 "Chess (#1190)")
The Women's World Championship match has started in Lviv, Ukraine. Mariya Muzychuk, reigning champion and local star, faces heavy favourite, Hou Yifan. Although Muzychuk has great nerves and she's backed by strong home support, the strength difference is palpable. Hou is rated at 2667, versus Muzychuk 2563. The expected result would be 6.5-3.5 in favour of Hou.
Hou is undefeated in match-play. She chose not to defend "her" title last year due to other commitments. Apart from strength, she also has much more experience. She's held the title twice and she has held her own in top events like the Tata Steel.
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The prize fund will be at least 200,000 and may be more. The split is 60-40 unless there's a tie-breaker (split of 55-45). Neither player has revealed her seconds. The first game of the 10 game match ended in an uneventful draw.
The Ukrainians tried to give Muzychuk some practice by asking her to play the Ukrainian Championships, which features very strong GMs. They did something very controversial by concealing Muzychuk's games so as to keep Hou guessing in terms of prep.
Meanwhile the Aeroflot Open has started in Moscow. The top section has an incredible average rating of 2585, with 83 players. The top seed is Boris Gelfand and the first prize is €18,000. Moscow will also host the Candidates, starting March 11.
The title match dates and venue have also firmed. New York will host the title match, a classical 12-gamer (plus tiebreakers), between November 11 and 30. The guaranteed minimum fund is $1 million. This means the rumours about the US being the venue were true. It also means that Fide President, Kirsan Ilymzhinov, being under sanctions by the US Treasury Dept did not lead to cancellation of negotiations. The organisers must be hoping that Nakamura or Caruana comes through as challenger, to make the match more marketable in America.
The DIAGRAM, WHITE TO PLAY, (White : Yang Wen Vs Black: Vladislav Artemiev Aeroflot Moscow 2016), features an oddity - a tactical shot that the engines take lots of time to find. Humans will see the idea fast though it's hard to calculate
White played 13.Rxf7!! Kxf7 14.Rf1+ Ke8 [ Or else 14...Kg7 15.Nf4! Nf8 16. Nh5+ Kg8 17. Qf4 Qe8 18. Nf6+ Bxf6 19. exf6 Qf7 20. Ne4 Nd4 21. Bxd4 Bxe4 22. Bxe4 Rc8 23.
Be5 is a long forced line where white wins.]
Play continued 15.Qxe6 Ndxe5 [Now white missed the easier 16. Bxc6+ Nxc6 17. Ne4 Qc7 18. Bf4] 16.Ne4 Qc7 17.Nf4 Bc8 18.Nf6+ Kd8 [ Mate after 18.- Kf8 19. Nxg6+ hxg6 20. Bh6+ Rxh6 21. Qg8#) 19.Qd5+ Qd6 20.Bxc5 (1-0). Another lovely finish with 20.- Qxd5 21. Bb6#
Devangshu Datta is an internationally rated chess and correspondence chess player
