After the World Rapid Championship was snagged by a teenage grandmaster from Uzbekistan – 17-year old Nodirbek Abdusattorov – the international chess community once again got an overwhelming surprise when a teenager from another South-Central Asian country convincingly won the World Women’s Blitz Championship which ended just before the New Year in Warsaw, Poland.
This time, 18-year old IM Bibisara Assaubayeva – rated 2285 by FIDE in blitz – took the spotlight after winning the world blitz crown with a 1½-point margin over former world women’s chess champion GM Alexandra Kosteniuk who finished in solo second. Incidentally, Assaubayeva finished in solo second to Kosteniuk in the World Women’s Rapid Championship.
107 of the best women chessers from all over the world took part in the event, but in the end, the grit and determination of the young winner proved crucial to her victory.
GM Valentina Gunina and IM Polina Shuvalova tallied 12 points apiece and finished in 3rd and 4th places, respectively. GM Humpy Koneru, IM Nataliya Buksa, and GM Nana Dzagnidze all scored 11½ points and finished in 5tht o 7th places in this order after tiebreaks.
Here are some games from the top boards:
Kosteniuk,A (2516)-Assaubayeva,B (2434) [B22]
Warsaw (6.4) 2021
1.e4 c5 2.c3 Nf6 3.e5 Nd5 4.Nf3 Nc6 5.d4 cxd4 6.cxd4 d6 7.Bc4 e6 8.0-0 Be7 9.Qe2 0-0 10.Rd1 Qc7 11.a3 a6 12.Bd3 dxe5 13.dxe5 Rd8 14.h4 Na5 15.Qe4 g6 16.Nbd2 b5 17.h5 Bb7 18.hxg6 hxg6 19.Qg4 Ne3 20.fxe3 Rxd3 21.Rf1 Rxe3 22.b4 Nc6 23.Qf4 Re2 24.Ne4 Nxb4 25.Nd6 Bxd6 26.exd6 Qc5+ 27.Qd4 Qxd4+ 28.Nxd4 Rxg2+ 0-1
Gunina,V (2471)-Koneru,H (2586) [D37]
World Blitz Women 2021 Warsaw (13.2) 2021
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 d5 4.Nc3 Nbd7 5.Bf4 dxc4 6.e3 b5 7.Nxb5 Bb4+ 8.Nc3 Nd5 9.a3 Nxc3 10.Qd2 Bxa3 11.Qxc3 Bd6 12.Bg5 f6 13.Bf4 Nb6 14.Bxc4 Nxc4 15.Qxc4 Bxf4 16.exf4 Qd5 17.Qxc7 Qe4+ 18.Kd2 0-0 19.Rhe1 Qg6 20.g3 Qh5 21.Re3 Qb5 22.b3 a5 23.Qc4 Qd7 24.f5 Qd5 25.fxe6 Qxc4 26.bxc4 Re8 27.d5 a4 28.Nd4 Ba6 29.Rxa4 1-0
Lagno,K (2550)-Assaubayeva,B (2434) [B92]
Warsaw (15.1) 2021
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Be2 e5 7.Nb3 Be7 8.Be3 0-0 9.g4 Be6 10.g5 Nfd7 11.Qd2 b5 12.Nd5 a5 13.Nxe7+ Qxe7 14.Rd1 a4 15.Nc1 Nc5 16.Qxd6 Qxd6 17.Rxd6 Nxe4 18.Rb6 a3 19.bxa3 Nd7 20.Rxb5 Nc3 21.Rb4 Rxa3 22.Bc4 Nxa2 23.Nxa2 Bxc4 24.Rxc4 Rxa2 25.0-0 f6 26.Rd1 Nb8 27.gxf6 gxf6 28.Bh6 Re8 29.Rc7 Ra6 30.Rd3 f5 31.Rg3+ Rg6 32.Rxg6+ hxg6 33.Rg7+ Kh8 34.Rxg6 Rc8 35.Bg5 Rxc2 36.Rf6 Kg7 37.Rxf5 Nd7 38.h4 Kg6 39.Rf3 e4 40.Rf4 Nc5 41.Rf6+ Kh5 42.Rc6 Kg4 43.Be3 Kxh4 44.Rxc5 Ra2 45.Kg2 Kg4 46.Rg5+ Kh4 47.Rg8 Rc2 48.Kf1 Kh5 49.Ke1 Kh4 50.Kd1 Ra2 51.Ke1 Rc2 52.Kf1 Kh5 53.Kg2 Kh4 54.Rf8 Kh5 55.Kg3 Ra2 56.Kf4 Ra4 57.Re8 Kg6 58.Rxe4 Ra5 59.Re6+ Kf7 60.Rb6 Ra4+ 61.Kg5 Ra5+ 62.Kg4 Ra4+ 63.f4 Ra3 64.Bd4 Ra4 65.Be5 Rc4 66.Kf5 Rc1 67.Rb7+ Kf8 68.Kg6 Rg1+ 69.Kf6 Ke8 70.Rb8+ Kd7 71.f5 1-0
Goryachkina,A (2610)-Assaubayeva,B (2434) [E81]
Warsaw (16.1) 2021
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 d6 5.f3 0-0 6.Be3 c5 7.Nge2 Nc6 8.d5 Ne5 9.Ng3 e6 10.Be2 exd5 11.cxd5 a6 12.a4 h5 13.0-0 h4 14.Nh1 h3 15.g3 Rb8 16.Nf2 b5 17.axb5 axb5 18.Bxb5 Bd7 19.Bxd7 Qxd7 20.Qe2 Rb3 21.Ra2 Rfb8 22.Rfa1 R3b4 23.Ncd1 Ne8 24.Ra8 f5 25.Rxb8 Rxb8 26.f4 Ng4 27.Nxg4 fxg4 28.Nc3 Nf6 29.Qc2 Qe7 30.Ra4 Kh7 31.Kf2 Rb4 32.Kg1 Rxa4 33.Qxa4 Qb7 34.Qc2 Qb4 35.b3 Nxe4 36.Qxe4 Qxc3 37.Bf2 Qxb3 38.f5 Qd1+ 39.Be1 Qd4+ 40.Qxd4 Bxd4+ 0-1
Kosteniuk,A (2516)-Lagno,K (2550) [C67]
Warsaw (17.3) 2021
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Nf6 4.0-0 Nxe4 5.d4 Nd6 6.dxe5 Nxb5 7.a4 Nbd4 8.Nxd4 d5 9.Nxc6 bxc6 10.Nd2 Be7 11.f4 f6 12.exf6 Bxf6 13.Re1+ Kf7 14.Nf3 Re8 15.Ne5+ Bxe5 16.fxe5 Kg8 17.Ra3 Bf5 18.Rg3 Qe7 19.c3 Bg6 20.Qd4 Qe6 21.Qg4 Qxg4 22.Rxg4 Be4 23.Bf4 a5 24.Rg3 Rab8 25.Re2 Rf8 26.Bh6 Rf7 27.Rf2 Rxf2 28.Rxg7+ Kh8 29.Kxf2 Rg8 30.Rxc7 Rxg2+ 31.Ke3 Bf5 32.Rf7 Be6 33.Rf6 Rg6 34.Kd4 Rxf6 35.exf6 Kg8 36.Kc5 Bd7 37.Kd6 Be8 38.Ke7 Bh5 39.Be3 1-0
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PUZZLERS
WHITE TO MOVE, MATE IN TWO.
The key to our last problem is 1.Be6!, and Black’s futile options are: 1…Qxe2 2.Rf5#; 1…Qxf3+ 2.Rd5#; 1…Bxf3+ 2.Re4#.
