The Final of the 72nd Ukrainian Women Chess Championship is taking place from 24th September to 3rd October at the Students’ Palace of National University “Law Academy Yaroslav the Wise” in Kharkiv.

The situation on the top of the crosstable is changing with every next round. The overnight leader Anna Ushenina, playing with white pieces, made a quick draw with the top-seeded Kateryna Lahno

Mariya Muzychuk demonstrated good sporting character and in a long maneuvering play defeated Irina Andrenko. Though, the game was equal till the very endgame. Muzychuk now catches Ushenina on the shared first place.

Another member of the national team, Natalia Zhukova, made a step forward as she won the second game in a row. Today she crushed Anastasiya Rakhmangulova with Black pieces. After a quiet opening, Zhukova masterfully took the initiative and finished the game with a powerful attack on the White king. But as it often happens, the most spectacular lines, where Black was ready to give up the queen, were left behind the board.

Unfortunately, the remaining three games were of completely different sort. The draws have been signed before move 23 in all games, despite having positions full of resources.

Perhaps the Sofia rules should have been in force… Hopefully, in last two rounds we will see a thrilling fight for the title of Ukrainian Women Champion!

Results of round 7:
 

Kononenko – Gaponenko ½
Muzychuk – Andrenko 1-0
Ushenina – Lahno ½
Dolzhykova – Gritsayeva ½
Rakhmangulova – Zhukova 0-1

Standings after round 7:
 

1-2 Anna Ushenina (Kharkiv, 2433) – 5
1-2 Mariya Muzychuk (Stryi, 2466) – 5
3 Kateryna Lahno (Donetsk, 2542) – 4,5
4-5 Natalia Zhukova (Odessa, 2442) – 4
4-5 Inna Gaponenko (Herson, 2404) – 4
6 Tatiana Kononenko (Kramatorsk, 2474) – 3,5
7 Oksana Gritsayeva (Feodosia, 2319) – 3
8 Anastasiya Rakhmangulova (Nikolaev, 2254) – 2,5
9 Irina Andrenko (Kharkiv, 2228) – 2
10 Kateryna Dolzhykova (Kiev, 2313) – 1,5

Pairings of round 8, Oct.2, 15:00 (UTC + 02:00):
 

Kononenko – Muzychuk, Andrenko – Ushenina, Gaponenko – Zhukova, Gritsayeva – Rakhmangulova, Lahno – Dolzhykova.

Live games are available here
Report by GM Valeriy Aveskulov and Anatoliy Yavorsky
Official website

Chess Daily News from Susan Polgar
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