Astana R5: Ukraine beats China, leads with Russia

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 five

The day before International Women's Day the chess players finished the round a bit earlier. The Romanian team, the most peaceful in the championship, shared two points with the Turkish girls, who finally opened “personal account” and moved from the last place. The equal score was achieved due to the victories on the first two boards.

WGM Betul Cemre Yildiz on board one for Turkey beat WGM Irina Bulmaga...

... while our special friend Alina L'Ami (ROM) defeated WCM Cemhan Kardelen

Ukraine, after a slightly weak start, showed its strength at its best. In spite of some worries (especially for Anna Ushenina) they were able to knock out China!

The Russian team defeated France 3.5-0.5. At the press conference after the completion of her game, Valentina Gunina was asked if she worried during the game, as even “computers started to get worried when they saw her position”, she noted that teammates could not feel very happy about her game. In any case Valentina managed to trick her opponent and even win the game.

The Georgian girls looked quite confidential today in the match against the Americans. Irina Krush (above) made the only draw, all the others lost their games.

WIM Viktorija Ni playing IM Salome Melia, whose four-month-old daughter desperately needs heart surgery, as we recently reported. In the meantime we have learnt that the Georgian Ministry of Health has donated some funds, as have some donors from Georgia – and a Western donor is willing to put up the rest of the costs for surgery in Germany. There will be follow-up operations required, so further contributions are welcome. Details in our previous report. This is how Salome played in round five:

The Kazakhstan team lost to India 3:1, but it is not a reason for being discouraged. First of all there are four more rounds ahead, and secondly the team is the youngest at the championship, so the girls will be able to keep up their energy till the end.

After five rounds Russia and Ukraine are on the top. They share the first place, two points ahead of Georgia and China.

On the 8th of March the organizers of the tournament will congratulate the participants and prepare a massive cultural and entertainment program with presents and unexpected surprises.

Report and photos provided 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.