2010 Women’s Chess Championship: Round #2

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

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.