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Monday, 11 June 2012 |
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 The second day of the fourth stage of FIDE Women Grand Prix in
Kazan presented three resultative games. The biggest surprise became the
victory of Turkish player Betul Yildiz over world champion Hou Yifan.
Chinese player sacrificed a piece in a very complicated position and passed by
the winning variation in time trouble. Betul used a mistake of her opponent and
transferred the game into the winning ending. Playing white Anna Muzychuk sacrificed a pawn
in the game against Antoaneta Stefanova and
in the sharp position managed to defeat former world champion. Viktorija
Cmilyte got the position with a huge advantage playing with black against Alexandra
Kosteniuk but missed good chances to win the game in the time trouble and even lost.
Alisa Galliamova could have scored the second point today but didn’t choose the
exact move in the time trouble, playing against Tatiana Kosintseva. As a result,
game finished in a draw. Two more games Katerina Lahno – Nadezhda Kosintseva,
Elina Danielian – Humpy Koneru ended peacefully. After the second round three
players Anna Muzychuk, Alisa Galliamova and Alexandra Kosteniuk share the first
place with 1,5 points.
Kateryna Lahno - Nadezhda Kosintseva 1/2 - 1/2
“The game was quite difficult today. I think both of us were not really sure what`s going on. I just grabbed a pawn and was trying to remember how to play but have no idea if I played correctly”, -Katerina Lahno said on the press-conference. She was calculating 9…e3 for Black and she was planning to answer f3 keeping in mind Ne4 but Nadezhda said it was too responsible decision to play this way, so she preferred quiet Bf5 instead. Players also checked the possibility to play 15…Bh3 instead of Bf8. Katerina planned to answer 16.Qa4 Qf5 17.Nde4 Ne4 18. Bh3 Qh3 19. Ne4 and the compensation for two pawns are not enough. Another critical moment happened on the 20th move where white had a choice between a3, Rc4 and Na7. The force endgame, which could appear after 20.Rc4 a6 21.Nc7 Nc7 22. Rc7 Rd8 23. Be4 Rd2 24. Bf5, looked promising for white. Ukrainian player was not satisfied with her play in the end of the game as she had feeling she missed some chances and didn’t use her edge.
Elina Danielian - Humpy Koneru 1/2 – 1/2
Elina Danielian said that during whole game she had an advantage but she was not sure how to convert it into more. One of the possible options for white was to play sharper move 28.e4 instead of 28.Bh2. “ I was calculating Nb4 29.e5 Qc4 30. Nc4 Ne4 31.Nd6 but it was too difficult to make such decision especially in the time trouble. Black could have tried Nh5 as well and position also looked unclear.” Humpy Koneru was checking 28.Bh4 move instead of 28. Bh2 but agreed that e4 was also interesting continuation. In the final position White could have tried to play 36.Ra1 Nc3 37. Bc7 R8d7 38.Be5 Ne2 39. Kh1 Nd4 but both players could not estimate the position after 39… Nd4.
Hou Yifan - Betul Yildiz 0-1
“The position was very complicated in the opening. My opponent found the only move Qe4. Both of us were in time trouble and it was not easy to calculate all variations. I think move Re1 and Red1 are not very good,” – said Hou Yifan. Players showed that 23.Rd1 was much better. After 23…Qd1 24.Bd1 Rd1 25.Kg2 Rg8 26.Kh3 there are two threats Qh6 and Qc5. Hou Yifan confirmed she underestimated the move 24…Qg6. Betul Yildiz explained during the press-conference that it was not easy for her to make a move after white found such a good resource like Qg4: “ I saw that Qd6 is not so good but I don’t know what else to play”.
Alisa Galliamova - Tatiana Kosintseva 1/2 - 1/2
There are so many variations to remember that I’m not sure what was happening in the previous games in that variation. I knew g4, I’ve seen couple of games but still could not remember all variations. Probably my opponent could not remember them either (laughs). I think I played quite well and received good initiative. Unfortunately the lack of time didn’t let me to find the winning move Qe6“, commented the game Alisa Galliamova. Tatiana agreed that her position is lost after Qe6. Alisa showed two possible variations for black where they could have tried to stop her initiative. Tatiana could transfer the game into the rook endgame after 25…Rd8 and after 29…Rc3 30.bc Qd3.
Anna Muzychuk - Antoaneta Stefanova 1-0
“It was an interesting game but obviously not very good for black. I didn’t realize how strong is this plan with f3 and g4. I think after Qh7 my position is lost, so I had to change something before. I thought that white had draw maximum but then I realized that even I’m pawn up my knight is too far and its not easy to bring it back. Maybe the best practical chance was to sacrifice the knight.”
In the 40th move Antoaneta get the chance after Anna Muzychuk played 40.Qe1?!. “My opponent shocked me so much with that move that immediately I made another mistake 40…Bf4 (laughs). Rd8 was much better”.
Alexandra Kosteniuk - Viktorija Cmilyte 1-0
Both players agreed that Black had winning position in the middle game. “I was trying to play solid but it was opposite. Black had clear plan after the opening and I didn’t really know what I should do”, explained Alexandra Kosteniuk. Viktorija Cmilyte said it was not necessary to play Rc3, other variations were also good for black. The position after 39th move was still worse for white but Alexandra was glad that game was transferred to that endgame. Players agreed that 40…Ne3 was a mistake because white rook got an opportunity to move to the 7th rank.
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