Khanty-Mansiysk Women's World Chess Championship Round 3: Socko, Galliamova, Zhukova Lose!

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

Hi everyone,

The Khanty-Mansiysk Women's World Chess Championship 2012 continued with its unpredictable streak in the third round that began on Saturday. The first games of the round were played with five of the eight games turning out to be decisive.

Results: Round 3, First Game
Alisa Galliamova - Marie Sebag 0-1
Mariya Muzychuk - Xue Zhao ½-½
Anna Ushenina - Natalija Pogonina 1-0
Lela Javakhishvili - Dronavalli Harika ½-½
Monika Socko - Antoaneta Stefanova 0-1
Qian Huang - Irina Krush 0-1
Tatiana Kosintseva - Nadezhda Kosintseva ½-½
Wenjun Ju - Natalia Zhukova 1-0

Monika Socko had knocked out reigning Women's World Chess Champion Hou Yifan in the previous round. She began Round  with a loss. Socko's 20th move was a blunder and she could not recover thereafter. Ironically, Natalia Zhukova who had knocked out top-rated player Humpy Koneru also lost. Alisa Galliamova, who had knocked out Valentina Gunina also lost. Replay the game in the Chess King applet in the extended post below.

In the position below, Socko plays 20.Qe3. Can you see the strong move from Black that eventually gave Stefanova her win as Black?

Monika Socko - Antoaneta Stefanova

Result: 0-1

Site: Khanty Mansiysk

Date: 17.11.12

[...] 1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.cxd5 cxd5 4.¤c3 ¤f6 5.¥f4 ¤c6 6.e3 a6 7.¥d3 ¥g4 8.¤ge2 ¥xe2 9.£xe2 e6 10.¦c1 ¥d6 11.¥g5 ¥e7 12.O-O O-O 13.¤a4 ¤d7 14.¥f4 £a5 15.¤c3 ¦fc8 16.£h5 g6 17.£h3 £d8 18.¦fd1 b5 19.e4 ¤b6 20.£e3 e5 21.¥xe5 ¤xe5 22.dxe5 d4 23.£e2 dxc3 24.¥xb5 £f8 25.¥xa6 cxb2 26.¦b1 ¦c7 27.e6 ¤a4 28.¥c4 f6 29.£c2 £c8 30.¦d4 ¤b6 31.£xb2 ¤xc4 32.£e2 ¤a3 33.¦bd1 £xe6

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