2010 Women’s Chess Championship: Round #2

Daaim Shabazz December 8, 2010

2 14 1 minute read

2010 Women World Chess Championship Round #2 Pairings
#	Player	ELO	Nation	Flag	Player	ELO	Nation	Flag
1	Kosteniuk	2507	RUS		Khukhashvili,	2430	GEO
2	Koneru	2600	IND		Houska	2421	ENG
3	Hou	2591	CHN		Romanko	2414	RUS
4	Kosintseva	2581	RUS		Dembo	2454	GRE
5	Dzagnidze	2551	GEO		Skripchenko	2460	FRA
6	Stefanova	2548	BUL		Huang	2402	CHN
7	Muzychuk, A	2462	SLO		Ovod	2387	RUS
8	Yildiz	2225	TUR		Muzychuk, M	2462	UKR
9	Harika	2525	IND		Shadrina	2384	RUS
10	Ju	2524	CHN		Kovanova	2380	RUS
11	Lahno	2522	UKR		Hoang	2473	HUN
12	Cmilyte	2514	LTU		Paehtz	2474	GER
13	Chiburdanidze	2502	GEO		Zhao	2474	CHN
14	Socko	2495	POL		Zhu	2477	QAT
15	Sebag	2494	FRA		Zatonskih	2478	USA
16	Ruan	2480	CHN		Zhang	2339	CHN

Round #2 – Game #1
Tuesday, 7 December 2010

Kosintseva and Cmilyte fall… backs against the wall.

The second round showed more competitive games. Hou Yifan played an interesting game with two nimble knights versus an advanced white king. Romanko’s rook seemed impotent against the circular coverage of the galloping horses.

Tatiana Kosintseva’s game against Yelena Dembo was a big disappointment. The Russian got a promising position out of a Rauzer Attack and seemed ready to land a finishing blow. There were opportunities to sacrifice a piece for a strong attack, but they were passed up for safer continuations. Kosintseva lost the thread and Dembo’s bishop picked off the white knight and stole the full point.

Dronavali Harika gave a good example of the old video game “Space Invaders” as she unleashed a pawn avalanche up the board. Elizabeth Paehtz crushed Viktoria Cmilyte after sacking her queen for two rooks which coordinated with great effect. Zhao Xue trounced former women’s world champion Maia Chiburdanidze when she uncorked a combination to trap the queen. Zhao kept the edge and in a time scramble to reach move, Chiburdanidze walked into mate.

Official Site
Drum Coverage
Round Two Results (MS-Excel)

Daaim Shabazz December 8, 2010

2 14 1 minute read

Round #2 – Game #2
Wednesday, 8 December 2010

Only one Russian left… three Chinese advance to make final sixteen

IM Yelena Dembo had lots to smile about today.
Photo by wwcxc2010.tsf.org.tr.

The Russians destroyed the competition in the 2010 Chess Olympiad in Khanty-Mansiysk going a perfect 11-0. It appeared that they were showing that Russian women are back on track to reclaiming excellence in women’s chess. That goal took a tremendous hit as Natalia Kosintseva was eliminated today by Yelena Dembo. All other Russians were eliminated except for Alexandra Kosteniuk who has to battle Georgia’s Sopiko Khukhashvili in the tiebreaks.

China continues to roll after three players advance to the next round. Another Chinese will join Hou Yifan, Ju Wenjun, Zhao Xue since the winner of Ruan Lufei-Zhang Xiaowen match will advance. Huang Qian will play former women’s champion Antoaneta Stefanova. Thus, China could possibly have five players of the remaining sixteen! Former women’s champion Zhu Chen, who won the title as a Chinese national, is still in the hunt. She now plays for Qatar. Chinese remains as a strong force in women’s chess.

There are a whopping seven tiebreak matches (out of sixteen) tomorrow.

Official Site
Drum Coverage
Round Two Results (MS-Excel)

2 Comments

Daaim Shabazz says:

December 8, 2010 at 3:57 pm

Round #2 – Game #2
Wednesday, 8 December 2010

Only one Russian left… three Chinese advance to make final sixteen

IM Yelena Dembo had lots to smile about today.
Photo by wwcxc2010.tsf.org.tr.

The Russians destroyed the competition in the 2010 Chess Olympiad in Khanty-Mansiysk going a perfect 11-0. It appeared that they were showing that Russian women are back on track to reclaiming excellence in women’s chess. That goal took a tremendous hit as Natalia Kosintseva was eliminated today by Yelena Dembo. All other Russians were eliminated except for Alexandra Kosteniuk who has to battle Georgia’s Sopiko Khukhashvili in the tiebreaks.

China continues to roll after three players advance to the next round. Another Chinese will join Hou Yifan, Ju Wenjun, Zhao Xue since the winner of Ruan Lufei-Zhang Xiaowen match will advance. Huang Qian will play former women’s champion Antoaneta Stefanova. Thus, China could possibly have five players of the remaining sixteen! Former women’s champion Zhu Chen, who won the title as a Chinese national, is still in the hunt. She now plays for Qatar. Chinese remains as a strong force in women’s chess.

There are a whopping seven tiebreak matches (out of sixteen) tomorrow.

Official Site
Drum Coverage
Round Two Results (MS-Excel)

Daaim Shabazz says:

December 9, 2010 at 8:42 pm

Round #2 – Tiebreak
Thursday, 9 December 2010

Asians storm into round three!

Is Zhu Chen being overlooked?

In an unprecedented event, two more Chinese climbed into contention at the Women’s World Championship in Turkey. There will be five Chinese in the “Sweet Sixteen” after Huang Qian ousted Antoaneta Stefanova in tiebreaks 2-0.

Despite the loss of Stefanova, there are several favorites remaining such as World Champion Alexandra Kosteniuk, top-seed Koneru Humpy, Kateryna Lahno and Viktorija Cmiltye.

Zhu Chen is another former World Champion who has an impressive contingent here with GM Alexander Morozevich and husband GM Mohamed Al-Modiakhi in Turkey helping her. Zhu won the crown as a Chinese national, but has since moved to Qatar. She will have a tough task ahead facing Hou Yifan in round #3.

Official Site
Drum Coverage
Round Two Results (MS-Excel)