The first round of the FIDE Women’s World Championship (Sochi, Krasnaya Polyana), attended by 64 players from 28 countries, was played today at the CS Galaktica.
Igor Levitin, adviser of the Russian President, made a symbolic first move of the championship in the game of the highest rated player Humpy Koneru (India).
In a first round of a knock-out tournament the top rated players face the lowest rated opponents, therefore many games were quite one-sided, and many favorites won without much trouble. Yet, there were a couple of upsets.
Igor Levitin, adviser of the Russian President, making a symbolic first move of the Championship
The ex-World Champion Antoaneta Stefanova (Bulgaria), playing White, barely held her game to a draw. Mariya Muzychuk (Ukraine) and Alisa Galliamova (Russia) even lost to a much lower-rated opponents Yuan Yuanling (Canada) and Carolina Lujan (Argentina).
The leaders of the Russian national team Valentina Gunina, Alexandra Kosteniuk, and Olga Girya confidently won their games.
Ekaterina Kovalevskaia, playing Black, quickly defeated the experienced Nino Khurtsidze (Georgia). The youngAlexandra Goryachkina secured a hard-fought draw against Lilit Mkrtchian (Armenia).
Carolina Lujan
Round 1.1 results:
Koneru Humpy IND – Moaataz Ayah EGY 1-0
Wafa Shrook EGY – Ju Wenjun CHN 0-1
Muzychuk Anna UKR – Mezioud Amina ALG 1-0
Shamima Akter Liza BAN – Cmilyte Viktorija LTU 0-1
Kosteniuk Alexandra RUS – Berezina Irina AUS 1-0
Baginskaite Camilla USA – Gunina Valentina RUS 0-1
Zhao Xue CHN – Zuriel Marisa ARG 1-0
Yuan Yuanling CAN – Muzychuk Mariya UKR 1-0
Stefanova Antoaneta BUL – Nguyen Thi Than An VIE ½-½
Ozturk Kubra TUR – Khotenashvili Bela GEO 0-1
Cramling Pia SWE – Hejazipour Mitra IRI 1-0
Abrahamyan Tatev USA – Harika Dronavalli IND 0-1
Danielian Elina ARM – Marrero Lopez Yaniet CUB ½-½
Nakhbayeva Guliskhan KAZ – Tan Zhongyi CHN ½-½
Ushenina Anna UKR – Zhang Xiaowen CHN 1-0
Lujan Carolina ARG – Galliamova Alisa RUS 1-0
Kosintseva Tatiana RUS – Gomes Mary Ann IND ½-½
Wang Jue CHN – Sebag Marie FRA 0-1
Javakhishvili Lela GEO – Guramishvili Sopiko GEO 1-0
Arabidze Meri GEO – Paehtz Elisabeth GER ½-½
Krush Irina USA – Milliet Sophie FRA 1-0
Arakhamia-Grant Ketevan SCO – Hoang Thanh Trang HUN 1-0
Huang Qian CHN – Kovanova Baira RUS ½-½
Gaponenko Inna UKR – Zhukova Natalia UKR ½-½
Socko Monika POL – Daulyte Deimante LTU ½-½
Sukandar Irine Kharisma INA – Melia Salome GEO ½-½
Girya Olga RUS – Atalik Ekaterina TUR 1-0
Kashlinskaya Alina RUS – Shen Yang CHN ½-½
Khurtsidze Nino GEO – Kovalevskaya Ekaterina RUS 0-1
Mkrtchian Lilit ARM – Goryachkina Aleksandra RUS ½-½
Pogonina Natalija RUS – Guo Qi CHN ½-½
Cori T. Deysi PER – Lei Tingjie CHN 0-1
Ekaterina Kovalevskaya
The second games of the first round are played tomorrow, March 18. If the matches are tied after two games, the winners will be determined on tie-breaks on March 19.
The tie-break begins with two rapid games of 25 minutes + 10 seconds per move. If the score remains equal, the players proceed to another two games with a slightly faster time control – 10 minutes + 10 seconds per move. If these games do not determine the winner as well, then there are two blitz games: 5 minutes + 3 seconds per move. Finally, if the score is still even, there is an Armageddon game: White has 5 minutes, Black has 4 minutes, 3 seconds per move are added after the move 61, and a draw counts as a win for Black. The tie-break for the final match consists of four rapid games.
Schedule: Round 1 – March 17-19, Round 2 – March 20-22, Round 3 – March 23-25, Quarterfinals – March 26-28, Semifinals – March 29-31, Finals – April 2-5.
April 1 is a day off. All games start at 15.00 msk.
For press credentials please contact the RCF Press Officer Eteri Kublashvili: ekublashvili@gmail.com
Antoaneta Stefanova and tournament director Alexander Tkachev