Snowdrops Versus Old Hands 2012
The 5th annual "Snowdrops versus Old Hands" tournament is currently taking place in the spa town of Poděbrady in the Czech Republic.
The event is organised by the Prague Chess Society with sponsors Czech Coal and pits a team of chess veterans (the Old Hands) against young women players (the Snowdrops).
Each team consists of four players and the format is a double Scheveningen (each team member plays each player on the other team twice).
The time control is 90 minutes per 40 moves, then 30 minutes to finish with a 30 second increment from the start.
Last year's competition was won by the Old Hands with a convincing 21-11 score, but at the halfway point of the 2012 event the Snowdrops lead by 10-6.
The Old Hands team are GM Vlastimil Hort (pictured above), GM Wolfgang Uhlmann, GM Fridrik Olafsson and GM Oleg Romanishin. The Snowdrops team are IM Valentina Gunina, IM Tania Sachdev, WGM Alina Kaslinskaya and WIM Kristýna Havlíková.
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Alina Kašlinskaja, Valentina Gunina, Kristýna Havlíková, Tania Sachdev with captain Sergey Movsesian
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The results at the halfway stage
| Snowdrops | O1 | O2 | O3 | O4 | O1 | O2 | O3 | O4 | 10 | |
| S1 | Valentina Gunina | 1 | ½ | ½ | ½ | 2½ | ||||
| S2 | Tania Sachdev | 1 | ½ | 1 | ½ | 3 | ||||
| S3 | Alina Kashlinskaya | ½ | 1 | ½ | 1 | 3 | ||||
| S4 | Kristýna Havlíková | 1 | ½ | 0 | 0 | 1½ | ||||
| Old Hands | S1 | S2 | S3 | S4 | S1 | S2 | S3 | S4 | 6 | |
| O1 | Fridrik Olafsson | 0 | 1 | 0 | ½ | 1½ | ||||
| O2 | Wolfgang Uhlmann | ½ | ½ | 0 | 0 | 1 | ||||
| O3 | Vlastimil Hort | ½ | 1 | ½ | 0 | 2 | ||||
| O4 | Oleg Romanishin | ½ | 0 | ½ | ½ | 1½ |
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Valentina Gunina defeated Fridrik Olafsson in the first round
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Wolfgang Uhlmann lost to Tania Sachdev
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Alina Kašlinskaja beat Vlastimil Hort
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Tania Sachdev won again in round 2
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Kristýna Havlíková lost in the 2nd round to Vlastimil Hort
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Photos by Anežka Kružíková at the official website.
