2018 Women's World Championship

Discuss anything you like about women's chess at home and abroad.
Thomas Rendle
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Re: 2018 Women's World Championship

Post by Thomas Rendle » Thu Nov 08, 2018 10:10 am

Let's be honest, this event is not thought of as a World Championship - nor will the winner be regarded in a meaningful way to be the 'World Champion'. It's a World Cup knock-out and it will crown a worthy winner I'm sure.

Chris Rice
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Re: 2018 Women's World Championship

Post by Chris Rice » Thu Nov 08, 2018 10:34 am

Thomas Rendle wrote:
Thu Nov 08, 2018 10:10 am
Let's be honest, this event is not thought of as a World Championship - nor will the winner be regarded in a meaningful way to be the 'World Champion'. It's a World Cup knock-out and it will crown a worthy winner I'm sure.
Fair enough. I would agree with that. I wouldn't agree with the previous post comparing the Women's Chess World Championship format to darts though. As I recall there are a number of legs in darts which constitute a match so this isn't comparing like with like. Wasn't the darts match in question decided 6-1 rather than 1.5-0.5?

Matthew Turner
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Re: 2018 Women's World Championship

Post by Matthew Turner » Thu Nov 08, 2018 10:39 am

I think the point is this - chessplayers seem to think that the World Champion should be the best player in the World. It is not clear to me (or presumeably Alex) why this should be the case. In darts or snooker the World Championship is just another (albeit a particularly important) tournament.

Thomas Rendle
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Re: 2018 Women's World Championship

Post by Thomas Rendle » Thu Nov 08, 2018 10:46 am

Yes, but most of the tournaments in those sports are knock-outs, rather than the exception for chess. The 'World Champs' is still normally a little longer than other events (especially in Snooker) and can be considered tougher to win.

Most tournaments in chess are round-robin and tend to be won by one of the clear favourites.

Tim Harding
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Re: 2018 Women's World Championship

Post by Tim Harding » Thu Nov 08, 2018 1:11 pm

Round 2 playoffs:

Tan Zhongyi LOST TO Tokhirjonova

Stefanova BEAT Saduakassova

Kosteniuk BEAT Ni, Shiqun (2-0 in TIEBREAK)

Harika BEAT Khotenashvili

Abdumalik BEAT Zhao, Xue (2-0 in TIEBREAK)

M. Muzychuk BEAT Atalik

Lagno BEAT Hoang (2-0 in TIEBREAK)

Pogonina v Zhu, Jiner TIEBREAK IN PROGRESS
Rapid games both drawn.
The Russian won the first "slow blitz" (10 minute game)
and the second one began a few minutes ago (writing this at 1310 GMT).
EDIT> Eventually Pogonina reached a won position with both players very short of time. Sensibly she agreed a draw to clinch the match,

So we have Chinese casualties at last.
Round 3 pairings to come in next post.
Tim Harding
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Author of 'Steinitz in London,' British Chess Literature to 1914', 'Joseph Henry Blackburne: A Chess Biography', and 'Eminent Victorian Chess Players'
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Tim Harding
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Re: 2018 Women's World Championship

Post by Tim Harding » Thu Nov 08, 2018 1:49 pm

Round 3 pairings, starting 10am tomorrow:

Ju, Wenjun v Zhai, Mo
Tokhirjonova v Gunina

Anna Muzychuk v Stefanova
Kosteniuk v Harika

Zawadzka v Abdumalik
Mariya Muzychuk v Alinasab

Lagno v Pogonina
Galliamova v Lei, Tingjie
Tim Harding
Historian and FIDE Arbiter

Author of 'Steinitz in London,' British Chess Literature to 1914', 'Joseph Henry Blackburne: A Chess Biography', and 'Eminent Victorian Chess Players'
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Alex Holowczak
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Re: 2018 Women's World Championship

Post by Alex Holowczak » Thu Nov 08, 2018 2:40 pm

Chris Rice wrote:
Thu Nov 08, 2018 10:34 am
As I recall there are a number of legs in darts which constitute a match so this isn't comparing like with like. Wasn't the darts match in question decided 6-1 rather than 1.5-0.5?
It was 4-1 in sets, there are 5 legs in a set. But surely your point is that because the favourite didn't win, even though it was best of 7 sets it wasn't long enough?
Matthew Turner wrote:
Thu Nov 08, 2018 10:39 am
I think the point is this - chessplayers seem to think that the World Champion should be the best player in the World. It is not clear to me (or presumeably Alex) why this should be the case. In darts or snooker the World Championship is just another (albeit a particularly important) tournament.
To some extent, I am playing devil's advocate, but I agree that chessplayers seem to think the World Champion should be the "best player in the world". If that's the case, there's no need for a competition to decide it at all - just make it the highest-rated player on the list.

The other rather obvious point is that the highest-rated female player in the world isn't playing in the tournament, so if people want the best player to win it, they're going to be disappointed whatever happens.
Thomas Rendle wrote:
Thu Nov 08, 2018 10:46 am
Yes, but most of the tournaments in those sports are knock-outs, rather than the exception for chess. The 'World Champs' is still normally a little longer than other events (especially in Snooker) and can be considered tougher to win.

Most tournaments in chess are round-robin and tend to be won by one of the clear favourites.
Most chess tournaments are closed-shop round robins, with maybe 10 players in them. Less so for women - I can't remember any elite Women's Round Robin outside the World Championship cycle. Darts and snooker have been mentioned - their World Championships are much bigger. Darts is up to 96, and there are numerous qualifying routes to get in in places 65-96 this time which encompass thousands more players. Snooker remains at 32, but there are 128 players in the qualifying tournament that leads to it.

The culture of organising elite chess tournaments around the world is designed to protect the top players, and so as spectators of them, we've become accustomed to watching the top players winning the top tournaments, because people from outside the top don't get even invited to play in them. Even a Round Robin ensures that a "shock" result is unlikely - there's no reason why the top level events couldn't be 8-player knockout tournaments, for example, which still take about as long as a 9-round Round Robin. Therefore, when we see the Women's World Championship and the Chess World Cup, we react with shock and awe whenever a top player loses to a lower-rated player in a match. If the same result happened in an individual Swiss, I doubt anyone would be anywhere near as surprised (or even notice?), or indeed criticise the format that made the upset happen.

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JustinHorton
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Re: 2018 Women's World Championship

Post by JustinHorton » Thu Nov 08, 2018 4:41 pm

Alex Holowczak wrote:
Thu Nov 08, 2018 2:40 pm
If that's the case, there's no need for a competition to decide it at all - just make it the highest-rated player on the list.
If we neglect the question of current form, this perhaps being an eccentric time to do so
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"Yes, but I prefer a game with a better chance of cheating."

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Chris Rice
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Re: 2018 Women's World Championship

Post by Chris Rice » Fri Nov 09, 2018 9:13 am

ChessBase article on Round 2 which was full of upsets. Ju Wenjun, the current world champion, was quoted as saying "It's a knockout, everyone has a chance!" We're down to the last 16 now and no doubt whoever plays the better darts on the day will go through.

Brian Towers
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Re: 2018 Women's World Championship

Post by Brian Towers » Fri Nov 09, 2018 11:25 am

Tim Harding wrote:
Wed Nov 07, 2018 12:13 pm
Brian Towers wrote:
Wed Nov 07, 2018 11:57 am
If you have a (free) login on the FIDE ratings website then one possible route for investigation is to look at the "Individual Calculations" for a period before they got married and it should tell you. FIDE doesn't change old data. So, for example - https://ratings.fide.com/individual_cal ... -07-01&t=0.
No I don't have a free login. Why would I?
Because you want to see the data.
Tim Harding wrote:
Wed Nov 07, 2018 12:13 pm
I am hoping that paying to do this is one of the things that Dvorkovich will scrap.
There is no paying to see the data for Dvorkovich to scrap.
What there is is paying to play in the FIDE online Arena.
He may indeed scrap that if he thinks it a waste of time providing a service which is better provided by the likes of chess.com, chess24.com, et al.
Ah, but I was so much older then. I'm younger than that now.

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JustinHorton
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Re: 2018 Women's World Championship

Post by JustinHorton » Fri Nov 09, 2018 1:52 pm

Gunina fails to see her path to safety in time trouble and loses to Tokhirjonovna
"Do you play chess?"
"Yes, but I prefer a game with a better chance of cheating."

lostontime.blogspot.com

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JustinHorton
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Re: 2018 Women's World Championship

Post by JustinHorton » Fri Nov 09, 2018 2:31 pm

"Do you play chess?"
"Yes, but I prefer a game with a better chance of cheating."

lostontime.blogspot.com

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JustinHorton
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Re: 2018 Women's World Championship

Post by JustinHorton » Sat Nov 10, 2018 12:34 pm

Alinasab looks to have blown her big chance yesterday. Harika v Kosteniuk goes to rapids. Gunina fighting back after yesterday's loss.
"Do you play chess?"
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Tim Harding
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Re: 2018 Women's World Championship

Post by Tim Harding » Sat Nov 10, 2018 8:37 pm

So while Magnus and Fabi take a day off to repair their White repertoires, we can enjoy some faster action tomorrow morning:

Tokhirjonova v Gunina
A. Muzychuk - Stefanova
Harika v Kosteniuk
Zawadzka v Abdumalik
Pogonina v Lagno
Galliamova v Lei, Tingjie

Only Maria Muzychuk and Ju Wenjun are through so far.
Tim Harding
Historian and FIDE Arbiter

Author of 'Steinitz in London,' British Chess Literature to 1914', 'Joseph Henry Blackburne: A Chess Biography', and 'Eminent Victorian Chess Players'
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JustinHorton
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Re: 2018 Women's World Championship

Post by JustinHorton » Sun Nov 11, 2018 10:28 am

Harika v Kosteniuk looks like a very Seventies Tarrasch French.
"Do you play chess?"
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