FIDE Chess.com Women’s Speed Chess Championship continues as Leg 3 that started today with the Round of 16.

Seven matches ended in a confident win by one of the sides. The only exception was the match between Sarasadat Khadamalsharieh (Iran) and Irina Krush (USA) which went all the way to Armageddon.

Sarasadat had a three-point lead in blitz 5-2, but in bullet, Irina made a huge comeback and it seemed that the momentum shifted her way as the match was tied at 6-6. The Iranian player chose Black in the ultimate game, pulled herself together, and won it to claim a spot in the quarterfinals.

“In the previous leg, Irina was also my opponent and I won the match in the bullet games, so I think I kind of underestimated her. I stopped paying attention and was blundering everything. She played much better in bullet,” said Khadamalsharieh in a post-match interview.

Photo: Lennart Ootes

“In my previous Armageddon against Ushenina I was White and felt a lot of pressure pressing to win, so I thought it is easier to play with Black,” she added.

Full Round of 16 results:

Kateryna Lagno 7.5-3.5 Bibisara Assaubayeva

Humpy Koneru 7-3 Vaishali R

Hou Yifan 11-3 Munkzhul Turmunkh

Ju Wenjun 7.5-2.5 Gunay Mammadzada

Anna Ushenina 9-4 Deysi Cori

Alexandra Kosteniuk  7.5-3.5 Olga Girya

Harika Dronavalli 11.5-2,5 Tatev Abrahamyan

Sarasadat Khadamalsharieh 7-6 Irina Krush