The third round started with the symbolic move in the game Ju Wenjun-Anna Zatonskikh made by Chinese Ambassador Mr. Zhou Li. He came today to support his compatriots and this obviously helped the Chinese girls, who confidently won against the American team with a 3,5-0,5 score.
“The Turkish team came to learn and gain experience here”, the captain and coach of the team, Adrian Mikhalchishin, said in the interview. Everyone noticed that Turkey showed a really stubborn defense in the previous rounds.
Nevertheless, the luck was not on their side today as they lost all the games in the match against Russia.
Participants / Follow – replay the games with computer analysis
The beginning of the third round
The outcome of the match Ukraine – Kazakhstan was not easy to predict until the end. Kateryna Lahno outplayed the leader of the Kazakh team Guliskhan Nakhbayeva relatively quickly, while on the last board Inna Gaponenko lost against Abdumalik Zansaya – the youngest participant in the tournament. In the time trouble Inna lost good winning chances and made a few crucial mistakes.
World champion Anna Ushenina was also close to get in big trouble today, but her opponent did not find the very nice move 26…Kh8 and Ushenina got a chance to force a draw. Once again, Natalia Zhukova was left alone in the playing hall and the outcome of the match depended on the result of her game. After a few hours of play, the Ukrainian IM got an advantage and played precisely until the end to save the match.
Davletbayeva - Zhukova
The Georgian team has recovered after yesterday’s defeat, and showed a great result in the match against France. Silvia Collas was the only French player that managed to grab half a point in her game against Nino Khurtsidze, while all of her teammates were defeated.
The only match that finished in a draw was India – Romania.
After the third round China and Russia still lead the tournament and will have their direct encounter on the fourth round. Ukraine and Georgia share the third place.
Alexandra Kosteniugs
Standings after 3 rounds:
| 1 | RUSSIA | 6 |
| 2 | CHINA | 6 |
| 3 | UKRAINE | 5 |
| 4 | GEORGIA | 4 |
| 5 | INDIA | 3 |
| 6 | USA | 3 |
| 7 | ROMANIA | 2 |
| 8 | KAZAKHSTAN | 1 |
| 9 | TURKEY | 0 |
| FRANCE | 0 |
Photos by Anastasiya Karlovich
