Best Wishes to Natalia Khoudgarian

[Hugh Brodie]

Re: Best Wishes to Natalia Khoudgarian

Round 2 was 1-0 in 41 moves, so Natalia is out.

[Michael Yip]

Re: Best Wishes to Natalia Khoudgarian

http://budapestchesnews.blogspot.hu/

Game with light notes added. Black tried the ...a6 Slav but was ground down in a RBB-RNN ending when the kingside pawns became vulnerable.

[Frank Dixon]

Re: Best Wishes to Natalia Khoudgarian

Commenting on Natalia's first match game, after 1.e4 d6 2.d4 c6, I think 3.c4 might be the best move, assuming that White is ready to play this sort of position, after starting with 1.e4, probably being more comfortable with an Open or Semi-Open game, and then transposing into a Queenside type of opening. :) Not everyone can do that comfortably. After the first two moves, it is kind of a Pribyl Defence position; I have faced it.

[Kerry Liles]

Re: Best Wishes to Natalia Khoudgarian

Round 2 was 1-0 in 41 moves, so Natalia is out.

Congratulations to Natalia for giving it her best shot.

I have to wonder, though, at the format: fly to what is arguably the most remote spot in the universe and play as few as 2 games...

knockout [even 2-game] is the worst format I can think of for standard time control (don't get me started on Armageddon and the like). Even mini qualifying Quad Round-robin or something along those lines would be far better.

[Hugh Brodie]

Re: Best Wishes to Natalia Khoudgarian

Maybe the trip was worth the $3750 she won. (see http://www.fide.com/FIDE/handbook/regulationsWWCC.pdf , article 3.9.1)

[Kerry Liles]

Re: Best Wishes to Natalia Khoudgarian

Maybe the trip was worth the $3750 she won. (see http://www.fide.com/FIDE/handbook/regulationsWWCC.pdf , article 3.9.1)

Yeah, that is worth considering. I don't know if she got any financial assistance from the CFC (or FIDE for that matter), so overall the trip may not have cost her any money...

[Felix Dumont]

Re : Re: Best Wishes to Natalia Khoudgarian

Yeah, that is worth considering. I don't know if she got any financial assistance from the CFC (or FIDE for that matter), so overall the trip may not have cost her any money...

She also received 1200$ from the 2012 Canadian Championship. I'm pretty sure that 5000$ covered all her fees and even more.

[Andrei Botez]

Re: Best Wishes to Natalia Khoudgarian

Hi Hal,

In the Foisor, Cristina-Adela (ROU) - Muzychuk, Mariya (UKR), the last game was a draw (4.5-4.5). Was this the Armaghedon game where if black is drawing is qualifying to the next round?

[Ken Kurkowski]

Re: Best Wishes to Natalia Khoudgarian

In the good old days when these kind of tournaments were typically 12 or 16 player round robins, even the tail-ender could count on 11 or 15 games of chess - good experience, even if most of the games were losses. But I guess that format is no longer financially viable in this day and age. Too bad.

[Hal Bond]

Re: Best Wishes to Natalia Khoudgarian

Yes Andre - Foisor chose the white pieces in the Armageddon game with Muzychuk, and she lost by drawing. I don't recall seeing White win one of these games, yet the players almost always choose White! It's a 5 min-4 min game, with a 3 second increment after 60 moves, and Black has draw odds.

We are into the first game of round 2 today. No more easy games! Interesting to see the Cuban player Arribas 2273 upset Kotenashvili 2504 to advance to round 2.

[Mark S. Dutton]

Natalia Khoudgarian - She excels in a game overwhelmingly dominated by men

http://budapestchesnews.blogspot.hu/

Game 1 with brief notes + Mark Dutton's updated Ch info and pic. Full credit to posters and Chesstalk given.

Great coverage of our Women's Canadian Champion in the November 2012 issue of "More" magazine!

The game changer
Natalia Khoudgarian may well be Canada's best female chess player (although she would disagree). What is indisputable: She excels in a game overwhelmingly dominated by men
by Robert Hough http://www.more.ca/magazine