 After the tough struggles and surprises of yesterday today was a bit anti-climactic in Antalya, as favourites generally had crushing wins over their opponents. Tomorrow would be another tough day though with big games coming up!
Open
There were four teams with perfect score before the round: Globus (Russia) and Odlar Yurdu (Azerbaijan) representing the favourites and two middle-seeded clubs Gambit Asseco See (Macedonia) & LSG Leiden (Netherlands) who managed to take full advantage of the pairing system to achieve 6 points. Obviously their luck with the pairings would have to run out at one point and today happened to be the day.
In the matchups of top ranked teams, Globus overpowered Gambit Asseco See 5,5-0,5 and the Azeris gave only half a point more to Dutchmen: 5-1. If Korobov could win a won game it could be a clean sweep for Globus as well but Mitkov managed to avoid a whitewash in the end, something which the Lithuanian LSK Makabi couldn’t do against fourth seeds AVE Novy Bor. Despite a setback on Zvjaginsev’s board Legacy Square Capital also beat Sk Dunejska Streda fairly easily: 4,5-1,5.
The toughest match of the day was surely Mednyi Vsadnik-Beer Sheva Chess Club. Despite being underdogs on every board players of the Israeli club played very solidly and even got winning chances on the last board which Greenfeld couldn’t convert into a win. However they could pay a heavy price for one careless moment of Mikhalevski:
Khairullin-Mikhalevski
White has definitely a slight edge in this position but after 15…f5 black could defend successfully. Instead Mikhalevski played 15…b5?, obviously relying on bishop being trapped after 16. Bxf7 Rdf8 17. Bd5 c6 He was right about it, but after 18. Rxa6 cxd5 19. Ra8+ Kc7 20. Ra7+ Kc8 21. exd5 it became clear that white is winning with his rooks threatening to invade via a-file and there’s no material deficit as well, just three pawns for a piece. However Mikhalevski began to play better and better as Khairullin fails to finish black off and in the end the game ended in a draw after some adventures.
Second seeds Alkaloid was playing strong Nice Alekhine but they absolutely swept the French club off the board. Let’s take a look at a game from this match for today:
Women
It was a critical day in the women section especially for Bossa Nova from Belarus. As the only team with perfect score, with a distance of 2 points to the rest, a win against Legacy Square Capital could be a big step in finishing at least in top three. Instead they had to taste a bitter defeat in the hands of Russian women. The draws of Zhukova and Badelka on top boards couldn’t save the day for Belarusians as Daria Voit and Anastasia Savina scored clean wins on the last two boards for the Russian club. Now everything is wide open in the tournament!
Batumi Chess Club Nona won against Marmara from Turkey easily despite Salome Melia’s uninspired play with white pieces which resulted in a draw. Together with the second seeds Ugra Chess Club, who also won today against Cs Studentesc Medicina Timisoara 2,5-1,5 thanks to Pogonina’s win against the out of form Romanian WGM Mihaela Sandu; they are fully in the race for championship.
The tragedy of the round was definitely the game between Zeinab Mamedjarova and Ekaterina Atalik. Odlar Yurdu was winning 2-1 but Atalik was totally winning and the match would for sure end in a tie…
Mamedjarova-Atalik
Of course this position is 100% winning. Almost every sensible move would win except the one that was played by IM Atalik:
76…f4?? Just one final trick should have been avoided. Now 77. Rg5+ Kh3 78. Rh5+ Kg3 and since there’s no escape from perpetual, draw. A very disheartening result for the hosts!
The fifth round will be the stage for many good matches. Odlar Yurdu-Legacy Square Capital, Batumi Chess Club Nona-Bossa Nova in women and Odlar Yurdu-Globus, AVE Novy Bor-Legacy Square Capital in open are definitely not to miss. Stay tuned for the live games and commentary at 3 pm local time tomorrow as usual!
Report by: FM Tarik Selbes Photos by: David Llada
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