Chessbase Reports on WWCC Round 4

Women’s World Championship – Ushenina in the semis

21.11.2012– IM Anna Ushenina from Ukraine faced a formidable opponent in round four of this knock-out event: Russian GM Nadezhda Kosintseva, rated close to 90 points above her. In the first game Anna was on verge of defeat but managed to save the game, in the second she won nicely with a pawn sacrifice. Stefanova beat Sebag to equalise their match. There will be three tiebreak encounters on Thursday.

[Note:  You can download PGN and also play through some of the games of the final eight at Chessbase.  This is an excerpt of the full article.]

Anna Ushenina

The first game between Nadezhda Kosintseva (Russia) and Anna Ushenina (Ukraine) was extremely nervous and full of action. The players castled to the opposite sides of the board and began preparing for mutual attacks.

Kosintseva, Nadezhda–Ushenina, Anna½–½B94WWCC 201241.3Khanty-Mansiysk20.11.2012

 

1.e4c5
2.f3d6
3.d4cxd4
4.xd4f6
5.c3a6
6.g5bd7
7.e2h68
.h4g6
9.0-0-0e5
10.b3e7
11.f3b5
12.a3c7
13.b1f8
14.g4b7
15.f2g7
16.h4ab8
17.e3b6
18.c1c4
19.d3a8
20.g1b4
21.axb4b6
22.g2xb4
23.g5hxg52
4.hxg5d7
25.d1a3+
26.bxa3xc32
7.b2c7
28.c4c6
29.f4b7
30.f2b6
31.xa6xa6
32.xa6a4
33.c4xb2
34.xb2exf4
35.xf4 f6??Ushinina: "I had spent too much time in the middlegame, and made a couple of serious mistakes under time pressure, when all I had to do was calculating a couple of simple lines." 35...e8for instance would have kept Black on the offensive. 36.a2??A missed chance. "When I played 35...f6, Nadezhda began to think, and I instantly noticed that she can take on f6 twice. However, she rejected this move."
36.gxf6+xf6+
37.xf6!xf6
38.xd6+36...hf8White still has the advantage, but is now unable to turn it into a full point. 37.d4d738.e6a4
39.df1be840.d5d741.e6a442.b3d743.e6and draw by repetition. " In the final position Nadezhda still had a big advantage and could torture be for a long time," said Anna Ushinina. ½–½

In the second game Anna sacrificed a pawn and, after Nadezhda some imprecise moves by her opponent won it back with a decisive advantage. For the first time in her life the 27-year-old Ukrainian IM has advanced to the semifinals of such an event.