On June 9, the World U8-10 Rapid & Blitz participants had a rest day. The organizers prepared a busy program for them.
The young players visited Batumi Botanical Garden, a member of the International Plant Protection Council (BGCI) of the world's botanical gardens since 1998.
The Second World Championship in solving chess compositions was also held in three age categories under 10, 14 and 18 (boys and girls).
Each participant had 90 minutes to solve eight positions (3 two-moves; 3 three-moves and 2 studies).
The Nesis Cup 2023, a 9-round Swiss blitz tournament (3+2), which brought together 32 players, also took place on a free day.
Final standings Open:
- Murzin, Volodar
- Maghalashvili, Davit
- Kobalia, Mikhail
- Amonatov, Farrukh
- Jojua, Davit
Final standings Women
- Nikoladze, Sopio
- Ziaziulkina, Nastassia
- Bodnaruk, Kseniya
- Beridze, Tinatin
- Vlasova, Nataliya
The World Blitz Championship will start at 3 PM local time at Euphoria Hotel in Batumi on June 10.
Official website: batumi2023.fide.com/
Champions Match Day 4
On the same day, Round 4 of the Champions Match was played in the conference hall of the Legend Hotel in Batumi.
Nino Batsiashvili – Mariya Muzychuk (0.5-0.5)
The opponents quickly got off the beaten track in a symmetrical line of Gruenfeld Defense after Mariya sacrificed a pawn on move ten. Nino accepted the sacrifice, but Black comfortably maintained equality throughout the battle that ended in a draw in a knight vs bishop endgame.
Meri Arabidze – Anna Muzychuk (0.5-0.5)
Black introduced an interesting novelty in a sharp line of the Queen's Gambit as early as on move eight and obtained a very promising position. Sensing that things were not going her way, Meri sacrificed a pawn but did not get sufficient compensation. However, a natural plan with fianchettoing the dark-square bishop and castling short that Anna opted for was not optimal as Meri engineered some activity along the light squares.
After a series of mutual errors in the middlegame, Muzychuk emerged clearly better again, but with just under a minute on the clock had to settle for a draw on move 29.
The Round 5 of the Champions Match will start on June 10 at 3 PM local time, with the Ukrainian players having the white pieces.
Photos: Mindia Malakmadze
