Round 4 report
Saturday, 26 February 2011
Elina Danielian is leading with 1.5 points ahead of Martha Fierro and Marie Sebag. Playing with Black, she managed to develop dangerous attack and won against Nana Dzagnidze.
Maia Chiburdanidze, Xu Yuhua and Marie Sebag were stronger in their games against Lilit Mkrtchian, Batkhuyag Munguntuul and Zhu Chen accordingly. Humpy Koneru drew against Antoaneta Stefanova. Pia Cramling made her fourth draw against Martha Fierro.
Xu Yuhua – Batkhuyag Munguntuul 1:0
Taimanov variation in Sicilian Defence was chosen by Black in the game Xu Yuhua-Munguntuul. Black entered the unpleasant position, playing inaccurately in the opening, and let White to get a big advantage.
Xu Yuhua: I think Black’s move 14…Nd7 was a mistake (diagram). Instead she could have played a6 and not allowed my knight to go on c7.
Batkhuyag Munguntuul: I decided to enter some complications after 14…Nd7 but I`m not sure it was the right idea. I just didn’t like my position after 14…a6 because White could continue 15.Rad1, 16.Qg3. It would not be easy to put my knight on e5 any more. I just didn’t see that White could play first 17.Bd4 and later on 18.Nc7. After that my position was difficult: she had two bishops and I had too many weaknesses. It was not possible to hold it any more.
Martha Fierro – Pia Cramling 1/2 : 1/2
Black didn’t get any serious trouble after English opening which was played in the game Fierro-Cramling. Both sides were not able to get a tangible advantage, and so the game finished by perpetual after 42 moves.
Pia Cramling: Yes, it was my fourth fighting draw today but here you can only fight. I thought in the opening it was a little bit more comfortable for me but, after Martha found a good plan, I think it was about equal. After we exchanged some pieces I thought I could play against her pawn on e4 but she also had a plan on the queen’s side (diagram). Maybe I could have played something better before we had traded pieces because the way I played was not enough to fight for more.
Martha Fierro: I think I was a little bit worse after the opening. I saw some threats from Pia on the king’s side. Maybe I should have taken with the knight on e4 on the 9th move or a3 on 8t move but I have to check it.
Nana Dzagnidze – Elina Danielian 0:1
Classical Queens Gambit was handled in the game Dzagnidze-Danielian. With an early attack by playing g4, White entered a sharp position with chances for the both sides. After a few not obvious mistakes from White, Black’s attack became very strong.
Nana Dzagnidze: I had a better position after the opening but I underestimated my opponent’s attack. Maybe I had to play e4 but I didn`t know the attack of Black would be so dangerous.
Elina Danielian: Yes, I also think that Nana had to play e4 after my move c4 (diagram). The position is worse after she hadn’t played that move and had refused to play in the centre. I think it was a key moment and after 17.e4 I prefer White’s position. But with all those time troubles anything could happen. I saw that attack of my opponent would be finished: I’d be able to block her pawns and my knight on f8 would hold the position. White could not even sacrifice anything in that position and I’d just move my pawns on the Queenside.
Full article here.
I like to see Sebag win.