The medal-winners of the World Championships (April 22-28) received their medals and memorable gifts in the Culture Palance “October”. The official guests of the closing ceremony congratulated the players and expressed their gratitude to the organizers. The FIDE Vice-President Vanik Zakarian on behalf of the FIDE President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov once again thanked the local authorities for their hospitality and professionalism. “We are very happy to crown the new World Champions. On behalf of the FIDE I reserved our special thanks to the Ugra Governor Natalia Komarova. We know that the Okrug always carries out all sporting events at the highest level, and these Championships once again proved that”, mentioned Mr Zakarian.

The Deputy Governor of Ugra Alexey Putin wished the participants to achieve new summits and return to Khanty-Mansiysk soon. “We are looking forward to your return. We are happy to accommodate such a strong players in our Okrug. Hopefully these tournaments will boost chess development in our region”.

“I am sincerely grateful to the Ugra leadership for organizing two major tournaments at such a high level. I am amazed by combination of beauty and intelligence in our players”, – said the chief arbiter Andrzej Filipowicz before announcing the outcome of the events.

The gold medal of the World Rapid Championship is awarded to Kateryna Lagno (Ukraine), the silver and the bronze medals git the Russians Alexandra Kosteniuk and Olga Girya. It should be noted that Olga developed as a chess player in Ugra.

Slovenian grandmaster of Ukrainian origin Anna Muzychuk won the World Blitz Championship. The silver medal went to Nana Dzagnidze (Georgia), the Russian Tatiana Kosintseva is the bronze medalist.

The closing ceremony was concluded with the concert of Khanty-Mansiysk’s artists. A waltz, Japanese motives, songs about chess, and international popular songs by charming singers put a nice finishing touch on the chess marathon in Ugra. A violin solo accompanied by a video-installation of the most memorable episodes of the events was a final chord of the concert.

The championships were attended by 34 players from 14 countries. The prize fund of each championship was $50,000.

The Blitz Championship concluded a row of official events that lasted nearly two months in Khanty-Mansiysk.

Nana Dzagnidze took the silver medal with 20,5 points, while Tatiana Kosintseva won the bronze after the furious finish that brought her to 20 points.

The FIDE Women World Blitz Championship 2014 was held from 26th to 28th April at the Ugra Chess Academy in Khanty-Mansiysk.

Entering the third day of the Championship, Anna Muzychuk and Nana Dzagnidze were tied on the first place with 15/20 points each.

Already in the 11th round Dzagnidze was held to 1-1 by Harika and Muzychuk beat Natalia Zhukova 2-0.

Muzychuk continued the winning row with 1,5-0,5 against Elisabeth Paehtz and 2-0 against Anna Ushenina. Meanwhile, Dzagnidze could not make more than 1-1 against Alexandra Kosteniuk and Marina Guseva, respectively.

Following the 14th round 1-1 tie with Marina Guseva, Anna Muzychuk secured the title of Women’s World Blitz Champion with one round to spare.

This result is immensely important for the young Slovenian, who many times finished joint first or second in the official events, but never before took the trophy.

Dzagnidze still had to work to secure the silver and 1,5-0,5 against Inna Gaponenko in the 15th round was just enough to seal the 2nd place.

Tatiana Kosintseva defeated Guseva 2-0 to clinch the bronze medal.

34 female players from 13 countries competed for the title and prize fund of $50,000.

The Blitz Championship concludes a row of official events that lasted nearly two months in Khanty-Mansiysk! It all started early March with the FIDE Candidates Tournament, followed by the FIDE Women Grand Prix and the FIDE Women World Rapid Championship.

– How do you feel after two days of blitz? How did you produce such an excellent score?

– I started well yesterday, but lost on time against Antoaneta, which was very disappointing. All in all, I am satisfied with my score. Today was a nice day, but everything will be decided tomorrow.

– Are you comfortable with the time control? Did you practice with it in advance?

– I enjoy playing blitz. I often play with this time control with my trainer, and it helped here.

– Many strong players practice blitz online, and 3+2 control is quite popular there…

– I don’t play much on the net anymore. Generally I think I am stronger in blitz than in classical or rapid chess.

– How did the Rapid Championship go for you?

– Of course I am not satisfied with my result in the Rapid Championship. I could do much better. I missed many chances in good positions, but now I can only think about blitz.

– What qualities are required to succeed in blitz?

– One should calculate variations quickly, and I think having good intuition is also important.

– Some people play considerably worse on a bad day. Does your mood affect your results?

– For me everything depends on my emotions. Everything works out well when my mood is good. And if not, then things go out of control. However, I think one’s mood in more important in women’s chess. In men’s chess it is probably different.

– Tomorrow is a very important day. Are you going to prepare for it in a special way?

– Today I’ll do all I can to improve my mood for tomorrow, and if I succeed, everything should be fine.

Anna Muzychuk from Slovenia, who was convincing leader after five rounds, slowed down a bit, but still played well enough to finish the day tied on the first place with 15/20 points.

Muzychuk is joined by Nana Dzagnidze from Georgia, who first had a flying start, then a couple of shaky displays, before making another surge forward.

Two points behind the leaders are Zhao Xue (China) and Antoaneta Stefanova (Bulgaria). Full standings at http://wwrbc2014.fide.com/wp-content/uploads/results_blitz/results.html?l=en&tb=10_

Blitz games are always exciting and already in the first game of the day A.Muzychuk blundered horribly to allow checkmate to Stefanova.

In the return game Muzychuk recovered and converted the advantage. In the next round she won a beautiful game with a knight sacrifice against the defending champion Valentina Gunina.

In the next three matches, however, Muzychuk could not achieve more than 1-1 against Tatiana Kosintseva, Zhao Xue and Alexandra Kosteniuk, respectively.

Dzagnidze defeated Irina Krush, Daria Charochkina and Kateryna Lagno by 2-0, and shared the points with Gunina and Kosintseva.

The event continues tomorrow at 3pm local time with the final five rounds.

Top round eleven pairings are: Harika – Dzagnidze, Zhukova – Muzychuk A, Kosteniuk – Zhao Xue, Stefanova – Gunina and Lagno – Kosintseva.

34 female players from 13 countries are competing for the title and prize fund of $50,000.

34 female players from 14 countries are competing for the title and prize fund of $50,000.

On the first day five rounds with ten games were played. Anna Muzychuk from Slovenia dominated the tournament arena, taking a convincing lead with 9,0/10 points, a one and half points ahead of the nearest followers.

Nana Dzagnidze from Georgia had a furious start, winning first six games before going down 0-2 to A.Muzychuk in round 4. Harika Dronavalli also kept the pace before losing 0,5-1,5 to A.Muzychuk in round 5.

Antoaneta Stefanova recovered after the round two loss to Tatiana Kosintseva and played a string of good games to reach the 2nd place with 7,5/10 points.

Dzagnidze, Harika and defending champion Valentina Gunina (Russia) are sharing the third place with 7,0 points each.

The next 6th round will see the clash A.Muzychuk-Stefanova on the top board.

The FIDE Women World Blitz Championships 2014 will be completed over three days, 26-28th April, with 15 double rounds (30 games) in Swiss format.

The time control is 3 minutes + 2 seconds additional time per move, starting from move 1.

The prize fund is $50,000. Top three finishers will earn $12,000-9,000-6,000, respectively.

As many as five players entered the final round with even scores, setting the stage for the thrilling finale.

Olga Girya, Antoaneta Stefanova and Anna Muzychuk shared the third place with 10,0 points, but Girya won the bronze medal on second tie-break criteria – greatest number of wins.

The FIDE Women World Rapid Championship 2014 was held from 23rd to 25th April at the Ugra Chess Academy in Khanty-Mansiysk.

In the 11th round Alexandra Kosteniuk scored a swift victory against Inna Gaponenko to again single out on the top with 8,0 points. Defending champion Antoaneta Stefanova looked certain to join the Russian, but she dropped the big advantage and Anna Muzychuk saved a draw.

Kateryna Lagno, also a co-leader after day two, narrowly escaped against Marina Guseva to make a draw with perpetual check.

Tatiana Kosintseva and Irina Krush won nice games to catch the group on the shared third place.

In round 12 Kosteniuk continued to demolish the opposition, her victim this time being Guseva. Lagno kept the pace by crushing Zhao Xue and Stefanova also remained close after taking advantage of Krush’s blunder.

Top six games ended with decisive results – Anna Muzychuk, Kosintseva and Girya were also victorious.

In the 13th round Kosteniuk was on the brink of defeat but she found a magical resource to reach a stalemate against Zhao Xue.

This proved to be a precious half a point as both followers, Stefanova and Lagno, suffered setback by losing their games. In another nerve-wracking affair Stefanova pushed for a win, but Valentina Gunina turned the table with a checkmating net.

As it happened, Kosteniuk extended the lead to full point.

Krush failed to convert two extra pawns in the queens’ endgame against Anna Muzychuk, allowing the Slovenian to join the large group on the shared second place, which also included Lagno, Stefanova, Kosintseva and Girya.

But already in the next 14th round Kosteniuk lost to Gunina after blundering a tactical shot in an equal position.

The fatigue clearly kicked in for most of the participants. Stefanova simply handed a pawn to Alina Kashlinskaya early in the opening. But the Bulgarian fought her way back into the game and then proceeded to crush the opponent with a devastating attack.

Anna Muzychuk steamrolled Guseva, while Kosinsteva won in a miniature after Krush mixed up the lines in the French defence.

Lagno went for an all-out attack against Anna Ushenina and this risky strategy paid off as she finally broke through the black defences.

Heading into the final round five players were tied on first place – Kosteniuk, Stefanova, Lagno, Kosintseva and Muzychuk.

In round 15 the first result from the top boards was the shocking loss of Gunina who allowed Lagno to deliver checkmate in one.

Moments later Kosteniuk defeated Pia Cramling to join Lagno on the shared first place with 10,5/15 points each.

Stefanova tried everything to convert R+3P vs R+2P into a full point, but Bela Khotenashvili was calm enough to hold a draw.

Gaponenko confidently held Anna Muzychuk to a draw, while Nana Dzagnidze knocked Kosintseva out of the medal contention.

Olga Girya pulled a worthy win against Harika Dronavalli, eventually claiming the bronze medal on best tie-break.

34 female players from 13 countries competed for the title and prize fund of $50,000.

Coming up is FIDE Women World Blitz Championship which is taking place in Khanty-Mansiysk over the next three days.

After the exciting battles and many changes on the top of the standings, at the end of the day the defending rapid champion Antoaneta Stefanova, Alexandra Kosteniuk and Kateryna Lagno are joint leaders with 7,0/10 points each.

Olga Girya, Anna Muzychuk, Marina Guseva are half a point behind the leading pack. Full standings at http://wwrbc2014.fide.com/wp-content/uploads/results/results.html?l=en&tb=10_

The event continues tomorrow at 3pm local time with the final five rounds.

In the 6th round Alexandra Kosteniuk outplayed Tatiana Kosintseva to overtake her on the top of the crosstable with 5,5/6 points. The other top game between Kateryna Lagno and Mariya Muzichuk was drawn and the Ukrainian players remained on the shared second place.

Irina Krush and Anna Muzychuk made a breakthrough by beating Zhao Xue and Elisabeth Paehtz respectively.

In round 7 Kosteniuk continued her winning row by defeating Mariya Muzichuk with black pieces. Kosintseva bounced back with a nice win against Anna Ushenina to keep the close distance behind the leader.

In round 8 Kosteniuk’s run was put to a halt when Anna Muzychuk avenged her sister’s loss. Kosintseva was in position to regain the lead, but she spoiled the advantage and even lost to Olga Girya.

Kosteniuk remained on the top, while Girya, Muzychuk and defending champion Antoaneta Stefanova caught the group on the shard second place.

In round 9 Kosteniuk lost second game in a row, against Girya, who then moved into sole lead with 6,5/9 points. Kosintseva escaped against Anna Muzychuk after a huge time trouble where the rook endgame was played on increment.

Irina Krush surged ahead with an easy win against Pia Cramling.

A new group of leaders emerged after the 10th round. Girya’s opening experiment backfired and Lagno routinely converted the advantage.

Kosteniuk run into big trouble with white against Krush, but she fought her way back into the game and later Krush blundered horribly to hand the victory to the Russian.

Stefanova was under huge pressure from Kosintseva, but after surviving the initial onslaught black launched a strong counterattack that netted her two pieces for a rook. The rest of the game was only a matter of technique.

Sisters Anna and Mariya Muzychuk shared the point on board four. Round 10 results at http://wwrbc2014.fide.com/wp-content/uploads/results/results.html?l=en&tb=1_&rd=10_

Top round eleven pairings are: Guseva Marina – Lagno Kateryna, Stefanova Antoaneta – Muzychuk Anna, Gaponenko Inna – Kosteniuk Alexandra, Krush Irina – Girya Olga, Muzychuk Mariya – Kosintseva Tatiana and Zhao Xue – Ushenina Anna.

34 female players from 13 countries are competing for the title and prize fund of $50,000.

The press-center staff congratulated her with the birthday and provided flowers, music and applause. Alexandra scored 4 points out of 5 and is at the joint second place so far.

– What kind of mood you had when you woke up today?

– It was very good. My relatives and friends called me in the morning with congratulations. Actually, birthday is always a little sad – it means you lived another year of your life… And this is why I enjoy playing chess on my birthday so much – it leaves no time for sadness. You go and play, you live and do the things you love.

– Do you feel you know chess better compared to the times you were the World Champion? Did you become wiser?

– I don’t know if I became wiser in chess. It is a unique game – the more your work, the more you realize how little you actually know. One can always get better in chess. Of course,  when I was the World Champion I knew less than now, because I keep working on chess.

– Both spectators and journalists noticed your beautiful dress today. Does your appearance influence your mood? Is it important for you?

– Every woman cares about the way she looks, and I care as well. In rapid chess your dress must be not only good-looking, but also comfortable. Your concentration must not be affected. I decided that today is a special day – you turn 30 just once in life, you know, and I should look special too, even though it is a very important tournament, a World Championship!

– Tell us little bit about your games. Was it hard to play?

– Well, there were five games, but the tournament distance is long, so one can say we just warmed up a little. Yet I am happy about my result. I played very well in the first two games, slipped a bit in the third one, but I didn’t like my fourth game at all. I lost the track in the opening and lost a pawn. Fortunately, I managed to get myself together in the fifth game and finish the day on a bright note. Four games out of five is a good start, but there are still two days and ten games ahead. I believe everything will be decided on the last day. All in all, I always enjoy playing speed chess.

– Almost all the Grand Prix participants played well on the first day. Can you explain that? Do you even get tired?

– I am not surprised. Our chess development has reached the stage when a long tournament feels almost like an extended warm-up. However, we do get tired. We only played one day so far, so it’s not that bad, but it will probably hit later, somewhere around the concluding rounds. And right now we are using the advantage given by the previous tournament.

– Yesterday was your daughter’s birthday, today is your birthday. Did she congratulate you already?

– Not yet, because she is in the US now, and there is the time difference. She was still sleeping when I went to the playing hall. She’ll call me later.

– We know that you already prepared a present for her…

– When I finished third in the Grand Prix event, I received a charming baby mammoth. We already discussed this gift with my daughter and even sung “The baby mammoth’s song” together, so she is really looking forward for the baby mammoth from Khanty-Mansiysk.

After the five rounds in the World Rapid Championship Russian Grandmaster Tatiana Kosintseva is leading the standings with 4,5/5 points. She started with a draw against her compatriot Karina Ambartsumova, but then followed with an impressive string of four victories, including the round five clash against the then leader Kateryna Lagno.

Mariya Muzychuk won a nice positional game against Elisabeth Paehtz, and Alexandra Kosteniuk defeated the defending Rapid champion Antoaneta Stefanova to join Lagno on the shared second place with 4,0/5 points each.

The biggest surprise of the day is the score of top-rated Valentina Gunina who has only 2,0/5 points.

The event continues over the next two days for a total of 15 rounds, with a single game for each round.

Former world champion Alexandra Kosteniuk and former European champion Pia Cramling celebrated birthdays and were presented with flowers by the Organizing Committee.

Top round six pairings are Kosteniuk, Alexandra – Kosintseva, Tatiana, Lagno, Kateryna – Muzychuk, Mariya, Ushenina, Anna – Dzagnidze, Nana and Stefanova, Antoaneta – Girya, Olga.

The FIDE Vice-President Vanik Zakarian addressed the players and organizers at the opening ceremony. “Having this competition is Khanty-Mansiysk is very important for FIDE. Your city is a true center of the chess world. You host three very important tournaments in a row. The FIDE leadership is grateful to the Okrug leadership for your hospitality”, said Zakarian.

The Deputy Governor of Ugra Alexey Putin reminded that Ugra is not only known for its oil and gas. “We are actively developing many sports, but recently chess gained a lot of popularity. We are very thankful to FIDE for helping us promoting chess”, said the Deputy Governor.

The Chief Arbiter Andrzej Filipowicz from Poland recalled his two visits to Ugra land: “I always deeply respected the Khanty-Mansiysk organizers for creating very hospitable atmosphere and conducting their events at the highest level”.

Then he invited to the stage the highest rated player – Valentina Gunina. Two chess queens approached her. Valentina picked a casket from the girl to her left, and there was a white queen in it. It means that all the participants with odd numbers have White in the first round.

The opening ceremony continued with the concert of Khanty-Mansiysk performers. A video installation that accompanied all acts during the show was a true gem of the evening.

The Rapid Championship is held on April 23-25, and the Blitz Championship follows it on April 26-28. Both tournaments are Swiss system with 15 rounds, but in blitz each round consists of two games with alternate colors.

The winners of each tournament will receive USD 12,000. The total prize fund of each tournament is USD 50,000.