The Women’s World Chess Cup 2012 is being staged by the Ugorian
Chess Academy in Khanty-Mansiysk from 11 November to 2 December. The best
64 chess
players in the world are taking part in the competition, which consist
of six knock-out rounds of two games, which reduce the participants from
64 to 32, 16, 8, 4, and 2. The final consists of four games, the winner
will play a match against the winner of FIDE Women’s Grand Prix
2011-2012 (Hou Yifan), which will determine the World Champion among women. |
|
Round four – tiebreaks
Antoaneta Stefanova (above right, Bulgaria) convincingly defeated Marie Sebag
(France). In the first game of the match emotions took over logic, and the spectators
witnessed a completely crazy game with brilliant moves and horrible blunders
coming from both sides at an alarming rate. Finally the French player got an
overwhelming position with an extra piece, but the Bulgarian kept cool and capitalized
on her opponent’s final blunder by promoting a passed pawn. Sebag had
to return material, ended up down an exchange and resigned.
[Event "WWCC 2012"] [Site "Khanty-Mansiysk"] [Date "2012.11.22"] [Round "43.1"]
[White "Stefanova, Antoaneta"] [Black "Sebag, Marie"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "A06"]
[PlyCount "77"] [EventDate "2012.??.??"] [WhiteClock "0:01:02"] [BlackClock
"0:00:49"] 1. Nf3 d5 2. c4 c6 3. g3 Nf6 4. Bg2 dxc4 5. O-O Nbd7 6. Qc2 Nb6 7.
a4 a5 8. Na3 Be6 9. Ng5 Bg4 10. Nxc4 Bxe2 11. Ne5 Bh5 12. b4 e6 13. b5 Bd6 14.
Bb2 O-O 15. bxc6 Rc8 16. Qb1 Bxe5 17. cxb7 Rc5 18. d4 Bg6 $2 {White has a clear
advantage, which is increased by Black's last move.} 19. Ne4 $4 ({With the lovely
queen sacrifice} 19. dxc5 $1 Bxb1 20. Bxe5 {White could finished off here opponent.})
19... Rc4 {Now Black, with the extra piece, in on route to victory.} 20. Rd1
Bc7 21. Ba3 Re8 $2 {Taking on e4 was clearly a better option.} 22. Nxf6+ gxf6
23. Qb5 Bc2 24. Re1 Bxa4 25. Qh5 Bc6 26. Qg4+ Kh8 27. Bxc6 Rxc6 28. Rab1 Qd5
29. Qe2 Nc4 30. Bc5 Bd6 $2 {With this the tide turns against Black.} 31. Rec1
Bxc5 $4 32. b8=Q (32. Qxc4 $1 {would have won on the spot.}) 32... Rxb8 33.
Rxb8+ Kg7 $2 34. Qxc4 Bxd4 $2 35. Qxc6 Qa2 36. Qf3 f5 37. Rbc8 a4 38. R8c2 Qb3
39. Qxb3 {and White wins in the end. A bit like one of Shakespeare's comic plays.}
1-0
The second game was one-sided, and Stefanova won convincingly, thus wrapping
up the match 2-0. The former World Champion advanced to the semifinal.
It's good-bye to Khanty-Mansiysk for French GM Marie Sebag
The Chinese players Huang Qian and Ju Wenjun were unable to determine the winner
in rapid games, drawing both after very tenacious struggle. In the first ten-minute
game Ju Wenjun had a big advantage and excellent winning chances, but misplayed
in the end, allowing the opponent to make a draw. The second game was also a
roller coaster ride: Huang Qian obtained a big advantage with complete domination
on the board, but then made several mistakes, and Black turned the tables.
Ju Wenjun played flawlessly for the rest of the game, and secured the match
victory.
The match between Harika Dronavalli (India) and Zhao Xue (China) was another
tense encounter. The Chinese GM, playing white in the first game, got a promising
position, but her hesitation allowed the opponent to advance her passed pawn
a bit too far. Harika combined threats in the center and on the kingside, and
finished the game with a nice attack against the king.
[Event "WWCC 2012"] [Site "Khanty-Mansiysk"] [Date "2012.11.22"] [Round "43.3"]
[White "Zhao, Xue"] [Black "Harika, Dronavalli"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "E92"]
[PlyCount "66"] [EventDate "2012.??.??"] [WhiteClock "0:06:21"] [BlackClock
"0:07:26"] 1. d4 d6 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. c4 g6 4. Nc3 Bg7 5. e4 O-O 6. Be2 e5 7. Be3
exd4 8. Nxd4 Re8 9. f3 c6 10. Bf2 d5 11. exd5 cxd5 12. O-O Nc6 13. c5 Bf8 14.
Nb3 Bh6 15. Re1 a6 16. Na4 Be6 17. Nb6 Rb8 18. Bf1 Nh5 19. Nd4 Nxd4 20. Qxd4
Bg7 21. Qd2 Qf6 22. Rab1 d4 23. b4 Rbd8 24. Re4 g5 25. Rd1 d3 26. Qe3 Nf4 27.
a4 Rf8 (27... Qb2 {was a more promising alternative.}) 28. g3 Nh3+ 29. Bxh3
Bxh3 30. g4 Qc3 31. Qxg5 d2 {[#]} 32. Be3 $4 Qb3 33. Rxd2 Rxd2 {with mate to
follow.} 0-1
In the second game the Indian got an opening advantage, pushed in the middlegame,
and found the right moment to transpose to a drawn ending, as she was content
with a draw. Harika won the match 1.5-0.5 and looked very happy at the press-conference.
She thanked her parents, friends, trainers, ...
... and especially her grandmother, who also came with her to Khanty-Mansiysk.
Replay all the tiebreak games here
All results of round four
| Name |
G1 |
G2 |
R1 |
R2 |
r3 |
r4 |
Tot |
| Sebag, Marie (FRA) |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
|
|
1.0 |
| Stefanova, Antoaneta (BUL) |
0 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
|
|
3.0 |
| |
| Ju, Wenjun (CHN) |
½ |
½ |
½ |
½ |
½ |
1 |
3.5 |
| Huang, Qian (CHN) |
½ |
½ |
½ |
½ |
½ |
0 |
2.5 |
| |
| Kosintseva, Nadezhda (RUS) |
½ |
0 |
|
|
|
|
0.5 |
| Ushenina, Anna (UKR) |
½ |
1 |
|
|
|
|
1.5 |
| |
| Zhao, Xue (CHN) |
½ |
½ |
0 |
½ |
|
|
1.5 |
| Harika, Dronavalli (IND) |
½ |
½ |
1 |
½ |
|
|
2.5 |
In the semifinals Antoaneta Stefanova plays Harika Dronavalli, while Anna Ushenina
plays Ju Wenjun. The games start on Friday, at 15:00h local time. You will find
the starting time at your location here.
Credit: The above report was based on article published
by the official web site, which has some extraordinary pictures, were made by
Anna Burtasova, Etery Kublashvili, Vladimir Barsky and local photographers.
Many more images are to be found here.
The live video coverage is provided by Mark Gluhovsky from ChessTV.
There will be English language commentary by GM Alexander Khalifman. For the
first time Mark is going to try to supply commentary in Chinese: GM Peng Zhaoqing
speaking from her home in Holland. The Russian commentary will come from GM
Sergei Shipov, working out of Moscow.
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