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

Round 11.

Gaponenko v Kosteniuk 0-1

The position is equal here on white’s 29th move but Kosteniuk takes control of the game by playing 29…b5 by forcing the white bishop to go back. The game continued like this: 30. Bd1 b4 31. a4 c3 32. bxc3 bxc3 33. d5 Rb1 34. Rd4 c2

Fominykh v Dronavalli 0-1

An equal ending and Fominykh blunders away the game with 62. Kh4 Nd4 63. Rd5 Nf3+. All that was need was the simple Kg4 and this game would be a draw.

Ambartsumova v Chen 1-0

Again, we are seeing equal positions and this is another example. Chen just needed to play 27…..Bf8 and all is ok for her. This is how Ambartsumova finished the game: 27…Qa5 28. Bg2 Rc8 29. Rh3 Nb8 30. Qh4 Kf8 31. Qxh7 Ke8 32. Qg8+ Bf8 33. Qxf8+

M. Muzychuk v Kosintseva 0-1

Black has just played 30…Qc6 and white now plays 31.Qc2 which is a mistake. White should just play 31. dxe4 and Muzychuk will be ok. A few moves of how the game went. 31. Qc2 exd3 32. Qd2 Rxe1+ 33. Rxe1 Qxa4

Round 12

Lagno v Zhao 1-0

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

18. Rh4! This now leads to a nice attack for Lagno which will end the game in several moves. 18…Nxh4. 19. Bxh7+ Kf8 20. Nxh4 Re7 21. Ng6+ Ke8 22. Ne5 Kf8 23. Bg6

Drozdova v Fominykh 1/2

Drozdova is very lucky to get a draw in this position after Fominykh played the move 43…Qb3+ 44. Kc1 Qe3 45. Kc2 Qb3 where if Fominykh played the 43…b4! with a winning attack.

Kosteniuk v Guseva 1-0

Black should play 22… Qe6 but instead plays the horrible 22…Nxd4 which leads to disaster for Guseva. The game continued after 22…Nxd4 23. Bxd4 Rc4 24. e6! Qc7 25. Rxg7+

Round 13.

 Bezgodova v Cramling 0-1

This position white has just played 35. Be2 and Black finds the nice one 35…Qg1+ which wins a piece after 36. Kxg1 Nxe2+ 

Paehtz v Ambartsumova 1-0

Paehtz just played 14. f6 in this equal position and Black made the mistake with 14…Bxf6. The next couple of moves were 115. Qf2 Be5 16. Qxf7+ Kh8 17. Rf3 Rg8 18. Raf1 with a strong initiative for White

Zhao v Kosteniuk 1/2

Zhao’s last try is to play 89. f5 which Kosteniuk replied with 89…Bxf5! and this leads to a draw as the King stays on g7-h8 squares.

Round 14

Gunina v Kosteniuk 1-0

Black’s 23rd move of Rab8 lead to White’s excellent move of 24. Nxf7 Qxf7 25. Rd6 and to a more advantageous ending for Gunina

Kashlinskaya v Stefanova 0-1

This position might not look so great at first, but is still very defendable and the correct way to proceed is 49. Kh2 Bf4 50. Qd1 but instead 49. Kg1 was played and this won the game for Stefanova.

Kosintseva v Krush 1-0

Blacks 13th move of Rg8 leads to mate in 4 moves after 14. Qf4. If Black plays 13…Nf5, there is chances to hold the game.

Lagno v Ushenina 1-0

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

White is threatening 41.Rxa6, so Black should play 40……Rb6 and it is defendable. Instead Black went with 40…f5 to attack the queen and lost the game after 41. Ra6!

Round 15

Gunina v Lagno 0-1

The position is dead equal here. So it’s not find the move that wins for white, but instead find the move that loses. If you said 39.Kh3 you are correct, you would just play 39…Nf4#. This actually what happened in the game.

 

Games selected by Jamie Kenmure.