Chess

The 1st Women's World Team Championship took place in Ekaterinburg in Russia from 19-30 May, bringing together 10 national teams from all corners of the globe.

Dominated for many years by Georgia, "Women's Chess", (ignoring Judit Polgar who has long since renounced women-only tournaments) is today the preserve of China. In last year's Turin Olympiad, however, the Chinese women were third behind the Ukraine and Russia, so they certainly had something to prove.

This they did in style, winning eight of their nine four-board matches and dropping just a single two-all draw against Georgia for a fabulous 17/18 match points ahead of Russia, 15 and the Ukraine, 14. The other scores were Georgia, 11, Poland, 9, Germany and Vietnam, 8, Armenia, 5, Czech Republic, 3 and Botswana, 0.

Not only did the Chinese win every match but one, but they won most of them heavily including three 4-0s against Botswana, Poland, and, somewhat incredibly, Russia.

Playing on board two below Zhao Xue, 13-year-old Hou Yifan made 7.5/9 including this efficient win against Russia.

In a quiet English, Kosintseva got in d4 but found it difficult to defend this pawn and ended up surrendering the two bishops. Her position remained playable but after the a file was opened and she failed to play 20.c5!?, Hou Yifan seized the initiative.

27.Ne2 was a mistake under pressure and in the diagram 27...Qa4! won material. 30.Qf4 Rc8 simply lost the c pawn but as played the exchange dropped off.

Nadezhda Kosintseva v Hou Yifan

Ekaterinburg 2007 (round 2)

English Opening

1.c4 c5

2.Nf3 Nc6

3.Nc3 Nd4

4.e3 Nxf3+

5.Qxf3 g6

6.Be2 Bg7

7.0-0 d6

8.Rd1 Nh6

9.d4 cxd4

10.exd4 Nf5

11.Qe4 0-0

12.Bf1 Bd7

13.Be3 Rb8

14.Rac1 Re8

15.d5 Nxe3

16.Qxe3 a6

17.b4 a5

18.a3 axb4

19.axb4 Ra8

20.Ne4 Ra4

21.Qb3 Qb6

22.b5 Qa5

23.Qe3 Ra3

24.Rd3 Ra2

25.Nc3 Ra1

26.Rxa1 Qxa1

27.Ne2 (see

diagram)

27... Qa4

28.Qf4 Be5

29.Qh4 Bf6

30.Nc3 Qc2

31.Qg3 Bf5

32.Re3 Bd4

33.Ne2 Bxe3

34.Qxe3 Qxc4

35.Nc3 Qc5

36.Qxc5 dxc5

37.f3 Ra8

38.g4 Ra3

39.gxf5 Rxc3

40.fxg6 hxg6

41.Kf2 Kg7

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