The solar eclipse day brought us a rare event in women’s chess – 11 games out of 16 ended in draws. Cautious play? Not at all, it’s just the players are more evenly matched at this stage of the tournament.
Grandmaster Ilya Smirin, the Russian-language commentator of the official broadcast, talks about the first games of the 2nd Round.
– I think the quality of the games today was much higher than in the first round. First of all, the remaining players are stronger on average. Second, the participants are getting warmed up and are less nervous, as some of them have already achieved their minimal task. All these helped to produce some very good games.
The number of draws is quite surprising. Such percentage is more characteristic for an elite men’s event, and is a clear sign of very tense struggle.
I would point out a draw between Alexandra Goryachkina and Anna Muzychuk, which was played on a very high level.
I was very impressed by Humpy Koneru’s willpower that brought her a deserved victory. In a drawn position Koneru kept searching for winning chances, took big risks, and her persistence and bravery were rewarded in the end.
Valentina Gunina made a very risky bluff against Olga Girya, but it worked. Black did not need to take the rook on d6, but play something calmer, 29…Qc7, for example. And before that Olga could even prevent the knight sacrifice, retreating her rook to a different square. Of course Gunina’s 23. g4 was a very provocative and risky attempt, but this is perfectly in line with Valentina’s style. Today she was right, and the winner cannot be blamed.
In my opinion, Alisa Galliamova played very well or at least much better than in the first match, when she could easily get eliminated. The Armageddon game clearly took its toll for Tatiana Kosintseva, who blundered badly in the endgame. Her position was much worse, but winning still required a lot of effort from White. Well, after Tatiana gave away the pawn on a4, the rest was simple.
Ekaterina Kovalevskaya played with Victoria Cmilyte and went for a sharp variation, which she probably did not learn that well. She was taking a lot of time, but still mishandled the position and in the end even blundered, though by that time she was probably already lost. Victoria Cmilyte played quite well in that game.
Also I would like to mention Gaponenko-Stefanova, in which White carried out a very interesting piece sacrifice in Paul Morphy’s style. It is hard to say whether it was completely sound, but it surely was daring. Inna Gaponenko got a good game, then made an error and was on a brink of a defeat. However, in the end her bravery was rewarded, and the game ended in a draw.
After the first day of the 2nd round three Russians – Girya, Kosintseva, Kovalevskaya – and two Chinese players – Lei Tinjie and Shen Yang – need to win to remain in contention. Soon we will find out those who advance to the 3rd round and those who move on to the draining tie-breaks…
Photos by Anastasia Karlovich, Vladimir Barsky, Boris Dolmatovsky, and Eteri Kublashvili