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CHESS PIECE(Business World (Philippines) Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge)Women's World Champion 1. 1927-1944. Vera Menchik-Stevenson, Czechoslovakia/England, born Feb. 16, 1906, died 27 June 1944 in Nazi air raid. 1944-1950. Vacant 2. 1950-1953. Ludmila Rudenko, USSR 3. 1953-1956. Elizaveta Bykova, USSR 4. 1956-1958. Olga Rubtsova, USSR 5. 1958-1961. Elizaveta Bykova, USSR 6. 1962-1978. Nona Gaprindashvili, USSR (now Georgia) 7. 1978-1991. Maya Chiburdanidze, USSR (now Georgia) 8. 1991-1997. Xie Jun, China 9. 1997-1999. Susan Polgar, Hungary (now USA) 10. 1999-2001. Xie Jun, China 11. 2001-2004. Zhu Chen, China 12. 2004-2006. Antoaneta Stefanova, Bulgaria 13. 2006-. Xu Yuhua, China 2006 Women's World Championship Ekaterinburg, Russia 11-26 March 2006 Quarterfinals Viktorija Cmilyte defeated Maya Chiburdanidze 3.0-1.0 Alisa Galliamova beat Nino Khurtsidze 2.0-0.0 Svetlana Matveeva beat Marie Sebag 1.5-0.5 Xu Yuhua defeated Ekaterina Kovalevskaya 2.5-1.5 Semifinals Alisa Galliamova defeated Viktorija Cmilyte 1.5-0.5 Xu Yuhua beat Svetlana Natveeva 1.5-0.5 Finals Xu Yuhua defeated Alisa Galliamova 2.5-0.5 The petite 30-year-old from China, WGM Xu Yuhua, relied heavily on her persistence and endgame skill to win the 2006 World Championship. Born in Oct. 29, 1976. She won the inaugural Women's World Cup in Shenyang, China in 2000 and successfully defended that title two years later in Hyderabad, India when she defeated Antoaneta Stefanova in the final match. She has competed in the World Women's Championship tournaments since 2000, winning through to the third round in 2000 in New Delhi, the semifinals in Moscow in 2001, and the quarter finals in Elista in 2004. Xu's perseverance finally paid off when she won the 2006 Ekaterinburg competition to become the 2006 Women's World Champion. She is married to a famous Go player in China and is currently in the family way - her baby is due on September this year. Xu Yuhua is more of a Karpov than a Kasparov. Her pragmatic style usually results in her game being the last to finish, but it also usually ends up with her scoring the win. This does not mean she is not tactically alert. You make a mistake and she finishes you off: Xu Yuhua (2502) - Ushenina, Anna (2398) [B19] FIDE WCh Women KO Ekaterinburg RUS (2.2), 14.03.2006 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.Nd2 dxe4 4.Nxe4 Bf5 5.Ng3 Bg6 6.h4 h6 7.Nf3 Nd7 8.h5 Bh7 9.Bd3 Bxd3 10.Qxd3 e6 11.Bd2 Ngf6 12.0_0_0 Be7 Notice that Ushenina keeps her queen in its home square and prefers to complete her development first before starting to think about taking the initiative. Black usually struggles for the draw here, but still this is the safest line for her in the main line Caro-Kann. Xu Yuhua, being the favorite, will have to try to stir up something. 13.Qe2 In his acclaimed book on "Opening for White According to Anand, vol. 3," GM Alexander Khalifman suggests that the best way to try for an attack here for White is Kb1 followed by Ng4 and a g-pawn advance. Xu Yuhua adopts another plan. 13...0_0 14.Kb1 Qb6 15.c4 Rfe8 16.Ne5 This is not really a sacrifice. 16...Qxd4 capturing the pawn is severely punished by 17.Bc3, winning the d7-knight. 16...Rad8 17.Bc3 c5 18.Nxd7 Nxd7 19.Ne4 Target square is g7. White's queen will go to g4 and after white opens the long diagonal for his bishop Black's position would be dangerous indeed. 19...cxd4 20.Bxd4 Qc6 21.Qg4 See what I told you? 21...Bf8 22.Bf6! Rc8 [22...Nxf6 23.Nxf6+ Kh8 24.Nxe8 Rxe8 25.Qf3 is an easy win] 23.Rh3 Qxc4? Black was afraid of 23...Nc5 24.Nd6! but the text is even worse. 24.Rc3 Qb5 25.Rxd7! The refutation. 25...Kh8 Everything loses: a) 25...Qxd7 26.Bxg7 Bxg7 27.Nf6+; b) 25...Rxc3 26.Bxc3 Qxd7 27.Nf6+. 26.Rxf7 1_0 The illustrative game above is more of an exception than a rule, however. Her strategy in this competition was to convert to the endgame and grind away. The following from her finals match against Alisa Galliamova, the ex-wife of Vassily Ivanchuk, is representative. Galliamova, Alisa (2467) - Xu Yuhua (2502) [C10] FIDE WCh Women KO Ekaterinburg RUS (6.1), 23.03.2006 1.e4 e6 Xu Yuhua is a die-hard Sicilian player, but she switched to the French in Ekaterinburg apparently in keeping with her risk-free approach specially prepared for this event. 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.Bg5 dxe4 5.Nxe4 Nbd7 6.Nxf6+ Nxf6 7.Nf3 h6 8.Be3 Nd5 9.Qd2 Bd6 10.0_0_0 Qe7 11.Ne5 Bd7 12.f4 Bxe5 13.dxe5 Nxe3 14.Qxe3 Bc6 15.Be2 0_0 [15...Bxg2? 16.Rhg1 Bc6 17.Rxg7 is winning for White. The game could continue 17...Bd7 18.Bh5 Rf8 19.Qg1! The threat of Rxf7 embarrasses Black's defenses] 16.Bf3?! I don't like this move. If White wants to play for a win she should retain the bishops and play 16.Rhg1 followed by a g-pawn advance. 16...Bxf3 17.Qxf3 b6 18.Rd3 Rad8 19.Rhd1 Rxd3 20.Rxd3 Rd8 Game is dead equal. Many of the so-called superGMs would agree to a draw here, but Xu and Alisa have just begun to fight here. 21.g3 a5 22.b3 g6 23.g4?! Probably wrong, as there is not enough wood behind the pawns to endanger the Black king. All it succeeds in is to give White weaknesses. 23...Rxd3 24.Qxd3 Qh4! 25.h3 Kg7 26.Kb2? Now this is definitely wrong. 26.Qe3! was imperative, to prevent the Black king from coming to f2. 26...Qf2! 27.Qc4 c5! 28.Qe4 b5 29.a4 b4 30.Qc4 h5! Because of the good position of her queen Black is creating threats on both sides of the board. 31.Qb5 Qd4+ Yuhua wanted the enemy king stationed on b1 so that after eliminating pawns on the king-side she would have the option of a check on d1 and then 32.Kb1 Qxf4 33.Qxc5 hxg4 34.hxg4 Qxg4 35.Qxa5 Qd1+ 36.Kb2 Qd4+ White's a-pawn is closer to the queening square than Black's g-pawn, so Xu has to try to gain tempo by attacking the enemy King. She wants it to go to the first rank so that when she queens it will be with check. 37.Ka2 Qc3 38.Kb1 g5 39.Qd8 White has to create threats against the Black king. If, for example, she just goes for pushing her pawn as fast as she can there will follow 39.Qb6 g4 40.a5 g3 41.a6, then 41...Qe1+ 42.Ka2 Qf2 43.Qxf2 gxf2 44.a7 f1Q 45.a8Q Qe2! either the pawn on c2 or e5 will fall. 39...Qxe5 40.a5 g4 41.a6 g3 42.Qd2 Kg6 43.a7 Qe4! 44.Qd8 g2 45.Qg8+ Kf6 46.a8Q Qxa8 47.Qxa8 g1Q+ Black is winning but it is not easy at all. 48.Ka2 Qg4 49.Qd8+ Kg7 50.Qd3 e5 51.c4 Qg2+ 52.Ka1 Qg1+ 53.Ka2 Qf2+ 54.Kb1 Qe1+ 55.Ka2 e4 56.Qd4+ Kg6 57.c5 Qe2+ 58.Kb1 e3 59.Qd6+ f6 60.c6 [Or 60.Qg3+ Kf5 61.Qh3+ Ke5 62.Qg3+ Kd4 63.Qd6+ Kc3 64.Qxf6+ Kxb3 65.Qf7+ Qc4 wins] 60...Qe1+ 61.Kc2 Qf2+! 62.Kc1 e2 63.Qd3+ f5 64.Qd6+ Kh5 0_1 Xu Yuhua finished the tournament without a single defeat. There can be no other adjective to describe her victory in this championship as "well- deserved." Reader comments/suggestions are urgently solicited. E-mail address is [email protected] |