The new women’s world champion is the much unexpected Tan Zhongyi. She is the 16th women’s champion and the fifth Chinese woman to hold the title. Just the ninth-highest rated and very much in the shadow of her countrywoman Wenjun Ju, Tan showed great determination and preparation to outlast the field.
She survived an Armageddon game vs. Dronavalli Harika of India, having played catch-up in their whole match. In the final match, she faced the very determined Anna Muzychuk of Ukraine, sister of former women’s world champ Mariya Muzychuk. Tan managed to beat Muzychuk in the second rapid tie-break game after having given up the lead in the third classical game. The defeat must have been especially disappointing to Muzychuk, as her sister had boycotted the event and had urged Muzychuk to do the same, but she went hoping to become world champion.
This column’s favorite, Russian Aleksandra KosteAniuk, collapsed completely in her semifinal match against Muzychuk, when in the first game of the mini-match she blundered badly and lost. In the second game, still visibly upset over her loss, she offered no resistance, and Muzychuk was through to the finals against Tan.
The Massachusetts Chess Association’s scholastic championships, the Spiegel Cup, are ongoing. Titles will be award in three age groups and to high school students. The qualified competitors are listed below. The high school section is open to all Massachusetts high school students. We will list the winners in our next column.
8 & under: Jonathan Traub, Victor Feng, Eric Li, Evan Wei, Isabella Lai, Alexander Fang Meng, Lawrence Tu, Justin Li, Eric Feng, and Kelsey Liu.
11 & under: David Xie, Ryan Wang, David Katsman, Eddie Wei, Nicholas Belous, Dustin Liang, Derek Jin, Derek, Zhao, Bernie Xu, and David Zhou.
14 & under: Danila Poliannikov, Alex Yu, Vineeth Nareddy, Michael Mi, Vittal Ranganath, Carissa Yip, Brandon Wu, Jason Tang, Suraj Ramanathan, and Alan Song.
Coming events: March 24, Waltham Smyslov, G/30, d5, Waltham CC, WalthamChessClub.org; March 26, 1st New England K-12 Chess Challenge, The RSM Foundation, www.RSMFoundation.org/chess.
Recent results: Concord-Carlisle, March G/30: Over11: 1st-2nd Henry Booth, Lucas Kamon, 3-0; Under11: 1st: Jacob Snell, 3-0; Wachusett CC’s George E. O’Rourke Memorial, 1st: Brett Kildahl, 4.5-.5.
Answer to today’s problem: The very sneaky 1…Re3! does the trick. If 2.Bxe3 Nxf3+; 2.Qxe3 Nf1+; 2.Rd3 Nf3+ 3.gxf3 Qxf2+. Otherwise Black wins the rook.
Chris Chase can be reached at BostonGlobeChessNotes@ gmail.com.
