Assaubayeva, Tsolakidou, and Tan Win • lichess.org

Tournament Information

The Lichess broadcast coverage can be found here.

Schedule

Leaderboard

GM Tan Zhongyi vs. GM Elisabeth Paehtz 1-0

The round 1 encounter between GM Tan Zhongyi and GM Elisabeth Paehtz was a long affair which ultimately saw Tan convert the (in)famous knight + bishop vs. lone king endgame. Tan started the game with a slow Delayed Alapin which gave her a symbolic advantage in the form of the ideal central pawn formation of e4 and d4. Paehtz did well to position her pieces on good squares and as her bishop on g7 opened up, it looked like Tan had to be careful. Tan played solidly enough and it was in fact Paehtz who went for an interesting material imbalance sacrifice on move 33. Surprisingly, despite Black seemingly picking up sufficient material, it was White who was better as the latent power of Tan’s bishops would prove to offer more than enough compensation. After many adventures, Tan won some material and was ready to convert the resulting knight + bishop endgame, which was trivial for Tan:

https://lichess.org/study/embed/tPIvysxr/vrlnlQfz#0

IM Batkhuyag Munguntuul vs. IM Stavroula Tsolakidou 0-1

IM Stavroula Tsolakidou‘s sideline choice against IM Batkhuyag Munguntuul paid off well as she was never in trouble against the dreaded Ruy Lopez. Opting for the Cozio Defense against the Ruy Lopez, which is now becoming trendy at the higher levels of chess, Tsolakidou was able to push d5 quickly and castled long, achieving a solid and comfortable position. With her subsequent moves, it may have looked like Tsolakidou was playing for a draw, but rook + bishop vs. rook + bishop opposite-colored bishop endgames are not as drawish as they seem. As Tsolakidou pushed her pawns on the queenside and infiltrated with her king, Munguntuul collapsed under the pressure and had to resign a few moves later as Tsolakidou’s passed pawn threatened to become a queen on the next move.

https://lichess.org/study/embed/tPIvysxr/SRalmveb#0

IM Nurgyul Salimova vs. IM Bibisara Assaubayeva 0-1

IM Bibisara Assaubayeva is playing on home turf, but that didn’t seem to affect her in her game against IM Nurgyul Salimova as she was pressing as Black right from the start. By not revealing her castling intentions, Assaubayeva was able to make use of quick and powerful h-pawn pushes to weaken Salimova’s king position. Salimova was only slightly worse, but when she allowed Assaubayeva to pick up the b2-pawn on move 21, her position was very difficult to play and she did not find the best defensive resources. Eventually, Assaubayeva converted on the 41st move.

https://lichess.org/study/embed/tPIvysxr/SVBdHvaw#0

GM Kateryna Lagno vs. GM Aleksandra Goryachkina 1/2-1/2

GM Kateryna Lagno missed a very good chance against GM Aleksandra Goryachkina after the latter misplaced her major pieces on moves 20, 21, and 22, but the position looked much easier to convert in hindsight as Goryachkina always had a lot of counterplay against White’s weak king.

https://lichess.org/study/embed/tPIvysxr/hKIiapEk#0

IM Divya Deshmukh vs. GM Koneru Humpy 1/2-1/2

The Scotch Game is a rare guest at top chess nowadays, but IM Divya Deshmukh clearly wanted to surprise her experienced opponent with some deep preparation in the Scotch. Her choice was wise as was applying pressure on Black, but GM Koneru Humpy defended well and the game never strayed too far away from equality.

https://lichess.org/study/embed/tPIvysxr/GCZTNsVi#0

Round 2 Pairings