World Cup Women Ufa

The world cup for women ended in a battle between Nina Hoekman and Zoja Golubeva, just like the last world championship. Again Hoekman went into the last round with one point more, and again it was Golubeva who claimed the title by a win in the last round.

Hoekman started the tournament with an unexpected defeat. Her opponent Motrichko played 7-11? after which Hoekman took the standard combination 43.27-22 18x27 44.32x21 23x41 But instead of 45.21-17 11x22 46.42-37 41x32 47.38x7 her next move was ≡ 45.42-37?? It's a bit mysterious how this could happen.

Round 2

In this interesting classical position Reynish made a mistake with 17-21? Only with ≡ 3-9!! 41.38-33 16-21! 42.27x16 18-22 she could make a narrow draw. ≡ 41.34-30? Yrkova could win using ≡ 41.39-33! Then 3-8? fails due to 42.34-29 23x34 43.28-23 19x39 44.38-33 39x28 45.32x3 21x41 46.3x4 W+ and both ≡ 24-29 42.33x24 19x39 43.28x10 39-44 or? 44.37-31 26x28 45.10-5 21x43 46.5x12 as well as ≡ 24-30 42.35x24 19x39 43.28x10 39x28 44.32x12 21x41 45.10-4 are lost for black. ≡ 3-8 42.39-33 8-12 43.48-43 23-29 44.28-22 18-23(?) The combination ≡ 14-20 45.25x34 12-17 46.30x8 17x48 leads to an immediate draw. ≡ 45.33-28 12-18 46.43-39 29-34 47.38-33? Here a logical continuation was ≡ 47.39-33 34-39* 48.33x44 24-29 49.30-24 29x20 50.35-30 20-24 51.44-39 24x35 52.39-34 35-40 53.34x45 23-29 with a draw. ≡ 34x43 48.33-29 23x34? Black could win using ≡ 24x33! 49.28x48 23-29 50.48-43 18-23 etc. ≡ 49.30x48 and the game ended in a draw.

After 32.39-33? Motrichko found a simple, winning plan: 12-17! Now white has no defence against the removal of the piece on 33, followed by 18-22. 33.49-44 20-24 34.34-29 3-8 35.29x20 15x24 36.27-22 18x27 and black won.

Round 6

With a victory against world champion Tkachenko, Hoekman came back into the tournament. 14-19? This is not good for black. A better plan was ≡ 32-38! 44.42x33 28-32 45.20x9 32-37 46.41x32 27x40 47.39-34 40x29 48.25-20 with a draw. ≡ 44.34-30 21-26? 45.42-37! 18-23(?) This is completely lost, but it is questionable if the piece sacrifice ≡ 26-31 46.37x26 18-23 would have given better chances to survive. ≡ 46.20-14! 19x10 47.39-33 28x39 48.37x8 22-28 49.8-2 39-44 50.48-43 10-14 51.43-39 44x33 52.2-16 27-31 53.36x27 33-39 54.27-22 28-33 55.22x11 39-44 56.16-49 44-50 57.11-7 26-31 58.7-1 4-9 59.1-45 33-39 60.45-23 W+

Round 7

Right after the start of the game Sobakina made a big mistake with 2-8? 12.30-24! and black took 19x30 13.35x15, since ≡ 20x29? is followed by 13.28-22 18x27 14.31x22 17x28 15.25-20 14x25 16.38-33 29x38 17.43x5 W+.

Round 8

When Shestakova played 14-20? 21.25x14 9x20 Fedorovich could have won using 22.22-17!! Then 21-27 23.32x21 23x41 loses a piece due to 24.46x37 16x27 25.30-25 12x21 26.25x23, whereas ≡ 24-29 23.33x24 20x29 is followed by 24.37-31 26x37 (not 25.17x26? due to 13-18 26.32x41 23x32 27.38x27 29-34 28.40x29 18-22 29.27x18 12x25 =) ≡ 25.32x41 23x32 26.38x27 21x32 27.39-34 12x21 28.34x14 W+.

In this position Aminova missed the combination 25.29-24! 20x29 26.34x23 19x28 27.38-32 27x38 28.42x33 28x39 29.48-43 39x48 30.40-34 48x31 31.36x20 15x24 32.30x19 and a break-through on the black left wing is inevitable.

Round 9

In the last round Golubeva demonstrated why she has been world champion for such a long time. The white right wing is powerless, and she took advantage of that after 45.38-32? Here ≡ 45.24-20 was much better, although white stays under pressure. ≡ 27x38 46.33x42 18-22 47.24-20 Since both ≡ 47.37-32? 13-18 48.24x13 22-27 49.13x31 26x48 B+ and ≡ 47.42-38 22-27! are losing for white. ≡ 22-28! The outpost on 28 cuts the white position in two parts. Technically the game is over now. 48.30-24 19x30 49.35x24 11-17 50.20-15 17-21 51.24-20 21-27 52.29-24 28-33 53.24-19 14x23 54.20-14 9x20 55.25x14 33-39 56.14-9 23-28 57.9x18 39-44 58.18-13 44-50 59.13-9 4x13 60.15-10 13-18 61.42-38 27-32 62.38x27 18-22 B+

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