Chinese express goes on and on
Zhu Chen – Zhao Xue
The Chinese leader won her next game and scored 6 out of 6 points. This time she beat Zhu Chen from Qatar. The Nimtsovich defence was played in the game. Taking in account that in this opening we are not used to easy lines, the match lasted for almost 5 hours. Finally the Chinese grandmaster outplayed her opponent. Nevertheless Zhao Xue proved that she had some luck, especially in some moments. But we know that good luck loves the strong! And that means that Zhao deserves it!
Kosteniuk Alexandra – Ju Wenjun
Alexandra stopped the series of defeats and showed her usual style in this game. The Russian grandmaster showed all her courage in this battle. Her game became one of the most intriguing in the 6th round. Everything happened in the game: the sharp Najdorf variation, the sacrifice and counter sacrifice, the strange castle in the endgame. Unfortunately the Russian grandmaster didn’t use such brilliant opportunities as 26.Bd7 and 27.Re4.
In the conversation Alexandra shared that considered her position to be absolutely winning. And that the game could finish in 20 moves.
The Chinese player admitted that she was very lucky to save Such a game. Also she said that Alexandra played great, but missed good chances.
Lahno Kateryna – Kosintseva Nadezhda
The Catalan opening happened in the game. White gained some advantage in the opening, but Nadezhda managed to find great defensive moves, and the chances became equal. The draw was agreed in the endgame.
During the press-conference Ekaterina said, that she felt her position was better. She admitted that 18.Rac1 wasn’t correct. The question: “Why is the tournament going on not that way?”, Kateryna replied that there were many components. One of them was that she really had been playing a lot during the last time and didn’t feel herself to be fresh enough.
Nadezhda on her side wasn’t satisfied with her position in the opening. The Russian player admitted that her position was kept on threads and she tried to find the only good moves.
Munguntuul Batuuyag – Stefanova Antoaneta
The Bulgarian grandmaster won her third game in a row. This time she defeated the leader of the Mongolian team Munguntuul. The Caro-Kann defense appeared in this game. In spite of the fact the position was equal, the Mongolian player made some decisive mistakes, afforded f-pawn pushing and finally got some fatal weaknesses. Antoaneta transferred the rook on the 4th line easily and took all the weak pawns of Munguntuul. Soon the former world champion converted the material advantage into a victory.
“Antoaneta, will you fight for the first place?” – asked the journalists. “Well, it’s a hard question, – the Bulgarian smiled. – I just try to prepare for the next game. Tomorrow I will face Kateryna Lahno. This year I won against Katya in the European championship, but lost in Rostov. So let’s see…”
Galliamova Alisa – Kosintseva Tatiana
Alisa managed to take herself in hands after yesterday’s unbelievable blunder and showed a high-quality game. She sacrificed a pawn in the opening for the pieces activity. Then took it back and gained a great advantage. But Tatiana did her best to save the game and, because of the opponent’s mistakes, managed to make a draw in the endgame.
At the press-conference Alisa joked a bit, but added that of course the position was sated with good chances and obviously she could use them. Tatiana admitted that she was lucky and expected that Alisa would have used the opportunities.
Anyway Alisa shared that had to win more games that did before and that she would try her best to show good play. On the other hand Tatiana admitted that her result is quite objective because in some games she had been a little bit lucky, in the others hadn’t used all the chances.
Kovalevskaya Ekaterina – Cmilyte Viktorija
Ekaterina managed to stop her draw series and won the first game in the tournament. The Sicilian defence arose in the game, but after a couple of moves it changed to the French defense positions. Katya admitted that the game was complex and of course mistakes happened. She also added that she was lucky enough that Viktorija decided to play and not forced the draw (the variation has some drawn lines). But nevertheless we cannot but admit that the Russian grandmaster outplayed her opponent. The game became one of the most interesting in the round. Viktorija said that she realized that her position was much worse in the end, but of course she tried her best to struggle till the last chance.
Official website: http://nalchik2011.fide.com/index.php
Matching Fischer.