Seven players take the lead in the first game of the third round.
Yesterday’s tiebreaks were very exciting but, more importantly, eye-opening. For the most part, the pre-tournament favourites pulled through, but one can already see that the new generation are very good at rapid and blitz.
Vantika (born in 2002), Kamalidenova and Song Yuxin (both 2005), Omonova (2006) and specially Lu Miaoyi (2010), have honed their skills through practice and dedication, making them more effective and suitable for the intended purpose – rapid and blitz tiebreaks.
Elnaz Kaliakhmet, also born in 2010, has yet to display her own rapid and blitz skills – she unexpectedly took down GM Nino Batsiashvili in the second-round classical games!
It’s make or break time!
This afternoon I could feel the tension in the room. With only 32 of the original 107 players left in the mix, qualifying to the fourth round of sixteen is already a huge success: a free day, a decent pay-jump and a chance for a shot at the title.
But sometimes you have to play it safe. The first game to finish was IM Carissa Yip’s 13-move draw against GM Vaishali Rameshbabu. Playing with White, and visibly surprised by Vaishali’s opening choice, Yip decided to force a quick three-fold repetition in the Symmetrical variation of the English Opening.
Checking with my database, this particular draw has already been played quite often at the highest level. Unfortunately, the local Netflix crew that came to the venue to record some footage of the American star will have to return tomorrow for the second game of the match!
It didn’t take too long for another couple of games to end. GM Anna Muzychuk played solidly in the classical line of the Greco Gambit and forced a draw by perpetual check on move 22 against IM Song Yuxin, while IM’s Polina Shuvalova and Lela Javakhishvili clocked in a 98% accuracy score with no inaccuracies to draw just after the 30-move threshold.
But from that point onwards the battle was ferocious and the wins started to roll in.
Indian IM Vantika Agrawal scored the upset of the day by defeating GM Kateryna Lagno on the White side of the 5.Na4 Grunfeld side-line. Vantika already enjoyed a big positional advantage in the middlegame, but Lagno’s 21…Nxe5? just precipitated a winning sequence that left the player from Delhi with an extra piece.
In her postgame interview and game analysis, a very happy Vantika explained her thought process.
Shortly afterwards, with all the games approaching the time control, three games finished with a decisive result.
IM Divya Deshmukh had already equalised comfortably with Black against IM Teodora Injac, but the position was still in the drawing zone around move thirty. However, with less than three minutes for the last ten moves, Injac started to play inaccurately and Divya was able to pick up a couple of pawns and eventually the full point.
Meanwhile, GM Bella Khotenashvili was also under three minutes with sixteen moves to go against GM Mariya Muzychuk, in a complicated position.
The correct move was 24.b3, protecting the c4 pawn. After the exchange of queen’s, White should be able to hold the position, according to the engine. However, after she played 24.Qc2? Muzychuk captured the c4-pawn with her knight and won an exchange shortly afterwards.
In her postgame interview with Charlize van Zyl, Muzychuk said that she thought her opponent had missed 24.Qc2 Nxc4 25.Rd1 Qb6! with the double threat on the e5 rook and also 26…Na3+ winning the queen, because she started to shake her head.
GM Zhu Jiner also achieved a head start in her match against IM Alexandra Maltsevskaya, with a model game on how to increase the pressure against your opponent’s king in the advance variation of the Caro-Kann.
Things slowed down a bit after the time control scramble until seed number one GM Lei Tingjie managed to convert the full point in a queen ending against former World Champion GM Antoaneta Stefanova.
Ending of the day
Playing with Black, Lei Tingjie has an extra passed pawn in a pure queen ending. With a few precise moves, she was able to force the exchange of queens and take home the full point.
43…Qf1+ 44.Kh4 Qe2! Threatening checkmate on g4 and the pawn on h2 45.Kh3 Qe6+! 46.Kg2 Qd5+ and Stefanova resigned. After the exchange of queen’s White’s king is too far away to stop the a-pawn.
A few minutes later, GM Nana Dzagnidze finally forced her opponent to resign when there was no hope left in the position. GM Valentina Gunina blundered a tactic on move eighteen but kept fighting until the bitter end.
More or less at the same time, IM Yuliia Osmak converted her two extra pawns against IM Lu Miaoyi, notching up a very important win in her hopes to qualify for the next round.
Amazing endgame studies
One of the most amazing positions of the tournament occurred in the game between IM Meri Arabidze and GM Alexandra Kosteniuk. The former 2021 World Cup winner missed an endgame study-like win and had to settle for a draw even though she had an extra rook. Check out the unbelievable move sequence she had to find to win the game!
In the rest of the games of the round, GM Harika Dronavalli (vs IM Stavroula Tsolakidou), IM Klaudia Kulon (vs GM Humpy Koneru), IM Irina Bulmaga (vs GM Tan Zhongyi), IM Meruert Kamalidenova (vs WGM Anna Shukhman) and finally WFM Elnaz Kaliakhmet (vs WIM Umida Omonova) were pressing during the whole game and enjoyed good chances to win, but all five of their opponent’s defended tenaciously and achieved a draw.
Written by IM Michael Rahal (Batumi, Georgia)
Photos: Anna Shtourman
About the tournament:
Scheduled to take place from July 6th to July 28th, the 2025 FIDE Women’s World Cup will gather together in Batumi (Georgia) the world’s best female chess players. A total of 107 players from 46 different federations are set to participate in the event, including seventeen of the current top twenty!
Chess legends, seasoned professionals and emerging talents will play for the $50,000 first prize, in addition to three qualifying spots for the Candidates.
