Nalchik R2: World Champion Xu Yuhua knocked out

The Women's World Championship 2008 is taking place from August 28th to September 18th in Nalchik, in the Kabardino-Balkaria region of Russia. 64 players were eligible to play in the knock-out event, which has a prize fund of US $450,000. Due to the tensions in the region the Georgian players and a few others decided not to participate.

Round two complete

The sensation was of course that the reigning World Women's Champion and top seed GM Xu Yuhua of China was knocked out by Russian IM Svetlana Matveeva, who was seeded 33rd in the starting field. Matveeva won the first game with the white pieces and then held the second to a draw. Here an impression of the action:

Matveeva,S (2412) - Xu Yuhua (2483) [E32]
WCh-Women Nalchik RUS (2.1), 01.09.2008
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.Qc2 0-0 5.a3 Bxc3+ 6.Qxc3 d6 7.Nf3 Nbd7 8.g3 b6 9.Bg2 Bb7 10.0-0 c5 11.b4 Qe7 12.Bb2 Rac8 13.Rfd1 Rfd8 14.dxc5 bxc5 15.b5 Be4 16.a4 d5 17.Bf1 d4 18.Qa3 e5 19.Nd2 Ba8 20.e3 Nf8 21.exd4 exd4 22.a5 Ng4 23.Re1 Qf6 24.f3 Qh6 25.fxg4 Qxd2 26.Rad1 Qg5 27.h3 Ng6 28.Bc1 Qf6 29.g5 Qd6 30.Bg2 Bxg2 31.Kxg2 Ne5 32.Qa2 Qc7 33.a6 Qb8 34.Qe2 Qa8+ 35.Kf2 Re8 36.Bf4 Nd7 37.Qd3 Rxe1 38.Rxe1 Re8 39.Rxe8+ Qxe8 40.Bc7 Qe6 41.g4 h6 42.Qe2

42...Qg6. Aha, 42...Qxe2+? loses to 43.Kxe2 and 44.b6. 43.Qe8+ Kh7 44.Qxd7. White has won a piece and Black can only hope for a perpetual. But the white king cannot be trapped. 44...Qc2+ 45.Kg3 Qc3+ 46.Kf4 Qe3+ 47.Kf5 d3 48.Ba5 hxg5 49.Qxf7 d2 50.Bxd2 Qxd2 51.Qg6+ Kg8 52.Qe6+ Kh7 53.Qd5 Qe3 54.Qe4 g6+ 55.Ke5 Qd2 56.Ke6 Kh6 57.Qd5 Qe3+ 58.Qe5 1-0.

The start of the final game that eliminated World Champion Xu Yuhua

Xu Yuhua (2483) - Matveeva,S (2412) [C19]
WCh-Women Nalchik RUS (2.2), 02.09.2008
1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.e5 Ne7 5.a3 Bxc3+ 6.bxc3 c5 7.h4 h6 8.Qg4 Kf8 9.Bd3 Qa5 10.Bd2 Qa4 11.Rh3 c4 12.Rg3 g6 13.Be2 Qxc2 14.Rf3 Nf5 15.Rc1 Qa4 16.Nh3 Nc6 17.h5 g5 18.Nxg5 hxg5 19.Bxg5 Qxa3 20.h6 Ke8 21.Qh5 Qf8 22.Rh3 Rh7 23.Bd1 Kd7 24.Bc2 Kc7 25.g4 Nce7 26.gxf5 Nxf5 27.Qf3 Kc6 28.Rb1 a6 29.Kd2 Bd7 30.Qh1 b5 31.Qc1 Kb7 32.Qb2 Qc8 33.Qa3 Qc6 34.Rg1 Rg8 35.Rgg3 Rg6 36.Bf4 Qc8 37.Bxf5 exf5 38.Rxg6 fxg6 39.e6 Bxe6 40.Re3 g5 41.Bxg5 f4 42.Bxf4 Bf5 43.Re7+ Ka8 44.Qd6 Rxe7 45.Qxe7 Qg8 46.Qf6 Qc8 47.Qe7 b4 48.Qxb4 Be4 49.Qa5 Qb7 50.Ke3 Ka7 51.Bd6 Qc6 52.Qd8 a5 53.f3 Bd3

54.Qc7+ Qxc7 55.Bxc7 Kb7 56.Bxa5. White is two pawns up with opposite coloured bishops. Xu Yuhua cannot find a way to win. Kc6 57.Bb4 Kd7 58.Bc5 Ke6 59.Kd2 Kd7 60.Ke1 Ke6 61.Kd1 Kd7 62.Kd2 Bh7 63.Kc1 Kc6 64.Kd2 Kd7 65.Ke3 Ke6 draw. The world champion is out of the tournament.

After two draws in the regular games former Women's world champion Antoaneta Stefanova (above) switched into high gear and won both her games against untitled Chinese Ju Wenjun.

Tenth seed IM Viktorija Cmilyte of Lithuania lost her first tiebreak game against Russian IM Nadezhda Kosintseva, after both the regular games were drawn. In the second game Viktorija traded down to a K+R vs K+B ending, without pawns. Even though the ending is theoretically drawn, Viktorija played on for 20 moves (99 moves in all) before admitting that she could not win and was out of the tournament.

Russian IM Nadezhda Kosintseva, who, like sister Tatiana, is in round three

Cheerful in defeat: Viktorija Cmilyte of Lithuania

Junior World Champion IM Harika Dronavalli drew her regular games and the first rapid chess tiebreak game against eleventh seed WGM Anna Muzychuk of Slovenia, 43 points above her in the rating list. In the second tiebreak game Harika played with grit and determination and won in 91 moves. She is now in the third round.

IMs Anna Muzychuk and Harika Dronavalli in their first tiebreak game

The winner in the second game was Harika, who is in round three

Anna Muzychuk, knocked out by reigning Junior World Champion

Former Junior World Champion Elisabeth Paehtz of Germany was also knocked out after she failed to win her second regular game against Anna Ushenina of Ukraine.

14-year-old WGM Hou Yifan has won all four games so far

Round two complete results

Video reports by FIDE

Pairings for round three

Links Official FIDE tournament site All games from round one, round two All games played so far (zipped PGN) All ChessBase reports on Nalchik The games are being broadcast live on the official web site and on the chess server Playchess.com. If you are not a member you can download ChessBase Light, which gives you immediate access to the server. You can also use the program to read, replay and analyse the PGN games.