Anna Ushenina and Valentina Gunina will meet in the final of Women’s Speed Chess Championship Grand Prix again! The opponents, who faced each other in the Leg 01 final, are going to square off for the second time on July 5.

"We are witnessing two amazing matches today," said Anna Muzychuk who joined Jennifer Shahade commenting on the semis of the second leg of the Women's Speed Chess GP.

Both semis - Anna Ushenina vs Sarasadat Khademalsharieh and Kateryna Lagno vs Valentina Gunina - were very close and entered the bullet portion with the even score 4-4.

In the first semifinal, even the 1+1 portion was not enough to determine the winner. With 6-6 on the scoreboard, Ushenina and Khademalsharieh proceeded to the tiebreak of two more bullet games. The Ukrainian GM won the first one with a nice combo (see below).

However in the second bullet game in an ending where White was at no risk, Khademalsharieh, playing with Black went for a desperate trick hoping for her opponent’s premove. Ushenina did not expect such a cunning – she indeed had already premoved the king and lost her rook as a result.

For the first time in the event, it all came down to Armageddon. Despite no break to recover from this painful loss, Ushenina pulled herself together, performed solidly to seal the match 8-7.

The second semifinal was decided in the bullet portion. Valentina Gunina won two bullet games to defeat Kateryna Lagno, but how crazy those games were! In the first one, Valentina squeezed the water out of stone in an equal ending and pulled ahead.  In the second one, Lagno was a piece and two pawns up in the endgame but Gunina's natural inventiveness and quickness proved to be in its best on the last seconds of the game. It all ended with Lagno losing on time. The final score is 6.5-4.5.

The final and the match for the third place will be played on July 5 after a free day tomorrow.