Round four report

by FM Geoffrey Borg

Round four brought hard fought games – the Grand Prix tournaments have become synonymous with fighting chess, as draw offers are not allowed in the regulations both for men and women.

We had a number of interesting games, although the first two games to finish after around three hours play. Shen Yang-Mrktchian followed a line of the Nimzo Indian which resulted in a sterile position with bishops of opposite colours. When the rooks came off, there was nothing left to play for.

Zhu Chen and Ju Wenjun treated each other with great respect and repeated positions in a dynamic situation with lots of play left.

Former World Champion from China, now married and living in Qatar: GM Zhu Chen

Untitled newcomer with great potential: Ju Wenjun, rated 2443

What can we say about GM Nana Dzagnidze? Superb will to win and a fighter till the end. In a slightly worse position, she refused to repeat moves and constantly probed the position until her opponent, WGM Baira Kovanova from Elista, Russia, made a fatal error. With four out of four the Georgian grandmaster has now achieved a performance of 3191!

Kovanova,B (2408) - Dzagnidze,N (2535) [B47]
FIDE GP w Nanjing CHN (4), 01.10.2009

This game was a positional Sicilian Taimanov with WGM Kovanova keeping control of the game up to the time control, when Black got a slight initiative.

The game is a dead draw, but now Kosanova blunders: 68.Kb6?? 68.Be1 was required – after 68.Bb4 or Ba4 68...Nf2 wins. 68...Nxc3 69.bxc3 Kxe5 70.Kc5 Kf4 71.Kxc4 e5 72.Kd3 Kf3 73.Kd2 e4 74.Ke1 Ke3 0-1.

4.0/4 with an incredible 3191 performance: GM Nana Dzagnidze of Georgia

The current performance table looks as follows in the Najing leg of the WGP:

So this leads us to another player who is having a great tournament. Former World Champion Xu Yuhua has been playing some very good games, and round four was no exception.

Xu Yuhua (2485) - Fierro Baquero,M (2386) [B07]
FIDE GP w Nanjing CHN (4), 01.10.2009
1.e4 d6 2.d4 Nf6 3.Nc3 e5 4.Nge2 Be7 5.g3 c6 6.Bg2 b5 7.a3 a5 8.0-0 Ba6 9.b4 axb4 10.axb4 0-0 11.h3 Nbd7 12.g4 Nb6 13.Ng3 c5 14.g5 Nfd7 15.dxc5 dxc5 16.Nd5 Nxd5 17.exd5 Bd6 18.Nf5 Qc7 19.Be4 Rfe8 20.Qg4 Nf8 21.Nxd6 Qxd6 22.bxc5 Qxc5 23.Ba3 Qc3 24.Bb4 Qc4

Xu Yuhua chose 25.Bxf8, followed by d6 whereas d6 immediately would have given her a winning advantage. But she eventually won a pawn and the d-pawn proved the critical factor to win the game. 25...Rxf8 26.d6 Ra7 27.Qf5 g6 28.Qxe5 Qc8 29.Rfd1 Re8 30.Qd4 Rd7 31.Bf3 Bb7 32.Bxb7 Qxb7 33.Rab1 Re4 34.Qc5 b4 35.Re1 Rd8 36.Rxe4 Qxe4 37.Rxb4 Qe6 38.Rd4 Qxh3 39.d7 Qe6 40.c4 h6 41.Qd5 Qe1+ 42.Kg2 h5 43.c5 1-0.

GM Marie Sebag has been on a bit of a roller coaster. She started off the tournament losing to Shen Yang but following yesterday's victory is now back on 50%. Marie played well against the Petroff and kept a nagging advantage until Batkhuyag lost her a-pawn. After some hard work white managed to convert the point.

Sebag,M (2519) - Munguntuul,B (2418) [C42]
FIDE GP w Nanjing CHN (4), 01.10.2009
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.Nxe5 d6 4.Nf3 Nxe4 5.d4 Bg4 6.Bd3 Nf6 7.0-0 Be7 8.Nbd2 0-0 9.Re1 Re8 10.Nf1 Bf8 11.Rxe8 Qxe8 12.h3 Bh5 13.Ng3 Bg6 14.Bg5 Nbd7 15.Bxg6 hxg6 16.Qd3 Qe6 17.c4 d5 18.c5 b6 19.b4 bxc5 20.bxc5 Qc6 21.Rb1 a6 22.Bf4 Ne4 23.Nf1 Qa4 24.Rb2 Nexc5 25.dxc5 Qxf4 26.Qxd5 Rb8 27.Rxb8 Nxb8 28.Ne5 c6 29.Nxc6 Nxc6 30.Qxc6 Qc4 31.Qc8 Qxc5 32.Qxa6 Kh7 33.Qe2 Bd6 34.g3 f5 35.Qd2 Bc7 36.Qe3 Qc4 37.Qb3 Qd4 38.Kg2 Qe4+ 39.Qf3 Qc4 40.Qb3 Qe4+ 41.Kg1 Qd4 42.Nh2 Bb6 43.Qc2 Qd5 44.Qe2 Bd8 45.Nf3 Bf6 46.h4 Kg8 47.Kg2 Kh7 48.a4 Bc3 49.Qb5 Qa8 50.h5 Qe4 51.hxg6+ Kxg6 52.a5 Bd4 53.a6 Kf6 54.Qd7 Bc5

55.a7 Qa8 56.Qc7 Bxa7 57.Qe5+ Kf7 58.Qxf5+ Kg8 59.Qe6+ Kh8 60.Qa6 Kh7 61.Qd3+ Kh8 62.Qf5 Kg8 63.Kf1 Qf8 64.Qd5+ Kh8 65.Kg2 Bb6 66.Qe6 Qf6 67.Qe8+ Kh7 68.Qb5 Kh8 69.g4 Qf4 70.Qh5+ Kg8 71.Qg6 Ba7 72.Qe6+ Qf7 73.Qe4 Qf8 74.g5 Qc5 75.Qe8+ Kh7 76.Qe4+ Kg8 77.Qh4 Qf5 78.Qg3 Kh7 79.Nh4 Qe4+ 80.Nf3 Qf5 81.Qh4+ Kg8 82.Qa4 Qc5 83.Qa2+ Kh7 84.Qe2 Qf5 85.Qc4 Kh8 86.Qc6 Qc5 87.Qa8+ Kh7 88.Qe4+ Kg8 89.Qe6+ Kh8 90.Qh3+ Kg8 91.Qg3 Qf5 92.g6 Qf6 93.Ne5 Qe6 94.Qd3 Bb6 95.Qf3 Bd8 96.Qa8 Qe8 1-0.

WGM Batkhuyag Munguntuul of Mongolia, rated 2418

Another player who has been recovering from her slow start is GM Zhao Xue, the number one seed. In an English Opening/Reversed Accelerated Dragon, she played solidly until she reached the position below.

Zhao Xue (2542) - Yildiz,B (2224) [A29]
FIDE GP w Nanjing CHN (4), 01.10.2009
1.c4 e5 2.Nc3 Nf6 3.Nf3 Nc6 4.g3 d5 5.cxd5 Nxd5 6.Bg2 Nb6 7.0-0 Be7 8.a3 a5 9.d3 0-0 10.Be3 Be6 11.Bxb6 cxb6 12.Rc1 f6 13.Nd2 Rc8 14.Nc4 Rf7 15.Re1 Bf8 16.Qb3 Bc5 17.Nb5 f5 18.e3 Qf6 19.Qc3 Rd8 20.Nxe5 Bb4 21.axb4 axb4 22.Nxf7 bxc3 23.Nxd8 cxb2 24.Rb1 Qxd8 25.Red1 Qf6 26.Rd2 Nb4 27.Nd4 Bd5 28.Rdxb2 Bxg2 29.Rxb4 Bd5 30.Rb5

Black is already losing, but speeds things up tremendously with 30...Qd6?? 31.Nxf5 and because of 31...Qd7 32.Rxd5 Qxd5 33.Ne7+ 1-0.

• Here are the games of round four with comments by FM Geoffrey Borg

Results and standings after round four

Player portraits

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