Women's World Championship match

[JustinHorton]

Kicks off tomorrow. Has Muzychuk any chance at all?

[PeterFarr]

Wouldn't think so, over 10 games. Just hope she keeps the score respectable.

[John McKenna]

I think Mariya Muzychuk will do better than her expected score (34% approx.) according to current ratings.
She may even be able to hold Hou Yifan to 5-5 in the ten slow games and if she does I think she'd be favourite in the tie-break games.

Here's the Chessbase preview -

http://en.chessbase.com/post/women-s-wo ... s-tomorrow

[John McKenna]

It looks as if Muzychuk has the white pieces in the first game, which should have started by now?

[John McKenna]

Muzychuk-Hou started about 30 mins. ago with 1.e4... It seems there's a built-in delay in transmitting the moves.

Hou replied 1... e5 and it continued 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5, so an Italian game instead of their usual Sicilian.

[Tim Harding]

Muzychuk-Hou started about 30 mins. ago with 1.e4... It seems there's a built-in delay in transmitting the moves.

Hou replied 1... e5 and it continued 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5, so an Italian game instead of their usual Sicilian.

After 4 0-0 Nf6 5 d3 0-0 Muzychuk has already been thinking nearly ten minutes in a standard position which she presumably had prepared?

[Jonathan Bryant]

Has Muzychuk really been thinking for 10 minutes at move 6? If she was 7 she’d know what to do.


Update:

13 minutes or so for 6 c3. She’d have got a "tsk" for that in my seven year old’s opening principles class followed by an explanation that the pawn makes the b1 knight unhappy. It’s possible, I suppose, that 2500 rated chessers have a deeper grasp of opening play.

[Tim Harding]

She played 6 c3 after 13 minutes and the fairly instant reply was 6...d6. Now Muzychuk is pondering 6+ minutes on move 7.

Maybe she wants to ease herself into the match; it's maybe she had two options in her preparation.

Actually this move order with 4 0-0 has become rather popular in GM practice in the last 12 months or so. I asked one of the GMs in Gibraltar why the switch to early castling but he said it was just fashion. Maybe doesn't want to divulge the secret to us patzers at large.

[Jonathan Bryant]

Actually this move order with 4 0-0 has become rather popular in GM practice in the last 12 months or so. I asked one of the GMs in Gibraltar why the switch to early castling but he said it was just fashion. Maybe doesn't want to divulge the secret to us patzers at large.

I always thought it was inaccurate - because it rules out a very quick Nb1-d2-f1-g3 so Black has more to think about. Mind you I also thought that ... d6 was inaccurate because if you go ... a6 instead you have the option of playing ... d5 in one move in some lines.

But what do I know?

[Tim Harding]

Actually this move order with 4 0-0 has become rather popular in GM practice in the last 12 months or so. I asked one of the GMs in Gibraltar why the switch to early castling but he said it was just fashion. Maybe doesn't want to divulge the secret to us patzers at large.

I always thought it was inaccurate - because it rules out a very quick Nb1-d2-f1-g3 so Black has more to think about. Mind you I also thought that ... d6 was inaccurate because if you go ... a6 instead you have the option of playing ... d5 in one move in some lines.

But what do I know?

The old line used to be 4 c3 Nf6 5 d3. It could transpose.

I think early castling must be connected with the trend towards 6 d3 in the Spanish. Muzychuk continued 7 h3 (necessary preparation for her next) 7...h6 8 Re1 avoiding the usual Bb3 move, but after 8...a6 Hou Yifan may have been threatening...Na5 to get the B pair and Muzychuk responded 9 a4 to preserve the B and prevent ...b5.
Hou Yifan started thinking.
Here 9...Be6 was played in Giri-Anand at Zurich (after a slightly different move order).

[Matt Mackenzie]

Drawn game in 31 moves.

Will the challenger make an effort with White next time?

[John McKenna]

Chessbase report on the opening ceremony with all the moves of the first game -

http://en.chessbase.com/post/women-s-wo ... e-one-live

GM Mikhalchishin commentating on the opening called it "soft chess".
In the first game of the 2013 Women's World Ch. defending champion Ushenina - also Ukrainian - tried harder chess with the white pieces and lost that game and eventually the 10-game match by 1.5 to Hou Yifan's 5.5. Mariya Muzychuk should do better not least because she has the home advantage that Hou enjoyed in 2013.

Drawn game in 31 moves.

Will the challenger make an effort with White next time?

Hou Yifan is the challenger and will receive double white in games 4 & 5 so she may save her main effort until then rather than game 2.

[Matt Mackenzie]

Drawn game in 31 moves.

Will the challenger make an effort with White next time?

Hou Yifan is the challenger and will receive double white in games 4 & 5 so she may save her main effort until then rather than game 2.

I know, that is what my (maybe imprecisely worded) comment was referring to

[John McKenna]

After yesterday's quiet Italian excursion will they cross the dangerous Sicilian straits today!?

By the way, the difference in their ratings narrowed in March -
Hou,Y 2667
Muzychuk,M 2563

That gives Muzychuk about 36% expected score - slightly better than the 34% I mentioned before - on that basis Hou could expect to win by 5.5 to 3, but with luck it will be closer.

[John McKenna]

There's been a major Spanish detour instead of Sicilian trip -

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.O-O Nxe4...