WGM Anna Sharevich comments on the 4th round’s games
Kovalevskaya Ekaterina – Ju Wenjun
This game happened to finish the first in the 4th round. In the opening white didn’t manage to get any advantage and the position became drawn very soon. The endgame arose and it wasn’t any problem for the both sides to make an easy draw. So, Ekaterina Kovalevskaya made the 4th draw in a row. And on the question: “Katya, do you have any other result except a draw?”, she smiled and said that earlier she had managed to win the games also (laughed). But she lost many games during this year and considered draw to be a normal result. What concerned the game the Russian grandmaster added that maybe she had overestimated her position, because had thought it to be better.
During the free day girls hope to get acquainted with the sight seeings of Nalchik, because they both are for the first time here.
Cmilyte Viktorija – Kosintseva Tatiana
The first resultive game of the day. Viktorija got an excellent position in the opening with quite simple and clear play. It was quite hard for the Russian chess player to find the right defensive moves. After the mistake 13… Qb6 it became very complex to find the best resources for black. The Lithuanian grandmaster used this opportunity and won the game confidently.
In the press-conference Viktorija told the journalists that she had been very satisfied with the position and that she had known the plan and the main ideas of the game. Tatiana agreed that she considered 13… Qb6 to be the main mistake in the position after what the position had become bad.
The free day Viktorija shared that she had been playing recently a lot and was very glad to relax and watch the something interesting in Nalchik.
Lahno Kateryna – Zhu Chen
The English opening happened in this interesting and creative game. And very soon after move 8… a5, appeared an unusual position with the king on d2. But inspite of this fact the game ended in a draw.
In the conversation girls shared their opinion on the game. Kateryna said: “The game turned to be very creative. But I wasn’t very sure about the move 9.Bf4. Also I thought in the end black was better. So I was satisfied with the result.”
On the question “Whether it’s ok that tomorrow the free day will be”, Kateryna answered that it’s always cool when you had a free day, so tomorrow she would be glad to see the Blue Lakes. She added that this was her first time in Nalchik.
Zhu Chen said that she hadn’t decided yet about the free day, but would like to visit the Chinese restaurant, because she wanted to change the food.
Munguntuul Bathuyag – Zhao Xue
Ruy Lopez defense arose in the game. White didn’t get any advantage in the opening. And very soon the Chinese player got the initiative and managed to convert it into the 4th victory in a row.
During the press-conference Tuul told that she played 6.Qe2 for the first time and wasn’t very sure about the evaluation, didn’t manage to understand which plan to choose and how to continue the line.
Zhao Wue admitted that 11.а3 had been a mistake. The Chinese player had noticed some uncertainty of her opponent during the game, because she had never played this line before.
In the free day Munguntuul is going to visit the waterfalls, Zhao Xue would like to visit Elbrus.
Galliamova Alisa – Kosintseva Nadezhda
King’s Indian defence, the Averbakh variation happened in the game. In the middle game Alisa managed to get the advantage. But after having lost some important tempos in a time trouble the position became equal.
In the conversation during the press-conference Alisa said that the game had been very complex. Galliamova had estimated her position to be better, but she hadn’t found the right plan and lost the main idea. The move 24.Qf4 Alisa considered to be a mistake. She added that 27…Re5 just simply hadn’t noticed.
Nadezhda on her side shared that had been very satisfied with her position after the opening. The move 15…b5 looked like an adventure for Nadya, but she allocated that it had made the game more interesting.
The free day both Russian players hope to spend very exciting and see the beauties of Nalchik.
Kosteniuk Alexandra – Stefanova Antoaneta
The battle between two former world champions ended with a victory of the Bulgarian player. Alexandra managed to get a perspective position in the opening. But didn’t find the right way of the move order and afforded the opponent to intercept the initiative.
At the press-conference Alexandra admitted that 16.f4 had been a very weak. After that it became very hard to defend the position. Also the Russian grandmaster said that had had good chances to defend the position in the endgame because of two bishops advantage. Antoaneta added that maybe she lost some tempos in the opening, but nevertheless had had a good play on the c-file. The Bulgarian grandmaster admitted that it had been rather hard to win the endgame because of white’s 2-bishops advantage.
Source: http://nalchik2011.fide.com
Women’s chess is exciting.