Hot on the board even with -17 temperature outside

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The weather in Khanty-Mansiysk got colder, the temperature went down to -17, but the heat on the boards only rises.

The second games of the 1/8 final of the Women’s World chess championships brought even more decisive outcomes than the first.

Antoaneta Stefanova got a personal reporter

Antoaneta Stefanova took an upper hand on Monika Socko on the first board when she chose the sharp line with White, sacrificed a pawn and converted her attack into a full point. Stefanova advances to the next stage of the competition, she has won all the matches in the main games so far with the great score 5,5 out of 6.

Before the game the players noticed that the numbering of the moves at their score sheets starts from 61. The score sheets were immediately replaced by the arbiters, but the accident brought a couple of smiles

Marie Sebag manages everything even without her usual warm red jacket

In the fourth lap ex-world champion Antoaneta Stefanova from Bulgaria will face Marie Sebag. The French managed to win against Alisa Galliamova in both games. The Russian, who had to win back in the second game in order to proceed to tie-breaks, offered a complex play and even gained a pawn, but her king was unsecured. In her tries to avoid the perpetual check, Galliamova fell under the attack and missed the mating ideas that decided the game in the favor of her opponent.

Alisa Galliamova goes home

Another Russian returns to her hometown after the elimination. Russian champion Natalia Pogonina needed only to win against Anna Ushenina after she lost in the first game. But Black conducted the game cold-blooded and created problems for White. Pogonina managed to make a draw, however, the match score was not in her favor. In the last tournaments – Ukrainian championship, Olympiad and here in Khanty-Mansiysk Anna Ushenina hasn’t lost any game.

This should be considered during the preparation by her opponent in the next round – one of the Kosintseva sisters. Who exactly will it be, the tie-break will decide, because the second game between the sisters ended in a draw too.

Zhao Xue is one more quarterfinalist, who rapidly won against Mariya Muzychuk. The Ukrainian was careless for her own king when she made slow moves on the queenside while the smashing attach was approaching. As a result White managed a quick assault and won the game and the match.

Mariya Muzychuk did not manage to show anything against the pressure of the Chinese

In the fourth lap the rating-favorite will meet Harika Dronavalli from India, who was stronger than Lela Javakhishvili.

Harika Dronavalli: “ Today I think my opponent was really tensed; I could see it from her face. I just started putting a little bit more pressure, tried to create some small threats and at some point she just collapsed. I feel like she did not play her best today, and so I could go to the quarterfinals”.

H. Dronavalli – L. Javakhishvili 

This position after 19.Kf1 perhaps became the key moment in the game.

Black replied by giving a pawn 19…Be6

It was necessary to seek chances in the complex play after 19…f5, with such a variation as an example:  20.Nef6 Bb4 21.Nxb4 (21.Nxg4 Bxe1 22.Nxe5 Ba5) 21…Kxf6 22.Bxb7 Rab8 23.Nc6 Nxc6 24.Rxc6+ Ke7 25.Rc7+ Rd7 26.Rxd7+ Kxd7 27.Bd5 Rxb2 28.Bxf7 – White has an extras pawn, but it is not that easy to convert it.

20.Nexf6 Rac8 21.Rxc8 Rxc8 22.e3 Nf5 23.Rd1

After Black traded her bishop for the knight:

23…Bxd5 24.Nxd5 Rd8

Her position became hopeless.

25.Nc3 b6 26.g4 Nh6 27.h3 a5 28.Ke2 f5 29.gxf5 Nxf5 30.Be4 Nh6 31.a3 Nf7 32.Bd5 Nh8 33.h4 Be7 34.h5 Kh6 35.Rg1 b5 36.Bf3 b4 37.Nd5 Bh4 38.axb4 axb4 39.Rg4 Kxh5 40.Rxb4+ Kg5 41.Rg4+ Kh5 42.Re4+ Kg5 43.Rxe5+ Kg6 44.Nf4+ Kf7 45.Rh5 Bf6 46.Rxh7+ Kg8 47.Rb7

1–0

“At the spare day I am just going to take rest and prepare to my next match against Zhao Xue. I will also go to the supermarket to get some supplies and so will have a short walk”, – said Harika after the game. The player from India confessed that she is not often outside, so she is not bothered by the frost that attacked Khanty-Mansiysk these days.

Besides Kosintseva sisters, the additional match will be played between Irina Krush and Huang Qian. The Chinese managed to come back after her loss in the first game despite the black color.

Irina Krush was convincingly looking in the future, but her plans were ruined by Huang Qian

The third match which outcome will be decided on a tie-break is Natalia Zhukova – Ju Wenjun. Zhukova proved her strong character once again as she won the second game after the loss in the first one. She needed no more no less but 93 moves for it!