Round 4

The fourth round ended up unpredictably peacefully despite the fact that the fight lasted till the end on all the boards. Four out of five matches finished in a draw and the outcome of the last match Ukraine versus Turkey seemed equal as well. Anna Ushenina won against Betul Yildiz, two other games finished in a draw, but Inna Gaponenko was still fighting for a draw against Selen Sop. It seems that after more than 100 moves and 6 hours of playing, talented Turkish player simply did not have the physical strength to win the position with a huge advantage. As a result, Gaponenko made a draw, Ukraine won the match +1.

A very tense struggle in the key match between the leaders China and Russia - all four games were decided. Velentina Gunina won worse a look fight against Ju Wenjun and Alexandra Kosteniuk defeated Huang Qian. In an equal position Natalia Pogonina went for a force line and ended up in a lost position. Alisa Galliamova missed nice tactical blow 16. Bd5 and after that her opponent Qi Gou played presicely and didn’t leave any chance to opponent.



Indian girls showed today that, despite the absence of Humpy, Harika and Sachdev, the team can fight with favorites. Eesha Karavade defeted Nana Dzagnidze, who normally plays very stable, but lost the second game in this event. Georgians immediately equalized the score due to victory of Bela Khotenashvili on the second board. On the fourth board Nino Khurtsidze had absolutely winning position but failed to find the direct win a few times. The victory of Georgia was so close in the match but it finished in a draw.

One more match Romania versus Kazakhstan finished peacefully. Irina Bulmaga got quite comfortable position in the middle game and managed to outplay Gulmira Dauletova. Two other games finished in a draw but Guliskhan Nakhbaeva showed self-possession and steel nerves once again – this time in the game against very experienced Romanian player Cristina Adela Foisor. She outplayed her opponent after long-lasted fight and saved the match for her team.
French team managed to make a draw in the match against the USA and finally gained so long-awaited first team point.
After the fourth round Ukraine caught Russia and China and shares with them the first place. Georgia is 2 points behind.

Round 4 Photo Gallery

Official website



Pictures by Anastasiya Karlovich

More information is available at http://worldchess.kz/en

The third round started with the symbolic move in the game Ju Wenjun-Anna Zatonskikh made by Chinese Ambassador Mr. Zhou Li. He came today to support his compatriots and it’s obviously helped the Chinese girls, who confidently won against the American team with 3,5-0,5 score.

“Turkish team came to learn and gain experience here”, the captain and coach of the team, Adrian Mikhalchishin, said in the interview. Everyone could notice that Turkey showed really stubborn defence in the previous rounds.

Nevertheless the luck was not on the side of Turkish girls today as they lost all the games in the match against Russia.

The outcome of the match Ukraine versus Kazakhstan was not easy to predict till the end. Katerina Lahno relatively quickly outplayed the leader of the team Guliskhan Nakhbayeva but on the last board Inna Gaponenko lost to Abdumalik Zansaya, the youngest participant in the tournament. In the time trouble Inna lost good winning chances and made a few crucial mistakes. The world champion Anna Ushenina was also close to get into big troubles today but her opponent didn’t find very nice move 26…Kh8 and Anna Ushenina got a chance to force a draw. Once again Natalia Zhukova left alone in the playing hall and the outcome of the match depended on the result of her game. After a few hours of play Ukrainian IM got an advantage and played precisely till the end to save the match.

Georgian team has recovered after yesterday's defeat, and showed great result in the match against France. Silvia Collas was the only French player, who managed to grab half a point in the game against Nino Khurtsidze, while all the others were defeated. The only match which finished in a draw was India versus Romania.

After the third round China and Russia still keep leading in the tournament and will play on the fourth round against each other. Ukraine and Georgia shares the third place.

Round 3 Photo Gallery

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Pictures by Anastasiya Karlovich

More information is available at http://worldchess.kz/en

One of the most dramatic matches of the second round was the encounter between two medalists of the previous world team championship, China and Georgia. Despite the fact that Georgian team was the rating favorite in the match, the result was not easy to predict as after relatively quick draw on the last board all the other players continue to fight. Before the first time control the leader of Georgian team Nana Dzagnidze blundered a simple tactical idea and had to resign. The victory of Chinese team was secured after the win of Huang Qian against Bela Khotenashvili.

The young team from Turkey put up a stubborn resistance in the match against the USA. Turkish players on the first three boards made draws with the opponents, whose rating was at least 150 points higher. Nevertheless, Viktorija Ni managed to win on the last board and brought the victory to American team.

The same scenario was in the match France-India – the result on the fourth board was fatal for the final score. Soumyal Swaminathan outplayed Natacha Benmesbah and India won the match.



The leader of the Russian team Valentina Gunina blundered a piece right after the opening and Kazakh player Guliskhan Nahbaevoy didn’t lose her chance to win the full point. As Guliskhan said after the game she was surprised when her opponent decided to play Bc3. It took her 10 minutes to check once again all variations and play the winning move d4. Such course of the match looked promising for the young team from Kazakhstan but Russian players didn’t let their opponents to gain even half a point. The match finished with 3-1 in favor of Russia.
The match between Ukraine and Romania unexpectedly ended in a draw as all four games finished peacefully. It is undoubtedly successful result for Romanian team which placed seventh on the starting list.

As a result Russia and China are on the lead after two rounds. Ukraine and the USA share the third place. In the third round China will meet with the USA and another leader Russia will fight with Turkey. Ukrainian team will face Kazakhstan, the team which already showed they can be really dangerous.

The third round will start tomorrow at 3 p.m. local time.

Round 2 Photo Gallery

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Pictures by Anastasiya Karlovich

More information is available at http://worldchess.kz/en

The first round of WWTC in Astana got under way on the 3rd of March 2012. FIDE President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov made a first symbolic move in the game Nakhbayeva-Zatonskih to start a tense struggle between young ambitious team from Kazakhstan and a rating favorite of the match the team from the USA. For a long time it seemed that the match would finish in favor of the Central Asian team but Dinara Saduakasova, who was so close to the victory, made a mistake and let her opponent to make a draw. Thus, the USA team equalized the score and managed to save face.
There were no surprises in other matches – all other rating favorites managed to win quite confidently.

China and Russia lost only half a point each and was stronger in the matches against France and Romania respectively. The appearance of Alisa Galliamova has come as quite a surprise. It’s well-known that Russian player prefers to travel by train, so just after few hours of rest she was playing chess and contributed to the victory of the team by defeating Alina L’Ami. In the game Kosteniuk-Bulmaga Romanian player sacrificed 2 pawns in the opening but had enough compensation to secure a draw.

It was not difficult for Ukrainian team to outplay Indian team, which came here without such top three seeds as Humpy Koneru, Harika Dronavlli and Tania Sachdev. World Champion Anna Ushenina and Ukrainian champion Maria Muzychuk won against Nisha Mohota and Rout Padmini and, after two draws on other boards, the final score is 3-1 in favor of Ukraine.
After the first round four teams are in the lead – China, Russia, Ukraine and Georgia. 

Round 1 Photo Gallery

Official website


The first symbolic move by FIDE President



Pictures by Anastasiya Karlovich

More information is available at http://worldchess.kz/en

The opening ceremony of the WWTC took place in Duman Hotel after the press-conference. FIDE President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov welcomed all participants and guests and gave diplomas to players from the team of Kazakhstan Guliskhan Nakhbayeva and Dinara Saduakassova, who recently complete their WGM norms.

The Chief Arbiter of the tournament Takis Nikolopoulos conducted the ceremony of drawing of lots. Each team was invited to the stage and the top player was proposed to choose a flower with the number. The top seed of Ukrainian team Katerina Lahno luckily chose the number one, although Ukrainian team doesn’t leave the first rank. Each of the players got flowers from the organizers. Opening Ceremony Photo Gallery

Games will start at 3 p.m. local time. Please follow online comments by GM Sergey Shipov and WGM Anna Sharevich her on the webside or http://worldchess.kz/ru/online and http://worldchess.kz/en/online

The pairings of the first round:

FIDE President welcomes all participants and guests

Chief Arbiter of the tournament Takis Nikolopoulos


Dinara Saduakassova recieves her WGM certificate


Guliskhan Nakhbayeva recieves her WGM certificate

On the 2nd of March, 2013 Duman Hotel of Astana hosted the press-conference devoted to the start of the WWTC. Asset Isekeshev, President of the Chess Federation of the Republic of Kazakhstan, welcomed all participants, guests and chess fans gathered in the capital for the world team championship among women! “For the third time Kazakhstan together with FIDE organize a tournament of such a high level. I sincerely thank the organizers of this tournament - Chess Federation of the Republic of Kazakhstan, FIDE and personally its President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov”.


Asset Isekeshev welcomes all participants, guests and chess fans

Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, FIDE President: “I would like to congratulate Astana on this wonderful event. I am very glad that another World Championship is being held here in Kazakhstan.”
During the press-conference it was announced that Kazakhstan has another ambitious plan - to host the World Chess Olympiad in 2018. Anna Ushenina, acting world champion, spoke about the expectations of Ukrainian team: “Every team wants to win first place in Astana. Our team - is not an exception. I will try to show the best result. In such tournaments there are no weak opponents.”


Women's World Champion Anna Ushenina and FIDE President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov

Press-conference Photo Gallery



Chief Arbiter Takis Nikolopoulos answers the questions

Durind his visit to Astana President Ilyumzhinov met with Akim of Astana Imangali Tasmagambetov. The both sides discussed the issues of cooperation, in particular the specific matters on construction of chess academy. Akimat allocates for the construction a land area of 2 ha. At the meeting also present were Asset Isekeshev, President of Kazakhstan CF, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Industry and New Technologies of Republic of Kazakhstan, Nurlan Sauranbaev, Vice President of Kazakhstan CF, Berik Balgabaev, FIDE President’s Assistant.
The Kazakhstan side took an initiative on hosting the 2017 World Cup in Astana and 2018 World Chess Olympiad considering the growing infrastructure for the International Exhibition EXPO 2017. Mayor of Astana said with confidence that these events will be held on a very high level.


A friednly chess game with a promising player from Kazakhstan Zhansaya Abdumalik