Women Russian Chess Championship-09: Higher League |
Written by Natalia Pogonina | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Saturday, 13 June 2009 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Gunina Valentina ("bronze"), Tairova Elena ("gold"), Zaiatz Elena ("silver") Photo: russiachess.org The Women Russian Championship 2009-Higher League has been held at Voronezh in June, 1-9. The participants were rather strong players who were aiming at qualifying for the Russian Women Chess Superfinal. A lot of players and only 5 to succeed - that guaranteed exciting chess struggles. Elena Tairova won first 5 games in a row, and has spared only three draws in the remaining rounds. 1st place and 7,5 out of 9. While Tairova convincingly occupied the top spot, other players have been battling for the other 4 qualifying places. Only the last two rounds have put an end to the fight: the silver medal went to Elena Zaiatz (7 out of 9), who, just like Tairova, hasn't lost a single game. Places 3-5 went to players who scored 6 points: Gunina (3rd), Stepovaia (4th), Manakova (5th). Gunina and Manakova had been especially fierce ladies - they hadn't made any draws! So, now we know the names of 10 participants of the Russian Women Chess Superfinal (it's usually a 12-player round robin). Five people who qualified from the Higher League (see above), 3 winners of Superfinal-2008 - Kosintzeva Nadezhda, Kosintzeva Tatiana and Anastasia Bodnaruk. Also top-3 Russian women players by FIDE rating: Alexandra Kosteniuk, Natalia Pogonina (Tatiana Kosintseva has already been mentioned, so someone else will take part). Therefore, the organizers will have to find 2 more players, or opt for a 10-player event. The Superfinal will be held from 16 to 30 of December, 2009. A few tactical shots:
And here's an interesting fragment of a game - you can look through my annotations & also study it yourself since it's very complicated.
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Last Updated ( Sunday, 14 June 2009 ) |
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