It wasn’t first day for the Muzychuk sisters on the 2022-23 FIDE Women’s Candidates Tournament in Monaco, as each misplaced their video games as Black. GM Humpy Koneru discovered a pleasant tactic to shortly beat GM Anna Muzychuk, whereas GM Lei Tingjie defeated GM Mariya Muzychuk later within the day. The quarterfinals proceed on Wednesday, October 26, beginning at 6 a.m. PT / 15:00 CEST.

With the 2022-23 Women’s Candidates Tournament, FIDE is saying goodbye to the concept the final and feminine world championship cycles should be as comparable as potential. The format for the ladies’s event has been drastically modified: it is now a knockout, with the eight gamers divided into two swimming pools.

Furthermore, we’re solely seeing one pool this week, performed in Monaco, whereas the opposite pool is scheduled to start out November 28 in Uzbekistan. That the primary pool has Ukrainian gamers, and the second Russian gamers, shouldn’t be a coincidence.

The quarterfinals and semifinals encompass four-game matches, whereas the ultimate, to be held within the first quarter of 2023, can be six classical video games. In case of a tie on the finish of every spherical, a fast/blitz tiebreak can be performed. The eventual winner would be the challenger within the subsequent title match with Women’s World Champion Ju Wenjun in the summertime of 2023.

2022-23 FIDE Women’s Candidates Tournament | Participants

The first half of the knockout bracket started play on Tuesday within the glamorous Hotel Hermitage Monte Carlo in Monaco. The prize fund is 70,000 euros, whereas one other 110,000 can be at stake in subsequent 12 months’s closing. The major sponsor is the Societe des Bains de Mer (SBM), an organization that owns and manages the Monte Carlo Casino, the Opera de Monte-Carlo, and the Hotel de Paris in Monte Carlo.

For her first black recreation, Mariya Muzychuk adopted the Queen’s Gambit Accepted, which was “an enormous shock,” stated Koneru afterward. With her thirteenth and 14th transfer, the Indian GM took an attention-grabbing method, which concerned a pawn sacrifice.

According to Koneru, taking the h-pawn was a dangerous choice as Muzychuk’s king remained caught within the middle. That shortly led to decisive ways.

Lei performed fairly a formidable recreation as properly. Especially the pawn break 16.e4 was attention-grabbing, since she weakened her construction and in addition gave up the bishop pair! However, chess is a concrete recreation and on this case, within the ensuing place White would both win the b7-pawn or obtain the sturdy d4-d5 pawn break.
“I knew this place was higher for me, however I attempted to discover a option to break by means of. I spent a number of time on 16.e4, which could have some danger too,” Lei stated afterward.

As it went, she did win the b7-pawn and continued taking part in energetically to win a tremendous recreation. “My opponent spent a number of time within the opening and I feel she was fairly nervous,” stated Lei. “I feel this recreation was good!”

The 2022-23 Women’s Candidates Tournament is an elite occasion that includes eight prime feminine gamers, who compete in a knockout format for his or her share of the €250,000 prize fund and the correct to play the Women’s World Championship match in opposition to Women’s World Champion Ju Wenjun. The event’s first quarterfinals started October 25, with the ultimate taking place within the first quarter of 2023. The time management is 90 minutes for the primary 40 strikes, adopted by half-hour for the remainder of the sport with an increment of 30 seconds per transfer ranging from transfer one. A draw supply earlier than transfer 40 shouldn’t be allowed.