Koneru kept her nerve in the rapid tiebreakers bouncing back with a win in the second game to send it into double-overtime. Then Hou took over in the blitz games, taking the mini-match 4-2 and heading to the finals, where she’ll meet Alexandra Kosteniuk.
Here’s her first rapid win:
It’s obvious Black cannot take with the queen, but she’s up a pawn. See if you can find the winning line after 52…Kxc5.
Needing only a draw, Alexandra Kosteniuk happily forced a perpetual check from a position of superiority to clinch a berth in the finals, which thankfully will consist of four instead of two games. Still hardly the way to determine a champion, but what can you do?
In the other match, Humpy Koneru tied it up with a lucky win over Hou Yifan, when the latter allowed the opponent’s queen to penetrate her position (…Nxa5?).
“Hold on to your hats!” Tiebreak games tomorrow. 
A rocky start to round two for the home team. Both Katherine Rohonyan and Anna Zatonskih took losses today with the black pieces.
Always a bummer to see the Modern/Pirc lines face defeat. Well, not ALWAYS. You know… if you’re playing white. 
Putting a final cap on Round 1, FIDE has a nice bulletin in PDF format you can download HERE. It has commentary on the games and snippets from the press conference with the ladies. And, it’s a great way to touch up on your Russian too!
My favorite quote, echoing my own sentiments, is from Kosteniuk:
“The World Championship is a very special tournament but I disagree with Pia. Knock-out system is interesting and provides the intrigue, but I don’t think it is suitable for establishing the new World Champion.”
