An Armageddon bid tiebreaker was required in the US women’s Championship Semis. Irina Krush and Anna Zatonskih were tied after two normal matchgames and two rapid tiebreakers. Krush bid the maximum 45 minutes, almost guaranteeing white while Zatonskih bid 27 minutes. Black has draw odds in Armageddon and Krush lost. Zatonskih meets Tatev Abrahamyan, who beat Camilla Baginskaite in the other semis, also in a tiebreaker but not Armageddon.
The men’s finals is a rematch of 2010, with Kamsky meeting Yury Shulman. Last year, Kamsky won an Armageddon playoff for the title. Kamsky beat Sam Shankland in one semi, while Shulman beat Robert Hess.
The Russian Team’s championship ended in a fantastic finish. HSM-64 caught up with Tomsk400 and finally surpassed them. Both teams scored 20 Match points (2 for a win, 1 for draw) in the 12-team round robin. They drew 3-3 in a penultimate round matchup and both won the finals.
But HSM 64 managed 47 game points (6-board matches and a maximum score = 66) while Tomsk had 46.5. Standout performances included Tomsk’s Igor Kurnosov’s 8.5/9 on board six and 2893 tournament performance rating (TPR) and HSM-64’s Fabiano Caruana scored 8.0/10 (2852) for HSM-64. Ponomariov on board one for Tomsk also registered 2828 TPR.
Hou Yifan underlined her mental strength and dominance of women's chess by taking the first Chinese Women's Masters in Wuxi. The 17-year-old world champion suffered an early loss to Ding Yixin but she finished clear of the field with 7 points (TPR=2636) in the 10-player Round-robin. ShenYang and Ju Wenjin tied for second with 6 each. Humpy will have a hard time in the world title match if Hou maintains this hot streak of form. The Indian GM will need to be superbly prepared.
The diagram, BLACK TO PLAY (Kurnosov Vs Najer, Tomsk Vs HSM64, Russian Teams 2011) is from the crucial sixth board encounter and it features fantastic combinative ideas. Black's ahead in the race of opposite-castled pawn storms.
Najer played 29...Rf8. Instead 29...b3! is a violent attack that probably wins for black though even the engines aren't 100 per cent sure. Example variations are 30.axb3 axb3 31.cxb3 Nc3+! 32.bxc3 Rxb3+ 33.Kc1 Rcxc3+ 34.Kd2 Qf8! or 31.c4 Nc3+!! 32.bxc3 Qf8! 33.Rh2 Ra8 34.Rf2 Be8 35.Qc1 Ra4 followed by Rca8 and White is lost.
Play continued 30.Nf3 f6 31.exf6 Qxf6 32.Qxf6 Rxf6 33.Ne5 Be8 34.Rg1 Rb7 35.g5 hxg5 36.Bd3 Rg7? Decisive error 36...Nd6! 37.Rxg5+ Rg7 38.Rxg7+ Kxg7 39.Rg1+ Kh8 is equal. <B>37.Ng4 Rf4 38.h6 Rh7. 38-Rb7 39. Ne5</B> targets the g5-pawn.
Now after 39.Bxh7+ Kxh7 40.Rdf1 Bg6 41.Rxf4 gxf4 white displays sharp technique 42.Rh1 f3 43.Kc1 Nd6 44.Nf6+ Kh8 45.Rg1 f2 46.Rf1 Nf7 47.Ng4 Kh7 48.Rxf2 Bf5 49.Nf6+ Kg6 50.Ng8 Nxh6 51.Nxh6 Kxh6 52.Rf4 b3 53.cxb3 axb3 54.a4 (1-0)
Devangshu Datta is an internationally-rated chess and correspondence chess player
