Sunday, February 26, 2017

Façade

“The knockout format is really cruel”, 谭中怡 (Tán Zhōngyí) told 重庆晚报 (Chóngqìng Evening News). “[Yesterday] it took seven games to determine the outcome of the tie-break. Harika had great chances of winning, but unfortunately, she did not take them. I saw her expression after I won, and since I shared with her what it might feel like to be in her shoes, I really felt sorry for her”.
As for the final with Anna Olehivna Muzychuk from Ukraine — who can rely upon the unconditional support of the Slavic (especially pro-American) chess communities — 重庆 (Chóngqìng)’s Woman Grandmaster showed tranquility and strength: “I have no idea where I will go, only that I will go tomorrow”.
And indeed, regardless of whether she wins or loses, 谭中怡 (Tán Zhōngyí) can well be happy with what she’s accomplished so far.
The other finalist, meanwhile, came all the way up without never needing to play a single tie-break. But as Leontxo García writes on his El País column, “Despite the fact that Muzychuk is clearly favourite, it’s likely that 谭中怡 (Tán Zhōngyí) does not suffer any psychological inferiority as their results are perfectly balanced in the four games played so far. The Chinese won their first game at the 15th World Youth Chess Championship Girls Under-10 in Oropesa del Mar, Spain in 2000. The Ukrainian took her revenge by winning their game at the 17th World Youth Chess Championship Girls Under-12 in Heraklion, Greece in 2002. The other two games ended in a draw, both being played in the Women’s Grand Prix series in the Chinese cities of 深圳 (Shēnzhèn) and 成都 (Chéngdū), respectively in 2011 and 2016. However, besides Muzychuk’s superior theoretical strength, the fact that she never played a single tie-break so far, could be a decisive factor in terms of accumulated fatigue”.

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