2008 WUC Chess: Day 2
March 6th, 2008
Predictably, the tension ran higher during the second day of the championship. It was a great surprise to see the top players halving out in the first round then in the second … The women’s tournament was especially unpredictable. Both top players of the championship Pogonina and Van Yu lost. One can’t say that they faced a chapter of accidents, both were simply outplayed. Natalia who played with White didn’t cope with the initiative from Dauletova and was crushed by the overwhelming attack. As for the Chinese player, she was tempted with a «poisoned» pawn. Then Yanjindulan took the king of Van Yu after several moves, so the game was crowned by a standard rook sacrifice.
If the success of the Mongolian chess player was unexpected, then 20-year old Gulmira Dauletova from Chimkent is an experienced fighter despite her relatively low rating (2261). She is Kazakhstan women’s reigning champion and the most promising young talent of the country. Gulmira successfully plays for men’s teams. Zhan Jiling took two points, and two Russian girls Vasilevich and Kovanova couldn’t win for the second time in a row, both drew their games. Irina took on Besdorp from Holland and Baira had a game against Paridar from Iran. Just after the triumph the teammates embraced Paridar.
The men players made up for the setback of the Russian girls (Kharashuta lost to boot, as a result – 1 out of 4). Just as it happened in the first round, all four players won. They looked doubtful only for the first few hours, but then the players got the upper hand. Smirnov even mated his Brasilian opponent (it was his second mate at the tournament). Lysyj had a real clash with a local talent and an extra player Pokasaniev (by FISU rules each country is authorised to enter a maximum of eight competitors but by the same rules the host country is entitled to nominate an extra player if the number of participants in the Championship is odd). Except the Russian men’s quartet the only player who has two points under his belt is Hamed Musavin, an Iranian FIDE Master. The Chinese players lost almost all their chances to win the tournament. Liang Chong who played with White drew his game against a FIDE Master from Switzerland and Zhou Jianchao (also the white player) suffered a defeat to Aidar Baimoldinov, a Kazakh player who has no rating.
Team Classification
1. Russia: 7 – 8 2. Mongolia: 6.5 3. Kazakhstan: 6 4. Iran: 5.5 5. China: 5 etc.
More info at http://www.wucc2008.org/results.htm.
