a sharp way with many tactical opportunities. In the end Kateryna found the 3-times repetition and the game ended in a draw.

In the press-conference girls told the journalists about the game. Bat said that she had calculated the move 30. … Bc5+, but had missed that 33. Kh3 Qf3+ 34. Kh4 Qf2+ 35. Kh3 Qd2 wasn’t possible.

On the question: “Was any moment in the game when you really worried about the result?” Kateryna replied: “ Yes, I felt some uncertainty before move 28. Rc8. But nevertheless the white’s King wasn’t in safety enough, so white couldn’t play too optimistic.”

Galliamova Alisa – Zhu Chen

After the opening Alisa got a great position with a huge advantage, with many variations how to convert it into a victory. The mistakes happened in the moment when Zhu Chen was in a time trouble. Zhu Chen found interesting tactical ideas and the game transferred into an endgame the Queen against the Bishop and the Rook, ended in a draw.

In the conference Alisa said that a bad tendency of making mistakes in the opponent’s time trouble had been following her for a while. She admitted that the position had been absolutely won and that she shouldn’t have afforded any counterplay.

Zhu Chen didn’t expect 4. Nd2 in the opening. She didn’t find the best continuation in the line. But in a time trouble played really well, managed to find the best defense.

Cmilyte Viktorja – Kosintseva Nadezhda

This game seemed to be the first to be finished among six matches, but lasted more than 50 moves. The girls fought for a long time in the 4-rooks endgame. In the opening Grunfeld defense was chosen by Nadezhda and she equalized the position without any problems. But after that the game had just started.

In the conversation during the press-conference the girls were joking and looked very friendly. They told that it’s not allowed to agree for a draw, only if it was a 3 times repetition or absolutely drawn position. Nadezhda said that women chess are very competitive and women always tried to play till the end and that was why the game lasted for so long. Nadezhda noticed that in one moment she even hesitated for a while about the evaluation, but just for a moment.

Ju Wenjun – Stefanova Antoaneta

The game was very unlucky for Antoaneta Stefanova. She made many mistakes during the game, and finally lost it. Ju Wenjun played well in the endgame, converting the pawn advantage into the victory.

During the press-conference Antoaneta looked very disappointed. She told that the blunder was everything in this game. She said that 26. … b5 was a big mistake and simply the main blunder of the whole game.

Ju Wenjun expected the variation that arose in the opening because Antoaneta used this line very often and Ju had an opportunity to prepare the variation.

Official website: http://nalchik2011.fide.com