Sports

World Women’s tiff on in Russia

LET’S PLAY CHESS - Edgar De Castro - The Philippine Star

November 4, 2018 | 12:00am

The FIDE Women’s World Championship, a 64-player knockout match play, begins today in the Autonomous Okrug’s famous city of Khanty Mansiysk, Russia.

The 64 participants selected were filtered by the following requirements:

(a) last cycle’s finalists and semifinalists

(b) current ratings

(d) FIDE nominatedformat will be two match games, with tiebreaks, for rounds of 64, 32, 16, 8 and 4. The finals will be played over four games, including tiebreaks, and time control of 90 minutes for 40 moves and 30 minutes to finish the game, will be adopted.

Reigning world women’s champion and Olympiad gold medalist Ju Wenjun of China, headlined the participants, including former world champions Alexandra Kosteniuk of Russia, Mariya Muzychuk of Ukraine, Tan Zhongi of China, Antoanetta Stefanova of Bulgaria and Anna Ushenina of Ukraine.

The championship, which offers $60,000 to the winner, will run up to Nov. 23.

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The second Shenzhen Masters Classic, which opens tomorrow in Shenzhen, China, is one of the year’s strongest tournaments thus far.

The Chinese tandem of Ding Liren and Yu Yangi, Olympiad gold medalists and ranked fourth and 12th in the world, led the list of six super GMs competing in the Category 20, double round-robin event. The field included world No. 5 Anish Giri of the Netherlands; world No. 6 Maxime Vachier-Lagrave of France; Poland’s Radoslav Wojtaszek, winner of the 2018 Isle of Man and ranked 16th in the world, and Olympiad bronze medalist Nikita Vitiugov of the host city.

A total cash prize of $90,000 will be at stake with the champion getting $20,000.

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Here Black’s Knight maneuver in the opening looked good, but it proved ineffective, as the Knight, later in the game, was driven from square to square by a pair of Rooks, bringing about a short and spicy finish. A fine performance by the Chinese stalwart.

Chinese League 2018

W) Bu Xiangzhi (China)

B) F. Vallejo Pons (Spain)

Queen’s Gambit Declined

1. Nf3 d5

2. d4 Nf6

3. c4 e6

4. Bg5 dxc4

5. Nc3 a6

6. a4 Nc6

7. e3 Na5

The start of Black’s ineffective maneuvering, and as the early chess writers wrote, many games have been lost when the Knights wandered away from their best defensive posts in the opening. In this case, the c6 square. A much better alternative is 7...h6.

8. Nd2 c5

9. dxc5 Bxc5

10. Bxc4 Bd7

10...h6 seems a promising alternative (10...Nxc4 11. Nxc4 leaves Black with dark square weaknesses) as after 11. Bh4 0-0 12. Be2 Be7 13. 0-0 Bd7 14. Nf3 Bc6, Black has fair chances for equality.

11. O-O Rc8

12. Bd3 Be7

13. Qe2 Nd5

13...h6 is preferable, according to the engine.

14. Bxe7 Nxc3

After 14...Qxe7 15. Nxd5 exd5, White has a clear edge because of Black’s isolated d pawn, and 14...Nxe7 15. Nce4 0-0 16. b4 also favors White.

15. Bxd8 Nxe2ch

16. Bxe2 Kxd8

16...Rxd8 17. b4 Nc6 18. b5 is unpleasant for Black.

17. b4 Nc6

18. Nc4! ....

White continues sharply. After 18. b5 axb5 19. axb5 Nb4 20. Ne4 Ke7 21. Ra7 f5, Black may hold on the endgame.