After two games of the final match, the reigning Champion of the World loses to the only semi-finalist who has never captured the chess crown yet.

In the first game, Ju Wenjun and Lagno played out a rare hybrid of the King’s Indian and the Grünfeld Defense. Black, despite having continuations that were healthier from the positional point of view, entered the variation where her pawn structure became compromised and her dark-squared bishop ran the risk of remaining shut-in until the end of the game.

Ju Wenjun – K. Lagno

The best move here is 17.Qb1!, with rough variations 17…Qxb1+ 18.Rxb1 b6 19.h4 or 17…Qa3 18.Qb3 Qxb3 (after 18…Qa5+ 19.Kf2, White has to defend her е6-pawn) 19.axb3, and then, again, h4. In both cases, Black’s position is difficult. However, after the text move 17.Bf2 g5!, the play sharpened.

18.Rb1 Qa3 19.Qb3 (more prudent is 19.0-0) 19…Qa5+ 20.Kf1 gxf4 21.gxf4 Rf8 22.Qf3.

Computer points out that the White’s last erroneous move does not defend the f4-pawn at all: with 22…Bxf4! 23.Nxf4 Rxd4!, Black sacrifices her rook and launches a powerful attack, for example, 24.Bxd4(24.Rxb7 Qa6+; 24.Bg3 Qxe5) 24…Nxd4 25.Qe3 (25.Qf2 Qxe5 26.Re1 Qb5+ 27.Kg1 e5) 25…Qxa2 26.Rc1 (26.Re1 Qc4+ 27.Kg2 Nc2) 26…Rxf4+! 27.Qxf4 Qe2+ 28.Kg1 Nf3+, winning both white queen and the game. The lesser evil is 23.Kg2 Bd2, resigning herself to a loss of a pawn.

On the next move, Lagno had a chance to gain an advantage without resorting to such strong remedies.

22…Qxa2 23.Kg2. Again, this is not the best decision. After 23.Rxb7 Qa6 24.Qh5+ Rf7 25.Rb3 Nxd4 26.Bxd4 Rxd4 27.Kg2, White is able to blunt the onslaught, though not without difficulties, but now, after 23…Rg8+ 24.Kh3 Qc2, her position becomes rather alarming.

However, Black continued 23…Qd5, her pieces backed out in the ending, and soon it was already Champion of the World who had an edge.

Immediate attack 32.Rcc8 is parried with 32…Rb2. While activating her knight through 32.Ng3, White keeps in mind an amusing opportunity 33.Rcc8 Rb2 34.Nh1!, and Black is in for difficult problems. However, Ju preferred to return to the 3^rdrank with her rook instead and contented herself with a peaceful outcome.

Another draw, just like in five previous games with regular time-control between those opponents in the period from 2011 to 2013. In their 7^thgame, the balance has been broken.

In the opening, the Russian, who was playing White, employed the continuation 9.Nfd2 that quickly comes into fashion now (previously, there almost solely occurred 9.Nbd2). Ju Wenjun herself introduced it into practice at a high level in her game with short time control against Guo Qi; more than that, the game was played according to the Bronstein (or Basque) System, where opponents simultaneously play each other on two boards. Later the move was adopted by such players as Carlsen, Karjakin, Ding Liren, Dominguez, Fedoseev… White gives up a pawn and agrees to double pawns on an outer file for the sake of activating his bishop pair quickly.

K. Lagno – Ju Wenjun

However, in the current game Lagno traded her light-squared bishop for the knight almost immediately and restored material equality. The resultant rooks-and- bishops-of-opposite-colors ending looked perfectly safe for Black; nevertheless, after making several obvious-looking moves, she found herself in a position where her active chances were practically non-existent, while White was able to display the initiative on both sides of the board.

Worth attention is 17…Rfe8 18.Bc3 Bf5 19.Rd2 Rad8, and after 20.Rad1 Rxd2 21.Rxd2 f6, it is rather difficult for White to carry out f2-f3 in view of …Re3, and if 20.Rxd8 Rxd8, then Black temporarily controls both open files. Even if White manages to avoid exchanging the second pair of rooks and put the question to a bishop through f2-f3 and е2-е4, the weakening of the d3-square would be in favor of her opponent.

With 26…Kf7 27.g5 h5, Black was able to keep the h-file closed. In the game, after 26…Rd7 27.g5 hxg5 28.hxg5 Kf7 29.gxf6 gxf6 30.Rh1, white rook gained additional space, so it became more difficult for Black to follow its movements.

Here Ju missed her chance to restrain this obnoxious spy with 33…Bc8. In the continuation she had chosen, White loosened her opponent’s defense with her last-rank maneuvers, got close to weaknesses in the Chinese player’s camp and eliminated the с5-pawn.

Even after that, the engine points at serious resistance – after all, White has no passed pawns yet, and her edge pawns do not correspond with her bishop’s color. However, in the practical game, psychological problems added to Ju’s objective difficulties on the board; the World Champions made more unlucky moves, and her defense crumpled.

Throughout the game, Lagno’s play was faultless.

The second game of the final match between Ju Wenjun (China) and Kateryna Lagno (Russia) was played on November 20 in the Ugra Chess Academy. Lagno played White.

In the Catalan Opening with the early exchange of the queens White employed a temporary pawn sacrifice, obtaining the bishop pair in return. She regained the material soon, however, one of her bishops was exchanged for a knight, and an ending with rooks and opposite-colored bishops ensued.

White’s position was slightly better due to favorable pawn structure and more active pieces. Kateryna traded a pair of rooks and made a pawn break on the kingside. Ju Wenjun was forced to defend passively on both sides of the board.

With precise maneuvers Lagno won a pawn, and then the opponent’s mistakes allowed White to claim the game. Ju Wenjun resigned on the move 59.

The third game will be played on Wednesday, November 21. Ju Wenjun will have the white pieces.

The final match consists of four games with classical time control. If the match is tied after four games, a tie-break will ensue.

Pairings and results 

Photos

Videos

The first game between the defending World Champion Ju Wenjun (China) and Kateryna Lagno (Russia) was played on November 19 in Khanty-Mansiysk. The World Champion had White.

A hybrid of the King’s Indian and Gruenfeld Defense arose. The game quickly became very concrete, and demanded a lot of calculation from both players. White claimed an opening advantage, as Black’s dark-squared bishop remained enclosed on the kingside. The players abstained from castling for quite a while. If White had maintained the grip and traded the queens, Black’s position would become precarious, however, Ju Wenjun played a little too soft, and Lagno was able to carry out a freeing break.

Both sides were under the heavy time pressure and missed a number of promising opportunities in the subsequent sharp battle. At some point, the champion made a serious mistake, but was not punished for it. Kateryna decided to simplify the game, once again giving White an edge, however, Ju Wenjun played very solidly, with a draw in hand. A draw was agreed to on the move 36.

The second game will be played on Tuesday, November 20. Kateryna Lagno has White.

The final match consists of four games with classical time control. If the match is tied after four games, a tie-break will ensue.

Pairings and results 

Photos 

Videos 

November 18 is the only rest day at the Women’s World Championship in Khanty-Mansiysk. Tournament participants, arbiters, members of the Appeals Committee and organizers got their first chance to digress from chess, relax and have fun.

In the morning, the tournament officials took a sightseeing trip around Khanty-Mansiysk. Although this city has hosted more than a dozen of major chess events, some of this year’s guests were not yet familiar with history, traditions, and sights of the Ugra capital. And, of course, a traditional photo shoot with the bronze mammoths, symbols of the city, was not forgotten as well.

In late afternoon, the chess group came to watch hockey. Not all of them were mere spectators. Kateryna Lagno, one of the two finalists of the World Championship, did the ceremonial first face-off for the Higher Hockey League game between Ugra (Khanty-Mansiysk) and Lada (Tolyatti).

Katerina confessed she was very happy to do it. “I did it for the first time and really liked it. My eldest son plays hockey; I was happy to receive the puck as a gift, and I will give it to him.” Kateryna also said that she supports the same team as her son – CSKA Moscow.

The first game of the final match between Kateryna Lagno (Russia) and the defending champion Ju Wenjun (China) will be played tomorrow.

The struggle in semifinals was not particularly fierce. Six game were enough to determine participants of the Championship’s main match.

In the opening of the first duel in the match Kosteniuk vs. Ju Wenjun, the World Champion’s play was more precise that in the game she lost to Adams in the previous year. This time, the march of the White’s outside pawn was not enough to stop her from placing her pieces harmoniously. After move 14, the а6-pawn was defended with rook, bishop and queen, so it was hard to imagine that it would find itself in danger in the near future. However, Kosteniuk’s active plan did not give due consideration to a certain tactical subtlety.

А. Kosteniuk – Ju Wenjun

18…Nxa6! It turns out that 19.Rxa6 is going to run into double blow 19…Qb7. In fact, White could have held the balance in a highly inventive manner: 20.Nc6! Qxa6 (if 20…Qxc6 21.f3, then the а7-pawn is lost) 21.Nxe7+ Kh8 22.Qe3! (White promptly creates threats on the kingside) 22…Qb7 23.Qh3 Qxe7 24.Bg5 h6 (24…g6? 25.Qa3!) 25.Bxh6 gxh6 26.Qxh6+ Kg8 with perpetual check. However, the former Champion of the World did not employ this variation and simply continued playing a pawn down; moreover, her moves only looked solid and safeguarding, but actually could have resulted in a snappy finish.

19.Be3?! (she should have chosen 19.Bg5) 19…Rd7 20.f3?! Nb4 21.Ba4 Bc5 22.Rad1 Rfd8 23.Qf2.

Here the Chinese player was not aggressive enough. 23…Qe5! would have critically increased her pressure against the d4-knight, which shielded both insufficiently defended rook on d1 and bishop on e3. After subsequent а7-а6, White suffers bad losses.

After the text 23…Qc8 24.Nc3, Black has at his disposal a blow 24…Rxd4! 25.Rxd4 (25.Bxd4 Rxd4 26.Rxd4 e5) 25…Bxd4 26.Bxd4 Nd3 27.Qh4 (27.Qe3 Nxb2 28.Bxf6 gxf6) 27…e5, and then Nxb2, magnifying her material advantage.

Ju once again chose the continuation24…Nc6 that was not the strongest one;exchanges followed, and then Black faced a long realization. However, even during the current championship, the World Champion has more than once demonstrated that she does not mind technical work. After queens had been exchanged, White started advancing her kingside pawns, thus assisting her opponent in creating an outside passed pawn. This soon led to the loss of pawns on the opposite flank, and the rest was elementary.

In the second game Ju, just like she had done in a similar situation during her match against Zhai Mo, played out the Maroczy Bind, never allowed a single sharp continuation to happen, drew and guaranteed an extra day-off before finals for herself.

There seemed to be nothing remarkable about regular games of the match M. Muzychuk vs. Lagno. In the first one, the position after opening was level and symmetrical; in the second, in the rare branch of the Spanish Opening, Open Defense, Muzychuk accepted a pawn sacrifice with Black, promptly returned material and obtained comfortable equality. Then she unnecessarily transposed to a rook ending with bishops of opposite colors, agreed to a pawn weakness in her camp, but drew effortlessly enough. However, in retrospect we can say that the former Champion of the World’s excessive belief in the redeeming quality of bishops of opposite colors was to do her a disservice later.

In the first 25-minute tiebreaker, the Open Defense was played out again. Lagno carried out an exchange sacrifice that had already occurred in practice and yielded poor returns to White. Muzychuk also gained a good position and could have struggled for the advantage in the endgame, but returned material instead and transposed to pure bishops-with-opposite-colors ending.

K. Lagno – М. Muzychuk

Black should have kept her king on е7 in order to have an opportunity to move it either to f6 or to d6 at the right time. Should white king depart for the queenside to help his a-pawn, Black would play …h3; after gxh3, she would deflect the white bishop with her f-pawn and take on е6, or give up her bishop for the a-pawn with a draw.

Muzychuk allowed the enemy king to move to d5, and after the white bishop turned up on the diagonal h3-c8, it was already impossible to stop distant passed pawns.

In the return game, the Ukrainian castled queenside when most of her pieces were on the opposite flank. Then there followed an erroneous knight maneuver that was an invitation to a crushing attack for Black.

M. Muzychuk – K. Lagno

18…Na4! 19.hxg5. On 19.c3, there follows 19…Ba3!; a rough continuation is 20.bxa3 Qxa3+ 21.Kd2 Qxc3+ 22.Ke2 (22.Ke3 Nb2) 22…Qc2+ 23.Kf3 h5, and the king has nowhere to hide.

19…Bd4 20.Kd2. After 20.c3, any sacrifice wins: 20…Nxb2,20…Nxc3, 20…Bxc3.

20…Qb4+ 21.Ke2 Qxb2 22.gxf6 Nc3+. Black obtained material advantage and continued her assault that was crowned with success fairly soon.

The tie-break between Kateryna Lagno (Russia) and Mariya Muzychuk (Ukraine) ended in favor of the Russian, who won the match 3-1. Yesterday Alexandra Kosteniuk (Russia) lost to the defending champion Ju Wenjun (China).

Thus, Kosteniuk and Muzychuk received the bronze medals of the Women’s World Championship. The medals were presented to to them by Sergey Artamonov, director of the Ugra Department of Physical Culture and Sport.

The 12th World Champion Alexandra Kosteniuk (2543) and the 15th World Champion Mariya Muzychuk (2545) were among the rating favorites of the Championship. On the way to the Semi-final, Kosteniuk defeated Daniza Vasquez Maccarini (Puerto Rico), Ni Shiqun (China), Harika Dronavalli (India), and Anna Muzychuk (Ukraine). Mariya Muzychuk eliminated Shahenda Wafa (Egypt), Ekaterina Atalik (Turkey), Mobina Alinasab (Iran), and Zhansaya Abdumalik (Kazakhstan).

The tie-break between Kateryna Lagno and Mariya Muzychuk took place on November 17 in Khanty-Mansiysk.

Lagno played White in the first game. In the Open Variation of the Ruy Lopez Muzychuk improved her play compared to the previous game, and White did not get anything real out of the opening. Lagno went for the most principled continuation, trading an exchange for two pawns, but after the queens went off the board, it was White who needed to play accurately to hold the balance. However, Mariya returned the material, transposing to the opposite-colored bishop ending, which turned out difficult for Black. In the time trouble, Muzychuk was unable to defend precisely. Lagno won two pawns and then stretched Black’s defense to break through her blockade. Muzychuk resigned on move 62.

White went for the Anti-Berlin setup in the second game. Both players castled queenside. Black’s position in the middlegame looked more pleasant, as the white bishop was out of play. Black developed a strong attack against the king, utilizing remote positions of White’s pieces. The monarch was forced to run, losing a lot of material along the way. Muzychuk gave up having made her 28th move.

Kateryna won the match 3-1 to qualify for the Final of the Women’s World Championship.

Therefore, the fate of the chess crown will be decided in the final match between Ju Wenjun (China) and Kateryna Lagno (Russia). The Chinese player will start with the white pieces.

November 18 is a rest day.

The final match consists of four games with classical time control. If the score after four games is 2-2, a tie-break will ensue on the November 23.

Pairings and results

Photos

Video