Hangzhou: Dzagnidze and N. Kosintseva play “R v. R+B” ending for 56 movesIn the eighth round of the women’s super-tournament in Hangzhou, the Indian Harika proved unable to defeat Ju Wenjun, which means Ju Wenjun is now guaranteed at least shared first place. Hangzhou Round 8: Harika – Ju Wenjun and other games liveAt 09:00 CET the penultimate round of the women’s super-tournament in Hangzhou got under way. The leader, Ju Wenjun, is playing Black against the Indian Harika, a point behind. The other player still in with a chance of tournament victory, Nadezhda Kosintseva, also has Black against Nana Dzagnidze. All the games can be followed on the live broadcast. Kramnik beats Ponomariov in Dortmund Rd 1The traditional July super-tournament got under way in Dortmund today, with Vladimir Kramnik heading the list of players. The tournament explains why not only Kramnik, but also Ukraine’s Ruslan Ponomariov and America’s Hikaru Nakamura are absent from the World Team Championship. The other three players are: Anish Giri (Holland), Le Quang Liem (Vietnam) and George Meier (Germany). The tournament is a double round-robin. Crucial round in Hangzhou women’s tournamentThe seventh round of the women’s super-tournament in Hangzhou started at 09:00 CET this morning. The leader, Ju Wenjun, has a chance to guarantee herself at least shared first place in the tournament with two rounds to go. The Chinese WGM, currently with a rating performance of 2810, has the white pieces against Marie Sebag of France. Her closest rival, Nadezhda Kosintseva of Russia (1 point behind) has Black against Zhao Xue, while Dronavili Harika of India (1.5 points behind) is playing Nadezhda's sister, Tatiana. WTC Rd 5: Radjabov–Ivanchuk and other games live nowThe fifth round of the World Team Championship started in Ningbo, China just under an hour ago. The key encounters see the leaders, Armenia, take on China, while Azerbaijan play Ukraine. Russia will hope to put their crushing defeat against Azerbaijan behind them in their match against tournament underdogs, Egypt. You can follow all the games, with Houdini's computer analysis, on the WhyChess live broadcast. The following partial screenshot shows the full line-up of today's games: Ju Wenjun: a new star of world chess?The women’s super-tournament in Hangzhou, China, resumed today after the rest day. In the sixth round the leader, Ju Wenjun, beat perhaps her last rival in the fight for first place – the current World Champion, Hou Yifan. Now Ju Wenjun leads her closest pursuer – Nadezhda Kosintseva – by a point, but has already played both the Kosintseva sisters. In the remaining three rounds she faces players in the lower half of the tournament table, so the title's hers to lose. Hangzhou Rd 6: Hou Yifan – Ju Wenjun and other games live nowThe sixth round of the women’s super-tournament in Hangzhou, China has just got under way. The key encounter after the rest day is between two Chinese players: Hou Yifan and leader Ju Wenjun. In order to fight for first place it seems that only a win will suit the World Champion, who is currently 1.5 points behind. Tatiana Kosintseva has Black against Sebag, while Nadezhda has White against Zatonskih. All the games can be watched on the live broadcast. WTC Round 4: Mamedyarov finally has the black piecesThe fourth round of the World Team Championship started at 09:00 CET in Ningbo, China. The day’s key encounters are Russia – Azerbaijan and Ukraine – Hungary. The Azerbaijan team has for the first time changed its adopted tactics, and Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, in his game against Ian Nepomniachtchi, will have the black pieces. That’s connected to the fact that for the second match in a row Azerbaijan is playing with the black pieces on the board one. Rauf Mamedov, who would also have ended up with that colour, lost to Judit Polgar yesterday, and has been rested. |
