4 matches were decided on the second day of the third round and other 4 matches will be finalized after tie-breaks tomorrow.
Nana Dzagnidze and Antoaneta Stefanova, who won the first games of the third round, had no problems to make draws in the second games and went through the next stage.
Fans cannot really blame Anna Muzychuk for using too much time while converting her advantage in the game against Pham Le Thao Nguyen.
It seems Ukrainian player was trying to play without any risk as even a draw would guarantee her a victory in the match. Nevertheless, after 75 moves of play Anna finshed the match with 2:0 score.
19-year-old Chinese player Ni Shiqun defeated Russian Natalia Pogonina, the former runner-up of the previous Women's World Chess championship 2015, and guaranteed her attendance in the fourth round.
In a dramatic game full of mistakes from both sides Natalia Pogonina missed few real chances to end the game in a draw.
The second games In the matches Girya-Ju, Kosteniuk-Cramling, Dronavalli-Guramishvili, Padmini-Tan were relatively quiet and none of the players had real chances to fight for more than a draw.
Thus, 8 players will play on tie-breaks at 3 pm local time on 19th February.
According to regulations after a new drawing of colors, two tie-break games with the time control 25min + 10sec will be played.
If the scores are still level, then, after a new drawing of colors, a match of two games with the time control 10min + 10sec will be played.
In case of a level score, another match of two games will be played, with a blitz time control of 5min + 3sec.
If still there is no winner, one sudden-death game will be played. The player who wins the drawing of lots may choose the color. The player with the white pieces shall receive 5 minutes, the opponent with the black pieces shall receive 4 minutes whereupon, after the 60th move, both players shall receive an increment of 3 seconds for each move from move 61. In case of a draw the player with the black pieces is declared the winner. |
