The fourth game of the Women’s World Championship Match finished in a draw after 22 moves. Maria Muzychuk didn’t avoid repeating the central variation of the Spanish Game, despite her lose in the second round. As Hou Yifan mentioned at the press conference, there were many different lines in this sharp variation and she had to know them quite well as the position of her king was weak after she played g4. Maria Muzychuk spent 30 minutes in the opening remembering all complications and chose the right way to make a force draw.

Maria Muzychuk said she was very happy that such famous people like singer Sviatoslav Vakarchuk visits chess tournaments and she was glad to feel his support. It turn out she remebered few songs of “Okean Elza” but decided not to sing them at the press conference.

Answering the question what comes first to her mind when she hears the word “Ukraine”, Yifan said that being a chess player she recalled first the names of the famous chess players, who lived in the country. She have played against many Ukrainians at the past and also remembered that GM Vassiliy Ivanchuk is from Lviv. “I saw the chess club named after Ivanchuk which is not far from our hotel”, added Yifan.

Svyatoslav Vakarchuk, the lead vokalist of ‘Okean Elzy’, the most successful rock band in Ukraine, and his father Ivan Vakarchuk,  a professor of physics at Lviv University and the former Minister of Education and Science in Ukraine. Sviatoslav Vakarchuk made a first symbolic move 1.e4 in the 4th round instead of Hou Yifan and Ivan Vakarchuk answered with 1…e5 instead of Mariya Muzychuk.