WIM Alua Nurman Keeps Her Cool To Win First WSCC Play-In
Seventeen-year-old WIM Alua Nurman of Kazakhstan triumphed in the first qualifier to the 2024 Julius Baer Women's Speed Chess Championship by winning the Knockout stage of the first Play-In after defeating IM Anastasia Bodnaruk in the finals with a 4-2 score. Nurman and Bodnaruk had blanked WFM Shubhi Gupta and IM Deysi Cori, respectively, in the semifinals with identical 4-0 scores. Earlier, Bodnaruk was the sole winner of the preliminary Play-In Swiss, too, scoring 9.5 points from 11 rounds.
Nurman revealed that she is a university student pursuing a career as a Graphic Designer. Her winning both the Swiss and knockout sections of the day was thanks to her ability to maintain "strong concentration and a cold mind."
The next qualifier for the event, Play-in 2, takes place on Wednesday, August 14, starting at 9:00 a.m. ET / 15:00 CEST / 6:30 p.m. IST.
Julius Baer Women's Speed Chess Championship Play-In 1: Knockout
Julius Baer Women's Speed Chess Championship Play-In 1: Swiss
Play-In Swiss
Initial rounds of a blitz event with a 3+1 time control are too early to judge the competitive angle. Instead, this is when you are looking to have fun as a spectator, and the players did help by producing many enjoyable games to watch.
In this game from the first round, White had been a pawn-up in a queen endgame since the 84th move and was hoping to nurse the g-pawn to the queening square, all the while keeping his king away from checks from the black queen. Both the players being down to their final few seconds, Black unexpectedly played 112...Qd5+?? here, hanging her queen for free. For which White replied with 113.Kg7?? after which Black went on to win the game after capturing the white queen with 113...Qxg5.
In the second round, it was the American heavyweight GM Irina Krush who was involved in a mix-up involving a pre-move and a blunder.
In the third round, Bodnoruk took her king out for a walk in the middle of the board, to the delight of the spectators and the commentators.
Bodnaruk's brave play earned the commentator's praise, with GM Robert Hess exclaiming, "Anastasia is a brave woman!" This game was probably a precursor to Bodnaruk's excellent play later in the tournament.
Anastasia is a brave woman!
—GM Robert Hess
In the fourth round, it was the youngster Shubhi Gupta who was gifted with a point in an otherwise simple endgame for professionals.
Encouraged by such a stroke of luck, the 14-year-old Gupta had a great run further in the tournament and ultimately finished fourth to qualify for the knockouts. She started the tournament with a loss in the first round and then scored an incredible seven-game victory streak to reach a score of seven points from eight games. In the ninth round, she received a free point when her opponent, WFM Veronika Shubenkova, could not start the game due to connectivity issues.
But it was in the tenth and penultimate round that she scored a crucial win over Bodnaruk, who was leading the tournament with eight points from nine games.
With this fortunate win, the Indian youngster qualified for the knockout stage, despite losing her final round game.
Starting with a moderate score of four points from her initial seven games, Cori finished with four wins in the final four rounds to occupy third place. Her best win came in the final round.
Bodnaruk played an excellent event, always near the top of the table. Her win against Nurman in the seventh round was one of her best efforts and one of the best games of the tournament in terms of quality.
Undeterred, Nurman won all her final four games, thus emerging as the winner of the event.
Play-In Knockout 1
The semifinals proved to be surprisingly one-sided, as both Nurman and Bodnaruk raced to identical 4-0 victories, rending it unnecessary to even play the 1+1 format games.
In the finals, it was Bodnaruk who took a one-point lead after three games, her win in the second round being a spectacular effort.
But Nurman kept her cool and won all the remaining three games of the match, thus scoring a deserving victory in the match. Her win in the second game of the 3+1 segment was especially good.
An impressive feature of Nurman's play was her admirably calm demeanor throughout the event. She kept a cool exterior and kept her emotions under control, which drew praise from Hess: "She is a teenager, and she just seems completely unbothered by all that's happening—she just wants to win the game in front of her."
She is a teenager, and she just seems completely unbothered by all that's happening—she just wants to win the game in front of her!
—GM Robert Hess
Speaking after the game, Nurman revealed the secret behind her balanced presence during the entire event.
"I feel happy, and a little excited, and very nervous right now... I just tried to keep strong concentration and a cold mind!" — 17-year-old Alua Nurman after qualifying for the main Women's #SpeedChess Championship event: https://t.co/5sjC7UNDOF pic.twitter.com/IKuKR5A3UE
— chess24 (@chess24com) August 12, 2024
How to watch?
You can watch the broadcast on Twitch and YouTube. The games can also be checked out on our dedicated events page.
The live broadcast was hosted by IM Jovanka Houska and GM Robert Hess.
The Julius Baer Women's Speed Chess Championship is a Chess.com event where some of the strongest female chess players in the world battle for a $75,000 prize fund. The main event sees 16 players compete in a single-elimination bracket in matches played at 5+1, 3+1, and 1+1 time controls. Four places go to the winners of four Play-ins held on August 12-16 and open to all female titled players. In each Play-in the top four players in a Swiss then compete in a knockout.
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