Lagno & Muzychuk Successful at World Rapid & Blitz
Besides Pavel Eljanov's B group victory win in Shamkir, there was more success for Ukrainian-born chess players this week. At the Women's World Rapid and Blitz Championship in Khanty-Mansiysk, Kateryna Lagno won the rapid section while Anna Muzychuk was the strongest at blitz.
All photos courtesy of FIDE
A long period of top-level chess held in Khanty-Mansiysk came to an end on Monday. After the Candidates’ Tournament, won by Vishy Anand, and the Women's Grand Prix, won by Hou Yifan, a third event was held in the Siberian oil boom town: the Women's World Rapid and Blitz Championship.
The two tournaments, both Swiss events, lasted six days in total, with three days of rapid (with five rounds per day), and then two days of blitz (ten rounds per day). The dates were April 23-28, 2014. 34 female players from 13 countries competed.
The time control for the Rapid Championship was 15 minutes plus 10 seconds increment; for the Blitz Championship it was 3 minutes plus 2 seconds increment. Whether it was really necessary or not, there was a rule that prevented players from offering draws.
Prizes in Khanty-Mansiysk
| Rapid | US dollars | Blitz | US dollars |
| Prize fund | 50,000 | Prize fund | 50,000 |
| 1st | 12,000 | 1st | 12,000 |
| 2nd | 9,000 | 2nd | 9,000 |
| 3rd | 6,000 | 3rd | 6,000 |
| 4th | 5,000 | 4th | 5,000 |
| 5th | 4,000 | 5th | 4,000 |
| 6th | 3,000 | 6th | 3,000 |
| 7th | 2,500 | 7th | 2,500 |
| 8th | 2,000 | 8th | 2,000 |
| 9th | 1,500 | 9th | 1,500 |
| 10th | 1,000 | 10th | 1,000 |
| 11th-18th ($500 each) | 4,000 | 11th-18th ($500 each) | 4,000 |
Kateryna Lagno of Ukraine, who will soon start representing Russia, won the rapid tournament. She edged out Alexandra Kosteniuk on tiebreak after both players finished on 10.5/15. Lagno claimed the gold medal thanks to the victory in direct encounter. Kosteniuk got the silver medal, but the money prizes were equally split. Here's that decisive game between the two:
The tournament had a thrilling finale. Heading into the final round, five players were tied for first place: Alexandra Kosteniuk, Antoaneta Stefanova, Kateryna Lagno, Tatiana Kosintseva and Anna Muzychuk. Lagno had Caissa on her side when her opponent Valentina Gunina blundered a mate in one:
But perhaps this was long-term justice. “In 2012 I had a very sad experience at the Rapid Championship in Batumi, when I blundered a mate in one against Stefanova. Today I was lucky,” said Lagno in an interview.
Kosteniuk did catch Lagno in first place, but it was only good enough for silver. Her last round game had a nice finish:
Women's World Rapid Championship 2014 | Final Standings
| Place | S.No. | Title | Name | Fed. | FIDE | Total |
| 1 | 2 | GM | Lagno, Kateryna | UKR | R 2581 | 10.5 |
| 2 | 5 | GM | Kosteniuk, Alexandra | RUS | R 2551 | 10.5 |
| 3 | 23 | WGM | Girya, Olga | RUS | R 2381 | 10.0 |
| 4 | 4 | GM | Stefanova, Antoaneta | BUL | R 2570 | 10.0 |
| 5 | 7 | GM | Muzychuk, Anna | SLO | R 2520 | 10.0 |
| 6 | 8 | GM | Kosintseva, Tatiana | RUS | R 2509 | 9.5 |
| 7 | 10 | GM | Ushenina, Anna | UKR | R 2486 | 8.5 |
| 8 | 17 | GM | Krush, Irina | USA | R 2407 | 8.5 |
| 9 | 18 | GM | Khotenashvili, Bela | GEO | R 2398 | 8.5 |
| 10 | 11 | GM | Zhao, Xue | CHN | R 2470 | 8.5 |
| 11 | 1 | GM | Gunina, Valentina | RUS | R 2583 | 8.5 |
| 12 | 3 | GM | Dzagnidze, Nana | GEO | R 2580 | 8.5 |
| 13 | 19 | IM | Gaponenko, Inna | UKR | R 2394 | 8.0 |
| 14 | 28 | WIM | Bezgodova, Svetlana | RUS | R 2281 | 8.0 |
| 15 | 22 | WGM | Kashlinskaya, Alina | RUS | R 2382 | 7.5 |
| 16 | 21 | IM | Guseva, Marina | RUS | R 2383 | 7.5 |
| 17 | 6 | IM | Paehtz, Elisabeth | GER | R 2524 | 7.5 |
| 18 | 15 | GM | Harika, Dronavalli | IND | R 2437 | 7.5 |
| 19 | 20 | WGM | Goryachkina, Aleksandra | RUS | R 2388 | 7.5 |
| 20 | 14 | GM | Zhu, Chen | QAT | R 2438 | 7.5 |
| 21 | 9 | GM | Cramling, Pia | SWE | R 2504 | 7.5 |
| 22 | 33 | WIM | Drozdova, Dina | RUS | R 2245 | 7.0 |
| 23 | 16 | GM | Zhukova, Natalia | UKR | R 2409 | 7.0 |
| 24 | 26 | WGM | Batchimeg, Tuvshintugs | MGL | 2340 | 7.0 |
| 25 | 27 | WGM | Muminova, Nafisa | UZB | R 2321 | 7.0 |
| 26 | 25 | WGM | Ambartsumova, Karina | RUS | R 2324 | 7.0 |
| 27 | 12 | IM | Muzychuk, Mariya | UKR | R 2469 | 6.5 |
| 28 | 29 | WIM | Fominykh, Maria | RUS | R 2278 | 6.0 |
| 29 | 24 | WIM | Ubiennykh, Ekaterina | RUS | R 2337 | 5.5 |
| 30 | 13 | WGM | Charochkina, Daria | RUS | R 2439 | 5.5 |
| 31 | 31 | WGM | Shaydullina, Sandugach | RUS | R 2263 | 5.5 |
| 32 | 32 | Sukhareva, Evgeniya | RUS | R 2254 | 5.0 | |
| 33 | 30 | WIM | Popova, Natalija | BLR | R 2268 | 4.0 |
| 34 | 34 | WFM | Sviridova, Vlada | RUS | R 2086 | 2.0 |
Anna Muzychuk, like Lagno born in Ukraine but representing Slovenia since 2004, won the World Blitz Championship. Her victory was much more convincing: she finished on 23.0/30, which was 2.5 points ahead of Nana Dzagnidze who took silver.
Muzychuk was leading after the first day, but the second day was less successful. After ten rounds she was tied for first place with Dzagnidze; both had scored 15.0/20 points. But the Slovenian finished very strongly, with 8.0/10, and in fact she already secured the title with a round to spare.
Muzychuk defeated the World Rapid Champion twice:
Women's World Blitz Championship 2014 | Final Standings
| Place | S.No. | Title | Name | Fed. | FIDE | Total |
| 1 | 1 | GM | Muzychuk, Anna | SLO | B 2613 | 23.0 |
| 2 | 7 | GM | Dzagnidze, Nana | GEO | B 2523 | 20.5 |
| 3 | 9 | GM | Kosintseva, Tatiana | RUS | B 2502 | 20.0 |
| 4 | 8 | GM | Zhao, Xue | CHN | B 2510 | 19.0 |
| 5 | 3 | GM | Stefanova, Antoaneta | BUL | B 2565 | 18.5 |
| 6 | 16 | IM | Paehtz, Elisabeth | GER | B 2424 | 18.0 |
| 7 | 6 | GM | Gunina, Valentina | RUS | B 2532 | 18.0 |
| 8 | 5 | GM | Kosteniuk, Alexandra | RUS | B 2539 | 17.5 |
| 9 | 4 | GM | Lagno, Kateryna | UKR | B 2549 | 17.0 |
| 10 | 12 | GM | Harika, Dronavalli | IND | B 2466 | 16.5 |
| 11 | 14 | IM | Muzychuk, Mariya | UKR | B 2438 | 16.0 |
| 12 | 23 | IM | Guseva, Marina | RUS | B 2340 | 16.0 |
| 13 | 18 | GM | Cramling, Pia | SWE | B 2414 | 16.0 |
| 14 | 22 | WGM | Kashlinskaya, Alina | RUS | B 2354 | 15.5 |
| 15 | 21 | WGM | Ambartsumova, Karina | RUS | B 2367 | 15.5 |
| 16 | 15 | GM | Zhu, Chen | QAT | B 2431 | 15.0 |
| 17 | 20 | IM | Gaponenko, Inna | UKR | B 2374 | 15.0 |
| 18 | 32 | WGM | Goryachkina, Aleksandra | RUS | B 2238 | 15.0 |
| 19 | 19 | WGM | Girya, Olga | RUS | B 2396 | 14.5 |
| 20 | 2 | GM | Ushenina, Anna | UKR | B 2573 | 14.5 |
| 21 | 27 | WIM | Ubiennykh, Ekaterina | RUS | 2285 | 14.5 |
| 22 | 10 | GM | Khotenashvili, Bela | GEO | B 2485 | 14.5 |
| 23 | 11 | WGM | Charochkina, Daria | RUS | B 2481 | 14.0 |
| 24 | 28 | WGM | Muminova, Nafisa | UZB | B 2269 | 14.0 |
| 25 | 17 | GM | Krush, Irina | USA | B 2422 | 14.0 |
| 26 | 13 | GM | Zhukova, Natalia | UKR | B 2457 | 14.0 |
| 27 | 30 | WIM | Drozdova, Dina | RUS | B 2259 | 12.5 |
| 28 | 29 | WGM | Shaydullina, Sandugach | RUS | B 2260 | 12.5 |
| 29 | 24 | WGM | Batchimeg, Tuvshintugs | MGL | B 2321 | 12.0 |
| 30 | 31 | Sukhareva, Evgeniya | RUS | B 2259 | 12.0 | |
| 31 | 34 | WFM | Sviridova, Vlada | RUS | B 2101 | 11.0 |
| 32 | 33 | WIM | Bezgodova, Svetlana | RUS | B 2189 | 11.0 |
| 33 | 26 | WIM | Fominykh, Maria | RUS | B 2304 | 7.5 |
| 34 | 25 | WIM | Popova, Natalija | BLR | 2314 | 5.5 |
The prize winners on stage at the closing ceremony
The World Rapid & Blitz that's not limited to female players will be held 15-21 June in Dubai. Almost all top players in the world are expected to participate.
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