Humpy, Harika sail into Round 2 of World Chess Championship

Koneru Humpy (File Photo)

KHANTY MANSIYSK (RUSSIA): Koneru Humpy effortlessly defeated Denise Frick of South Africa while D Harika outplayed compatriot Soumya Swaminathan to move to the second round of the World Women’s Chess Championship 2012 on Monday. Humpy scored an easy win, though Harika had to struggle a bit against Soumya. The other higher-ranked players also cruised to the second round and topping the list was reigning world champion Yifan Hou of China who scored easily over Sachini Ranasinghe of Sri Lanka, former Women’s World Chess Champions Alexandra Kosteniuk and Antoaneta Stefanova.

Amongst the fancied, Ju Wenjun of China was the only exception as she suffered a reversal against Atousa Pourkashiyan of Iran and the two will now battle it out in the tie-break games of shorter duration.

Here is the second game from Round 1 between Koneru Humpy and Denise Frick. Black eventually resigned because of the forced mate lined up after 26.Rc7

Koneru Humpy – Denise Frick

Result: 1-0

Site: Khanty-Mansiysk, Rus

Date: 12.11.12

1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.¤f3 ¤f6 4.e3 e6 5.¥d3 ¤bd7 6.b3 b6 7.¥b2 ¥d6 8.¤bd2 ¥b7 9.O-O O-O 10.¤e5 £e7 11.f4 c5 12.cxd5 cxd4 13.¤xd7 ¤xd7 14.¥xd4 exd5 15.£h5 g6 16.¦f3 f5 17.¦g3 £e6 18.¤f3 ¥c5 19.£h6 ¥xd4 20.¤xd4 £f6 21.¥xf5 £e7 22.¥xg6 ¢h8 23.¤f5 ¦xf5 24.¥xf5 ¤f6 25.¦c1 ¦f8 26.¦c7 …1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.¤f3 ¤f6 4.e3 e6 5.¥d3 ¤bd7 6.b3 b6 7.¥b2 ¥d6 8.¤bd2 ¥b7 9.O-O O-O 10.¤e5 £e7 11.f4 c5 12.cxd5 cxd4 13.¤xd7 ¤xd7 14.¥xd4 exd5 15.£h5 g6 16.¦f3 f5 17.¦g3 £e6 18.¤f3 ¥c5 19.£h6 ¥xd4 20.¤xd4 £f6 21.¥xf5 £e7 22.¥xg6 ¢h8 23.¤f5 ¦xf5 24.¥xf5 ¤f6 25.¦c1 ¦f8 26.¦c7 …

(26…¤d7 27.¦xd7 ¦f7 28.¦xe7 ¥c6 29.¦xf7 ¥e8 (0:00:05) 26.Rc7)

(26…¦f7 27.¦xe7 ¤g8 28.¦xf7 ¤xh6 29.¦xh7# (0:00:07) 26.Rc7)

(26…¦g8 27.¦xe7 ¦xg3 28.£xf6+ ¢g8 29.¥xh7# (0:00:07) 26.Rc7)

Apart from Humpy and Yifan Hao, Anna Muzychuk of Slovenia, Zhao Xue of China, Pia Crampling of Sweden, Nadezhda Kosintseva and Valentina Gunina of Russia, Kateryna Lahno of Ukraine and former champion Antoaneta Stefanova of Bulgaria also completed a 2-0 white wash against respective opponents.

The USD 450000 prize money Championship will be reduced to 32 players from 64 in the next round and more fighting matches will ensue in the rounds to come. Those who return home after the first round will be richer by USD 3000. The tiebreaks will be played on Tuesday and the first game of the second round will be played on Wednesday.

Results Round One: Sachini Ranasinghe (Sri) lost to Yifan Hou (Chn) 0-2; Koneru Humpy (Ind) beat Denise Frick (Rsa) 2-0; Anna Muzychuk (Slo) beat Amina Mezioud (Alg) 2-0; Natalia Khoudgarian (Can) lost to Zhao, Xue (Chn) 0-2;Kateryna Lahno (Ukr) beat Mona Khaled (Egy) 2-0;Melissa Castrillon Gomez (Col) lost to Nadezhda Kosintseva (Rus) 0-2; Valentina Gunina (Rus) beat Gu Xiaobing (Chn) 2-0; Pia Cramling (Swe) beat Ghader Pour Shayesteh (Iri) 2-0; D Harika (Ind) beat Soumya Swaminathan (Ind) 1.5-0.5; Atousa Pourkashiyan (Iri) beat Ju Wenjun (Chn) 1-1 goes to tiebreak; Antoaneta Stefanova (Bul) beat Marina Romanko (Rus) 2-0; Sopiko Khukhashvili (Geo) beat Elena Danilian (Arm) 1-1 goes to tiebreak; Anna Ushenina (Ukr) beat Deysi Cori (Per) 1.5-0.5; Anna Zatonskih (Usa) beat Carolina Lujan (Arg) 1.5-0.5; Alexandra Kosteniuk (Rus) beat Tatev Abrahamyan (Usa) 1.5-0.5; Marie Sebag (Fra) beat Irina Berezina (Aus) 1.5-0.5; Madina Davletbayeva (Kaz) lost to Tatiana Kosintseva (Rus) 0.5-1.5; Guo Qi (Chn) lost to Natalia Zhukova (Ukr) 0.5-1.5; Nino Khurtsidze (Geo) beat Yelena Dembo (Gre) 1.5-0.5; Huang Qian (Chn) drew with Shen Yang (Chn) 1.5-0.5; Li Ruofan (Chn) drew with Irina Kruch (Usa) 1-1 goes to tiebreak; Ingrid Aliaga Fernandez (per) lost to Viktorioja Cmilyte (Ltu) 0.5-1.5; Svetlana Matveeva (Rus) drew with Natalija Pogonina (Rus) 1-1 goes to tiebreak; Alisa Galliamova (Rus) drew with Ekaternia Kovalevskaya (Rus) 1-1 goes to tiebreak.

The 8th Ugra Governor Cup starts on Wednesday, November 14th. This competition is a part of the Russian Cup series, and its prize fund exceeds $50,000. More than 100 players from Russia, Ukraine, Belarus and Azerbaijan have already registered for this event, including Anton Korobov (2702), Nikita Vitiugov (2700), Alexey Dreev (2654) and Igor Kurnosov (2645). The World Championship participants who get eliminated in the Round 1 will also be able to join the Governor Cup, which ends on November, 24th.