Anish Giri helps She Plays to Win women produce surprise start in 4NCL Division 1
Anish Giri led She Plays to Win’s women to an unexpected opening-weekend impact in the Four Nations Chess League (4NCL) Division 1 last weekend, including a 6-2 match victory. The newly promoted She Plays to Win (SPTW) Lionesses had been widely expected to struggle but produced notable individual wins on the top boards.
SPTW had won successive promotions to reach the 4NCL top flight and had planned to continue without male players, but the league’s rule requiring at least one player of each sex in Division 1 remained in force. Manager IM Lorin D’Costa, who also coaches England’s women, recruited GM Anish Giri — the Netherlands No 1 and world No 11 — for the two opening fixtures; IM Eline Roebers also played. SPTW is a charity with objectives to help girls and young women play chess, and Giri is the highest rated player to appear in the 4NCL for several seasons.
In Saturday’s first match Giri defeated GM Alexander Cherniaev in 24 moves with a direct attack on the king; Cherniaev, 57, who learned his skills in the former Soviet Union, has been described as vulnerable to tactical slugfests. Roebers also won in 26 moves with a direct attack on her opponent’s king, but the lower boards conceded too many points and Barnet Knights edged the match 4.5-3.5.
Giri followed with another commanding win on Sunday, at times over an hour ahead on the clock, while Roebers again won in 26 moves, producing a 6-2 victory over fellow promoted side The Sharks 2. Those game points place She Plays to Win favourably on the tie-break table against other likely relegation candidates.
Game points determine table positions when match points are equal, and SPTW sit well compared with Sharks 2, White Rose and Blackthorne; Division 1 contains three relegation places among 12 teams. Giri’s international commitments are likely to limit his future appearances for SPTW, but the squad expects to have Bodhana Sivanandan available for upcoming rounds.
The 11-year-old British women’s champion Bodhana Sivanandan opted to play in the second division of the German Bundesliga last weekend, scoring a draw and an endgame grind win, and will be in action for SPTW this Saturday in the European Chess Club Cup for Women in Budva, Montenegro. Sivanandan’s declared aim in interviews is to break records as quickly as possible: her 11-round IM norm at the Samarkand Olympiad means she now needs a 2400 rating plus a seven-round norm at Budva to complete the requirements for the youngest ever female IM; this would break Judit Polgar’s existing record by nearly a year. Her current live rating is 2389, so she will need a strong result in Budva, including at least one win against the rival top boards.
Meanwhile the annual US Championships in Saint Louis continued, with Fabiano Caruana, the world No 3 and defending champion, seeded top and Wesley So, world No 6, his main rival. After four of the 11 rounds Caruana and So were joint leaders on 3/4, but round five produced a historic result comparable to Bobby Fischer’s first win against Samuel Reshevsky in 1958 when Caruana lost to 16-year-old Andy Woodward after 50 US championship games without a single defeat; Woodward shared the lead with So on 3.5/5 and will compete in next month’s London Classic. Woodward described his play afterwards: "I think I’m playing pretty well, so hopefully I can continue." After two rounds of the US Women’s Championship the youngest competitor, Megan Paragua, 13, who, like So, has Filipino roots, shared the lead including a shock victory against the defending champion. Leading scores after round six (of 11) — Open: So, Woodward, Caruana and Awonder Liang all 4, Jefffrey Xiong 3.5. Women: Rachel Li, Alice Lee and Thalia Cervantes all 4.5, Irina Krush and Megan Paragua 4.
SPTW are seeded 12th of 22 for the European event and the domestic season, so their results are likely to oscillate between losses to the favourites and wins against weaker opposition; Sivanandan’s participation in Budva and Giri’s intermittent availability will shape the team’s prospects in coming rounds.
4046: 1 Bh5+! Kxh5 (if 1…Kh6 2 Qxf5 with a speedy mate) 2 g4+! fxg4 3 Rh7+ Kg6 4 Qf7 mate.