Astana R4: Ukraine catches Russia and China

The city of Astana in Kazakhstan is hosting the Women's World Chess Team Championship from March 2nd to 12 in the Duman Hotel in Astana. Ten best teams in the world are participating: China, Russia, Ukraine, USA, India, France, Turkey, Georgia, Rumania and Kazakhstan. Each team consists of five players, with four playing in each of the nine rounds of this round robin tournament. Time control is 90 minutes per 40 moves and thirty minutes until the end of the game plus 30 seconds increment per move.

Round four

The fourth round ended unpredictably peacefully, despite the fact that the battles lasted till the very end on all boards. Four out of five matches finished in a draw, and the outcome of the last match, Ukraine versus Turkey seemed equal as well.

Anna Ushenina (above) won against Betul Yildiz, two other games finished in a draw. Inna Gaponenko was still fighting for a draw against Selen Sop, but it seems that after more than 100 moves and six hours of play the talented Turkish player simply did not have the physical strength to win the position with a huge advantage. As a result, Gaponenko made a draw, Ukraine won the match +1.

WFM Selen Sop, rated 2028, with her trainer GM Adrian Mikhalchishin

A very tense struggle in the key match between the leaders China and Russia (picture above) – all four games were decisive. Velentina Gunina won worse a looking fight against Ju Wenjun, and Alexandra Kosteniuk defeated Huang Qian. In an equal position Natalia Pogonina went for a forced line and ended up in a lost position. Alisa Galliamova missed nice tactical blow, 16.Bd5, and after that her opponent Qi Gou played presicely and didn’t leave any chance to opponent.

The Indian girls showed today that despite the absence of Humpy, Harika and Sachdev, the team can fight along with the favorites. Eesha Karavade defeted Nana Dzagnidze, who is normally very solid. The Georgians immediately equalized the score with a victory of Bela Khotenashvili on the second board.

On the fourth board Nino Khurtsidze had an absolutely winning position against WGM Soumya Swaminathan (above right) but failed to find the direct win a few times. The victory of Georgia was very close, but the match finished in a draw.

How could I have missed that?? IM Nino Khurtsidze, rated 2437

One more match, Romania versus Kazakhstan, finished peacefully. Irina Bulmaga got quite comfortable position in the middle game and managed to outplay Gulmira Dauletova. Two other games finished in a draw but Guliskhan Nakhbaeva showed self-possession and steel nerves once again – this time in her game against the very experienced Romanian player Cristina Adela Foisor. She outplayed her opponent after long-lasted fight and saved the match for her team. The French team managed to make a draw in the match against the USA and finally gained the so long-awaited first team point.

After the fourth round Ukraine has caught Russia and China and shares first place with them.

Photos from Astana by Anastasiya Karlovich

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Schedule and results

Links Official tournament site All games in PGN 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 a free Playchess client there and get immediate access. You can also use ChessBase 12 or any of our Fritz compatible chess programs.

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