2012 Women’s Chess Championship (Round #1)

Alexander Khalifman noticed that while there was only one rating upset, the lower-rated players were competing very fiercely. In fact top-rated Humpy Koneru struggled mightily against South Africa’s Denise Frick who appeared to have a strong attack against the Kan Sicilian. However, the Indian defended well and closed the door before seizing control and securing the point. Hou Yifan mopped up her opponent from Sri Lanka with a crushing attack on the French.

Hou Yifan and S.D. Ranasinghe watch the ceremonial move. Hou won easily against her Lankan opponent. Photo from https://chess2012.ugrasport.com.

Kateryna Lahno also had serious resistance from Egypt’s Mona Khaled, but a stock exchange sacrifice broke the fortress. In one noted battle Abrahamyan-Kosteniuk, white smoked the black king out to the center of the board and seemed to have attacking chances, but black monarch scampered to safety. While there were several upset draws, the favorites carried the way on tough battles. Following are a few of the games.

The round of 64 has been completed and there was only one notable upset with Cuba’s Maritza Arribas-Robaina (2273) ousting Georgia’s Bela Khotenashvili (2504). The first tiebreak was strange in that white was trying to press, but overextended and exposed her king. At a tense moment, Khotenashvili overlooked a mate in one.

Cuba’s Maritza Arribas after her match victory.

In other matches Natalia Pogonina advanced easily over Svetlana Matveeva 3-1. Lela Javakhishvili completed a comeback 3.5-2.5 match victory after losing the very first game to Anastasia Bodnaruk. Ju Wenjun fought to a 4-2 victory over Iran’s Atousa Pourkashiyan winning both 10-minute blitz battles.

Irina Krush advanced by winning 4.5-3.5 over Singapore’s Li Ruofan while Foisor-Muzychuk was the marathon match of the round ending with the Ukrainian getting draw odds and holding with black. Selected games are below: