The results of four matches were decided today. Thus, Humpy Koneru, Katerina Lahno, Ju Wenjun and Zhao Hue were promoted to the next stage. The fate of the other four matches Cmilyte - Skripchenko, Muzychuk M. - Harika, Kosteniuk - Ruan Lufei and Zhu Chen - Hou Yifan will be determined in the tie-breaks tomorrow. Playing with white pieces Zhu Chen equalized the match score after her loss in the previous game. The game Koneru – Zatonskih lasted only 14 moves. In the final position Indian player could win a pawn and fight for a win in the game but preferred to fix her victory in the match and accepted a draw.
Indian GM Koneru Humpy v. USA Im Anna Zatonskih |
Moving to Round 4:
Koneru
Zhao
Lahno
Ju Wenjun
Going to play-off:
Kosteniuk - Ruan Lufei - Defending Champion Kosteniuk's third play-off. Will exhaustion begin to show?
Hou Yifan - Zhu Chen - A surprise. Most people probably expected Hou Yifan to win easily.
Cmilyte - Skripchenko - this will be a great play-off! After her miscalculation today, what will be Skripchenko's strategy tomorrow?
Harika - Mariya Muzychuk - another great play-off in store! I don't under-estimate either of these chess femmes. I wish both of them would aim for GM titles by competing in more mixed events. They've got what it takes.
I am so sad to see USA's Anna Zatonskih go and Greece's IM Yelena Dembo go, two personal favorites. I didn't check, but I do believe that each of them bettered their performance from the 2008 WWCC.
Play-offs tomorrow. Four more women will be eliminated after the play-offs tomorrow, leaving eight for Round 4. Who will go, and who will stay? Round 4 starts on Monday, December 13.
No comments:
Post a Comment