Khanty-Mansiysk Women's World Chess 2012: Ushenina Knocks out Wenjun, Joins Stefanova in Final

Chess blog for latest chess news and chess trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2012

Hi everyone,

 

What do you do with a lost game at the Women's World Chess Championship? The answer is 'fight it out'. That's the recipe Anna Ushenina of Ukraine used to knock out Ju Wenjun of China in the tiebreak games of the semi-final in Khanty Mansiysk on Sunday. Ushenina now meets Antoaneta Stefanova of Bulgaria to vie for the World Women's Chess Champion 2012 title. 

In the first tie-break game Anna, playing White, got an overwhelming position after the opening. Ju Wenjun had to sacrifice a piece in order to save her king from White’s attack. Black had some counterplay, but White calmly parried all threats, and soon the Chinese resigned. 

In the second game Ju Wenjun got a better position, and Black sacrificed a pawn to avoid bigger trouble. White responded by sacrificing an exchange for two pawns, and had decent winning chances in the resulting position. However, she missed a number of winning continuations due to time trouble, and Ushenina avoided all traps and saved the game with accurate defending. The draw was enough for Ushenina to advance to the final of the Khanty-Mansiysk Women's World Chess Championship 2012. Watch the exciting second game with Chess King.

Semifinal results:Antoaneta Stefanova (Bulgaria) – Harika Dronavalli (India) 1.5-0.5
Anna Ushenina (Ukraine) – Ju Wenjun (China) 2.5-1.5

Meanwhile, Harika Dronavalli (India) and Ju Wenjun (China) were also awarded the bronze medal by Khanty-Mansiysk Mayor and Ugra Chess Federation president Vassily Filipenko. 

Monday, November 26, is a rest day. The final match begins on November 27. This is a best-of-four match. If the score after four games is 2-2, the players continue on tie-break. The tie-breaks begin with two rapid games: 25 minutes plus 10 second per move for each player. If the score is 1-1, they will continue with two quicker games: 10 minutes plus 10 seconds per move. If the winner is still not determined, the players will proceed to blitz games: 5 minutes plus 3 seconds per move. Finally, is the score remains equal, the Armageddon game steps up: White has 5 minutes, Black has 4 minutes, 3 seconds per move are added starting with the move 61, and a draw counts as a victory for Black.