Rapid chess is so unpredictable! We are trying to catch some interesting moments for you and will upload the diagrams during whole day.

Round 6.

Kosteniuk v Kosintseva 1-0

White finds the winning move here with 41. Qe8+ and the game continued on with 41…Qf8 42. Rxg6+ and now it is all over for Black.

Popova v Sukhareva 1-0

The position after Black’s 18th move and White plays the typical19. Bxg5 hxg5 20. Qxg5 Nxh5 21. Qxh5+ Kg8 and now Black’s king is in a lot of trouble and is definitely not safe.

Bezgodova v Ambartsumova 0-1

White is about to play 17. Rad1 but this is a blunder. Black replied with 17…Qxg3 and White cannot take back because of the pin from the Bishop on c5.

Tuvshintugs v Muminova 1-0

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tuvshintugs missed a mate in 11 but with time pressure it is hard to see. The easiest way would be to swap Queens off and develop white’s king. This is the position after Black’s 55th move. What would you do?

Round 7

Dronavalli v Stefanova 0-1

The current Women’s Rapid World Champion was happy to see that Dronavalli made a mistake with 45. Re1 (after 45. Rce6 the chances are equal) and the game continued with 45…Ra8 46. Kb1 Ra3 47. Rxc5 Rb3+ and Stefanova got the winning position.

Gaponenko v Chen 1-0

Its Black’s 20th move and Chen can play Qd8 but instead plays Qc5. The game continue on with 21. Be3 Qd6 22. Rfd1 Qf6 23. Bg5 Nf5 24. Bxf6 Nxh4 25. Bxh4 with en extra piece.

M. Muzychuk v Kosteniuk 0-1

It’s White’s 36th move and white plays Bg1 which gives Black the advantage. If white simply plays 36. Rc2 it is ok. After 36. Bg1 Qh4+ 37. Kg2 d5 38. Rd4 Ne1+ leads to the game for Black.

Paehtz v Ubiennykh 1-0

Here Black is doing ok until Ubiennykh plays 26…Rxe5 which is a gift for Paehtz. The next couple of moves went like this: 27. Rbxe5 b5 28. Re7 Qd8 29. Qe2 Qd4+ 30. Kh1 Bd5 and White is winning.

Round 8

Kosteniuk v A. Muzychuk 0-1

The position has arisen after White’s 19th move which was 19. Qa3. Muzychuk now finds the brilliant 19…e3 which is only the beginning to her attack. 20. fxe3 f3 21. Qb3+ Kh8 22. gxf3 Qd7 23. Re2 Bxf3 24. Qc4 e4 25. Ne1 Qg4+ 26. Rg2 Bxg2 These were the next 6 moves after the above position.

 Muminova v Khotenashvili 1-0

The first but decisive mistake of the game was 34…Qg5 as the nice attack only now begins for Muminova against the Georgian player. Here is this nice attack:  35. Rxd5 exd5 36. Re8 Rc1+ 37. Kh2 Qxg2+ 38. Kxg2 g5 39. Bh5

 Stefanova v Dzagnidze 1-0

White has an initiative, but Black’s position is still defendable. So let’s see how Black lost this position in just a couple of moves. 36…Re7 37. Rbf8+ Kg7 38. Bb2 Rd6 39.
Nxf5+ gxf5 40. Kf4 Kg6 41. Bxf6 Rxf6 42. Rhg8+ Rg7 43. Rxf6+ Kxf6 44. Rxg7

 Tuvshintugs v Charochkina 1-0

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tuvshintugs has just played 25.e6 and this move just finishing off her attack on Charochkina’s King. The game continued as follows 25…fxe6 26. Qh7+ Kf8 27. Bxg7+
Nxg7 28. Bg6 Qb6+ 29. Kh1

Round 9.

Girya v Kosteniuk 1-0

The local star Girya has an ok position here and Kosteniuk should just play 22…Bd6 but instead plays 22…Qc7 which leads to Girya been happy. After 23. Qh5 White’s attack is too strong.

Krush v Cramling 1-0

Krush has just played 24. Nb5 which begins to give her a small edge but after Cramling plays 24…Qc8 it leads to a simply better position for White. The next 2 moves were 25. Nxd6 Qe6 26. Nb5 Nd7

Paehtz v Chen 1-0

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

White has just played 14. cxd4 leaving her Rook to be taken from the Bishop on b7. Usually this would be ok to take, but being greedy sometimes will cost you the game. Here is what happened in just a few moves: 14…Bxh1 15. f3 b5 16. Nf2 Bxf3 17. Qxf3 Rd8

Round 10 

Chen v Bezgodova 1-0

White to play and win in 4 moves. This is how Zhu Chen did it: 31. f4 Qc5 32. Qc3+ Kg8 33. gxf5 Rh6 34. Rg3+

Kosteniuk v Krush 1-0

Kosteniuk has just played 33.Nxf7 and Black makes a blunder by playing 33…Rxd5 (better was 33…Bd5). Kosteniuk finished the game off in style. 34. Nxe5+ Kg7 35. cxd5 Bxd5 36. Nxg6 Rc6 37. Ne7

Sviridova v Muminova 0-1

Sviridova just played 24. Qc6 and Muminova finished the game 3 moves later. This is how it finished: 24…Qg4+ 25. Kh1 Rec8 26. Qd5 Rxc1 27. Bxc1 Qh3

Tuvshintugs v Fominykh 0-1

This is the position after black’s 26th move. 5 moves later the game finishes like this: 27. Nc6 Ng3+ 28. Kxh2 Rxb2 29. Nxe5 Nxf3+ 30. N1xf3 Qh6+ 31. Kg1 Qh1+

 

Games selected by Jamie Kenmure