Astana Chess: Women's World Team R5 - Russia, Ukraine Lead

Chess blog for latest chess news and chess trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2013

Hi everyone, 

Chess sure is fun.

The day before the International Women’s Day and the first rest day at the Women's World Team Chess Tournament 2013, the chess players finished round 5 a bit earlier than usual. The Romanian team continued to play "peacefully" and drew with the Turkish team. The latter also managed to pick up their first points in the event after Round 5.

Ukraine, after a slightly weak start showed its strength and beat China! At the press conference after the completion of her game, Valentina Gunina was asked if she worried during the game, as even “computers started to get worried when they saw her position.” She noted that team mates could not feel very happy about her game. In any case Valentina managed to trick her opponent and even won the game. Russian team defeated France 3.5-0.5.

The Georgian girls looked quite confident in the fifth round and beat the Americans. Irina Krush made the only draw and all the others lost their fights. Kazakhstan team lost to India 3:1, but it is not the reason for being sad. First of all, there are four more rounds ahead, secondly, the team is the youngest at the championship, so the girl can keep the energy till the end. 

Friday is a rest day and the game resume on Saturday. The tournament can be watched live at the official website.

Standings after Round 5

1 RUSSIA 9
2 UKRAINE 9
3 CHINA 7
4 GEORGIA 7
5 INDIA 6
6 ROMANIA 4
7 USA 4
8 KAZAKHSTAN 2
9 TURKEY 1
10 FRANCE 1 

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