White’s day in Khanty Mansiysk

White’s day: only Kosteniuk saved Black’s honour, escaping with a draw!

Maybe not many had expected to see so many decisive games straight from day one, but the women chess players proved they can play very interesting, fighting chess that is definitely worth watching! White won five out of the six games, to which maybe a little help, on a symbolic level, came from none other than the Mayor and the President of the Ugra Chess Federation, Vasiliy Filipenko himself. The Mayor opened the Women GP’s first round by playing the first move on Hou Yifan’s board. “I made the first move in the Candidates, on the board of Anand and he went on to win the event. Maybe this little detail will prove to be a talisman for Hou Yifan as well?” It certainly was, as the Chinese came out on top in a Catalan type of position against Kosintseva, where she won two pawns and soon after, the game.

Since it was obviously White’s day, for one of the three Russian players in the field, who was facing Black, things could have gone terribly wrong. In the game against the former world champion, Antoaneta Stefanova, Kosteniuk seemed to have been close to equalize but in the subsequent time trouble, Stefanova made all of us think she will win the game. But on move 58 all White’s advantage vanished, when Antoaneta played: 58.f8Q, blundering 58…Nd5+. After a fierce struggle and a persistent defense, the former world champion escaped with a draw and saved Black’s honour as well!

The third Russian player in the field, Olga Girya, made the day for the local supporters by winning against Nana Dzagnidze in a crazy game. The initially doubtful compensation for the sacrificed pawn in the Nimzo Opening, turned out to be a killing one in the subsequent time trouble and Olga took home the point.

Another game won by White was in the encounter between Zhao Xue and Kateryna Lagno, where the blame was put, as both players shared during the press conference, on the unfortunate Black’s 15th move: 15…e4. This allowed White to seize the initiative and in the end, to win the game.

In the first game they ever played against each other, Anna Ushenina defeated the WGM from Uzbekistan, Nafisa Muminova, in a typical Saemisch structure from the Nimzo opening, the second one of today’s round. After a small inaccuracy from the Ukrainian player, who pressed the entire game, Muminova seemed to be close to a draw in a rook endgame. She soon returned the favour though and Ushenina proved her technique was good enough to secure the point.

The last, but not least, game of today ended again in White’s favour. Although the way Anna Muzychuk conducted the play gave the impression she will slowly but surely win the game, there was a small moment which could have been fatal for her. After many hours of play and with only 30 seconds on the clock, the Slovenian player offered a big present to her opponent, who could have drawn on move 75 by perpetual check. But the favour was not accepted, Tuvshintugs took a piece instead but the effective army of White’s pawns decided soon the game.

This was the bloody story of the first round, which makes us all hope for even more fighting games in the forthcoming days!
Round 1

SNo. Name Rtg Res. Name Rtg SNo.