Four Georgian chess players reached the second round of World Championship with minimum loss. The championship is underway in the city of Turkey, Antakya. Nana Dzagnidze (2551), Maia Chiburdanidze (2502) and Sophiko Khukhashvili (2430) managed to go through the second round. Maia Lomineishvili (2347) lost.
As it was expected, Dzagnidze and Chiburdanidze overcame the first round easily. They won 2-2 matches against their opponents. Nana beat Canadian Dina Kagramanova (2101) and Nana - Indian Subbaraman Meenakshi (2328).
Khukhashvili played draw against Russian Irina Turova (2439) with white pieces, she won with black pieces on the 37th move and finally 1.5:0.5.
Unfortunately, Lomineishvili has nothing to be proud of. She lost against Anna Zatonskih (2478) 0:2. Anna is playing in the name of the USA.
It is known that Chinese Xue Zhao (2474) will be the next opponent of Chiburdanidze in the second round. Zhao beat Ecuadorian Martha Fierro Baquero (2363) 1.5:0.5. Khukhashvili will hold more difficult match. World champion Alexandra Kosteniuk will be her opponent. As it was expected, Russian chess player beat Algerian Amina Mezioud (2029) in both matches.
The next opponent of Dzagnidze will be found out between French Almira Skripchenko (2460) and Romanian Cristina-Adela Foisor (2403). These players played two draws and today they will play tiebreak.
Some unexpected results were showed in the first round. The most sensational was that Turkish Betul Cemre Yildiz (2225) beat famous Swedish Pia Cramling (2526). Yildiz gained decisive point with black pieces.
Also it was unexpected that Russian Baira Kovanova (2380) beat Natalija Pogonina (2472), Russian Tatiana Shadrina (2384) won over Armenian Elina Danielyan (2466) and Russian Evgenija Ovod beat Chinese Yang Shen (2461).
450 000 USD is prize money of the tournament. Champion will win 60 000 USD. Player who will lost in the first round will get 3 750 USD. Other money will be distributed this way: II round – 5.500, III round – 8.000, IV round – 12.000, V round – 40.000, VI round – 30.000;
The second round matches will start on December 7. If the score is the same after both matches, opponents will play tiebreak.