Sharjah 09: Ju Wenjun leads, Hou Yifan wins GP

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 Nine

l'Ami, Alina 0-1 Zhao Xue
A tactically complicated game, despite the symmetricla pawn structures. White and Black's knights were always hanging in different variations, and only accurate calculation was necessary to navigate the lines. Both sides erred at some point, but it was l'Ami's bad decision to not trade dark-squared bishops that caused her real problems. With the removal of the knight from d4 her kingside was too weak and Zhao Xue lunged for a quick checkmating attack with knights and queen.

A few players got Henna tatoos on their day off.
We will bring you a report of their rest day before round ten.

Muminova, Nafisa ½-½ Tuvshintugs, Batchimeg
The battle of superior pawn structure and space against the two bishops is a typical one for the Rossolimo Sicilian. Tuvshintugs was able to achieve her c5 break, but it cost her even more problems in the pawn structure after Muminova's accurate 25.Nce5! The game ended in a draw after Muminova could not see any ways to create additional pressure.

The battle of the lowest rated players was relatively even, and with this draw
Batchimeg keeps her third place only one point away from Hou Yifan

Hou Yifan ½-½ Danielian, Elina
An even game all through-out. Hou Yifan chose a variation that gives White a risk-free but minimal edge, and Danielian defended excellently, never allowing the World Champion any real winning attempts. The double-edged rook endgame was well handled by both sides and the game ended in a draw.

Danielian still has to play the two Indian players, but she has had a good result so far

Hou Yifan clinches the Grand Prix series with this
draw as Humpy mathematically cannot catch her

Her prize is one of these tropies. The little one is for her, the big one goes to FIDE offices.

Dronavalli Harika 0-1 Ju Wenjun
A very brave game from Ju Wenjun. Her opening delayed development for a long time and it seemed as if the Indian player could take advantage of this by opening up the position. However Black was able to keep all pawn trades under control and was in no real danger, even though she had to king walk from e8 to a7 (without castling!). One her king was safe the superior pawn structure on the board left her with a clear advantage that she masterfully converted.

Ju Wenjun's boldness paid off with a beautiful win

Kosintseva, Tatiana 0-1 Ushenina, Anna
Ushenina's excellent use of tactics in the middle-game left her with a superior pawn structure going into the endgame. She traded off ever piece into a superior knight vs. bishop endgame which she accurately assessed and converted. The king on e3 was the d4 pawn's only defender and that meant that Kosintseva's position was too passive to deal with the invading king on the queenside. A nice game from the Ukrainian player.

Anna dominated her opponent in
every phase of the gaming, finally converting in a long endgame

Koneru Humpy ½-½ Zhu Chen
Humpy never achieved much from the opening, and after simplifying many pieces in a symmetrical pawn structure position the players reached a draw.

Zhu Chen had no problems holding with Black today

Round Nine Games

Select from the dropdown menu to replay the games

Standings

Photos by Maria Emelianova and A. Karlovich

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.