Sharjah 06: Chinese increase Lead

The sixth and final stage of the FIDE Women’s Grand Prix series 2013-2014 is taking place at the Sharjah Cultural and Chess Club, (UAE) from the 24th of August until the 7th of September 2014. Over eleven rounds, twelve of the strongest women players in the world will compete in the round robin tournament with the standard FIDE time control of 90 minutes for the first 40 moves, with 30 minutes being added at that point and an additional 30 seconds per move through the entire game.

Round Six

FIDE Vice President Georgios Makropoulos visited the playing site

Zhao Xue 1-0 Koneru Humpy
Definitely not Humpy's best game. Her weak plan of a rook-lift was swiftly punished by Zhao Xue. White had a winning position by move 16 and by move 24 it was all over.

Humpy doesn't seem herself in this tournament, and Zhao Xue took full advantage of this

Kosintseva, Tatiana 1-0 Dronavalli Harika
A very precise game from the Russian! Black's decision to weaken her dark squares with 15...b5?! started the problems. Kosintseva accurately evaluated that her strong bishop on d4 would be worth a fortune, and it was with this bishop that her attack became unstoppable.

Tatiana Kosintseva showed true class in today's game

Ushenina, Anna 0-1 Hou Yifan
It seems as if the World Champion's repertoire is improving, and her game has certainly seen an increase in quality. This combination is proving lethal for her opponents! Ushenina deviated from a Matlakov-Eljanov game from last year, but her novelty was not very successful. Hou Yifan obtained a quick initiative that netted her a pawn and it was all downhill for the Ukrainian after that.

Ushenina has beaten Hou Yifan a few times, but surprisingly never with White

The World Champion reaches 2670 with this victory,
92 points away from Humpy in the live ratings

Zhu Chen ½-½ Muminova, Nafisa
Zhu Chen tried to use a symmetrical Slav structure to exploit her pair of bishops; a solid and risk-less way of playing. Muminova was up to the task of defending her position and although the player from Qatar had a little initiative at some point, it was never anything too dangerous and by the end it was even Black that was thinking of victory.

Ju Wenjun 1-0 l'Ami, Alina
Ju Wenjun obtained a little pressure in this fianchetto Grunfeld-like structure (despite starting as a King's Indian Defense). l'Ami underestimated the danger around her king and her liberating 14...e5? backfired badly on her as the dark squares were too weak to take the rook on a1, costing her a crucial tempo as Ju Wenjun did not have to move her attacked rook. After that the Chinese player played perfectly and keeps the tempo with Hou Yifan as they both share the lead.

Alina l'Ami has not had the best event of her life

It's tough playing the top players in the World!

Danielian, Elina ½-½ Tuvshintugs, Batchimeg
The players certainly escaped from theory very quickly; but that didn't make the game any less sharp! Tuvshintugs sacrificed two pawns in the center in typical Grunfeld style and obtained serious counterplay thanks to it. Danielian gave one of her pawns back, hoping to win in an endgame. However the Mongolian player had just enough to hold the game.

Danielian's 50% puts her in a decent tournament, performing at about her rating

Round Six Games

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Standings

All photos by Maria Emelianova

Pairings and Schedule

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.