There weren't too many upsets on day 1 of the Women's (Knockout) World Championship, and they were generally between players rated within 100 points of each other. The only one I noticed with a serious gap was Elisabeth Paehtz (2495) of Germany losing to the 2236-rated Mobina Alinasab of Iran - and Alinasab was Black, too. Paehtz had an advantage out of the opening, but after errors on moves 28, 29, and 30 she was lost, a pawn down with an inferior position to boot. It took Alinasab a long time to cash in, but she did it, and only needs a draw tomorrow to clinch the match and move on to round 2.
The American women both drew their games, but in both cases with White, so they'll be underdogs tomorrow. (Only very slightly in the case of Irina Krush, who is 14 points higher-rated than her opponent, Ukrainian IM Inna Gaponenko, but significantly for Sabina Foisor, who at 2264 is 226 points lower-rated than her opponent GM and former women's world champion Antoaneta Stefanova of Bulgaria.)
The Shenzhen Masters starts tomorrow (today, if you're in the western U.S. or Mexico - the first round kicks off at 1 a.m. ET) and features an all-star field. Here are the round 1 pairings:
It should be an interesting event in its own right, and this also tells us who some of Magnus Carlsen's and Fabiano Caruana's seconds are not.