Galliamova and Xu to compete in WWCC final

[Jack Rabbit]

Alisa Galliamova of Russia and China's Xu Yuhua advanced to the final round of the FIDE Women's World Chess Championship in Ekaterinaberg, Russia by defeating their respective opponents, Lithuanian Viktoria Cmilyte and Russian Svetlana Matveeva.

The single-elimination event began March 10 with 64 participants. Galliamova and Xu are the survivors the five rounds of two-game mini-matches in the last eleven days.



Alisa Galliamova (left) and Xu Yuhua

It will be the second time Galliamova has played a match for the title of Women's World Champion. In 1999, she lost a match to then-reigning champion Xie Jun of China.

Both Xu and Galliamova played White today. Both drew their games with Black yesterday.

Today's game between Xu and Matveeva began with White (Xu) advancing her King's Pawn two spaces with Black (Matveeva) responding by advancing her King's Pawn one space, a move leading to the French Defense (1 e4 e6 2 d4 d5). After 33 moves, the game was paired down to a Rook and Pawn ending. Both players had a passed Pawn which each carefully advanced in the hopes of promoting it to a Queen. One her 53rd move, Black sacrificed her less important Pawn in order to gain time to advance her passed Pawn to the seventh rank, but by this time White's Pawn was also on the seventh rank being protected by her King. The players exchanged Rooks on the 57th move and each promoted her Pawn on Black's 58th and White's 59th move. However, White had the advantage of queening with check. That, along with her extra Pawn, gave her enough initiative to soon achieve a winning position. Matveeva resigned on her 66th move.

In the other game, White (Galliamova) opened with her Queen's Pawn which Black (Cmilyte) chose to meet with a Queen's Indian Defense (1 d4 Nf6 2 c4 e6 3 Nf3 b6). The game developed slowly and quietly with Black having the initiative for much of the time. After 51 moves, when both players had two Rooks, a dark-bound Bishop and four Pawns, it was clear that Black chances were in the center, where she had two connected passed Pawns, and White's were on the queenside, where she had a 3:1 majority. Black sacrificed her queenside Pawn and exchanged a pair of Rooks to gain time to advance her own center Pawns. The sacrifice was probably a mistake, since White's King was already well placed for defense. White used the time to advance one of her queenside Pawns, which Black had to take time to stop. When the smoke cleared on the 67th move, the players were down to a Rook and Pawn ending with White having two connected passed Pawns on the queenside, a distinct advantage. White began marching her Pawns up the board. Cmilyte resigned on her 75th move.

Xu, like most Chinese players, plays a conservative positional game with few flashy moments. She draws as often as she wins, but seldom loses. Galliamova, who is the former wife of Ukrainian grandmaster Vassily Ivanchuk, is more likely to employ a tactical flair to gain some sort of edge to be nursed to a won ending. She wins about twice as often as she draws, but is easier to beat than Xu.

The final round, which will be a match of four games in four days, begins Thursday with Galliamova playing White.

Photo of Alisa Galliamova from ChessBase.com.
Photo of Xu Yuhua from the official site of the Women's World Chess Championship.