Azerbaijan and FIDE Americas qualified to the knockout stage of the World Women’s Team Championship from their respective pools in contrasting fashion after an eventful fifth and final round of the Round-Robin stage of the tournament. Russia and Georgia topped the pools as expected, with India and Armenia in Pool A and Ukraine and Kazakhstan in Pool B joining the rest of the qualified teams.
Although the last round was marked by a breakdown in DGT live transmission of the games, the episode did add to the suspense of the event.How to watch?
The FIDE World Women’s Team Championship games can be found on Chess.com/events. Live commentary for all rounds will be broadcast on Chess.com/tv.
Live coverage of round one. Watch all of the live coverage at youtube.com/chess.
Round 5
Pool A
Russia and India posted identical 3-1 victories over Armenia and France and topped the Pool with 10 and 7 match points, respectively. The only surprise came when the top seeded Russia survived a scare in the final round against Armenia after dominating the tournament for the first two days.
Russian top boards GM Alekandra Goryachkina and GM Alexandra Kosteniuk settled for draws despite outranking their opponents by more than 200 Elo points. Though GM Kateryna Lagno won comfortably, the fourth board game posed some problems for Russia:
In another show of nerves, Indian IM Tania Sachdev escaped with a draw when her opponent repeated the moves and settled for a repetition despite having a winning position:
Indian fourth board WGM Mary Ann Gomes scored a steady win from a knight ending:
The all-important match Azerbaijan-Spain where either side could qualify with a match win ended in a decisive 3.5-0.5 win for the Azerbaijanis, but the final score doesn’t reveal the story behind the games.
On the second board, Spanish IM Sabrina Vega Gutierrez blundered while staring at a comfortable and advantageous position:
On the third board, FM Maria Eizaguerri Floris blundered while defending against a not-so-decisive attack:
And finally, Spanish fourth board IM Marta Garcia Martin also erred in a slightly better position:
Pool B
Comparatively, Pool B didn’t bring much drama to the table in terms of match results, but the fourth place qualification was ultimately decided by game points, as both FIDE Americas and Germany tied with 3 Match Points each. This was after Georgia beat FIDE Americas 3-1, Kazakhstan beat Poland 3-0, and Ukraine beat Germany 3.5-0.5. FIDE Americas qualified to the knockout by virtue of having half a point more in game points than Germany.
The games broadcast was then marred by a breakdown in DGT transmission especially for the Pool-B games, but spectators were ultimately delighted to see two queen sacrifices from the round:
Though the other queen sacrifice was not a part of a “clean” game, it was still delightful to witness, indeed:
STANDINGS AFTER ROUND 5
The 2021 FIDE World Women’s Team Championship is a 12-team event featuring teams representing chess nations from around the world. The event runs from September 27 through October 2 and is broadcast live on Chess.com.
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