We have 34 guests and no members online GP SHARJAH 2014GRAND PRIX SHARJAH 2014 – FINAL RANKINGFinal Ranking crosstable after 11 Rounds Rk. Name Rtg FED 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Pts.…
GRAND PRIX SHARJAH 2014 – HOU YIFAN AND JU WENJUN ARE THE WINNERS OF GRAND PRIX IN SHARJAHJu Wenjun and Hou Yifan became the winners of the 6th stage of the FIDE Women’s Grand…
GRAND PRIX SHARJAH 2014 – ROUND 10: LEADERS KEEP THEIR POSITIONSAfter the tenth round of the Women’s Grand Prix in Sharjah Ju Wenjun keeps leading. She…
GRAND PRIX SHARJAH 2014 – ROUND 9: HOU YIFAN WINS GRAND PRIX SERIES, JU WENJUN TAKES LEADAfter the end of 9th rounds it it became official - Hou Yifan has won the FIDE Women…
GRAND PRIX SHARJAH 2014 – ROUND 8: SAME LEADERS AT THE TOPThe central game of the eighth round between Ju Wenjun and Hou Yifan finished in a draw…
OLYMPIAD 201441ST OLYMPIAD TROMSO 2014 - FINAL RANKINGFinal Ranking after 11 Rounds - Open Rk. SNo Team Team Games + = - TB1 TB2 TB3 TB4 1 7…
41ST OLYMPIAD TROMSO 2014 - ROUND 11Board Pairings - Open Round 11 on 2014/08/14 at 11:00 Bo. 15 Poland (POL) Rtg - 7 China…
41ST OLYMPIAD TROMSO 2014 - ROUND 10 INTERIM REPORT: LAWYERS & POLITICIANSTromsø had two not-quite chess events in focus today - the 9 a.m. hearing at the local…
41ST OLYMPIAD TROMSO 2014 - TROMSØ OLYMPIAD ORGANIZERS VS. RUSSIAN CHESS FEDERATIONThe RCF sued the organizers for USD 200,000 for legal expenses connected to the dispute…
41ST OLYMPIAD TROMSO 2014 - TROMSØ’S AMAZING VOLUNTEER HOSTESSCountless Norwegian and international volunteers are giving their all during the Chess…
41ST OLYMPIAD TROMSO 2014 - ROUND 10 PREVIEW: PENULTIMATE CHANCESometimes the pairings system throws up oddities during big team events, but in the…
41ST OLYMPIAD TROMSO 2014 - ROUND 9: FRAYING NERVES?Signs of accumulating fatigue or shaky nerves could be seen as Round 9 of the 2014 Chess…
41ST OLYMPIAD TROMSO 2014 - RD 9 INTERIM REPORT: ELECTION FOCUSToday's play would have a hard time living up to the energy and excitement levels…
41ST OLYMPIAD TROMSO 2014 - BLITZ ON THE WAVESThe side tournaments in blitz during the 2014 Chess Olympiad move around the city of…
GP LOPOTAGRAND PRIX LOPOTA 2014 - FINAL RANKINGGRAND PRIX LOPOTA 2014 Lopota, Telavi, Georgia /June 18 - July 2 Final Ranking crosstable…
GRAND PRIX LOPOTA.- ALL GOOD THINGS COME TO AN ENDEven though Hou Yifan's tournament win has been predicable for quite a while and…
GRAND PRIX LOPOTA.- D-DAYThe outside weather didn't improve for the tenth round and the players start displaying…
GRAND PRIX LOPOTA - LIGHTNING BOLTYou may recognize the nickname of the world's fastest sprinter - Usain Bolt. In this…
GRAND PRIX LOPOTA - WHERE MAMA MEANS FATHERAfter it became clear that I couldn't attend all the activities planned for the second…
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GRAND PRIX LOPOTA - LIGHTNING BOLT
You may recognize the nickname of the world's fastest sprinter - Usain Bolt. In this tournament we also have one woman that is outrunning the competition: Hou Yifan. With just two rounds to go, she has a lead of two points and is therefore sure of at least shared first. Displaying a perseverance and ambition already 'not required' by her tournament situation, Hou Yifan won with Black against Muzychuk in only 28 moves! Including clock malfunctioning; but the chief arbiter KK Chan has everything under control Today Anna Muzychuk had an off-day when she faced Hou Yifan. She didn't achieve what she was looking for out of the opening, a Sicilian, and, in an attempt to stabilize the position, she exchanged queens on move 15: 15.Qg5 which strongly met with 15...Qxg5 16.Bxg5 h6 17.Bd2 a4! and White's queenside is falling apart. Anna was unable to come back in the game and after 18.Bd1 Nd4 19.Nc7 the strong exchange sacrificed: 19...axb3! quickly decided matters. With two rounds to go Hou Yifan is assured of at least a shared tournament victory! Elina Danielian had gotten a nice edge out of the opening against Humpy Koneru In the diagrammed position: Black's activity and the potential weakness of the a4-pawn, should give adequate compensation for the isolated d5-pawn. Elina decided to expell the e4-knight with 30.f3 but this natural move fails to 30...Qd2! with big threats on e3 and f2. The game proceeded 31.Nc2 Ng3 (31...Nc3 was indicated by Humpy in the press conference, and this looks very strong indeed) 32.Nde1 Bf5 33.Bd3 Be6 34.Qb2 Nd7 35.Qd4 Despite time-trouble, the worst looks over for White. In fact there is the small threat of Bh7+ winning the queen which is why Humpy decided to play the fatal 35..Kf8. After 36.Qh4! the game saw a sudden end. Both mate on d8 is threatened as well as the knight on g3. Time troubles are difficult to meet at the end of a long, tiring and important event. Harika Dronavalli - Ju Wenjun 1/2 Here 14...bxc6 played by Wenjun surprised Harika (the Chinese played 14...Qxc6 in their previous encounter), who only briefly looked at it before the game started. With such a long tournament and when the stakes are high, it is important to preserve the energy, since anyway, most of the times what the players check rarely appears on the board. And right in the moment when Harika did just that, choosing to go in fresh (she prepared very hard and for many hours before each and single game played in Lopota), Wenjun decided to repeat the line! Sorting things out over the board One of the many critical moments came on move 20, where it seems Wenjun could have gotten a significant advantage with: 20...Nb3 21.Rb1 Nac5! when, despite the pawn deficit, Black has total control over the position. Wenjun's Still, some accuracy was required after 38.Nd4! but the Chinese accurately assessed the rookending after 38...Kf4 39.Ne6+ Kxg4 40.Nxc5 Rxc5 41.Ra6 Rc8 42.Rxa4 Kh3! to be drawn. The official verdict came ten moves later when the players agreed a draw. A great spectacle! "So now I am alone on 2nd place"...Wenjun is having a good tournament: Nana Dzagnidze - Antoaneta Stefanova 0-1 Antoaneta allowing herself a break, while Nana was in deep thoughts Nana, playing with the white pieces, also kept a quick pace in the early stages of the game but it was clearly Antoaneta who came ahead of the opening, to such proportions that already on move 24 her advantage had taken on a decisive form. There was nothing wrong with the game continuation, 24...Rh8, keeping all the threats in the position, though perhaps 24...Nf4! was an even stronger way to proceed, the point being 25.Rxb7 Re8! 26.Rxc7 Ne2+ 27.Bxe2 Rxe2 and White has to give the queen to avoid mate. But time-trouble (there were too many options available, as Antoaneta mentioned, making her decisions more dificult along the way), played a big role in this game as well. We make a small jump to move 30, Where the elegant: 30.Rxc7 Nxc7 31.Qf4 Qxb6 32.Qg5+ would have secured a draw by perpetual check. But the complications didn't end there! When the smoke of the time-trouble had cleared the position, the game was still highly complicated; by this time though, it was Antoaneta Stefanova who found her way better through the complications, with a bit of help from her opponent as well. Nana risked everything to get a point, refusing to give perpetual and going the hole hog Not seeing a good way to stop ..Ng4+, Nana Dzagnidze soon had to resign. Alexandra Kosteniuk was building up a strong attack against Zhao Xue but the Chinese made a miraculous escape. Coming from the Petrosian system of the Queen's Indian, Alexandra built up an impressive centre that Zhao Xue tried to challenge by ...c4 and ...f5. It let to a semi-closed position where the main question was if White were to get g2-g4 in at a favourable moment. After carefull maneuvering, Alexandra managed to play just that in the diagrammed position: after 32.g4 Qd6 33.Qe3 fxg4 34.Rxg4 it looked very promising, indeed. The rooks have the open g-file to attend to, the bishops do a perfect job on c1 and c2 while the role of the knight on e5 speaks for itself. A phase in which White further developed her first wave of attack ensued, and this resulted in the following diagram, where Alexandra felt the moment came to strike with: 40.h6 Qh5+ 41.Qh3 Qxh3+ 42.Kxh3 Ra8 43.hxg7 but Zhao Xue fought like a lioness with 43...Nd6 44.Rg3 h5! and even managed to steer the game to an equal endgame. Perhaps 40.Qh3 was the more practical choice, keeping all options open and not allowing a queen-trade. An excellent defensive effort by Zhao Xue and a very good game from Alexandra, too! Only time trouble and the too many options at hand are giving problems... Both Nafisa Muminova and Bella Khotenashvili were still waiting for their first win before this round Bella used the modern defence in search for a fight but Nafisa didn't seem the least bit bothered. The opposite, fairly quickly in the game she got a nice positional advantage and people praised her decision on move 25: White would like to centralize her b1-rook but at the moment this is not easy to realize. Another issue is the bishop on f1 which is not a very good piece. Nafisa decided upon the instructive 25.Be2! Nf7 26.Bd1! Bh6 27.Bxb3 axb3 28.Rad1 Rbd8 But Black is still active and doesn't seem in such a bad shape. Nafisa proved otherwise with 29.f4! the point being 29...Rxe4 30.Nd5! with decisive threats on e7 and f6. From that moment on it was White who was calling the shots but it was not the end of the game. Instead of 48.Qe1 Nxf4 49.a6! queening, 48.Qxd3 cxd3 49.Be1 d4 50.c4 d2! 51.Bxd2 d3 almost allowed Bella to save the game. However, pressed by a long and tiring defense she eventually succumbed under the pressure of White's passed pawn and had to resign on move 63. With two rounds to go, another question opens to the public: whether Hou Yifan will reach a 3000 performance by the end of the tournament. But there is a lot of fight going on for the podium, so let us hope that there will still rain with decisive games, while the sun will again smile to all of us in the beautiful surroundings of Lopota! |