After the classic games of round 3, we're down to eleven players at the 2012 Women's World Chess Championship. There were five decisive games on Saturday and six today, with two of yesterday's losers turning the tables to force tiebreaks tomorrow.
Let's start with the matches that were decided 2-0. Former women's champ Antoaneta Stefanova finished off Monica Socko with White in a Nimzo-Indian. She was better early on, and when Socko eschewed the trade of queens on move 23 Black's position went from unpleasant but only slightly worse to lost. Stefanova could have won quickly with 25.Nd4, with the idea of Nf5, and there were other places where her technique wasn't perfect. But it didn't matter. She was always better and never in any danger of losing, so she was always going to advance one way or another.
Alisa Galliamova played an awful game with White on Saturday against Marie Sebag, and while she lost again in game two she definitely showed up to play. Near the end of the first time control she was a pawn up with a probably winning position, but had to neutralize Sebag's attacking chances against her king. Accordingly, 39...h4 was right, keeping lines as closed as possible, and in case of 40.g5 either 40...Rd4 or 40...Nd3 followed by 41...Rd4. The game certainly isn't over, but White is in trouble. Instead, 39...hxg4? 40.Nxg4 sped up White's attack to the point where Sebag's counterplay sufficed for a draw. That was as good as a loss for Galliamova, of course, so she had to press. 53...Qc7 54.f4 Kb6 55.Qe8 looks like a draw, e.g. 55...Qc6 56.Qd8+ Qc7 57.Qe8 and so on. Instead, Galliamova played 53...Qd4?, losing straight away to 54.Qc8+ Kb6 55.Nd7+ Ka5 56.Qa8+ and 1-0 - 56...Kb4 57.Qa3 is mate.
Now to the other match winners. Anna Ushenina defeated Natalia Pogonina with the white pieces on Saturday, and had no trouble making a draw with Black today. She was better throughout in a 6.Be2 Najdorf, but with no need for more than a draw she coasted in for a draw, a pawn up in a rook ending.
Zhao Xue pushed Mariya Muzychuk with Black a little on day one before they drew; today, she didn't just push a bit; she shoved Muzychuk off the cliff. With White in an Anti-Gruenfeld/English, she built up a big center, broke with f4-f5, and crushed her opponent as though she were a club player in a weekend Swiss.
Harika Dronavailli followed the same pattern of drawing with Black on Saturday and winning with White on Sunday. Her victim was Lela Javakhishvili, who turned an uncomfortable but still nearly equal position on move 19 into a lost one after 23 moves. 19...f5 is a little "unnatural" with the bishop on g4, but all the tactics seem to be okay for Black. Instead, Javakhishvili sacrificed a pawn with 19...Be6, and that wasn't yet fatal; she had compensation thanks to her bishop pair. That left when she played 23...Bxd5? - again, though an understandable error. White's knights were suffocating and she may have hoped for drawing chances with the opposite-colored bishops, but the effect was to give White a dominating position. Black was still a pawn down, but without any counterplay at all and awkward minor pieces. (23...Ne7 and 23...Bf8 were better choices, maintaining the tension.)
There were two comebacks. Natalia Zhukova was winning early on against Ju Wenjun with White in a King's Indian, but the position was very crazy and lines like 32.Rab1 Qd4 33.Qh8 Bxg3 34.Rxb7 Be4+ 35.Rf3 Kd7 36.Rb8 Bxf3+ 37.Bxf3 Qh4+ 38.Qxh4 Bxh4 39.Rg8+- aren't easy to find with the clock ticking away. Still, the position was very hard for both players and Zhukova eventually reached a winning after 42 moves, as her rook and a-pawn (and other pawns) were more effective than Black's bishop and knight (and pawns). The final phase began after 55.Qxg6, when White had a queen and two pawns vs. a bishop, knight, pawn and - Ju hoped - a fortress. There was no way to make progress against Black's pawn, but with great effort Zhukova finally managed to corner the enemy king. To avoid an immediate mate Black played 92...Ne6+, but after 93.dxe6 Ju resigned, as 93...d5+ 94.Kc6 Bxb8 95.e7 leads to a new queen and a trivial win.
The other comeback came at Irina Krush's expense. Krush had a comfortable position with White in an English against Huang Qian, but her 20.Qb1 was a big, though subtle, mistake. 20.c5 would have been very safe, and looks like an effective way to pursue a draw that would win the match. 20.Qb3 would have been okay as well, with the same aim as 20.Qb1 but avoiding a tactical problem. After 20.Qb1? dxc4 21.dxc4 Bxc4! 22.Rxc4 b5 23.Rh4 bxa4 24.Qa2 the position looks dead drawn. All White has to do is regain the a-pawn, and the match will be as good as over; Krush in the quarters. Unfortunately for her, after 24...Nd5! White cannot play 25.Rxa4 on account of 25...Nc3, and if she doesn't play 25.Qxa4 Black will keep the a-pawn. So 25.Qxa4 was forced, but after 25...Bf6 it turns out that White's rook has no safe square on the 4th rank: 26.Rg4 h5; 26.Re4 Nc3; and 26.Rc4 Nb6. Krush was thus forced into the disgusting 26.Rh3, leaving her effectively a rook down. To bring the rook back into play as soon as possible, she pushed her pawns, but they proved to be weaknesses. Black won a pawn, and in a cruel irony, the game finished when Krush's rook was finally caught.
Lastly, the battle of the Kosintseva sisters was again drawn, and it was similar to yesterday's game. Again it was older sister Nadezhda - this time with White - varying first from their usual repertoire. She didn't get much, if anything, with the English, but the rook ending Tatiana drifted into was difficult. As yesterday, though, she defended resourcefully and held the game. So they too, like the previous two pairs, are headed for tomorrow's tiebreaks.