Gold for China at Women's World Team Championship
Despite a 1.5-2.5 loss to Ukraine in the penultimate round, China won the gold medals at the Women's World Team Championship in Mardin, Turkey. After their disappointing start the Russian ladies eventually took silver while bronze went to Georgia.
China wins the 2011 Women's World Team Championship | All photos courtesy of the Turkish Chess Federation
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From our first report we know that China was leading the Women's World Team Championship after five rounds as the only team left with a 100% score. The team with Hou Yifan, Ju Wenjun, Zhao Xue, Tan Zhongyi and Zhang Xiaowen continued strongly with 3-1 victories against Greece and Georgia.
In the penultimate round the Chinese ladies suffered an unexpected 1.5-2.5 loss to Ukraine, with a decisive win for Natalija Zhukova over Zhao Xue.
[Event "FIDE Women's World Teams"]
[Site "Mardin TUR"]
[Date "2011.12.26"]
[Round "8.11"]
[White "Zhukova, Natalia"]
[Black "Zhao, Xue"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D38"]
[WhiteElo "2427"]
[BlackElo "2541"]
[Annotator "ChessVibes"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "r1b2rk1/pp3pp1/5n1p/q1ppN3/3P4/2P1P1P1/P1Q1P1BP/R4RK1 w - - 0 15"]
[PlyCount "27"]
[EventDate "2011.12.18"]
[WhiteTeam "Ukraine"]
[BlackTeam "China"]
[WhiteTeamCountry "UKR"]
[BlackTeamCountry "CHN"]
15. Rxf6 $1 gxf6 16. Bxd5 {(threatening 17.Qg6+)} Kh8 $6 ({The best try was}
16... f5 $1) 17. Rf1 ({Houdini points out that} 17. Ng6+ $1 {would have been
winning immediately:} fxg6 18. Qxg6 Bf5 $1 19. Qxh6+ Bh7 {and now the
computeresque} 20. Rb1 $3 $18) 17... fxe5 18. Rf6 Kg7 19. dxe5 Qd8 $6 ({More
tenacious was} 19... Qc7 20. Qe4 Rd8 21. Rxf7+ Qxf7 22. Bxf7 Kxf7) 20. Qe4 {
Now the threat of 21.Qf4 forces Black to give her queen.} Qxf6 21. exf6+ Kxf6
22. Qh7 Be6 23. Qxh6+ Ke7 24. Bxb7 Rab8 25. Qg5+ Kd6 26. Qf4+ Kd7 27. Qa4+ Ke7
28. Qxa7 {and White won.} 1-0
Ukraine beats China 2.5-1.5
Nonetheless they secured tournament victory with a round to spare, beause their closest rival India lost to Georgia. After losing 1.5-2.5 to the gold medal winners in the final round, India didn't even get a medal.
The first game between Hou Yifan and Humpy Koneru after their World Championship match ended in a draw
Silver went to Russia, who agreed to four quick draws against Armenia in the last round - a disappointing affair that's normally only seen in men's events. Georgia, who beat Turkey 3-1 in the final round, went home with the bronze medals.
Selection of games rounds 6-9
Women's World Team Championship 2011 | Final standings
| Rank | Team | Gam. | + | = | - | MP | Pts. | Res. | SB. | BT |
| 1 | China | 9 | 8 | 1 | 16 | 27½ | 0 | 131,50 | 2550 | |
| 2 | Russia | 9 | 5 | 3 | 1 | 13 | 21½ | 0 | 103,00 | 1991 |
| 3 | Georgia | 9 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 12 | 21½ | 0 | 90,75 | 2005 |
| 4 | India | 9 | 5 | 1 | 3 | 11 | 23 | 0 | 76,00 | 2154 |
| 5 | Ukraine | 9 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 11 | 21 | 0 | 94,75 | 1934 |
| 6 | Armenia | 9 | 4 | 1 | 4 | 9 | 19½ | 0 | 56,75 | 1820 |
| 7 | Vietnam | 9 | 4 | 1 | 4 | 9 | 19 | 0 | 59,00 | 1768 |
| 8 | Greece | 9 | 2 | 1 | 6 | 5 | 15 | 0 | 22,75 | 1391 |
| 9 | Turkey | 9 | 2 | 7 | 4 | 11 | 0 | 22,00 | 1036 | |
| 10 | RSA | 9 | 9 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0,00 | 91 |
Peter Doggers joined a chess club a month before turning 15 and still plays for it. He used to be an active tournament player and holds two IM norms.
Peter has a Master of Arts degree in Dutch Language & Literature. He briefly worked at New in Chess, then as a Dutch teacher and then in a project for improving safety and security in Amsterdam schools.
Between 2007 and 2013 Peter was running ChessVibes, a major source for chess news and videos acquired by Chess.com in October 2013.
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