Lucky Number Eight

Ekaterina Smirnova reports on the IV Women’s Chess Championship

The program featured three tournaments: the “Masters” super-round-robin, the prestigious “Challengers” and the “Futures.” Women’s chess is notoriously unpredictable, but the tournament in Bukhara took it to another level. Leaders constantly rotated, favorites fell in crushing defeats, and the swing in rating points. Best left unmentioned.

In the Main Tournament, the rating favorite Stavroula Tsolakidou struggled significantly. The Greek player finished in the last place, scoring only 2.5 points out of 9. Meanwhile, Ulviyya Fataliyeva from Azerbaijan celebrated a well-deserved victory. By securing three consecutive wins at the finish, she reached 6.5 points, edging out Nana Dzagnidze by half a point. Nana had led for most of the distance but lost momentum towards the end, finishing with four draws.

I still remember Ulviyya from youth competitions. In 2010, she won the European Girls’ U14 Championship. After stepping away from tournaments for a couple of years, she made a triumphant return, immediately pushing her rating close to 2350. Now the Azerbaijani Grandmaster is clearly on the new rise again!

Harika Dronavalli took third place with 5.5 points. Leya Garifullina and Afruza Khamdamova both scored 5 points. Olga Girya finished with 4.5, Umida Omonova with 4, Yuliia Osmak with 3.5 and Gulrukhbegim Tokhirjonova with 2.5.

The Challengers tournament was also far from easy for the favorites. Several players from the top half of the starting list suffered a total collapse, losing around fifty rating points each. Moving from the somber to the positive. The champion is one of Russia’s most promising young players Diana Khafizova! After a disappointing performance at the Aeroflot Open, Diana made a full comeback. Heading into the final round, she was the sole leader with 7 points out of 8, leading former World Rapid Champion Anastasia Bodnaruk by half a point. However, in the decisive game, Diana lost to the Mongolian player Bat-Erdene Mungunzul. Meanwhile, Anastasia drew with our compatriot Anna Zhurova allowing her to catch up with Diana on points. After the eighth round, the tie-break coefficient was in favor of the St. Petersburg player (Bodnaruk). However, as we know, Buchholz is unpredictable; in the final round, Diana’s previous opponents performed better, ultimately securing her the tournament victory.

I recall last year’s tournament – another young Russian star, Anna Shukhman (a year older than Diana), took the silver medal there and became the Russian Women’s Champion six months later. Khafizova has even improved upon that result – should we expect a victory from her in the Superfinal?

Third and Fourth places were shared by Bat-Erdene Mungunzul and our Maria Pershina, both finishing with 6.5 points. Both players started the tournament poorly – Maria lost in the first round, and Bat-Erdene started with a meager 0.5 out of 2 – but both demonstrated a powerhouse finish. We already mentioned the Mongolian’s victory in the decisive round, while Maria, in the last two rounds, consecutively defeated the tournament’s rating favorites: second seed Ekaterina Goltseva and top seed Olga Badelka. Unfortunately, the tie-break system placed Bat-Erdene in third, preventing an all-Russian podium.

The Belarusian players also made waves. Those who regularly face them at the Russian Championships in Sochi know how dangerous our friends from the brotherly country are over the board. Alexandra Tarasenka finished fifth, Varvara Polyakova and Veranika Abramkina also broke into the top ten, gaining a combined 150 rating points. Meanwhile the former Belarusian and top seed Olga Badelka finished only sixth.

In the Futures tournament, the convincing victory of Uzbek player Sitora Saparova cannot go unmentioned. Heading into the final round with a perfect 8 out of 8, she led the field by two points. Although she stumbled at the finish, losing the final game, her lead was insurmountable. Interestingly, both Sitora and Diana started the tournament as the eighth position in starting rank . A coincidence or is eight truly a lucky number?

Next stop – Tashkent, where the traditional Agzamov Memorial starts in just two days!