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USA Scores Big Win Against China Print E-mail
September 7, 2009
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Alisa Melekhina won two games in a row against China's A and B teams, Photo Valeria Kaidanov
After two tough losses to Russia and China B, USA rebounded with a vengeance today in the World Women's Team Championship against China A, the tournament's top seeded-team. The American women's team did it in style, winning three games and losing one. Scoring full points were Irina Krush, Rusudan Goletiani and Alisa Melekhina.

Irina won with White against prodigy Hou Yifan in a Nimzo-Indian game with plenty of endgame lessons. Krush told CLO that after reaching a pretty equal endgame,"Hou made life difficult for herself with some inaccuracies...moves like 27...Rb-c8, then the final big mistake 30...Bd7(in the position below), trading bishops."



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Position after 30...Bd7



"The rook endgame is probably lost (for Black.) My whole point with Bb5 initially is that the rook endgame is difficult, for example in one line where we trade the b for c pawns, my rook infiltrates with Rh7 and starts attacking h6."

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Rusudan Goletiani lost two games in a row but rebounded in a big way against China A, Photo Valeria Kaidanov


Rusudan Goletiani dominated on board three, winning while giving few chances to her opponent.

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Alisa Melekhina played more riskily to execute a kingside attack and win with Black. Melekhina thought h4 was a mistake since it allowed g5.

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Irina Krush , Photo courtesy Valeria Kaidanov
On board two, Anna Zatonskih lost, but it should be noted that Anna played four blacks in a row, "It was very unfortunate in terms of color," Irina Krush said, "so she really got a tough deal, for the sake of the team."

Coach Gregory Kaidanov told the team after the games that they had played brilliantly.

This round really shook up the standings as Poland lost to Armenia while Georgia lost to Russia. Now there is a slimmer differential in standings, so the American women are still in the medal hunt. 

If you've been staying up till 2:30 AM EST to catch the games, remember to skip tonight as 9/8/09 is a rest-day. On the 9th, USA will face Ukraine, which you can follow on the official website/live game link.
 
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