Goryachkina and Dzagnidze score their first win in Women's Candidates
Goryachkina has made the most of her opportunity when she defeated the former Women's World Blitz Champion Valentina Gunina. The youngest player of the tournament, showcased perfect handling of the endgame and did not make any mistake by converting it into a full point. The other win of the day was scored by Georgia's no.1 Nana Dzagnidze over Ukraine's no.2 Anna Muzychuk. Lagno had subtle chances against Kosteniuk before she traded Queens and settled for a draw. While Zhongyi was ambitious in her play in the middlegame, Mariya made sure she never in danger. IM and WGM Padmini Rout annotates Anna-Nana's game. Photo: Eteri Kublashvili
Goryachkina and Dzagnidze were victorious
Goryachkina with the white pieces against Gunina made the most out of her opportunity as she made the choice to opt for pawn sacrifice line. Gunina took it but eventually she managed to untangle her pieces and equalize the position.
Aleksandra Goryachkina - Valentina Gunina, Round 2
Goryachkina made the right call and made an unpopular decision which eventually helped things go her way.
Gunina had the last opportunity to equalize things but she misplayed.
Goryachkina finally executed her plan and increased her advantage.
Dzagnidze was the only other one to score a victory in round 2. We have a special annotator today in the form of IM and WGM Padmini Rout, the reigning Asian Continental Women's Champion who will share her thoughts about the game.
Anna Muzychuk - Nana Dzagnidze, Round 2
Padmini Rout analyzes Anna vs. Nana from round 2
In the end, White exchanged Queens and the position became equal and both players agreed for a draw. However, White could have taken some chances here with the possibility of a double-edged position. Maybe the reason why Lagno did not wish to take any chances considering the fact that her opponent was the Chess Queen Alexandra Kosteniuk.
Kateryna Lagno - Alexandra Kosteniuk, Round 2
The former Women's World Champion Tan Zhongyi made her intentions very clear with 23.f5 but of course Mariya is also a former Women's World Champion. She is well versed with all these.
Tan Zhongyi - Mariya Muzychuk, Round 2
Round 3 will start on Sunday at 3 p.m. local time, 5:30 p.m. IST. Here are the pairings:
Valentina Gunina — Alexandra Kosteniuk
Alexandra Goryachkina — Kateryna Lagno
Tan Zhongyi — Anna Muzychuk
Nana Dzagnidze — Mariya Muzychuk
Watch all games live here from 5:30 p.m. IST
The organizers are FIDE, Russian Chess Federation, Government of the Republic of Tatarstan, Ministry of Sports of the Republic of Tatarstan, and city administration of Kazan. The tournament is sponsored by PJSC PhosAgro and Russian Railways.
