The ceremonial first moves were made by Jiang Daikang, the famous tenor singer, vocal music educator theory, Vice-Chairman of the Chinese Musicians Association of the world, and Guo Qingyin, occupation calligrapher, former deputy editor of the Sichuan Youth Daily, Chengdu business department general manager.




Harika Dronavalli - Koneru Humpy 1-0

In the Italian game white emerged from the opening with a small space advantage. After all minor pieces were exchanged white was already putting pressure on black's position.



Black was forced to unfavorable exchange and white obtained a powerful asset in the advanced a-pawn. On the top of that white rooks controlled the 7th rank.

It took some maneuvering and precission, but Harika eventually claimed the full point to take the lead in the tournament.


Javakhishvili Lela - Khotenashvili Bela ½-½

In the Lasker variation of the Queen's Gambit Declined the pieces were constantly traded until a rook ending with three pawns on the same flank was reached. Draw agreed on move 31.


Cramling Pia - Muzychuk Anna ½-½

In the Gruenfeld Indian defence white wanted to avoid the long ending and used the relatively rare 9.Bd2.

After black snatched the a2-pawn Cramling was facing a dillema. 14.d5 would be similar to the main lines of 8.Rb1, but she couldn't work out to whose benefit would be the extra move Rd8.

Eventually white decided to repeat the moves. Black was forced to accept since the pieces placement did not allow queen's retreat, ie. 14...Qe6 15.Ng5 when rook is unfortunate on d8, or 15...Qa3 16.Bb4.




Girya Olga - Muzychuk Mariya ½-½

White met the Gruenfeld Indian defence with the rare 7.Qa4+. Black was able to put pressure on the center and achieve small concession in 16.e5.



With the central pawns being exchanged black claimed full equality. White's pair of bishops couldn't achieve much and the game was drawn by perpetual check.


Tan Zhongyi - Zhao Xue ½-½




Ju Wenjun - Stefanova Antoaneta ½-½