 In chess as well as in life women always fight it until the end and today we have witnessed a great first round full of drama, excitement and surprising results! On first board WGM Calzetta Ruiz played as Ivan Sokolov put it in the commentary room an “inspired” game however Caissa failed her just when she needed to find a last little finesse to score the full point:
Goryachkina – Calzetta Ruiz
44...Nxb2? [44...Nxf4+! 45.Kf1 Kf6 was completely winning! Taking the rook leads only to perpetual. Really unfortunate for Calzetta Ruiz but kudos to Goryachkina for finding this final trick! As Alekhine said for himself you have to beat a good player three times: once in the opening, once in the middlegame and finally again in the endgame. Spanish player only failed in the last.]
45.Rxf7+ Kg8 46.Rb7 Nd3 47.Rb8+ Kg7 48.Rb7+ Kg8 [48...Kh6 49.Nf7+ Kg7 50.Ng5+; 48...Kf6?? 49.Rf7#]
49.Rb8+ Kg7 50.Rb7+
½–½
On second board Dzagnidze showed the attacking potential of IQP against Yildiz Kadioglu from Turkey and finished her opponent with a fierce attack. On third, fourth and fifth boards the rating favorites Khotenashvili, Kashlinskaya and Stefanova won their games as well, although in Stefanova’s case it wasn’t without adventures. On 6th board however we’ve witnessed one of the shortest games in European Women’s Chess Championship history. Lithuanian IM Deimante Cornette was swiftly punished for not castling:
Sedina - Cornette
13.Rxd7! [Not too difficult but still pretty] 13…Kxd7 14.Bxc6+ Kc8 [14...bxc6 15.Ne5+ loses the queen obviously]
15.Qe4 [
If bishop is taken either the rook will be lost or mate will follow. Cornette decided to call it a day. A great game by the Italian IM and another lesson why leaving the king in the center is usually not a good idea.]
1–0
The local players started very well. IM Atalik won a nice game but the underdogs WFM Caglar, WFM Hereklioglu and Anacoglu’s wins against IM Zimina, WFM Protopopova and WIM Sieber respectively were quite impressive stuff from the Turkish players.
The second round will start tomorrow (April 12 Friday) at 15:00 local time. We will see heavy clashes on top boards like Dzagnidze – Vega Gutierrez, Badelka – Khotenashvili, Kashlinskaya – Majdan and Matnadze – Stefanova. Don’t forget to follow the live broadcast with excellent commentary of GM Ioannis Papaioannou & IM Can Arduman and perhaps some top-class guests like Ivan Sokolov and Eva Repkova will join like today!
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