Khanty Final: Leaders intact

The fourth stage of the the FIDE Women’s Grand Prix series 2013-2014 is taking place at the Ugra Chess Academy, Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia from the 8th of April until the 22nd of April 2014. It is a twelve-player round robin with time controls of 90 minutes for the first 40 moves, with 30 minutes plus an additional 30 seconds per move for the rest of the game. The total prize fund is 60,000, with the winner getting 10,000 Euro.

Round Eleven

Taking notes on how to become a participant in this event in a few years

A couple of pieces seem to have escaped

Hou Yifan ½-½ Kosteniuk, Alexandra
Not a short draw by any means. Hou Yifan didn't show any more of her preparation and started the game with 1.g3. This led to an interesting endgame in which White had a potential passed pawn on the queenside but Black was quite active. After some further simplifications the game reached a drawn rook endgame.

No lack of fighting spirit here!

Kosintseva, Tatiana ½-½ Muzychuk, Anna
Muzychuk used an old gambit line in the Sveshnikov (at least old for the Sveshnikov, an opening who saw its theory blossom in the early 2000's) that forces an endgame where Black has some compensation, but White's pawns on the queenside look rather dangerous. Black's pieces obtained considerable play and Muzychuk obtained one of her pawns back, but Kosintseva was just in time to perpetually attack Black's rook and force the draw.

Tatiana can still make her trip to Khanty a successful one as the
Women Blitz and Rapid Championships begin in only a few days

Tatiana Kosintseva and Batchimeg Tuvshintugs both finished with 3.5/11,
but one lost twenty rating points and the other one won four...

Tuvshintugs, Batchimeg ½-½ Girya, Olga
Tuvshintugs won a pawn in the Exchange Slav against Girya but the Russian obtained a nagging rook on c2 that bound all of White's pieces. She further sacrificed another pawn to obtain a blockading bishop on b4, and despite White's material advantage it was unclear how to make progress. Tuvshintugs managed to liberate herself by giving one pawn back, but the resulting rook endgame was closer to a draw than to a win.

Her extra two pawns were never easy to convert: Batchimeg Tuvshintugs

Dzagnidze, Nana 0-1 Zhao Xue
A very strange game in a locked position. Zhao Xue advanced all of her pawns quickly, leaving behind many weaknesses but obtaining a big space advantage. It seems that the game remained rather unclear until Black manged to maneuver her knight to the beautiful spot e4 (White should have prevented this by opening lines on the kingside sooner) and after that it was impossible for Dzagnidze to hold her position together.

Nana Dzagnidze lost to the top three finishers and beat the last three places

Lagno, Kateryna 1-0 Ushenina, Anna
The Ukrainian duel seemed as if it was heading for a long game as Lagno utilized a Maroczy type set-up against Ushenina's Sicilian. However Black played far too passively and without any real plan, allowing Lagno to crash through in the center and win in only 24 moves using relatively simple moves.

Overseeing the Ukrainian match-up is Alina l'Ami

Sometimes life gives you lemons and you have to make lemonade. Sometimes it just gives you lemonade. Kateryna had no problems today dispatching Anna Ushenina.

Muminova, Nafisa 0-1 Stefanova, Atoaneta
Muminova was simply too careless with her kingside, alowing Stefanova to crash through with an obvious exchange sacrifice. Even then her position was only slightly worse, with Black having a good attack as compensation for the exchange, but she panicked and gave back too much material. The combination of the multiple weaknesses and the extra material for Black gave Stefanova an easy victory.

Proper piece adjustment is a common top-level ritual

Round Eleven Games

Select from the dropdown menu to replay the games

Standings

Photos by Nikolay Bochkarev, from the official website

Schedule and results

Links Official tournament site All Games in PGN The games are being broadcast live on the official web site and on the chess server Playchess.com. If you are not a member you can download a free Playchess client there and get immediate access. You can also use ChessBase 12 or any of our Fritz compatible chess programs.