The final match of the Women's World Chess Championship started in the Espinas Palace Hotel (Tehran) on February 27.
Anna Muzychuk (Ukraine, GM, 2558) and Tan Zhongyi (China, WGM, 2502) are competing for the chess crown in a 4-game match with classical time control (90 minutes for 40 moves, then 30 minutes for the rest of the game, with 30 seconds added after each move).
If the match ends in a tie, the winner will be determined on tie-break on March 3.
Tan Zhongyi had big problems to equalize with Black in the semifinal match against Harika Dronavalli and perhaps it can explain her will to play something different compare to her previous games. In the French Defence Rubinstein Variation Chinese player chose to play quite rare line starting with 5...Bd7. Anna Muzychuk didn’t go for the most principal lines and preferred solid 7.0-0 and 8.Ned2. After many exchanges Anna transferred the game into the ending Queen and Knight vs Queen and Bishop. She tried to use Black’s weaknesses in the pawn structure on the King’s side but it turned out White has no enough resources to play for something more than a draw. |