U.S. Women's Chess Championship: Zatonskih leads by half a point after 5 rounds

WFM Tatev Abrahamyan in

a second-place tie with IM Irina Krush

Hello Everyone!

IM Anna Zatonskih pulled away from the rest of the field with a half-point lead after five rounds at the U.S. Women's Championship being played at St. Louis. She beat WIM Iryna Zenyuk with a nice Trompowski. Incidentally, Zatonskih has used a different opening in each of her games so far.

Meanwhile, Irina Krush drew her game with WGM Camilla Baginskaite to stay in joint second position with WFM Tatev Abrahamyan. The latter won her game against WFM Abby Marshall.

Results of Round 5

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1. WIM Beatriz Marinello-WGM Sabina Foisor 0-1

2. WFM Tatev Abrahamyan-WFM Abby Marshall 1-0

3. IM Anna Zatonskih-WIM Iryna Zenyuk 1-0

4. WGM Katerina Rohonyan-WIM Alisa Melekhina ½-½

5. WGM Camilla Baginskaite-IM Irina Krush ½-½

Standings after Round 5

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1. IM Anna Zatonskih 4.5

2. IM Irina Krush 4.0

3. WFM Tatev Abrahamyan 4.0

4. WGM Sabina Foisor 2.5

5. WIM Alisa Melekhina 2.5

6. WGM Camilla Baginskaite 2.0

7. WIM Iryna Zenyuk 2.0

8. WGM Katerina Rohonyan 1.5

9. WIM Beatriz Marinello 1.5

10. WFM Abby Marshall 0.5

Here is the nice game by IM Anna Zatonskih. You can run it in our pgnplayer or watch it in flash below. There are some nice videos, photos and reports also on the official website.

PGN: 1. d4 Nf6 2. Bg5 d5 3. e3 g6 4. Bxf6 exf6 5. c4 c6 6. Nc3 dxc4 7. Bxc4 Bd6 8. Nge2 f5 9. Qd2 Nd7 10. Bb3 Nf6 11. h3 Qe7 12. O-O-O Be6 13. Bxe6 Qxe6 14. Qc2 O-O 15. Kb1 b5 16. Nc1 a5 17. Rhe1 Rfe8 18. f3 Bb4 19. Nd3 Ra7 20. Re2 Bxc3 21. Qxc3 Nd5 22. Qc5 Ra6 23. Rc1 f6 24. e4 fxe4 25. fxe4 Nb4 26. Nxb4 axb4 27. b3 f5 28. e5 f4 29. Qc2 Rf8 30. Qe4 f3 31. gxf3 Qxh3 32. e6 Qf5 33. Qxf5 gxf5 34. Rg1+ Kh8 35. e7 Re8 36. Reg2 Raa8 37. Rg7 f4 38. R1g4 h6 39. R4g6 Rac8 40. Rf7 Rc7 41. Rgg7 1-0

From Alexandra Kosteniuk's

www.chessblog.com

Also see her personal blog at

www.chessqueen.com