13-year-old Alice Lee defeated former Women’s World Champion Antoaneta Stefanova. Kazakhstan surprises, taking the lead following the defeats of India and Georgia.
Round 1
In the Pool A, Georgia scored the best result of the round, a resounding victory by 3½-½ against a direct rival, Ukraine. The Georgian players cemented their win thanks to their dominant performance on the White boards: Meri Arabidze and Lela Javakhishvili showed great drive, and with an accurate play, they got the full point against Nataliya Buksa and Anastasiya Rakhmangulova, respectively. Khotenasvili, with Black on the first board, played a solid Grunfeld line and drew comfortably against Ushenina.
The result could have been much closer, though, had Inna Gaponenko managed to convert the winning position she achieved against Nino Batsiashvili. However, the Ukrainian IM, who often falls in time scrambles, let the victory slip at the exact moment when she was going for the kill. Batsiashvili grabbed her chance and, with ingenious play, pulled off the biggest swindle of the day.
India defeated France 3-1, but some of the games in the match were quite double-edged, and at times, it seemed as if the match could go either way. Vantika Agrawal is in great shape, and her sound king move 15.Ke2! gave her the upper hand against Deimante Daulyte-Cornette, who shortly after lost a pawn.
Vankita’s conversion of her material advantage was flawless. Another Indian player in great shape is…
