2010 Women’s Chess Championship: Round #3
Round #3 Pairings |
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|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| # | Player | ELO |
Nation
|
Flag
|
Player | ELO |
Nation
|
Flag
|
| 1 | Kosteniuk | 2507 |
RUS
|
 |
Ruan | 2480 |
CHN
|
 |
| 2 | Muzychuk,M | 2462 |
UKR
|
 |
Harika | 2525 |
IND
|
 |
| 3 | Dembo | 2454 |
GRE
|
 |
Zhao | 2474 |
CHN
|
|
| 4 | Skripchenko | 2460 |
FRA
|
 |
Cmilyte | 2514 |
LTU
|
 |
| 5 | Koneru | 2600 |
IND
|
|
Zatonskih | 2478 |
USA
|
 |
| 6 | Muzychuk,A | 2462 |
SLO
|
 |
Ju | 2524 |
CHN
|
|
| 7 | Hou | 2591 |
CHN
|
|
Zhu | 2477 |
QAT
|
 |
| 8 | Huang | 2402 |
CHN
|
|
Lahno | 2522 |
UKR
|
|
Friday, 10 December 2010
Excitement galore in third round!
Kosteniuk-Ruan, ½-½
Harika-Muzychuk,M, ½-½
Zhao-Dembo, 1-0
Skripchenko-Cmilyte, ½-½
Zatonskih-Koneru, 0-1
Muzychuk,A-Ju, 0-1
Hou-Zhu, 1-0
Lahno-Huang, 1-0
Alexandra Kosteniuk drew quickly against Ruan Lufei, but the defending World Champion had a bit of trouble in the game and was slightly worse in the final position. This result will give Ruan a bit of confidence since she has nothing to lose. She will play white against with the backing of the large Chinese contingent.
Koneru Humpy and Hou Yifan got on the board with wins. Humpy outplayed the former U.S. women’s champion Anna Zatonskih from the black side of a Catalan. The finishing attack was very instructive. Zhu Chen was worse against Hou, but maybe it appeared as if she would hold the position. Hou conjured up play on the weak c-pawns. She maneuvered her king to the queenside and summarily won a crucial c5-pawn and black’s position collapsed.
Photo by wwcxc2010.tsf.org.tr.
Kathryn Lahno beat Huang Qian in 28 moves after black conceded a poor pawn structure. Huang may have blundered since on 28.b6! cannot stop the pawn without sacrificing a piece. Ju Wenjun also scored against Anna Muzychuk converting the rook versus three pawns ending. Harika had a “book” 4+3 rook and pawn ending (same side), but was unable to convert the advantage.
The most impressive game of the round had to be Zhao Xue’s win over Yelena Dembo. In a King’s Indian, white got incredible pressure on the queenside while Dembo went for the kingside onslaught. White offered an exchange for a strong passed d-pawn and realized that she could not safely captured the exchange, most of white’s pieces were aimed on the black side of the board.
It appears as if Zhao should have gotten more from such a position than an extra pawn. However, her position was so superior that she won another pawn and with passed pawns on the a- and g-file, it become difficult to hold both sides of the board. Dembo resigned.
Drum Coverage
Round Three Results (MS-Excel)
Saturday, 11 December 2010
Kosteniuk holds draw… title defense hope alive!
Ruan-Kosteniuk, ½-½
Muzychuk,M-Harika, ½-½
Dembo-Zhao, ½-½ (Zhao wins match 1½-½)
Cmilyte-Skripchenko, ½-½
Koneru-Zatonskih, ½-½ (Koneru wins match 1½-½)
Ju-Muzychuk,A, ½-½ (Ju wins match 1½-½)
Zhu-Hou, 1-0
Huang-Lahno, ½-½ (Lahno wins match 1½-½)
Battle Royal: Ruan vs. Kosteniuk; Humpy vs. Zatonskih
Drum Coverage
Round Three Results (MS-Excel)
Sunday, 12 December 2010
Ruan topples Kosteniuk… Hou Yifan and Skripchenko advance!
Harika wins Armageddon Match to advance.
Ruan defeats Kosteniuk, 1½-½ (Ruan wins match 2½-1½)
Harika defeats Muzychuk,M, 3-2 (Harika wins match 4-3)
Skripchenko defeats Cmilyte, 1½-½ (Skripchenko wins match 2½-1½)
Hou defeats Zhu, 1½-½ (Hou wins match 2½-1½)
IM Dronavali Harika won exciting tiebreak.
The reign has ended for Alexandra Kosteniuk. She made a gallant stand to defend her crown, but was undone by Ruan Lufei, the talented Chinese student who is studying at Carnegie-Mellon University. Kosteniuk did not play well against Ruan whose style seemed to unnerve the champion.
In the tiebreak, she was completely crushed in the first game of the tiebreak and could not muster up enough play to equalize. Meanwhile Hou Yifan would defeat Chinese legend Zhu Chen in the tiebreak meaning that four Chinese would play in the last eight.
The Indians had great success in their quest for another World Championship as Koneru Humpy won comfortably against Anna Zatonskih and Dronavali Harika battled to win an Armageddon sudden death to advance. In the rapid, Harika’s win was countered by Mariya Muzychuk in the second. Then Muzychuk forced Harika to win in the blitz tiebreak. Harika ended up winning the Armageddon match after Muzychuk ran out of time in a winning position.
IM Dronavali Harika (India) -WGM Ruan Lufei (China)
GM Zhao Xue (China) – IM Almira Skripchenko (France)
GM Koneru Humpy (India) – WGM Ju Wenjun (China)
GM Hou Yifan (China) – GM Kateryna Lahno (Ukraine)
Official Site
Drum Coverage
Round Three Results (MS-Excel)